One ongoing struggle as a creator is dealing with creative ruts. Sometimes you simply don’t know what to create that would be worthwhile for audiences. Some find inspiration by scrolling through their social feeds to see what other people in their niche are talking about. Others may engage with their audience to see if any ideas spark. Unfortunately, there comes a time when no amount of scrolling seems to be producing amazing ideas during your brainstorming sessions. And, quality content that drives traffic seems impossible to create.
Tools to try for content that drives traffic
Beyond simply finding inspiration for content, creators often find themselves walking a thin line between creating content they’re passionate about and creating content that their respective audiences will find helpful. Don’t fret because all is not lost. To help you end mindless scrolling in the hope of inspiration sparking, you should practice keyword research during your brainstorm sessions. Below you can find some helpful keyword researching tools that will guide you through creating content that has the numbers to back it.
1. Google Keyword Planner
Though Google Keyword Planner was created for marketers looking to buy ads on Google, it’s an excellent tool for content creators. You can weed out what current and potential audience may be searching for on the web. Google Keyword Planner shows search results for a specified keyword in terms of volume within a specific period and how those search results have changed over time. In addition to giving data, the tool also suggests related keywords that may help you get your creative juices flowing. This can help you create less broad content and answer your audience’s very specific queries.
You can check out this detailed tutorial to help you understand how to use Google Keyword Planner specifically for keyword research.
2. Google Trends
Compared to Google Keyword Planner, which, as we mentioned earlier, displays the actual search volume of a keyword over a specified period of time, Google Trends shows the relative popularity of the inputted keyword based on what others are searching ranking queries 0 to 100 (100 be a trending search).
For example, if you want to write a blog post about the best cameras for content creators, you can check Google Trends. Here, you can see the search term’s popularity, when spikes for the term may occur, and what regions the keyword trends in. Another cool feature of Google Trends is finding related queries based on what’s on the rise and the overall top contenders.
3. Pinterest Trends
This is your friendly reminder that Pinterest is a social media site and a powerful search engine with well over 400 Million active users. Although Pinterest may not be your first choice for keyword research, it’s worth tapping into from a keyword research perspective. If users are searching for the information on Pinterest, chances are that they’re searching elsewhere too. Similar to Google Trends, Pinterest shows relative search volume, ranging from 0 to 100.
4. Google Search Console
Considering Google is the largest search engine globally, it’s no surprise that the company has created quite a few handy tools to help creators, marketers, etc., speak to their search engine in a way that will connect them to their audience. When you’ve somewhat gotten the hang of keyword researching and have optimized your site for SEO, you want to tune into how your efforts pay off over time (hello, evergreen content)—that’s where Google Search Console comes in. This platform allows you to understand better how folks are finding your site, aka what keywords are driving them to you. Google Search Console also does a tremendous job of showing you how to improve your site to drive even more traffic.
5. UberSuggest
A natural part of being a content creator is scoping out the competition. Sometimes, when you have an idea for a piece of content you’d like to create, you want to see how people may have already approached it and how you want to fill in the gaps. If you’re going to kill two birds with one stone (competition analysis and keyword research), a very helpful tool is UberSuggest. This is a free Google Chrome extension that gives your keyword search data while you do your own search on the web. One of the best things about UberSuggest is that you can also search on platforms such as Amazon and YouTube to get comprehensive data on a specific keyword’s search volume on those particular sites.
Of course, the free Chrome extension mainly gives you the surface-level stuff that will point you in the right direction. However, paid plans start at $29 per month and can give you more detailed information that can help you level up your keyword research efforts, such as rank tracking and thorough competitive analysis.
No matter which of these keyword tools you opt for, you can still plan your content that drives traffic wisely. Remember that research is where it counts.
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