How to use Quora for keyword research and content creation?
If you are not familiar with Quora, it is the largest online question and answer platform, where people (mostly) ask genuine questions and receive answers from those who have the knowledge and expertise about that particular topic.
It sounds very simple but, since its launch in 2009, it has grown into a huge platform with over 300 million monthly unique users. And because of that, it can be an absolute goldmine for SEO and content marketing.
After doing some research and experimenting with it, there is a LOT you can do with the platform: from content ideas and creation to establishing an authority.
And you don’t have to spend a lot of time on it either.
So here is how (and also why) you should use Quora as part of your SEO and content marketing strategy.
You can watch the video below and also scroll down for a step-by-step process:
Benefits of Using Quora for SEO & Content Marketing
a) Search Engines May Show Quora Results
As Quora gradually build up their authority, it is only natural for Google to show Quora on the search results if it’s relevant to the search query.
For example, if you search for “how does DuckDuckGo make money”, you will see that Google is ranking them on position 2 of the search result AND it has linked to more Quora answers below them:
As well as being an authoritative site, the answer to that question is incredibly detailed and useful as it is written by the founder, and has been upvoted thousands of times.
No wonder that page, along with many others, is ranking well.
b) Quora Can Be A Great Traffic Source
If you have been consistently answering questions in a genuine and useful way, and you have also linked to a relevant page on your website, this can help generate steady traffic to your site.
This is dependant on many factors though, such as the quality of your answers, your credibility, the popularity of the question and your answer, the number of upvotes, how evergreen the question is, etc.
But, if done right, Quora can be an incredible traffic source for your site over a long period of time.
c) Follow & Learn From Influential Figures Within Your Industry
Many influential, credible and important figures use Quora; from the founders of big brands to past and present employees of those brands. From social media “influencers” (I couldn’t think of another word) to important politicians.
Heck, even Barack Obama has used Quora to answer important questions:
You can also invite them to answer your own question by sending a request. Whether they answer or not is another thing, but if they did, how amazing would that be?
d) Build Your Site’s Credibility Directly and Indirectly
If you have built up your authority on Quora, you will be the go-to person for a topic that you excel in.
If you get asked to answer a question about a specialist topic, it’s another great way to cement and build on that authority.
And this will gradually have an impact on your site’s credibility, especially if you have linked to it too.
e) Find Question-Based Long-Tail Keywords (which are traditionally less competitive too)
Most of the traditional keywords that we tend to target are highly competitive and it’s a huge challenge to rank high on Google for them.
But long-tail keywords (and those which are written as questions) are written more frequently, with natural and conversational searches on the rise according to Google.
So it makes sense to target those keywords, and Quora is a website with millions of questions.
Now that you understand the benefits of using Quora, let’s get into the fun part and make it work for you and your website.
You can either watch the video below or scroll down:
1. Optimise Your Quora Profile
The first thing you should do (after signing up for Quora if you don’t have an account already) is to fill in and optimise your profile by doing the following:
- Fill in the “About Me” section
- Add your areas of expertise and interests
- Add your cities (those you have lived in the past and present)
- Add schools and colleges you’ve attended
- Previous and current companies you work for
- Connect your other social media accounts
Filling in those details will help other Quora users to find you as you might be relevant to what they are looking for; e.g. area of expertise, knowledge of particular locations, etc.
You should also spend some time upvoting some questions as they will appear in your profile. And you should also consider following specific topics so that you can keep track of them via notifications.
Once you have done that, you will then be notified of questions that you could jump in and answer first.
2. How to Use Quora as Part of Your Keyword Research?
There are dozens of free keyword research tools out there, but Quora can help you to find those niche and long-tail keywords that can otherwise be difficult to find.
And when those long-tail keywords are question-based, there is a good chance that a lot of people are asking the same question on Google.
And that’s where you come in with your (hopefully) amazing answers.
When you are on Quora, use the search bar at the top of the page and search for a generic topic. Let’s say for example you run an accountant business and you want information about accounting software.
If you search and pick the “accounting software” topic you will immediately see a list of questions:
Now you can immediately start answering questions by creating your own content around the relevant questions.
But let’s go deeper… and there are several ways you can do that:
- Find questions which are not answered yet: if you feel that there is a good question that has not been answered or a number of questions asked time and time again, you might want to take up the opportunity to create content around that.
- Find questions which are popular: if a question has a lot of answers, you can bet that it resonates with a lot of people. You can still pop in there and have a look at the answers. You never know, you might be inspired and learn something new from the answers and/or you might feel that you have additional points to add.
- You can create content around those answers and make it your own (don’t just copy other people’s answers) by sharing your own knowledge and adding additional points.
- Find answers which have been upvoted the most: just like above with the popular questions, the same applies to the most popular answer. However, you can still use that answer to make additional points on your website by quoting that answer and adding further points to it.
