All Blurring Into One: How to Choose Content Topics to Meet Business Goals With Your SEO Strategy
By Ethan Lazuk
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A lot of companies want to blog, just like they want to use social media, etc.
And they should!
(Well, in many instances, anyway.)
But, one of the most common questions I got over the years (and get today) is, “What should we write about?”
Great question!
The answer is that it depends on you.
Your brand, your audience, your resources, your business goals, they should all be incorporated into your content topic selection for SEO.
That said, there are key concepts to keep in mind.
Those are what we’ll discuss in this post. 🙂
Here’s a summary of what to expect:
But first, here are a few ideas about creating content for SEO purposes to keep in mind
Just a couple of months ago, I created a blog post to explain what Google means when they tell us to create “helpful, reliable, people-first content.”
I plan to update that post again soon, as the world of SEO is always evolving. (Hopefully, I’ll have a fourth helpful content update to talk about this time.) 😉
But one of the big takeaways from that post was that for years, there’s pretty much been a traditional way of creating SEO content.
It largely worked, until it didn’t, so much.
That traditional approach usually went like this:
- Do keyword research
- Run a competitive gap analysis
- Group your topics into clusters (a pillar-cluster or hub-and-spoke model)
- Pick a target keyword (or topic), and supporting keywords, for each post or page
- Search that keyword on Google and look at the top results
- Create a new page outline based on top results (and your goals)
- Do some on-page SEO to incorporate keywords, headings, links, etc.
- Publish, link to the page from related pages, maybe submit it to Search Console, and/or share it on social media or via email
- Monitor the page’s rankings in Search Console and its engagement metrics in GA4
- Refresh the content as needed (based on rankings changes, intent shifts, information updates)
- Rinse and repeat
I don’t want to suggest every marketer, agency, or business created SEO content this way.
Some follow a more people-first approach, like we’ll be laying out later. Others don’t use all those steps to begin with, or maybe they have generative AI do a lot of the work.
That said, what I laid out is a traditional approach that many have used or still follow.
It’s definitely not a bad approach, either!
If you have authors (or reviewers) with real-life expertise or experience and/or unique insights, and you’re mentioning them on the page — authorship isn’t a ranking factor itself, but it still aligns with best practices for creating helpful content, in general — you’ll likely create some quality content that can rank in search results.
Except, do you notice what’s missing so far?
There’s no mention of the audience …
The key/word: know thy audience
Keyword research is a fundamental SEO practice.
But what is a keyword, really?
It’s a query — a question, request, ambition, etc. — that a user puts into a search bar to find something relevant, usually to solve a need, learn a thing, or complete a goal.
Keywords are descriptions of human aspirations translated into the language of search engines.
That said, the keyword-ese of yesteryear is giving way to more conversational (natural language) queries.
This is in part thanks to Google’s advancing natural language processing (NLP) capabilities and users’ growing familiarity with generative AI chatbot prompts (especially when they’re exploring a topic) and voice search (especially when they know what they want).
Semantic search
Voice search, natural language understanding (NLU), and similar technologies making up today’s search landscape also depend more on semantic search.
Here’s a good explanation of semantic search:
“Unlike keyword search, which relies on exact word-for-word matching, semantic search interprets a query’s “true meaning” and intent — it goes beyond merely matching keywords to produce more results that bear a relationship to the original query.
For example, a semantic search querying “best budget laptops” would understand that the user is looking for “affordable” laptops without querying for that exact term. The search recognizes the contextual relationships between words.
This works because of text embeddings or mathematical representations of meaning that capture nuances. It’s an interesting process of feeding a query through an embedded model that, in turn, converts the query into a set of numeric vectors that can be used for matching and making associations.“ [Highlights added.]
– A Simple Guide To Retrieval Augmented Generation Language Models, Joas Pambou, Smashing Magazine (1/26/24)
What does this mean for your SEO content approach?
Well, you can look more beyond keywords to consider word context, relevance, entities, and vector space models.
I highly recommend reading Relevance is Not a Qualitative Measure for Search Engines by Mike King at iPullRank.
