(spoiler: it’s keyword research)
Let’s say I want to build a topic hub around ‘project management best practices’ but I know nothing about that topic.
KW tools are great but I need to give them good inputs to get good outputs.
Sooo, Google that keyword. Open up the #1 result. Copy all the text.
Paste that text into a word cloud tool to see popular words & phrases.
I use this one (it’s free but you need to sign up):
https://monkeylearn.com/word-cloud/
Here’s what the word cloud looks like for the #1 ranked article for ‘project management best practices’ :
You can pull out content ideas + new seed keywords (you may have missed), like:
* project management software
* project management template
* scope creep
* project tracker template
Nice mix of informational content + useful assets like templates.
Go check the topics are viable keywords to go after. Run them through Ahrefs or wherever.
Good volume but high KD. But don’t worry too much about that for now. You have something better:
Niche seed keywords 🙌
Repeat the process using your newly discovered seed keywords. Let’s use ‘scope creep’ to pull out terms + run those through Ahrefs.
Now we are talking. Good volumes vs KD, informational intent & topically relevant:
This is just basic keyword research really:
*find topic-relevant seeds → generate keyword list*
But when you don’t know much about a topic, word clouds can be a great (+ free) way to extract topical talking points, which you otherwise wouldn’t be aware of.