Ever lost something down the sofa?
Annoying isn’t it.
Well, content gaps are rankings that have fallen down the sofa.
Want to find them? (and dust off the fluff)
🔍 How to find content gaps
In this article I’ll walk you through how to use APIs + spreadsheets to find content gaps you can fill in with, well… content.
Let’s go:
What are content gaps?
As defined by me, content gaps are keywords you rank for past page 3 (Avg. Position 20-100 and beyond).
These are probably going to be topics that are related and relevant to your site, but are not being targeted with content. Or maybe they and could just do with better on-page optimisation.
The point is, these are pages that are already ranking, just not as well as they could be.
These are the angsty teenagers of the keyword world, skulking in the background not reaching their potential.
So give them a nudge.
Eh, is this just content gap analysis?
Good question. Kind of, but not really.
Content gap analysis, in the traditional sense, is where you look at which keywords your competitors are ranking for and you are not.
This tool doesn’t do this.
( I say “tool”, it’s really a content marketing spreadsheet.)
If you want to do that, go check out Ahrefs or SEMRush, they both do content gap analysis straight out the box.
So I guess this tool could be better described as an internal content gap finder.
How do I find content gaps?
By searching each one of your keywords in Google manually, then writing the ranking position down in a leather bound book that slowly starts to gather dust and weighs you down as your never ending task consumes your life, Googling forever and draining your laptop and your mental energy.
Of you could hire a freelance SEO to find them for you.
Or you could just use my Content Gap Finder tool I built in Google Sheets. It’s a bit quicker.
👉Get yourself a copy of the content gap finder sheet here.👈
How it works & setup instructions
Analyses gsc data to look for keywords ranking position 20 and beyond
1) Install this add-on to pull in SC data:
searchanalyticsforsheets.com
2) Configure the add-on:
Authorize your sheet
Go to Add-ons >>> Search Analytics for Sheets >>> Open Sidebar
⚠️Make sure your Google account is authorized to use the Search Console property you want to back up!⚠️
Authorize.
Choose site.
Add Query & Page to the Group By box.
3) Choose Data Destination
In Results Sheet, select ‘RAW DATA’
Request data.
Any existing data in the RAW DATA tab will be overwritten.
This will fill the tab with data.
4) Add search volumes for your keywords.
The quickest way to get a rough idea of search volumes is to use Keywords Everywhere. It’s a free chrome plugin that that allows you to bulk look up keywords.
Since removing this feature, if you need to get search volumes for free, you can use: SearchVolume.io
PS 🗣️ you can try out the amusingly named Keywords Nowhere for a free alternative chrome extension.
Once you’ve got your data, copy and paste it into the Search Volumes tab.
Click in cell A1 and paste in your keywords.
4) Go look at your Content Gaps! 👍
The CONTENT GAPS tab will show you
How to fill in content gaps
So now you’ve got a nice list of pages and keywords to go optimize. But what kind of ways can you fill in your content gaps?
Add content
Look at the keywords you don’t have pages for… and then create pages for them.
If you are lucky (or unlucky depending how you look at it) the tool will give you a list of new pages you should really have on your site.
Go create them, optimize, get them indexed and start tracking.
That doesn’t mean you should just start creating loads of pages obviously
Group your keywords together where it makes sense for strong topical relevance.
It’s a lot more effective to have one large authority pages targeting multiple keywords than individual pages for each.
Go after the long tail
Long tail keywords are queries that are made up of at least 3 words.
They are more specific so have a stronger search intent, help in targeting niche audiences (vs mass audiences) and are more focused.
I guess the biggest advantage is that they are generally less competitive to rank for.
Long-tail keywords are used to target niche demographics rather than mass audiences. In other words, they’re more specific and often less competitive than generic keyword terms.
In order to find find longtail variations of your keywords, use tools like:
Update old content
You don’t always have to create brand new content, you could just look at old content and improve it.
Trying to target more keywords (providing it makes logical sense to do so) could be a better idea than building a page from scratch.
When refreshing new content, just make sure to keep the URL the same otherwise you are losing your advantage.
Repurpose
Repurposing content saves time (sometimes).
It might be that your content isn’t engaging and could work better in a different format. Or maybe it would just be more useful in a different medium.
Here’s a couple of guides to help you along with repurposing content:
- 12 Great Examples That Prove the Power of Repurposing Content
- 12 Ways to Extend the Life of Every Article You Write
- 27 Awesome Ways of Repurposing Content
Re-focus
Maybe you are not quite addressing the searchers query.
Refocusing you page content to answer what a user actually wants to know can be all it takes.
Do some keyword research, look at the UX of your page and use Google Analytics data and make some tweaks .
Building on content that works
The crux of this tool is to show you what content is already working, so you can build upon them (just like with quick win keywords)..
Sometimes starting from scratch is leaving quick wins on the table.
Hint: sort by Clicks and filter to only show CTR 20% or over.
Sometimes you’ll notice a recurring theme that performs well in your niche. Create more content around this or even re-purpose existing content.
All that’s left is to go get yourself a copy of the Content Gap Finder and starting plugging in those gaps.