The article explains word vectors and embeddings in the context of natural language processing, content relevance, and search engine rankings. It also goes into transformer architectures, like Google’s BERT, which are neural networks that capture the meaning and context of sentences.
The article also links to Orbitwise, a free cosine similarity tool that you can use to check your content’s relevance against its target keyword or topic and competitors.
Case study – how relevant was my last blog post?
Here’s an example using Orbitwise for an article I wrote recently about “SEO tips for artists.”
So far, it’s not ranking very well in search results. Most of the top results are art domains, not SEO sites like mine, so there’s that. But also keep in mind, I didn’t do any keyword research or competitive analysis for that post.
Here we can see my domain (the purple dot) is a little left of the grouping of top results.
My post has a decent relevance score (76), higher than the 3rd and 5th results …
… but maybe I should do a little more competitive research and update it, to make it more relevant?
As I explained in my 11x content framework article, I see SEO content as a living and breathing adventure. That means updates based on performance insights or audience feedback come with the territory.
My first version of the article was based on a client deliverable, so it looks like I have more work to do to make it appeals to a wider audience and rank better. (No doubt, I’ll probably need to mention “get backlinks,” sigh.) 😉
But the larger point is this …
Simply because a person searches for a keyword on Google doesn’t mean they want to find a page that mentions that word.
Let me explain.
Understanding search intent
Oftentimes, yes, a page should include keywords it’s trying to rank for.
The guide I wanted to rank for “SEO tips for artists” mentions that phrase in the H1 heading and title tag.
But keyword inclusion isn’t the ultimate goal.
People look on Google to satisfy the search intents keywords convey.
That’s where choosing your content topics begins.
I wrote that “SEO tips for artists” post because I offer free SEO help to artists, so the page targeted a search intent of my intended audience.
The relevant portion wasn’t the “SEO” part; it was the “for artists” part.
That’s an important distinction to remember.
To illustrate it a little more, I’ll use the idea of “authority.”
Google Search has an acronym called E-E-A-T, which stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust. While E-E-A-T isn’t a ranking factor or system, aligning with its criteria helps your contents’ chances of success on Search.
The authority piece, in particular, has a prominent history in different ways for SEO, whether it’s “PageRank” authority, domain authority (DA) scores from third-party tools (which shouldn’t be KPIs), the authority of individual authors, and so on.
SEO lore also has the idea of “topical authority.” There are legitimate ways to think about this topic, so don’t get me wrong. But the usual way it’s conceptualized is that by writing lots of content to cover a topic in depth (and linking those related pages together in a hub-and-spoke model), you’ll demonstrate your authoritativeness with a topic cluster.
Definitely, if you write a lot of quality content on a topic, and it aligns with E-E-A-T, you’ll show authority on a topic. But it’s not a sort of secret ranking advantage.
Google’s core rankings systems evaluate content on an individual page level, for most intents and purposes. The helpful content system does look at site-wide quality, but mostly pages stand on their own merits.
Just because you created 20 specific posts about bass fishing keywords doesn’t mean your main “Bass Fishing Guide” is going to rank better.
That, I think, is a point of confusion some brands or marketers have when choosing content topics for SEO.
Topics should drive “qualified” clicks
I’ve seen content calendars get built by putting a broad, high volume seed keyword or topic into a keyword research tool, exporting a CSV file of related terms, including ones with commercial intent, longtail queries, or questions, and then creating a spreadsheet of content topics for them all.
The topics might get prioritized by adding filters for columns like search volume, difficulty, or other metrics.
If nothing else, please remember this:
Just because a keyword is relevant to a topic and has search volume, doesn’t mean people searching it are your audience.
While you want to select keywords that are relevant to your main topic (cluster), content topics should also be on your audience’s buyer’s journey to have value for your business goals.
Not all traffic is created equal. There’s a difference between a regular click and a qualified click.
A click is any instance of organic traffic from Search to your site, whereas a qualified click is from someone who’s need your business can serve.
