SEO content research is a process that involves planning to create content for a website or blog that can rank well in search engines. The process involves identifying keywords and topics that people search for on search engines. Its main purpose is to create content that is not only useful and relevant to the audience but also performs better according to the search engine’s algorithm.
During SEO content research, it is observed which topics and keywords are popular, which content types (such as blog posts, articles, videos, etc.) attract the audience more, and what type of content can improve your website’s traffic and ranking. Various tools and techniques are used for this, such as keyword research tools, Google trends, social media analysis, and customer feedback.
SEO content research is an important part of your content marketing strategy, which not only helps to increase your website’s visibility but also provides valuable information for your target audience.
Analyze customer queries and feedback
Analyzing customer queries and feedback is an important process that helps you understand customer needs, problems, and preferences. This information can help you improve your products, services, and content. Let’s take a look at how you can analyze customer queries and feedback:
- Collect all the data
First, collect the queries and feedback received from all your customer support channels (e.g. email, chat, calls, social media). If you are using surveys or feedback forms, include their data as well.
- Identify similar queries and feedback
Scan the collected data and identify the queries or feedback that are coming up repeatedly. This will help you understand which issues or questions are most important.
- Categorize
Categorize the queries and feedback into different categories. For example, product-related, service-related, or website navigation-related. This classification will help you organize problems and questions and also help you see which areas need the most improvement.
- Analyze trends
Pay attention to emerging trends over time. Did certain issues increase at a particular time? Or is there a new trend emerging that you should take into account? Analyzing trends can help you understand future needs and possibilities.
- Prioritize
Once you have analyzed all the questions and feedback, determine which issues need to be addressed immediately. Prioritize problems that are of concern to most customers or that are impacting your business’s image.
- Plan for resolution
Plan a solution for the issues that have been identified. For this, you can brainstorm with your team, or implement new processes or policies to solve those issues.
- Create content based on customer questions
Create blog posts, FAQs, videos, or other types of content to answer questions that customers are asking frequently. This will not only help your customers get solutions to their problems but will also improve traffic and SEO on your website.
- Make improvements based on feedback
Take customer feedback seriously and act on it. If any feedback has suggestions for improving your product or service, pay attention to them and make the necessary changes. This will increase customer satisfaction.
- Notify customers
When you solve a problem or make improvements based on feedback, notify your customers. This will make customers feel that you value their opinion, and it will strengthen the customer relationship.
- Do regular monitoring
Analyzing customer questions and feedback is not a one-time process. Keep doing it regularly so that you can constantly stay updated about the changing needs and problems of your customers.
- Review and improve
Review the improvements you implemented and see how effective they were. If needed, plan additional improvements.
Use keyword research tools
Using keyword research tools is an important process of SEO content research. These tools help you know which keywords are most popular among your target audience and which keywords you can use to improve your website’s ranking. Let’s learn how to use keyword research tools:
- Generate keyword ideas
Using keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Ubersuggest, you can generate hundreds of new keyword ideas. These tools will tell you what types of words or phrases people are searching for the most on search engines.
- Analyze the search volume of keywords
Search volume shows how often a keyword is being searched for. Keyword research tools show you the search volume of each keyword, allowing you to select keywords that have high search volume but low competition. This increases the chances of bringing traffic to your website.
- Evaluate Keyword Difficulty
Keyword research tools also show keyword difficulty (KD), which indicates how difficult it is to rank for that keyword. If the difficulty of a keyword is high, it may be difficult to rank it. In this case, you can select keywords that have low difficulty but are relevant to your business.
- Find long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords (long and specific phrases) are keywords that have low search volumes but come with high conversion rates. These tools help you find long-tail keywords that your target audience may use.
- Analyze trends
Some keywords may be trending over time. Using tools like Google Trends, you can see which keywords are gaining popularity over time and which keywords are losing importance. This information will help you create seasonal or trending content.
