2009/10/01

Quick Online Tips

3 Ways Google Can Show What Your Readers Want

Posted: 30 Sep 2009 12:04 PM PDT

Guest Post by David Godot.
All bloggers secretly wish that their readers would just tell them what to write about. But selecting new topics is seldom so easy. Well, what if I told you that Google has devised a system that allows you to tap into your readers’ psyche and magically predict which topics will interest them the most?

In fact, nothing is better for Google than for you to produce the type of content that people want to read. Every time you do, their search results get a little better. So they have really worked hard to provide tools which help you understand what topics are the most sought-after within your niche. Below are three free tools from Google along with tips for using them to improve your site:

Google Analytics

analytics

Google Analytics provides a great starting point for generating new content, because it can tell you what people already like about your site. As you look through the keywords that people have used to find your site in the search, pay close attention to the ones you have never really written about. If someone searched for this piece of information and the best they could find was an article that didn’t really answer their question, then you have just found a question worth answering on your site!

Search Based Keyword Tool

sbkt

The next step is to look at the Google Search-Based Keyword Tool. If you have an Adwords campaign promoting your site, you can get keyword suggestions based directly on the content of your site. But this tool is still extremely useful if you don’t use Adwords.

What you’ll do is simply take the keywords that you identified from Google Analytics as being good topics for new articles, and plug them into the Google Keyword Tool. Google will show you related terms that people are searching for. This can help you understand what questions people need answered the most, so that you can make your new article as useful as possible.

Google Insights

insight

Another great way to find related keywords is through Google Insights. This tool works a little differently than the search-based keyword tool in that it shows you recent search trends related to your topic. This is a great way to see which areas of your topic are becoming more popular with searchers. Being the first blogger to answer an important question can give your readership a tremendous boost in organic traffic as well as RSS subscriptions.

Google Is Your New Best Friend

If you follow this process you will be able to attract more traffic naturally, because you will be creating articles that accurately reflect the needs of internet searchers. Google will be happy to send the traffic to you, because your new articles will answer the questions that people are looking to them for the answers to. They look good because you look good.

David Godot is the founder of Chicago Psychology, a networking site offering group blogs and free web marketing tools for psychology professionals. You can also write a guest article and share your favorite tools and services.