Questions, not Keywords, and why it's not just for SEO

So if you've been listening for a while to me in my podcast , you'll know that I talk about questions more than keywords , being how I've always concentrated on producing content for the sites that I've built and that's what obviously led me to build keywords people use to help people find the kind of questions people ask online , whether that's from people also ask

from Google , or to suggest Reddit and Quora and other sources . But I'm often asked you know , how does using questions that are keywords relate to this kind of role or that kind of role ? So I thought I'd go through in this podcast .

You know all the different types of roles and how using questions rather than keywords can really be valuable for you and give you an edge . So the first one , obviously SEOs .

I mean , if you're an SEO , then working with questions and then building topical clusters and topical authority based on those questions is clearly like an obvious use case , and you know , obviously you're measured on results as an SEO .

So you know , following a process from questions to clusters , to content and then to rankings obviously is really valuable for you and the tools that we've got in Qoos people use obviously can be very useful for that . Moving on from SEOs , we've got people working in PPC . Now in PPC you're really measured on the results you get for your landing pages .

So using the questions that people ask helps you find out what people's objections are and from the objections that you find , from those questions about the products that you're promoting online , then you can build better landing pages . If you can counter those objections in your landing pages , you're going to improve your conversion rates .

So that means you can obviously measure that really quickly . Your clients will love it . You'll get better results by answering those questions in your landing pages . Next up , we have copywriters .

So if you're a copywriter or your job involves any kind of copywriting , then you'll know how challenging it can be to switch from one client's topic area to another and you're probably dealing with new topic areas coming up all the time .

So by concentrating on the questions that people are asking online , it's perfect for diving deep into understanding the full range of questions that people ask on a topic , especially when it's a new topic area that you're trying to get to grips with .

Obviously , as a copywriter , having questions that people are asking is really important if you're building frequently asked questions sections , but it's also important to make sure you answer those questions , not literally just as a here's a question , here's the answer , but building in the answers to the questions within the body of your content and also taking these

questions and helps you group different pages into different topics and into different clusters . So , yeah , obviously , copywriters I think most people see the clear benefit of by working in questions rather than just straight keywords is really really valuable for you . The next role to look at is agencies .

So if you're in an agency role and I understand agencies very well because I don't know if you don't know my complete story , I actually worked at Bigelund , an agency , in the early 2000s and when you're working with clients and especially with new clients , you know from pitch to discovery , execution and delivery your clients will feel like you've understood them and

their customers inside out if you've got a real understanding of the questions that the real people ask about that brand , about that niche that they're working in and their topic area . So if you have a happy client , it's one who feels that they've really understood them , and using questions and doing the question research will really , really help you in that .

So I mean , we've got the tools in QA people use that , do all the visualizations and that's the kind of stuff that can really wow you know potential clients and existing clients with those visual representations .

It just makes you look like you understand them and intimately , right from the get go , and it's really easy to do and I just wish we'd had this data in these tools of it 20 years ago I mean , we didn't back then .

And researching new industries and Switching from industry to industry when you're working with clients , you know , was the discovery process , was so much more time-consuming and difficult . And now , yeah , it can just done so quickly and you know you and your clients will really benefit from it .

So next up , we've got bloggers , and the biggest issue that I know bloggers have is the blank page problem sitting down to write your next blog post and having no idea where to start . So the beauty of working with questions rather than keywords is you always know where to go next .

You can build up this bank of questions , cluster them , build , put them into topics and you've just got that clear Direction every time you sit down on where to go next with the content you've got to produce .

We know from the recently Google helpful content updates how important it is that your context actually is actually helpful , and obviously answering people's questions in the first place is a helpful thing to do and it's the kind of thing that will meet your readers needs and that's Key .

When you're writing , you know the content of your blog , that you keep it helpful and you keep it matching the intent of the users you've got coming and reading it . And answering questions and basing your content on questions rather than Chasing keywords is one key way of doing that .

If you're running a software as a service business , a SAS business or working for a SAS business , and Finding the questions people have about your product and getting them answered on your site and in your sales copy is crucial to turn in prospects Into leads and leads into sales .

And , additionally , you can learn from the questions people ask about your competitors , which allow you to improve your pitch to people who might be evaluating your service against your competitors .

And , thirdly , it helps you find new avenues in which to develop your product by watching for the questions people are asking and and identifying where they struggle or need additional services to help themselves the problems . So it's , you know , basing things on questions . Again , it's really valuable for SAS companies . Next up , we've got e-commerce sites .

Now with an e-commerce site , you can't just put your products on a cut on a site and expect to rank for them . So , for example , you might sell hair care products .

You can't you're not going to rank for terms like hair care and best hair care products for frizzy hair Without having in-depth content on your site about the whole subject of hair care and you need to make sure you cover every question that your customers and prospective customers could have about the products , the topics around the products you sell .

It'll help you build topical authority . You need to rank in Google as well as build trust with your customers . As well as obviously helping with Attracting and people to the site in the first place by getting higher in Google by answering these questions and building that authority , it's also going to help you conversion optimization .

So obviously , people are going to buy from someone who's answering their questions . So if they've come into your site , they're looking at a product . That , if they've got questions in their head the if they're answered on the page in front of them there . That's going to improve Preview , a conversion rate and increase your sales .

And finally , we've got brands and public relations . Now I've joined these two together because , although a brand owner might not be looking at public relations and a public relations person Might not be a brand owner , and they kind of have similar Kind of use cases . I'm going to copy them , you know , put them all into one together .

So for a brand , you know what you can get from the questions you can find from tools like keywords people use and that you won't get elsewhere is you'll find the questions that people won't ask you directly . People will ask a search engine questions that they wouldn't ask any human being .

You you'll do it yourself , you know , and even there's dumbest questions or the most probing questions you aren't ones You're necessarily going to ask people or ask a brand directly , but they will ask the search engine and you will learn those things from the questions that you wouldn't get elsewhere . Also , it comes to public relations .

You can identify trending topics and questions about the brands and companies that you represent . So , for example , you can find and react to problem issues early as they arise .

That can save you and your clients a world of pain Later by getting on top of those issues issues fast and then , conversely , you can also find and then amplify positive trends quickly to sort of maximize the beneficial PR opportunities that might come up that you would miss if you weren't paying attention to the questions people are asking online about your brand .

And You've got to keep an eye on them because these , these questions change rapidly . So that's why using a tool that keeps on those questions for you like we've got the search alert system built into keywords people use that can Be set up to automatically notify you when new questions , new trending questions start to appear .

For you know , any kind of brand or topic that you set up and getting on top of those quickly can be incredibly beneficial for brands and public relations . So hopefully that's given you a flavor of how Working with questions rather than keywords is more than just SEO . It's more than just copywriting .

It covers a whole range of areas around any business that you'll find . You know you might be an SEO , but you might do a bit of PPC . You know you might be an SEO but you're also doing copywriting . You might be an agency . You might be a brand owner . You've got lots of different hats you might have to wear at any one point .

Spending time researching based on questions can really help you understand your audience and customers in ways that Working with just plain keywords cannot . So I hope this inspires you to go out and research the questions that matter in your industry . Thanks for listening . I really appreciate it . Please subscribe and share . It really helps . Seo is not that hard .

Is brought to you by keywords . People use calm , the solution to finding the questions people ask online . See why thousands of people use us every day . Try it today for free . At keywords , people use calm . If you want to get in touch , have any questions , I'd love to hear from you . I'm at channel 5 on Twitter or you can email me at podcast .

At keywords , people use calm . Bye for now and see you in the next episode of SEO . It's not that hard .