- Create a content plan based on keywords
Once you have made a list of relevant keywords, incorporate these into your content plan. This plan can include the creation of blog posts, articles, and website pages that naturally use these keywords.
- Do a competitor keyword analysis
Using tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush, you can analyze the keywords your competitors are ranking for on their websites. This can help you understand which keywords your competitors are ranking for and how you can incorporate them into your content.
- Optimize keywords
Include your chosen keywords naturally within your website’s meta title, meta description, headings, and content. Avoid keyword stuffing, as this can be viewed negatively by search engines.
- Track keyword performance
Once you have incorporated keywords into your content, track their performance using Google Search Console and other analytics tools. This will help you see which keywords are performing well and where you need improvement.
- Do regular research for new keywords
Search trends keep changing over time, so do regular keyword research to identify new keywords and update your content. This will help maintain your website rankings and traffic.
Keep an eye on social media trends
Keeping an eye on social media trends is extremely important to improve SEO and content marketing strategies. By studying trending topics and discussions on social media platforms, you can understand what people are currently talking about and using these trends you can make your content more relevant. Let us learn what steps can be followed to keep an eye on social media trends:
- Monitor social media platforms
Regularly keep an eye on major social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. You will get information about which topics are currently trending on these platforms.
- Pay attention to hashtags
Hashtags are used a lot on platforms like Twitter and Instagram. By analyzing trending hashtags, you can understand what topics people are talking about. You can also use these hashtags in your content so that more and more people can reach your content.
- Create content on trending topics
When you identify a trending topic, create content based on it. This content can be in the form of blog posts, videos, infographics, or social media posts. Creating content on trending topics can give your content more visibility and it can also go viral.
- Use social media tools
Using social media tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, BuzzSumo, and TrendSpottr, you can easily track trending topics and hashtags. These tools also send you timely alerts, allowing you to take advantage of trends.
- Monitor competitors’ social media activity
Keep an eye on your competitors’ social media profiles as well. You can improve your content by knowing the type of content they are posting and which topics are getting the most responses.
- Use social media analytics
Using analytics tools available on various social media platforms, you can see how your content is performing. This will help you understand which topics are attracting your audience the most.
- Encourage user-generated content
Along with creating content based on social media trends, encourage your audience to create and share content as well. This will help increase your brand reach and strengthen your presence on social media.
- Take advantage of seasonal trends
Keep an eye on seasonal trends like festivals, holidays, or other important events as well. Creating content based on these occasions can help you keep your brand relevant over time.
- Use social listening tools
Using social listening tools like Mention, Brandwatch, and Sprout Social can help you see what people are saying about your brand, product, or industry. This will help you identify emerging trends and adjust your strategy accordingly.
- Increase audience interaction
After posting content based on trends, interact with your audience. Analyze their comments, likes, and shares to see which content they are engaging with the most. This will give you a better understanding of your audience.
- Respond promptly
Trends change quickly on social media, so it’s important to respond promptly. When you identify a trend, create and post content on it immediately. This can increase both the visibility and impact of your content.
Conduct customer surveys
Conducting customer surveys is an effective way to understand your customer’s needs, their preferences, and their experiences. This can help you improve your products, services, and customer service. Let’s learn how to conduct a customer survey:
- Determine the survey objective
First, be clear about what you want to know from this survey. Do you want feedback about new products? Do you want to evaluate customer satisfaction? Or do you want to understand the changing needs of your customers? Determining the objective will help you ask the right questions and collect useful information.
- Select a survey tool
There are many tools available for conducting customer surveys, such as:
- Google Forms: Free and easy-to-use tool.
- SurveyMonkey: For more complex and detailed surveys.
- Typeform: For creating interactive and engaging surveys.
- Microsoft Forms: For simple and quick surveys.
- Select a tool according to your budget and requirements.