I’ve worked with clients over the years who got oodles of clicks to popular blog posts. While their homepages might get 500 clicks per month, these popular posts could get 2,000 or more.
The problem was those posts’ topics were usually general or loosely relevant to business goals. That means, of those 2,000 clicks, maybe 1% were from qualified visitors, if that.
Your goal isn’t clicks, but clicks that convert your organic visitors to paying customers.
That’s why choosing content topics for your SEO strategy starts with making sure they’re on your audience’s buyer’s journey.
Buyer’s journey content – the first step in choosing topics
A buyer’s journey (or user journey) is the path a user takes through the sales funnel — awareness, consideration, and decision stages — to complete a goal. In a business context, the goal usually ends with a transaction of some kind.
Buyer’s journeys work like this, first people identify their need, then they learn about and compare solutions, and finally they choose one. How they decide on a solution, and the online and offline marketing collateral, brand representations, and information they encounter along the way, represents their buyer’s journey.
Organic search is typically just one touchpoint of many. That said, SEO can play a role during any or all stages of a buyer’s journey.
Other touchpoints might include paid ads on search or social, email campaigns, organic social media, video content, gated content assets, offline advertising, or real-world experiences, like seeing a brand on a store shelf or trying a product after a friend’s recommendation.
Back in 2020, Think with Google researchers published an influential Consumer Insights post and accompanying study, “Decoding Decision,” about consumer journeys, and what they called “the ‘messy middle’ of the purchase journey.”
The Think with Google team’s diagram and its description look like this:
Here’s how the researchers described their findings:
“In our model, between the twin poles of trigger and purchase, sits the messy middle, in which consumers loop between exploring and evaluating the options available to them until they are ready to purchase. This process takes place against an ever-present backdrop of exposure – effectively a substrate representing all of the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions the shopper has about the categories, brands, products, and retailers. After purchase comes experience with both brand and product, all of which feeds back into the sum total of exposure.
That’s the simple version …” [Highlights added.]
– Decoding Decisions: Making sense of the messy middle, Think with Google (PDF)
What does that mean for your SEO content strategy?
You have pretty much unlimited opportunities for content topics, as long as they’re relevant to your consumer’s journey and likely to surface in organic search results.
Before we discuss how to choose topics, though, it’s also important to remember, ranking for keywords in search results is just one of many ways to get value from SEO content.
There’s a constantly growing and evolving frontier of organic search surfaces that exists today.
Places where your content can surface besides Google’s normal search results include:
- Google Discover (on mobile, and maybe desktop soon)
- People also view in SGE while browsing (like a mini Discover)
- Google Perspectives (filter and carousel)
- Google shopping graph features
- Google knowledge graph features (like knowledge panels)
And the big hybrid sort of one is SGE snapshots (generative AI in search results).
According to a recent study reported on by Search Engine Land, 94% of the results linked in Google SGE answers were different from normal search results.
Matt G. Southern of Search Engine Journal also had a good insight in his coverage of Google’s 2023 Q2 earnings call (which I mentioned more in my rankings volatility article):
“Moving to a more conversational and contextual search that synthesizes information could benefit smaller sites with authoritative, in-depth content on niche topics.”
– Matt G. Southern, SEL
If your business has the capacity to create great content at scale, you can do so for topics likely to rank for keywords in search results or SGE snapshots (and other types of generative AI chat answers), as well as appear organically in relevant feeds, like Discover or People also view. You can also explore other content types, like social, video, or forums and discussion boards.
SGE in particular is a double-edged sword, though, because creating content for easily answerable questions or broad topics — usually derived from enticingly high-volume keywords — could mean generative AI can provide a better answer than you.
So think about what content generative AI can’t produce but you could, like personal insights or creative approaches your audience will appreciate and benefit from.
Meanwhile, even though backlinks are seemingly less important than in the past, they still matter for SEO. To create content that builds links, consider avenues like digital PR, strategies for content distribution, or link-magnet content.
Now that we’re aware of all the context behind topic selection, let’s explore how to do it!
Topic selection processes for SEO content
First off, let me apologize up front, because this section has kind of a Jack Kerouac On the Road-style stream-of-consciousness vibe.