- Find specific topics with the most viewed writers: another great place to find some brilliant long-tail keyword ideas.
Now that you have your keyword, you can create new content or update an existing piece and use that keyword to optimise it.
To get more data, you can then use a keyword research tool of your choice or you can copy and paste the URL into premium SEO tools like SEMrush to help you extract more data too.
3. How to Find Related Questions (and Content Ideas) on Quora?
Again, in my post about using the Google search trick above, I have mentioned how you can use Google’s Related Search section at the bottom of the search results.
This is a very useful place to find related keywords and, in turn, related content ideas too.
Quora has something similar.
After you have searched for a topic and clicked on a question, you can see that there is a list of related questions on the right-hand side.
Need I explain more about what you can do there?
4. How to Find Related Keywords on Quora?
If you prefer to find related keywords which are not question-based, that’s possible too.
After you have found a question with a list of good answers, notice how they are written. You might be able to spot useful keywords within the answers itself.
Since the person who answered will most likely have written it in a natural manner and be an expert in the topic, they will naturally drop keywords into their answers.
And because it’s highly relevant to the answer, you can be assured that they are important keywords.
If you are not sure, pop them in a keyword research tool of your choice (like KWFinder) and analyse whether they are suitable for you or not:
This is a very easy way to find related keywords and you can use that to your advantage by creating content around them or dig deeper to find related keywords, again using a keyword research tool.
HOW YOU CAN FIND RELATED KEYWORDS DIRECTLY ON GOOGLE…IN JUST SECONDS? [VIDEO]
5. How to Use Google to Search for Questions on Quora?
If you don’t like Quora’ s own search filter, you do have other options. And that is to go directly onto Google.
I have written about the various ways you can use Google’s advanced search filter to find an endless amount of relevant content ideas.
You can use the same Google search trick by focusing on Quora only.
For example, if you run a travel blog and you want to find questions about popular non-touristy cities, you can search directly on Google by searching for site:quora.com popular non-touristy cities.
The good thing about Google is you can then filter it further. Perhaps you want the newer questions and answers only because it’s time-sensitive.
Well, you can just use Google’s time filter option and look at the results again.
You can learn more about this in the link below.
HOW TO FIND ENDLESS & RELEVANT CONTENT IDEAS USING JUST GOOGLE?
6. How to Use Quora to Promote Your Content?
Let’s be clear; Quora is not there for you to spam the living daylight out of them and to get traffic to your site.
Or for you to use them as a place to promote your website, brand and business.
To be blunt, they don’t care about your website. They care about their community, and frankly, I don’t blame them.
If you have built up your profile and authority, it is easier to promote your post and this makes you look more credible. That said, you could get away with promoting your content if you haven’t built up much of a profile.
If you have spotted a question that you think is popular or going to be very popular, and you are capable of answering it very well, this is an opportunity for you to provide a brilliant, well-written and useful answer.
Of course, the quicker you answer the better. Otherwise, someone else will answer that question before you do. And unless you have further points to add or you have described it better, the person who answered it first and/or best will be more likely to get upvoted by the community than you.
If you already have a blog post about it, you can repurpose it and link to it within your answer to provide more context.
Provided that it is done naturally and it is highly relevant to the question of course.
You could also create a brand new post about the question asked and use the answers as a source of inspiration.
You do have the option of answering a popular question, as above, but if there are already multiple fantastic answers posted, you are unlikely to add anything new.
Nor will your answer get noticed, as those upvoted the most will be more visible and outshine yours.
However, there is nothing to stop you writing a blog post or creating a video about the question asked, with the aim of attracting traffic to your own site via organic search or targeting different keywords.
7. Making Use of Your Own Quora Blog
I’ve covered this in a previous post, about making use of Medium and LinkedIn as another place to create or repurpose your content.
What many people don’t know is that you can have your own personal blog on Quora too.
The same principle applies to the Quora blog as it does on Medium and LinkedIn articles. It’s a great place to repurpose your existing content and also to create new content too.
And of course, the other benefit of using the Quora blog is to build up your personal authority on the platform even more, as it will work alongside your profile.
The general rule about using Quora is to be genuinely there to help the people who are asking questions. If you are doing for the links, traffic and for your site, then you are going about it the wrong way.
And you run the risk of being banned by Quora.
If you don’t happen to have a blog post that answers the question, but you are able to answer the question, answer it anyway.
And do it in the best way possible by making your answers useful, informative and helpful.
This will naturally help you with your profile and, in time, your personal brand and business.
Here’s the annoying part though: like anything in life, it will take time to build up your authority.
But you should look at it as a good use of your time. Not only will you be able to find an endless amount of content ideas on Quora, but you can simultaneously build up your profile and credibility too.
It’s almost a win-win situation.
Have you got any other tips about using Quora to help with your SEO and content marketing?
Do share them in the comment section below. I’d love to hear them.
