To have an effective blog with relevant content, you need to know what people are looking for. That may or may not be what you had in mind to write about. Keyword research is the answer.
Keyword Research
Assuming already know what niche you are targeting and you have at least a broad idea of the kind of topics you think you should cover, it's time to find out what your audience REALLY wants to know.
That is done effectively and efficiently with proper keyword research. And much of it can be done with free tools.
Free Research
So what do you write about first?
It’s time for a little more research; much like the research you did in finding your niche in the first place. This time we want to find the right topics and specific questions, problems and issues our readers are asking about.
One of the best free ways to find topics of interest in your niche is to use the Google Search Auto-Complete feature.
You have probably already used it if you have ever searched for anything online – especially on a laptop or desktop browser.
Google search auto-complete is a feature that suggests search queries as you start typing a keyword in the search bar. It is a great tool that can help you with your keyword research. It can give you insights into what people are searching for related to your niche.
This article at DotComClassroom, goes into more detail about how to use this great tool.
Here are a few additional tips on how to use the Google search auto-complete feature for keyword research:
- Start typing a keyword related to your niche in the Google search bar. Google will then suggest a list of search queries related to that keyword. These suggestions are based on what people have searched for in the past. Look for suggestions that are relevant to your niche and write them down. These suggestions can be used as potential keywords for your content.
- Use long-tail keywords. These are more specific and have less competition. They can help you rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) and attract more targeted traffic to your website when you incorporate these phrases into your content. Use the auto-complete feature to find long-tail keywords that are relevant to your niche.
- Use this feature to identify questions that people are asking related to your niche. People use search engines to find solutions to their problems. You can find questions related to your niche and create content that answers those questions.
- Identify trending topics related to your niche. Trends change quickly, and it is essential to keep up with the latest topics to attract more traffic to your website. Use the auto-complete feature to find trending topics related to your niche and create content that is relevant to those topics.
Answer the Public
Neil Patel is a world-renowned Internet Marketer. One of his website’s called Answer the Public is a powerful tool for conducting keyword and topic research. It allows you to gain insights into what people are searching for and what questions they have related to a particular topic.
Answer the Public has both a free and paid version for doing topical research. Of course, the paid version is better, but you can still get a lot of great information at the free level.
To use the tool, go to https://answerthepublic.com/ and simply enter a single keyword or two-word phrase into the search bar on the homepage. Answer the Public will then generate a visual representation of the most common questions and phrases related to that keyword, organized into categories such as "what," "how," "why," and "where." This can be incredibly helpful in identifying the key topics and questions that people are interested in and searching for related to your topic.
Once you have identified the most common questions and phrases related to your keyword, you can use this information to develop content that directly addresses those questions and provides valuable information to your audience.
Additionally, Answer the Public provides a list of related keywords and phrases that you can use to further optimize your content for search engines. By including these keywords and phrases in your content, you can increase your chances of ranking higher in search engine results and reaching a wider audience.
Neil Patel's website is an invaluable tool for conducting keyword and topic research. By using the insights provided by the tool, you can develop content that is more tailored to your audience's interests and needs.
KeySearch.co
By far my favorite KeyWord Research tool - dollar-for-dollar is this one: KeySearch.co
The reason I love and use this service is simple:
- It's inexpensive. If you haven't discovered by now, research tools can get expensive ...and those monthy fees add up while you are still waiting to earn money from your online efforts. KeySearch.co is just about as powerful as all the $100+ a month services, but at a fraction of the cost.
- It's very easy-to-use. Even if you want to spend a lot on research tools, most of them take time to learn how to use. KeySearch.co is almost self-explanatory - but their help files are available and very simple to follow if you need them.
I HIGHLY recommend getting this tool.
I even have a discount code you can use to get the service for even less if you use my link:
When you order, you can get 20% off if you use my special discount code : KSDISC
Paid Research
Also Asked
You may have noticed that when doing a search, Google often displays additional data points under the first few results with a heading that reads: People Also Ask…or Others Want to Know.
This is great information you can garner when doing a simple search for keywords. It can give you more topic ideas for your content.
If you want more insight on that data, you may want to utilize a service called AlsoAsked.com
AlsoAsked makes it easy to check out and analyze the People Also Ask section of Google search results. You can interact with this data directly on the site, export it into image graphs or CSV files if you need to use it in a presentation or other project - all of which will save you lots of time.
AlsoAsked is a great tool that provides users with the closest related questions to their search query. This can help you create better content and let search engines know your page is the best one out there.
Search patterns are always changing, so it's important to be able to get up-to-date data. AlsoAsked is great for this because it offers real-time search results which can let you know what the public is searching for at the moment.
AlsoAsked.com provides a user interface that shows the structure of questions in a hierarchy form. It’s an easy and natural way to look at the data so you can format your content and website pages better.
AlsoAsked provides more data than any other tool on specific, longtail search queries. With 70-80% of all searches people longtail it’s the perfect companion to make sure you maximise traffic and user satisfaction.
You can use AlsoAsked.com for free on a limited basis. This allows you to get a feel for how easy it is to use before you decide to dig deeper with a paid subscription.
SEMRush has an in-depth article on the importance of PAA (People Also Ask):
https://www.semrush.com/blog/how-to-maximize-people-also-ask-seo-opportunities-study/
A Deeper Dive
The work of topic research can seem duanting because there are so many ways to do it and so many options and resources for looking at your audience and their intentions.
Here is a short list of some of the best tools you can use. Most of these are free or have a free version so you can implement them without breaking the bank. You will find a vast amount of information about your target using any of these research tools:
Google Alerts - Use for tracking products, brand names, and specifying sources to check
Social Mention - For Tracking brand mentions, seeing how people perceive your brand, searching for videos and questions people are asking on social media
BuzzSumo - Great for finding popular topics, getting content metrics, seeing who’s sharing content
WordStream (Keyword Tool) - One of the best free keyword research tools. Find keyword suggestions, Google search volume. Great for improving your SEO.
NOTE: This webpage may contain at least one affiliate link. Please read our full Affiliate Disclosure here.
DotComClassroom.com is a service of:
BlackWire Marketing, LLC
1292 High St Suite 219 Eugene OR 97401 USA
541.321.6175