Need fresh content ideas? Google Analytics has your back.

Using Google Analytics To Discover Fresh Content Ideas

It’s hard to come up with fresh content ideas, even for the most creative people. On top of that, every time you hit the button “Publish” with a ‘fresh content idea’ there is already another trend. So what’s a blogger to do?

Google Analytics can help save you some major time coming up with fresh ideas and topics to write about.

Google Analytics: Your New Idea Machine

Yes, Google Analytics is the secret. It’s a powerful program, that’s for sure. For the average writer, Google Analytics is just another way of measuring your website traffic. But they are missing out on a wealth of data.

Let Google Analytics Show You What People Want

In the left-hand menu, go to the Acquisitions section, click on Search Console and then choose Queries. This will list all the search queries that people have typed into Google where you’ve come up in the results. Nice, huh?

Not seeing any data? You probably haven’t linked Google Analytics to Google Search Console yet.

To get the most value, in the top right corner of the page change the date range to include the last three months. You won’t be able to see the past two days of data or anything older than three months- that’s the limit of what it will show you.

Use these search queries to your advantage!

So now you’ve got a huge list of search terms and you’ve either caught straight away and are already writing down loads of content ideas or you’re wondering why you even bothered! If these search queries aren’t super clear, you’ve just found yourself a clue. Go down the list and find what people are looking for that may open up areas of opportunity for you, this could be gaps in your content or way you could make your posts more useful.

Think about it, these searches are what people are looking for. Is your product or service meeting their needs? For example:

If you’re a blogger, are your posts answering what your audience is searching for?

If you’re a florist, are there any types of flowers people want that you don’t stock?

If you’re an app developer, are there any features listed that could be in the next update?

You get the picture.

But…my website is new and doesn’t have any traffic yet.

If you’re just starting out and don’t get a lot of traffic to your website you might be questioning how helpful these results actually are. SEO takes time but never fear, Adwords is coming to the rescue! Whilst Google Adwords is all about advertising your business, it also has some free tools within it that can really help you with keyword research and finding out search volumes for particular keywords.

Let’s take a look at the Google Adwords Keyword Planner tool that can show you how many times a month a particular keyword or phrase is searched for. Once you’re logged in, from the top menu choose Tools and go the Keyword Planner.

Choose the second option, “Get search volume data and trends,” type your content ideas into the first box labelled “Option 1: Enter keywords.” Type in different search terms you think people might use to find your business. Enter one query per line and try not to make it too specific. For example: attracting top talent, how to find great employees, interview tips.

You can change the targeting options if you target a particular geographic area or you can simply hit Get search volume at the bottom of the box without typing anything else in. This will show you the average monthly searches for your queries.

If you’re going to blog about a particular query, keep in mind it may be difficult to rank well for a keyword that has a really high volume search. Be strategic and pick something with both good search volume and that you can rank well for too.

What’s Next?

Go start finding some awesome content ideas! Just remember to stick to your business plan and marketing strategy, this should fit in with what you already have planned and not take you off on a random tangent. It can be a huge help when planning your content calendar for the quarter or year.

Any other tips on how to use Google Analytics to your advantage?