How to efficiently discover SEO-friendly topics that you can quickly dominate

In the realm of keyword research, finding topics that you can effectively rank for has become increasingly challenging. With keyword research tools now widely used, even the most niche subjects are often dominated by high-authority websites. In this guide, we’ll unveil a method to unearth relevant topics using AI-powered ideation, followed by validation using competitive keyword data. By employing this approach, you can swiftly attract your target audience to your website, fueling your growth.

Also read: 25 Ways to Have SEO Success with Google in 2023

Table of Contents

The Challenge with Keyword Research Tools:

Keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and others have gained immense popularity. However, a common issue persists – saturation. Many keywords have already been extensively optimized for SEO, making it seem like there are no untapped, low-competition keywords left to drive traffic.

Strategies to Find SEO-Friendly Topics:

AI-Enhanced Ideation: Leverage AI to generate innovative and SEO-friendly topic ideas aligned with your content objectives.
Keyword Validation: Apply keyword research tools to validate the feasibility of the generated topics by assessing competition and search volume.
Targeting Your Ideal Audience: Focus on topics that resonate with your ideal customer base, ensuring your content addresses their needs and interests.

Common Pitfalls of Keyword Tools:

Overreliance on Tools: Many marketers heavily depend on keyword research tools to shape their SEO strategies, often centering their efforts around a single keyword.
Lack of Validation: Frequently, marketers fail to implement a crucial validation process in their strategy, an increasingly vital step due to the domination of high-authority websites in search results.

In Reality:

Diverse Search Behavior: Searchers exhibit diverse behavior by using different spellings, word arrangements, exploring novel terms, or even searching with queries that essentially convey the same meaning.
Unpredictable Content Matches: There’s no guarantee that specific content perfectly aligns with a searcher’s query. Google’s advanced algorithms aim to serve the best-matching content, even for queries with subtle variations.
Semantic Understanding: Modern search algorithms, such as Google’s, possess sophisticated semantic understanding capabilities, recognizing that numerous similar searches essentially seek the same information.

The Solution: Harnessing AI for Ideation

Data Quality Remains Excellent: Traditional keyword research tools provide valuable keyword data, but the real issue lies in the ideation process.
Widespread Keyword Adoption: In your industry, including prominent players, everyone tends to gravitate toward the same set of recommended keywords within these platforms for content inspiration.

Embracing AI for Innovative Ideation

Shifting Focus: Instead of merely chasing keywords, it’s essential to ponder why someone might search for your target keyword and what stage of their user journey they are in. Additionally, consider the value you can deliver to assist them.
Utilizing AI Tools: AI tools such as ChatGPT can efficiently compile a comprehensive list of common problems people encounter, saving you valuable time in brainstorming.

Benefits of AI-Driven Ideation:

Diverse Content Ideas: AI can uncover a wide range of topics and user pain points, fostering creativity and innovation.
Time Efficiency: AI accelerates the ideation process, allowing you to focus on crafting valuable content.
Improved User Engagement: By addressing specific user needs and problems, your content becomes more relevant and engaging.
Competitive Edge: Differentiating yourself from competitors who rely solely on traditional keyword-centric approaches.

Step 1: Identifying Customer Challenges

Leveraging Existing Insights

If you possess a catalog of common issues your customers encounter pre-interaction with your business, utilize it as a foundation for this step. Skipping this phase is also an option.
In situations where identifying challenges related to a specific topic is uncertain, ChatGPT proves highly valuable across various industries.

Enumerate the problems or hurdles individuals might confront when launching an online course business.

ChatGPT proficiently generates an extensive list of issues, ranging from technical constraints to pricing strategies and beyond, providing 15 detailed and pertinent problems on the initial attempt.

Image Credit: jonathanboshoff

Navigating Relevant Topics

Suppose your enterprise specializes in guiding individuals through the establishment of an online course business while surmounting these challenges.
By resolving these dilemmas for your audience, you can tap into pertinent and conversion-driven organic search traffic for your website.
Prioritizing the difficulties or pain points experienced by potential customers before making a purchase ensures a consistent source of high-quality content ideas, eliminating the need to compromise on relevance to attract traffic.

Step 2: Ideation with ChatGPT

Expanding Ideas with AI

Armed with a list of challenges, the next step involves deeper ideation using ChatGPT.
The objective is to identify the common queries and topics individuals would explore while seeking solutions to these challenges.

Image Credit: jonathanboshoff

Enumerate all the aspects someone might investigate when attempting to resolve this problem. What knowledge or actions are essential before addressing the issue?

ChatGPT extends the list by furnishing an expansive array of subjects that individuals are likely to investigate when choosing a Learning Management System (LMS), encompassing aspects such as needs assessment and gamification.

Targeted Ideation

This approach resembles keyword research but maintains a sharper focus on topics related to your product or service, effectively attracting the right audience.

Step 3: Validation on Search Engine Results Pages (SERP)

Essential Ingredients

You’ve now assembled the crucial components:

A core topic pertinent to your business (launching an online course business).
A catalog of potential challenges individuals may face along this journey (creating a website).
An inventory of subjects people would search for to address these challenges (selecting an LMS).

Your content plan is taking shape!

Topic Validation

Prior to content production, ensure the presence of topic opportunities, not just keywords.
The goal is to determine if there is available search real estate that you can target.

Step 4: Content Planning and Production

Targeting the Right Competition

In this scenario, the aim is not to replicate the top-ranking page for the keyword “best LMS.” Instead, the strategy involves targeting a DR 36 and crafting superior content focused on the best platforms for selling online courses. Higher site authority and superior content ensure a competitive advantage.

An Integrated Approach to Content Strategy

This process demonstrates how to identify highly relevant topics and validate ideas using competitive keyword data. It outlines a method for constructing a comprehensive content strategy centered on these highly relevant topics.

Leveraging the Power of AI and Metrics

This approach combines the strengths of both worlds. AI’s potent creativity serves as an efficient alternative to overcrowded ideation tools, while still incorporating essential metrics from keyword research tools.

Also read: Elevate Your On-Page SEO with YouTube and ChatGPT

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q1: What is content validation, and why is it important in content creation?

A1: Content validation is the process of verifying the feasibility and relevance of content ideas before creating and publishing them. It’s crucial because it helps content creators avoid investing time and resources in topics that may not resonate with their target audience or have high competition, ensuring a higher return on investment (ROI) for their content efforts.

Q2: How can I determine if a topic is worth pursuing for my content strategy?

A2: To assess the viability of a topic, consider factors such as search volume, competition (domain authority of top-ranking sites), search intent alignment, and potential relevance to your audience. Conducting thorough research and analyzing the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) are effective validation methods.

Q3: What are the key challenges in content validation?

A3: Content validation can be challenging due to issues such as ignoring domain competition, misinterpreting search intent, focusing solely on keywords, and overemphasizing search volume metrics. Addressing these challenges requires a well-rounded approach to validation.

Q4: How can I leverage AI in content validation and ideation?

A4: AI tools like ChatGPT can assist in generating content ideas, listing potential problems or challenges, and expanding on topics. They provide valuable insights during the ideation and validation phases of content planning.

Q5: Can you explain the importance of refining search queries during the validation process?

A5: Refining search queries helps you discover more accurate and relevant keywords and topics. It allows you to fine-tune your content strategy by uncovering variations with higher search volumes or lower competition, increasing your chances of ranking well.