I’d suggest reading it top to bottom, but I’ll throw in some headings to help organize the thoughts. (In a future version, I’ll refine this a bit, as well.)
Why topic clusters help
I like the pillar-cluster and hub-and-spoke models. First of all, they’re a popular way to sell SEO and content services at agencies, so many businesses are familiar with the terminology.
That aside — really far aside 😉 — I think grouping content into clusters helps organize and prioritize your topics, as well as benefits your internal linking strategies and ensures you’re covering as many stages of the buyer’s journey as possible.
Stakeholder interviews
I like to start the topic ideation process with interviews of business stakeholders.
By talking to lead client contacts, company sales and customer service reps, and other team members enmeshed in day-to-day matters, you can gain tons of insight for who your audience is and what business goals you’re trying to meet.
Personas (sort of)
After stakeholder interviews, I like to create personas for the target audience(s).
I’m not going to lie to you, I used to find some aspects of this to be kind of corny.
“‘Couch Potato Kevin is a 25-55 year old male with an income of $40-60k who likes to enjoy snacks on-the-go but is looking for a container to keep them fresh.”
The value of audience insights definitely grew on me over the years.
But when I say “personas,” I mostly just mean creating a list of audience pain points, demographics, and other characteristics, such as:
- What’s their problem to solve?
- What solutions might they already know or have tried?
- How might they perceive the brand?
- Where might they live?
- What reading level might they be at?
- What other interests might they have?
With some knowledge of the business’s goals and solutions and people who can benefit from them, now we turn to keyword research, as we can start to understand how each term’s search intent might be relevant.
Keyword research
I’ll typically start keyword research by plugging in seed topics for each cluster.
Many times, you can find long-tail variations to build organic lists from.
For example, if we see “blue potato chip container,” we can guess “red potato chip container” is probably a relevant term.
If the business has solid historical Google Search Console data, I’ll usually look for keywords there, as well. By filtering the performance reports with regex or other filters, you can find queries of certain impression ranges, average positions, or that contain key terms.
GSC query mining can help you identify content gaps as well as pages to refresh for improved relevance.
I’ll also look at sites like Amazon (for ecommerce), Reddit, or other industry UGC sources, where we can find reviews or see what topics people talk about in the wild.
For new or trending topics, I’ll usually turn to Google Trends or TikTok’s Keyword Insights tool.
Of course, I’ll also use AlsoAsked to identify questions people have for which Google is returning People also ask answers.
We’re not necessarily looking for content topics at this point.
We’re trying to identify a huge list of words, phrases, questions, and ideas that we can group into the different topical clusters.
ChatGPT can be used for content ideation, too, like to get inspiration or even help with clustering.
SERP analysis
Once I’ve grouped my lists of random terms into topical clusters, usually in a Google Sheet or Excel document, where each cluster has its own tab, I turn to Google Search.
I take each term (or just the best ones, if I have a huge list) and start searching them (or their variations) to see what types of results come up.
I’ll observe whether the SERP appears competitive or not, how diverse it is (different intents or industries present, etc.), the types of content (category pages, product grids, blog posts, guides, rich results, videos, images, etc.).
For example, while “potato chip container options” seems like a transactional SERP with product filters that may produce long-tail variations:
The results for “how to make my own potato chip container” are informational, and heavy on video content:
I’m also looking to see if a keyword or topic returns results specific to a topic, or if the results are for a different primary topic.
For example, I’ve worked with a fair bit of medical clients.
A keyword about a medication’s “side effects” might return dedicated posts, or the results could be more holistic, like guides that mention side effects, dosages, prices, how to get prescriptions, etc.
And sometimes, it’s a mix:
Maybe in that case, we could do both a holistic guide and a specific post on side effects. Either way, they’d have unique audiences, to a degree.
Buyer’s journey mapping
Once we have a list of topics chosen and SERP insights for each, we can start to map them out in a buyer’s journey for each cluster.
For example, would this page come before or after this other one in a user’s journey?
