Advanced Keyword Research For Better Content Creation

If you take writing online seriously you must have heard about keyword research. You may have even gone deeper to understand what it is and how to do it.

But I’m here to tell you that most of what you know is only half of the equation. There’s advanced keyword research. That doesn’t mean you have to read more articles or watch dozens of YouTube videos.

In fact, the other half is rather simple. It’s just a little mindset shift that will help you get the most out of your online writing efforts.

Combine this with the little or much you know about keyword research and you’ll be able to write content people want to read, save, and share.

 

What the majority of people know about keyword research

Many business owners and content people think of keyword research as a way of finding keywords they can rank for. There’s a popular mantra saying look for “high volume, low difficulty” keywords.

And they’re right.

But the other equally important aspect of keyword research less talked about is “figuring out what the users expect when they search with those keywords.” I’ll call this user expectation going forward.

I’m not talking about keyword intent here. Although similar, user expectation is a lot deeper than keyword intent.

 

The problem with classic keyword research

Classic keyword research says find keywords that give you the best return on investment and group your keywords into one of four intents: informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional.

All good.

Now you have a high value keyword and a good estimate of user intent.

But where do you go from there?

What exactly should you write for the people searching with that keyword? What do they really care about?

The problem with classic keyword research is that it gives you a destination without telling you how to get there. It leaves you without direction.

That’s why this other half, finding out user expectations, is important.

How finding out user expectation makes classic keyword research better

Decoding user expectation gives you the map to get to your destination.

It shows you what users want, when, where, and how they want it.

Nailing user expectations is like getting into their heads.

You’ll be able to speak their language. You’ll uncover their deepest challenges, fears and desires.

You’ll be able to answer their questions without them asking.

 

How to do advanced keyword research [find out user expectation]

You most likely already know how to find good keywords and discover search intent.

Now I want to show you how I discover user expectations.

Although there are a handful of keyword research tools that can do this for you within seconds to minutes, I’ll be taking a manual approach here.

This is because I don’t want to highlight any single tool here, thereby distracting you from the core idea I’m trying to share.

Also, if you can do it manually, you’ll be able to evaluate different tools and find out the best for you.

So, here’s my user expectation research process.

Step 1: Paste your keyword into Google search

At this point, I’m expecting that you already have a list of keywords you want to target. You have to do this for each of your keywords. Yeah I know that sounds tedious, but trust me, it’s worth it.

You’ll reap the benefit when you start writing and repurposing content for different social platforms.

Let’s use the keyword “vending machine business.”

I’ll go to Google, paste my keyword and hit search.

 

Step 2: Go through the people also asked section

Copy the initial people also asked questions into a file.

Click on them to reveal other questions then copy the new questions into your document.

Do this until the questions start feeling repetitive. From my experience, this usually happens around the 100th question.

 

Step 3: Organize the questions into themes

Although at this point you should already have a feel for what users expect, it’s still jumbled up. You have to go through them and notice the patterns.

People ask the same question in different ways.

E.g. These five questions are basically asking the same thing. They want to know how long it will take to start making profits from the vending machine business.

 

Step 4: Create your outline

Although not entirely necessary, creating a logical outline with sections that cover each of the groups in step 3 is a good way to keep your work neat for easy referencing.

Whether you want to write a blog post, an ebook, social media content, create videos, etc, you’ll have something to show you your audience’s expectation at a glance.

 

Step 5: Gather concrete information

Now you know what the users want, gather concrete information so you can write highly practical and helpful content that they will love, save, and share.

You can get this from your personal experiences, interviews with subject matter experts, interactions on forums like reddit, confessions on social media and product/service review sites, and other published works (books, articles, and blog posts).

Case study: how advanced keyword research helps me write better content

Example 1: Leveraging chatbots in digital marketing for productivity

I wrote this article a few days ago.

 

The topic was selected by my client, so we can assume that he did his research and found the keyword good enough and likely to yield returns on the time and resources invested in creating the content.

 

The keyword here is chatbots in digital marketing and it has an informational intent; although going deeper reveals that there are commercial interests too.

 

Here’s what I discovered while trying to uncover user expectations.

Uncertainty about what a chatbot is. They suspect that Siri and Alexa are chatbots.

People want to know how chatbots work, not just how to use them.

Different needs. Some people need a chatbot for their website, others for WhatsApp, Telegram, or Instagram.

Concerns about compliance, safety and acceptance of chatbots. They’re asking questions like “Does WhatsApp allow chatbots?”, “is chatbot safe or not?”, “is chatbot good or bad?”, and “Do customers like chatbots?”

 

What I did with my discovery

I clarified early in my article what a chatbot is and the difference between chatbots and the other things people confuse them with.

I showed how chatbots work.

I addressed the general use of chatbots then went into specific implementations of chatbot marketing on Websites, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Instagram.

Although I didn’t outrightly handle all their concerns about compliance, safety, and acceptance of chatbots, I subtly touched on key areas throughout the post, allaying fears and reassuring them.

[Side Note: While writing this post, I figured that a better way would have been to create a subheading in the article titled “some things to consider before implementing chatbot marketing.” Then handle all concerns under that section.]

The results

A well rounded article that meets user expectations.

I don’t have access to the analytics, but I’m guessing that article would have above average dwell time.

The bounce rate should be low.

 

Example 2: Content writing for beginners

I discovered that beginners are more interested in knowing about the profitability of content writing, less about how to do it.

 

They want to know how much they can earn, the most profitable niches, and general advice to avoid beginner mistakes.

 

With that discovery, I focused more on the benefits and general advice, instead of diving deep into how to write content.

Example 3: How to start a vending machine business

This is one of the first articles I wrote for Pragmapreneur.

 

Again, it was given to me by my client so we can say he did classic keyword research.

 

Here’s what I discovered when I was trying to figure out what users want.

They want to know how fast they can start making profits.

They want to know what it takes to manage vending machines.

They need a step by step process.

 

In my article, I quickly pointed out that the vending machine business is not a quick money scheme, and that patience and long-term thinking is important.

 

I also highlighted a step by step process for those who are sold on the idea.

 

Lastly, I addressed concerns about maintenance of vending machines.

Final Words and Action Steps

Don’t abandon classic keyword research and intent, but pay equal attention to user expectations.

 

Don’t try to give users soda when what they need is a little water.

 

The bulk of this rests on your writers. But if you don’t have safety checks to ensure their work matches user expectations, you may not get much out of your content.

I recommend

Having a content editor/manager who creates content outlines and checks that each piece matches user expectation before publishing.

Having writers who know how to decipher user expectations from search.