How to Find Content Topic That Generates Links and awareness
Have you ever wondered why your content pages are not getting the number of views you planned for? It might not be for a lack of quality. Instead, your audience cannot find it all!
In fact, generating awareness for your content is a part as important as creating content. And contents that generate awareness are the ones that generate links to themselves.
The way to generate links and consequently, awareness is through finding content topics that do the same. All you need to do is use keyword research tools in the process.
This blog post will help you find content topics that will generate links and awareness. In this way, you can increase your organic traffic by appearing on top of search engine results.
Why Do You Need a Topic like that?
There is no doubt that great content is a prerequisite for success. But you also need to have content that appears on top of search engine results.
Think about it as a customer. When you search for something on Google, how many times do you go to the next page? Do you even click on the links that come after the first 3 to 4 top results? This is why it is important for your content to rank on top of search engine results.
Search engines like Google rank a webpage based on how many sites link the webpage on their sites. The more (and the better quality) sites that link your webpage on their site, the more is the chance your content page will appear on top of Google’s search result!
Therefore, you not only need good quality content, but you also need content that ranks high on search engines. And a good topic will help you write content with higher rankings.
How to find link generating topics?
To find link generating topics that will rank your content pages higher on Google, you first need to find keywords. Keywords are search terms used during the search process.
After finding the keywords, you can then write the headline and the body for your content article. It is a six-step process.
You can find keywords in two methods- internal keywords research and competitors’ keywords research. Both methods contain the first three steps which will lead you to the next three steps.
Method-1: Internal keyword research
You can always search for keywords from your own brainstorming. This internal keyword research process is less time consuming than the one for competitors’ keyword research.
Step 1: Make a keyword Sheet.
Your keyword sheet is a list of all potential topics on which you want to create content. You might have already created one when making plans for content.
If you have trouble finding potential topics, use keyword research tools such as AnswerThePublic. These tools provide you with questions and subjects people are searching for regarding your topic.
To begin, simply type in the field you want to make content about (e.g. sports, organic food, etc.). And the results will appear. AnswerThePublic lets you download the results as a CSV file.
Step 2: Analyze topics that will generate links
Once you find topics you want to make contents on, you need to select the ones that can generate links. Keyword research tools can again help you in the process.
Keywords research tools such as Ahrefs, UberSuggest, SEMrush, Backlinko, etc. can help you in the process. Simply type in the keyword you want to rank for and these tools will show you the competition, search volume and potential of the keyword.
Another keyword research tool that you can use is BuzzSumo’s Content Discovery Tool. It is a content research tool that helps you analyze keywords according to its popularity, competitiveness, and relevance. The tool also suggests topics for you.
Step 3: Select long-tail keywords as topics
From the keyword research, select keywords that are less competitive and have high search volume. This will give your content more potential to appear on the top of the search results.
Ideally, you should select long-tail keywords- keywords that are quite specific. Example: Budget Paleo Diet is a more specific keyword than Paleo Diet and thus a long tail keyword.
The keyword selected will thus be the topic for your content.
Method-2: Competitor’s keyword research
Sometimes the field your content platform works on tends to be very competitive. You might want to create content on digital marketing but there are already tons of content out thereby highly reputed companies.
To beat the competition, another way to find topics that have not been covered by the giants. Here’s how it works:
Step 1. Search for competitors’ content
The first step in this method is to find the competition in your target field. Simply type in your target Keyword on Google’s search bar and click to see the results.
Copy the top-ranking results. However, make sure the URL leads to sites that are credible and usually produce a lot of content.
Step 2: Find popular web pages
After copying the top-ranking results, paste them on Ahrefs’s search bar. Then go to Pages results under the Top pages section on the right.
Under the Pages result, you will find web pages of your competitor’s sites that are generating traffic. Your objective here is to find web pages that get more shares. Logically, traffic-generating content is popular but we’ll try other features of ahrefs to find popular content.
Go to ahrefs Content explorer tab Put one of your competitors URL. Ahrefs Will show your competitor’s most shared content. Here’s what ahrefs do after you put the url on the bar, Ahrefs find the most shared article from your competitor’s domain and store them in front of you. The similar thing you can do with Buzzsumo. In my experience, Ahrefs Content Explorer is better than Buzzsumo, in some cases.
Choose keywords you haven’t covered yet.
Step 4: Write a headline based on your chosen keyword
Having chosen your keyword for the topic, it is time to make your content. The first step is to make a top-ranking, eye-catching headline or title.
One of the factors Google uses to rank pages is the headline of the page. So, the more relevant your headline is with the keyword- the better chance you will get to rank on top.
In addition, a headline related to the keyword helps searchers understand that your content is the right one for them. And they will more likely click on your webpage.
Of course, you need to be creative in writing your headline as well. The headline should not just contain your keyword, it must attract the attention of your audience as well.
Find keyword phrases to create an appealing headline
When you search on Google, you often type in your search as a phrase or sentence instead of a single word. For example, You are more likely to type, “How to make chocolate cookies” instead of just “Chocolate cookies” alone. Most searchers are like this as well.
So one way to make keywords appealing is to place in the keyword phrase searches type. To find such keyword phrases, google the keyword and then look at the related searches found in the bottom of the search result.
Note down all keyword phrases. Then using keyword research tools, you can analyze the keyword phrases and select the one with the highest-ranking as a headline.
Alternatively, you can look at the headlines written by the top-performing sites. Using their headlines as ideas, you can make your own headline.
Make an attractive headline
The second part of creating a headline is to make it attractive. Keyword phrases will just help you rank on top of search results. Your page will still be fighting with other pages for attention.
To catch the attention of searchers, the topic of your headline must, therefore, be eye-catching. Here are some ways you can make your headline eye-catching:
- Keep it short: The ideal length of a headline is 50 to 60 characters. Google will only show the first 60 characters if your title exceeds above 60 characters.
- Use a quote: Quotes from a related expert as a title shows the authority of your content on that topic.
- Place numbers: Placing numbers like “9 ways to….” makes your content appear specific. You can also use statistics like “75% of users….” in your headline.
- Begin with a question: For finding solutions, searches often type their search as a question. You can mimic the question as your title (like, “How to…..”).
Step 5: Create your content
You can now move to the most important step- making your content. As a content creator, you might already have known the basics of making good content.
What you might need to know is that your content must also be able to generate links and awareness like the content topic. If your content is not conveying what your headline said it would, people will stop visiting your page. This will harm your search ranking.
Here are some well-established rules for writing content to generate links and awareness:
- Keywords in your content: Make sure the keyword you have chosen appears in your content especially in the first 100 words.
- Keywords should appear naturally: Having said keywords should appear in your content, they should also appear naturally. Google’s algorithm understands when keywords are forced into the content.
- Use synonyms and related words: Use synonyms and words related to keywords in your content. For example, if you are writing about football, you can write about FIFA, some football players, and clubs as well.
In addition, follow the rules for making good content- using multimedia (images, videos, and infographics), easy-to-read words, and having a considerable word length (1000-1500 words usually).
Step 6: Boom! Share your content.
Congratulations! You have finished creating your content. As part of increasing your organic traffic, share your content on social media.
Sharing your content on social media is also a great way to generate links and awareness. The contents that are interacted more (i.e. liked, commented and shared) indicate to Google that they are high-quality content. And Google’s algorithm thus ranks them higher.
Conclusion
You can now finally make content that will generate links and build awareness. Try out these six steps and let us know if it has worked for you.