That helps with prioritizing the order to create them, but also strategies for internal linking and what content to mention in which post to create logical segues.
Another way I try to prioritize clusters is by which ones are most relevant to a business’s goals. For example, which clusters touch audiences interested in the best-selling or most important products or services?
Then within each cluster, we can prioritize the order of content creation by the topic’s relevance and/or importance to a user’s journey. For example, a general guide might come before a specific question, unless the question is very popular.
All of this organization also helps avoid cannibalizing your efforts by creating multiple assets that cover the same topic. I’ve especially seen this happen when there’s no process and topics get proposed ad hoc over a long time period.
Content briefs
I like to create SEO briefs for each piece of content, but not necessarily outlines on what to write.
In past years, I made very detailed outlines that gave a content creator pretty much all the details needed to just fill in the sections with words.
But times have changed, and that’s not a great way to create organic, people-first content, in my experience.
So instead, I like to fill SEO briefs with resources, insights, and other materials that a content creator can use for efficiency and general guidance while still focusing on producing an original, audience-focused piece without too much “SEO” interference.
Content creation
As for who creates the content, my preference is to have a collaborative approach, where the SEO strategist, content specialist, and subject matter expert all contribute.
A first approach is to have a subject matter expert with directly relevant expertise or experience create the content from start to finish, introducing all of the information and details they think are pertinent to the audience’s search intent.
Once a draft is ready, a content specialist edits it thoroughly to ensure the right brand voice, grammar, quality, etc.
Finally, the SEO strategist reviews that content to check heading structures or internal links and massage in semantic triples (subject-predicate-object).
I find that when subject matter experts write the first draft of content, they tend to use their advanced vocabulary and introduce a lot of related keywords and entities that enrich its contextual relevance. From there, it’s more just formatting, style, and SEO fundamentals.
That said, another approach is to have a content specialist create the first draft of content, and then have a subject matter expert be the reviewer, who adds precise vocabulary and expert context.
Sometimes content is a home run out of the gate, other times pages require a few rounds of back and forth.
The type of content asset also plays a role in who’s involved and how it’s created.
A product page, for instance, likely doesn’t need a subject matter expert to write or even review it, but it would need a high level of concise detail and unique copy.
Content refreshes
How often should you revisit your published content to refresh or update it?
I’d say as often as you have a reason to do so!
I like to monitor performance data in Search Console, like query clicks, average positions, and clickthrough rates, and GA4 engagement metrics, like time on page, to determine whether the content is performing as intended or needs adjustment. (Screen recordings in Microsoft Clarity can offer good insights for content structure and page experience, as well.)
Sometimes, there are seasonal trends that necessitate refreshes. For instance, a page’s audience might be adults in the summer but youths in the spring or fall. I’ve seen that, as well.
Future-proofing your content
Google ranking system updates and their impacts on content performance are often on people’s minds. No one wants to be on the receiving end of the helpful content system or reviews system’s wrath, let alone a core update.
But as long as you’re creating helpful, people-first content that’s reliable and high quality, you’ll likely weather the updates from Google and probably come through the other side stronger.
However, that doesn’t mean your audience’s behaviors or search intents won’t change, which Google could respond to by adjusting rankings.
The advent of new competition from places like Reddit or more visual SERPs, new sites who approached a topic in a more innovative way, let alone generative AI features are also omnipresent and worth monitoring.
Freshness has value, too, as the more recent your information is, the more helpful the content is bound to be. Just remember to demonstrate that recency with an updated “last modified” date, and avoid trying to pull any tricks with it. 😉
Need a hand with all of this?
I offer content services to help with everything we’ve just discussed through my company, Ethan Lazuk Consulting, LLC.
Don’t hesitate to reach out about how I can help meet your business goals with content for SEO.
“Jigsaw falling into place”
This post has been a crash course in topic selection. And there’s more to come!
In the coming days (or weeks), I hope to expand this with more screenshots and examples of keyword research, topic clustering, personas, and more to give you richer context.
Until then, enjoy the vibes:
Thanks for reading. Happy optimizing! 🙂
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