The hardest part about writing great business content that will improve your search engine optimization (SEO) performance isn’t the act of writing – it’s figuring out what to write about.
Great content for SEO meets the following criteria:
- High value: Something people want, engage with, and feel satisfied after consuming.
- Topically relevant: Something that relates to your business or the use of your products.
- Potential customers: Something that relates to the type of people you want to come to your site.
- Search for: Something that larger numbers of people search for on Google and other search engines.
Your business is rich with complexity. The team you work with has gathered a wide breadth of expertise in both the products you sell and the industry you work in. All you need to do is tap into those and you’ll never run out of topics for creating great content again.
These seven tips will help you find SEO content ideas for your business in everything you do.
1. Customer Support Ideas
When someone calls your customer support, they have a need. They want to learn how to use something, understand what product has the right features, learn why your service is better than your competitors’ service, etc.
Many of those desires can be met with content on your website.
Not only do you know people care about the topic, but answering the question online could prove your business expertise to future visitors. It could also mean that future visitors won’t need to take your time with a call.
2. Ideas from Reviews
Customers tell you what they love and hate when they post reviews. These strong emotions can represent content ideas, as well.
If customers repeatedly comment on a certain feature, creating content on that feature – how to use it to greatest benefit, how to get around an issue – could drive significant organic search traffic. It may even prevent future negative reviews; or enhance customer experience with a product, increase positive reviews, and encourage repeat purchases.
You can investigate more than your own reviews, too. Your competitors may have business reviews on Google My Business or product reviews on their sites. Read them. For ecommerce sites, read the Amazon reviews for the products you sell. The information is public, and the qualitative research from these sources is priceless. Use what you learn to generate new content ideas.
3. Ideas from Social Media
Like reviews, social media comments and shares tend to be full of strong opinions. Business-to-consumer companies will find Facebook and Twitter the most valuable for content research, while business-to-business companies will probably want to favor Twitter and LinkedIn. You can use these sites to research regardless of how strong your own presence is there. Just use their search tools to find relevant posts.
Pay special attention to the questions people ask their friends. “How do I…?” “What should I …?” You can answer those questions on your site with content of your own. While it won’t be in time to provide that specific person with an answer, their question will probably resonate with a slew of other people on the internet who wonder the same thing.
If you do have a presence in social media, you can also ask questions that engage your audience. Their answers might surprise you, and spur a topic you can write about.
4. Business Pitch Ideas
Your prospective clients probably ask a common set of questions. Answering those questions compellingly –and in ways that put their needs first – could move them farther along the purchase decision process before they even call you for a pitch.
From an SEO standpoint, they can also help you rank for longer tail questions like, “HVAC open 24/7” or “cleaning service pet-safe products.” These more niche search queries are also typically entered by searchers who know what they want and are closer to making a decision.
5. Current Event Ideas
The news hook is often overused, as demonstrated by the slew of COVID-19 articles across the internet that have nothing new to offer.
You must add unique value with your post. What is your twist on the topic? What unique commentary or opinion can you give? What are you seeing in your performance data? What are your customers telling you? What do your specific customers need to know that your expertise is positioned to answer?
If you don’t have a unique angle to write about, perhaps prioritize other topics.
6. Ideas from Training Material
If you have anything in writing or in video that your new hires consume in their first days on the job, you probably have something you can repurpose as content on your site.
Make sure to twist the object of the content 180 degrees, however, so that the audience is your customer instead of your staff. You cannot just post internal-facing content and expect it to resonate with an external audience, no matter how tempting that might be.
For example, you probably have a mission statement or set of guiding principles with several objectives like maintaining a respectful working environment, providing value to the customer, making lots of money, etc. All of those are irrelevant, impersonal, or even off-putting to the customer. But they can be spun 180 degrees to focus on great customer service, expert advice, and the value of working with a long-time leader in the business.
7. Keyword Research Ideas
A list of SEO content idea generators wouldn’t be complete without mentioning keyword research. Since it’s the foundation of everything organic, you likely already have your keyword research handy, anyway. Look farther down your list to those longer tail keywords that have enough contextual meaning to suggest topics.
For example, the keyword “jeans” doesn’t suggest anything specific to write about, but “how to bleach tie dye jeans” gives you a pretty clear indication of what the searcher wants to see.
Don’t worry about the low number of searches for a single keyword. It might only drive 100 searches per month, but your content will also be relevant for related keywords in a larger keyword theme. Focus on providing a complete piece of content that covers all of the angles a searcher might want to know on that topic.
These seven ideas for finding SEO content topics will keep your editorial calendar full for months to come. Make it a habit to ask yourself “Is that a content topic?” as you go about your day. Ask your team to do the same. You’ll find great content ideas hiding all around you in plain sight.
