Writing Conversational Content? Don’t Flush Away Keyphrase Research

Let’s get this out of the way first: Tushy’s site copy makes me giggle like a 12-year-old.

Tushy, for the unfamiliar, sells affordable bidet attachments for your toilet. Their copy is frank, funny, and deliciously on-point. It discusses your “clean butt needs” and stresses how their product saves your ass — and the planet.

I LOVE this approach. It’s a great example of how you can turn a “taboo” product into something fun and approachable.

Tushy isn’t trying to be the Peloton of bidets. Instead, Tushy’s content appeals to a specific, bidet-curious target customer.

These folks aren’t ready to spend $700 on a toilet seat with multiple functions and voice activations. They just want to know what all the bidet fuss is about.

In that way, Tushy’s conversational content is perfect.

But let’s get to the bottom of Tushy’s SEO content success.

Their Google results are…mixed.

Yes, the articles are on-brand and conversational. Sure, I may question if the Icy Tales of Winter Poops post was the best article to create. Or if the article 69 Euphemisms for Pooping (which, yes, positions for all the key terms that you’d expect, including a position zero result) is driving revenue.

They’re fun — but many of their posts aren’t helping readers who have specific questions, like, “How to install a bidet?”

And that could be a problem.

Tushy’s more expensive competition, Bio-Bidet, positions top-10 for that long-tail phrase (and many more.) While many of Tushy’s top positioned key terms include the word [poop], Bio-Bidet’s positions are more product-relevant. For instance, [bidet attachment] and [are bidets sanitary].

Tushy’s focus on edgy, conversational content — without giving equal time to keyphrases and SEO — could be dumping their Google positions.

Having said that, Tushy partially covers their SEO content backside with well-written articles like this FAQ blog post and this “how to use a bidet” page.

(Oh, to be the model for that page, staring contemplatively in the distance.)

So, there is informational content — there’s just not much of it.

Can Tushy tweak their content in other ways? Yes. For instance:

— Many of Tushy’s product page Titles start with Tushy rather than the main keyphrase for the page [warm water bidet attachment]. I’d lead with the keyphrase (and the benefit, if possible) and leave the branding to the end.

— Although I don’t think Tushy needs to bang the reader over the head with bidet-related terms, it would be interesting to see if tightening up their keyphrase strategy would help their product pages position better. This “not positioning” issue could be why Tushy runs PPC ads for many bidet-related searches — they’re throwing money at the “not positioning organically” problem.

— Off-topic posts, such as Are You Beach Booty Ready (which is refreshingly body positive) and Earth Day Celebray! aren’t helping their content cause. They have nothing to do with bidets, they don’t answer customer questions, and the content doesn’t drive relevant traffic. Not ALL content needs to be written “for Google” — but it should still serve the bottom line.

BUT…

I think Tushy can have the best of both worlds — snappy, unflinching, conversational content, and great rankings. It would mean following the search data and writing content that appeals to folks looking for bidet-specific information. That way, they could still write their “fun” blog posts…knowing that their “money” blog posts were doing the necessary heavy SEO lifting.

A more integrated SEO content strategy would allow Tushy to wipe away those sub-par positions. Sure, they could still drop the occasional quirky post — after all, that’s part of their branding. But focusing more on their SEO could help Tushy sit on top of Google’s page one throne.

Without having to pay for PPC ads.

PS – I texted my husband parts of this article, and he responded, “Wouldn’t you want Tushy to have a #2 position?” Well played, Ron. Well played.

What do you think?

Do you think Tushy’s copy has got your back (side?) Or, do you find the content too juvenile to work? Leave a comment and let me know.