- Prepare relevant questions
Keep the questions short, clear, and relevant. The type of questions can include different options:
- Multiple choice: Such as “After purchasing this product, how satisfied are you?” (Very satisfied, Satisfied, Dissatisfied, Very dissatisfied)
- Rating scale: e.g. “On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate our service?”
- Open-ended questions: e.g. “In your opinion, how can our product be improved?”
- Keep the survey short
Keep the survey short and simple so that customers don’t take too long to complete it. A lengthy survey may lead customers to leave, so focus on the essential questions only.
- Conduct a pilot survey
Before sending the survey to all customers, conduct a pilot survey in a small group. This will help you understand if the questions are clear, and if the survey needs any improvements.
- Send the survey at the right time
It is important to send the survey at the right time. For example, the survey can be sent immediately after a purchase, or after some time of service usage. This will give you the most authentic and relevant feedback.
- Offer incentives
To motivate more people to take the survey, you can offer them a small incentive, such as a discount coupon, gift card, or the opportunity to enter a contest. This can improve the response rate.
- Promote the survey
Promote your survey through social media, email newsletters, or website. Make it easily accessible to your customers and encourage them to participate.
- Analyze the feedback
After the survey is over, analyze all the responses. Identify patterns and trends that are recurring. This will give you the information you need to improve your products and services.
- Share the results and act on them
Share the survey results with your team and create an action plan for them. If your customers have suggested improvements in a particular area, take note of it and make improvements. Next, let your customers know what changes you have made based on their feedback.
- Conduct regular surveys
Conduct regular surveys to understand the changing needs and preferences of customers. This will ensure that you are always working towards improving their experience.
Use online forums and communities
Using online forums and communities can be an effective way to gather people’s opinions about your brand, product, or service, resolve problems, and connect directly with your customers. It keeps you informed about new information, trends, and customer requirements. Let’s learn how you can use online forums and communities:
- Find relevant forums and communities
First, identify forums and communities related to your industry, product, or service. Some of the popular platforms include Reddit, Quora, Stack Exchange, LinkedIn Groups, and Facebook Groups. On these platforms, you can meet and interact with people from your free market or industry.
- Be part of the community
After becoming a part of online forums and communities, follow their rules and regulations. Take time to contribute to the community. Instead of just promoting your services or products, answer others’ questions, participate in discussions, and share your expertise. This will increase your credibility and people will trust your brand more.
- Solve users’ problems and queries
People often ask questions in forums and communities to find solutions to their problems. If you solve their problems, it can have a positive impact on your brand. This can help you attract potential customers and build better relationships with existing customers.
- Get feedback and suggestions
Using forums and communities, you can get feedback and suggestions about your product or service. Based on the feedback you get from users, you can improve your products or services. Apart from this, you can also get suggestions for new product ideas and features.
- Get information about competitors
Forums and communities can also have discussions about your competitor companies. You can see what their customers like or what problems they are facing. Using this information, you can improve your strategy and remove the shortcomings in your products or services that your competitors are facing.
- Keep an eye on new trends and discussions
Information about new technologies, trends, and industry developments can be obtained in forums and communities. You can pay attention to topics that are frequently discussed and incorporate them into your content or products.
- Identify long-tail keywords
You can identify long-tail keywords from the questions and discussions people ask in forums and communities. These keywords are often specific and targeted, which you can use in your blog posts, articles, and SEO strategy.
- Increase brand awareness
When you actively contribute to forums and communities, people will see you as a credible source. This can increase your brand awareness and make people take your products or services more seriously.
- Promote product launches or upgrades
If you are launching a new product or adding a new feature to your existing product, you can promote it in relevant forums and communities. However, make sure that you don’t do it as a light advertisement, but present it in an informative and helpful way.
- Expand your network
Joining forums and communities allows you to network with other professionals in your industry. You can connect with like-minded people, find new colleagues, and learn from industry insiders.
- Get data for reports and analysis
You can collect data for your reports and analysis based on the discussions and questions in forums and communities. This data can help you improve your marketing and product development strategies.
