Go beyond traditional keyword research tools and ask people
All the above methods (albeit excellent) tackle already discovered opportunities that you or your competitors are already ranking high. But how about venturing beyond that?
One way to identify new content opportunities is by gathering direct feedback from your audience and internal teams. This approach allows you to understand specific needs, pain points, and the language people use when searching for information.
Here are several ways to collect direct feedback:
On-site surveys: Use on-site survey tools to ask your readers, customers, and followers how they search and what questions they ask. Tools like WPForms, Hotjar, or Google Forms are great options for embedding surveys on your website.
Customer interviews: Conduct one-on-one interviews with your customers to understand their experiences, challenges, and how they search for solutions online.
Speak to customer-facing teams: Your customer support and service teams often receive questions and concerns directly from customers. These insights can help you understand your audience’s frequently asked questions. Content addressing these concerns will more likely capture a featured snippet, which often aligns with peoples’ specific queries.
Engage with sales teams: Sales teams regularly interact with potential customers and prospects. They deeply understand the objections and questions that arise during the sales process. Use the feedback to create content that addresses pre-purchase queries or educates prospects about your product or service, increasing your chances of ranking for keywords that trigger featured snippets.
Consult lifecycle marketing teams: Lifecycle teams usually analyze feedback to gauge customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a product. They can provide valuable insights into the types of educational content or how-to guides that customers find helpful. Content that aligns could target long-tail keywords and instructional queries, which often feature snippets.