Keyword Research Tools for Content Marketing

Keyword research tools go well beyond finding the best keyword phrases and can be applied to help create better content topics.

Keyword research tools can be used to find the best keyword phrases for content, but they also have a whole range of other applications, from helping to come up with new topic ideas, beyond blog posts, to using them to dissect content that drives search traffic to a competitor.

In fact, keyword research tools can even be used to help find the perfect domains for valuable content.

Google AdWords Keyword Planner

Want to get up to 800 content ideas, complete with estimated search volume and competition? Try Google AdWords Keyword Planner. You can start by entering your main keyword phrase and looking at the keyword ideas tab.

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You can download the list as an Excel CSV or in Google Drive. If you see a lot of ideas that you are not interested in, you can use the keywords to include box in the left sidebar to narrow down the results and then download them.

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Another search you can try is to enter your competitor’s blog URL as the landing page to see what keyword ideas you can pull from them.

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Once you have downloaded your list of keyword ideas, save the document in XLS format (if using Excel). Delete all of the columns except the keyword, search volume, and competition. Name the next two columns title and type.

Next, go down the list of keyword phrases and try to come up with a good content title including the keyword phrase. In the “type columns,” indicate the type of content you would create. The result? A lot of great topic ideas for a variety of content types.

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While it’s easy to think of just blog posts, also think of videos, podcasts, interview series, webinar topics, e-book topics, white papers, case studies, and presentations. The more variety you create, the more mileage you can get out of your content by tapping into audiences from YouTube for videos, iTunes for podcasts, and Slideshare for presentations.

UberSuggest

UberSuggest is another great (and free) keyword research tool to use for content marketing. It allows you to see Google’s suggested searches from A to Z with any keyword or keyword phrase.

ubersuggest-image-5-4You can copy and paste these into an Excel document (use the paste special text) and clean up the excess lines. Then do a similar process as above with the keyword ideas from Google AdWords Keyword Planner where you come up with titles and content types for each. Another good use for UberSuggest is branded content. Search for your business name, personal name, etc. to see what searches are linked with your brand.

ubersuggest-image-6-4From this, you may find ideas for blog posts, support documents, FAQ questions, press releases, extensions of your about page, detailed features pages, and other content types. You can even use UberSuggest to catch comparison shoppers by creating pages comparing your product to your most popular competitors. Start with a brand vs. search on UberSuggest.

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Then create landing pages like this:

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You may want to search for your competitor’s on UberSuggest. You might find some good content creation opportunities that show how your product or service is better than your competitor.

SEMrush

Want to analyze the content that drives the most search traffic to your competitor’s website? Try SEMrush. Start by searching for your competitor’s domain name, then clicking on their organic keywords.

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You can use this data to analyze the type of content your competitors are creating. You can start by clicking through to specific landing pages and seeing the additional keyword phrases for which the content ranks.

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You can look at the content itself to learn how they optimize it to rank for specific keyword phrases and where they get backlinks. You can utilize this information to create even better content for your own website.

LongTail Pro

When you create an e-book for sale or to offer as a giveaway for email subscribers, you can promote it both on your main domain and on a separate, keyword-optimized domain. For example, take Paddy Moogan’s e-book on link-building.

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He found the perfect domain for it – linkbuildingbook.com. LongTail Pro is a keyword research tool you can use to not only research great keyword phrases, but to also find great domains for those phrases.

Just start a search for the type of content you are planning to create. Make sure to check the fetch additional data box to have LongTail Pro search for domains as well.

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Then sit back and wait for the results. Use this tactic for your top content – the content that will either make you money or help you build an incredible, targeted email list.

Wrapping It Up

Keyword research tools can help you with various aspects of your content marketing strategy, from coming up with great ideas to finding out how to beat your competitor. Be sure to incorporate some of these tips in your own strategy to start getting better results from your content!

*Homepage image via Shutterstock.

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