When doing keyword research, you’ll usually start with a broad seed, toss it into a keyword research tool, go to a keyword ideas report, and then pick a needle from the haystack.
While there’s nothing wrong with this method for keyword research, it’s likely that everyone will be finding the same keywords. The task is to find untapped keywords that have flown under the radar.
Using What Google Already Likes
If you type into Google any question or asking phrase that you are looking for in most cases you will see normal results with a 3 to 4 tab box halfway down the page called “People also ask”.
How To Use This Keyword Research Technique:
- Create a spreadsheet
- Set up some keywords you want to rank for
- Now using Google use questions around those keywords
- Record what topics appear in the PAA boxes
- Try the next keyword
- Record the results of each keyword
- Plan your content around those result
- Rinse & repeat for every new keyword
Google’s Custom Search Engine
Getting insights into your direct competition is truly amazing but this will still depend on the sites you track and the industry you’re in. Some queries you can use include:
♦ Intitle:giveaway – This is ideal if you wish to see what audiences are responding to
♦ Updated on – You may combine this with “date sorting” to locate old content that competitors are updating
♦ Last modified – This is a variation of the “updated on” tag, which will depend on the sites within your niche
♦ We interviewed – This query lets you find people that are open to talking to several websites in your sector
