The Consumer Path To Purchase. Navigating The Messy Middle
Sell anything online? This blog post is for you. Whether it’s high-end retail products or B2B services, the end goal is simple: you want people to buy. But the way they get to that ‘buy’ button has changed dramatically, and more recently, exponentially. Most of us know about SEO, but all of a sudden, “AI Search” is changing how users interact with search engine pages. Not to mention infinite social feeds acting as the new search engines (Hello TikTok), is being ‘found’ organically, actually enough?
Are you relying on SEO?
So you have a website. Great! But in 2026, ‘build it, and they will come’ is a dangerous myth. Ignoring the data right in front of us, many business owners still rely 100% on SEO, hoping to rank #1. The trouble is, organic search is getting smaller. With AI Overviews (SGE) taking up the top half of the screen and sponsored shopping slots taking the rest, relying solely on organic clicks is playing the game on hard mode. In the offline world, you wouldn’t rely on just one sign outside your door to bring in customers. Why would you do that online?”
Someone finds you, so what? What happens when they click away to compare prices? It’s vital to understand the ‘Messy Middle’: the unknown void of space between a customer seeing a trigger (like an ad) and making a purchase. They loop between exploring options and making choices. Understanding this helps you show up not just once, but repeatedly throughout their decision-making loop.
I used to have a video on Micro-Moments here. Feel free to Google that, but nowadays the Jeremy Bearmy video seems more apt 🤣
With this in mind, here are some of our main considerations regarding the consumer path to purchase.
Welcome to the Messy Middle
The old ‘funnel’ where a customer walks a straight line from awareness to purchase is dead. Today, a customer might see a product on TikTok, Google it, read a review, ask an AI assistant for a comparison, watch a YouTube video, and then finally come back to buy.
This loop of Exploration (expanding choices) and Evaluation (narrowing them down) is what you need to understand. If you only have an SEO strategy, you might show up once. If you have a blended strategy using Google Shopping and Remarketing, you show up at every turn.
With this in mind, here are some of our main considerations regarding the consumer path to purchase.
Your audience is informed.
It’s 2026. Information is like drinking from a firehose. You can count on it that your audience is hyper-informed. They don’t just search; they prove. In 2026, a potential customer can upload a photo of a product to Google Lens to find a cheaper alternative in seconds, or ask an AI agent, ‘What is the best laser cutter for small workshops?’
The moral of the story? Be the authority. If your content answers the specific questions they ask their AI, you build trust. But you also need to be visible where they are visually comparing you, which is often Google Shopping.
Think Outside The Box.
We often ask clients, ‘Who are you actually selling to?’ You might think you are selling office chairs to ‘Business Owners.’ But in reality, you might be selling to ‘Gamers who want back support’ or ‘HR Managers refitting an office.’
If you rely on broad SEO terms like ‘Office Chair,’ you are fighting a losing battle against Amazon, still, reportedly, Google’s biggest client. But if you use Google Shopping to target specific visual queries or long-tail intent, you reach people who have a credit card in hand. (Quick segue here: make sure you have mobile-friendly options so they don’t even have to get the credit card.) So in 2026, your audience isn’t just a demographic; it’s a specific intent.”
It is also important to consider where your target audience hangs out online. Are they active on social media? Do they read certain blogs or websites? Knowing this can help you create content that resonates with them. You can also use their online behaviour to inform your marketing efforts and ensure that you target the right people.
You must understand who you are talking to, what they need and how best to connect with them. To do this, you will need to create buyer personas, detailed profiles of your target audience which include demographic information, interests and motivations.
Moral of the story: Your audience may not be who you thought it was.
Never underestimate the power of Mobile.
We used to talk about ‘Mobile First.’ Now, it’s about fluidity. A customer might start their search on a phone while waiting for coffee, check the specs on a laptop at work, and finally buy on a tablet in the evening.
If your path to purchase has friction on any of these devices, you lose. Google’s algorithms now prioritise sites that offer a seamless page experience (Core Web Vitals). If your site is slow or clunky on mobile, you aren’t just losing SEO rankings; you’re paying for ad clicks that will never convert.
Despite many customers and advertisers still denying this and saying most or all of their conversions take place on a computer, they may be leaving out the obvious fact that mobile was where they were discovered and where the customer spent an hour doing their research, in a queue, in bed, or in the bath. Well anywhere!
Be There When It Matters
So, a customer found you, then life got in the way. They fell asleep, or the bus arrived. By tomorrow, they’ll have forgotten you. This is where Retargeting creates that ‘haunted’ effect, but in an innovative way.
Organic search can’t follow a user around the web. Paid media can. With modern Privacy Sandbox tools and First-Party Data, we can respectfully remind potential customers of what they’ve looked at without being creepy. A retargeting campaign can boost conversion rates significantly because you are talking to people who already know who you are.
Why Google Shopping is the Cheat Code
For retailers and even some B2B suppliers, Google Shopping is the ultimate shortcut to the path to purchase. It puts a picture, a price, and your brand name right at the very top of the search results—bypassing the AI answers and the organic listings entirely.
If you are rewriting your content for SEO but ignoring your product feed, you are leaving the most valuable real estate on the web to your competitors.
To conclude
In 2026, relying on a single channel is a vulnerability. SEO builds your legacy and authority, but it takes time. Paid Media and Google Shopping capture the demand right now. The magic happens when you make them work together. Stop thinking ‘SEO vs. PPC’ and start thinking ‘Full Coverage.’
“We are Made By Factory, an award-winning digital agency in Manchester. Run by design expert Andi Wilkinson and ex-Googler Ben Tennant, we’ve spent over a decade helping businesses navigate the changing digital landscape.
From the early days of simple SEO to the complex AI-driven search, we help businesses grow online without the smoke and mirrors. We were part of Google’s elite ‘Elevator’ coaching programme and continue to lead with data, not guesswork.
We were selected as one of 30 UK ‘Elevator’ and one of a select cohort of agencies with high growth potential to take part in the Business Growth Hub’s Greater Connected programme.
For some top-notch quality marketing without all the mystery, talk to us today!
