A Deeper Dive into Content and Creative Planning Through Keyword Research

Jamie Jean Schneider Domm

Digital Strategist, Social Media + Big Data, North American Division

People value content that helps them make better decisions, answers their questions, and speaks to their core values or interests. Optimizing your content based on search engine queries (what people are searching for) helps you best match your products and resources to the needs and interests of your audience. We previously took a bird’s-eye look at using search results to find relevant content ideas. This section will go into greater depth for those ministries who want to focus more on creating digital content related to their mission and themes. If you’re a digital missionary looking to develop a content creation strategy that will reach beyond a geographical location, bookmark this section. This type of digital evangelism helps expand your messaging to new audiences who are hungry for the resources you can provide.

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Writer’s block? Find out what people are searching for.

Keyword research is the core of what is known as SEO copywriting: writing content based on search engine optimization principles. Search engine optimization is a set of strategies that help organizations reach more of their online target audience. A website’s visibility in search engine results can be elevated by utilizing certain content development techniques. The higher a website ranks when a person googles search terms related to it, the more web traffic it receives. Visit SDAdata.org/SEO to learn more about SEO.

Researching keywords removes much of the guesswork when trying to figure out which topics (related to your ministry and mission) make the most sense to explore for your content. It bridges the gap between your hunches, the data, and what information people need or want.

This technique uses search query data from Google and other search engines to determine what kind of topics interest people. Creating content focused on commonly searched topics improves the visibility of your content in search results, which helps users find your ministry and increases the impact of your message.

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Use the following framework as a guide to creating content based on keywords.

​1) Define the main topic of your online ministry.
For example, you decide you want to start a blog to help Pathfinder leaders. “Pathfinders,” of course, is the topic. But if you title your blog, “Pathfinders,” it’s not specific enough to get search traffic. You have to differentiate from Nissan Pathfinders, Pathfinder International, and the Pathfinder role-playing game.

Familiarity with your audience allows you to feature relevant keywords in your titles, headlines, and posts, such as:

• Pathfinder leadership
• Pathfinder club meetings
• Pathfinder honors
• Pathfinder investiture
• Pathfinder campouts

 
While definitely more specific than “Pathfinder” alone, these are also considered broad-match keywords, as they can still have a wide variety of subtopics. They’re certainly good ideas, and posts on these topics can be helpful for your audience. However, they’re harder to rank for in Google search results without further specificity.

Let’s say there is a burgeoning trend to create Pathfinder blogs. The broad topic of Pathfinder leadership is now a highly competitive arena. How do you get your blog to stand out? Considering the clear, central purpose of your ministry is a useful exercise for most types of digital content, but you’ll quickly need to distinguish how you’ll be providing something different from the competition.
 
2) Refine your topic.
You have to get more specialized in your focus, so start brainstorming “niche topics”—subtopics within the broad subjects of Pathfinders and meetings and honors and campouts that people might be searching for information about. Some of these might be:

• Pathfinder knot-tying honor
• Pathfinder winter campouts
• Pathfinder club meeting activities
• Pathfinder Bible Experience prep
• Pathfinder Oshkosh fundraising ideas
  
  

These are considered long-tail keywords, or keyphrases. Long‐tail keywords are low volume and highly‐focused search queries that tend to convert visitors to engaged readers/followers exceptionally well. 

You can also start brainstorming possible blog, social media, and video posts for these subtopics and long-tail keywords:

• How to teach knot-tying to Pathfinders
• Make your Pathfinder Investiture fun and memorable
• Top 10 activities for Pathfinder campouts
• Tips for teaching Pathfinders with disabilities
• Preparing your Pathfinders for Pathfinder Bible Experience
• Best Pathfinder fundraising ideas to cover Oshkosh expenses
  
  

3) Test your topic.
Start by googling your topics, exploring related words or phrases, and come up with some post ideas.

Then ask yourself the following questions:

• What exists already?
• Can you improve on what’s already written?
• Are there certain aspects of the topic that aren’t already covered in depth (or at all)?
• How are other users responding to this competing content? Review their comments on posts.
  
  

This is your first peek at your opportunities to enter the discussion.

Maybe you find that the knot-tying honor already has several articles that are well-written and popular. There are lots of positive comments on those posts. Therefore, another topic would be more effective in making your content stand out in search results.

However, maybe there’s one particular knot you don’t feel the other writers have explained very well, even though the rest of the post is good. Maybe you’ve found a couple comments on other blogs about how they’d like more information on the hunter’s bend. You might then decide to write a post titled “How to teach the hunter’s bend knot.”
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This is a simple example of how research and testing can help shape meaningful content creation.
 
4) Test some more.
Here’s where dedicated keyword research tools come in.

These tools access data that tells how many people are searching for a certain keyword or keyphrase (search volume), as well as how much content already exists about that keyword (competition). The sweet spot is when you find a word or phrase that has high search volume and low competition.

Here’s an example from Google Keyword Planner:

Many keyword research tools provide a ratio of search volume and competition. Some tools do require a paid subscription, but some are completely free and offer similar data. These free keyword tools may also show related keywords or phrases, which can be helpful for coming up with good content ideas. Overall, you’ll get a general idea of what people are searching for, enabling you to create content that will connect your ministry with the needs and interests of your audience.

Here are some recommended free or low-cost tools for keyword research or keyword ideas:

• Keywords Everywhere is a browser add-on for Chrome and Firefox that gathers data on every term you search for with Google. It’s especially easy to use since you don’t have to open a separate program; it already displays keyword results on the side of your browser window. It can also help you find related topics to cover in support of your main topic.
• Ubersuggest was created by renowned digital marketing strategist and author Neil Patel, because he felt that aspiring digital marketers should have a free keyword research tool they could trust. It is touted by many marketers as a great way to get keyword ideas for blog posts, and possibly provides even more ideas than Google’s Keyword Planner.
• Keyword Planner has been the industry standard tool by which keyword research has been measured. It is a technically free keyword research tool embedded in a Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords). You will need to set up a Google Ads account to use it. While it costs money to run Google Ad campaigns, you can do keyword research with this tool without an active campaign running.
• Twin Word allows ten free searches a day. This tool provides similar data to those already described, but is known for helping you find patterns, and its filters allow you to customize how you want results displayed. One such filter shows User Intent in five categories to help you determine the intent your audience may have had when searching for a particular keyword. If the topic they intended to search for doesn’t match up with what you’re offering, you’ll want to find other keyword options. (Find out more about how and why you should consider user intent.)
• Google Search Console has functionality that shows what keywords are leading users to your website, as well as light keyword research.

 
The tools below differ from true keyword research but can be very helpful for “informed brainstorming.”

• Answer the Public is a tool best used for brainstorming rather than measuring search volume and competition ratios. It’s effective for finding out what kind of questions people are asking about a certain topic. It’s based on UK data, but the info is still relevant for content creators anywhere in the world.
• Google Trends allows you to compare two or more different topics to see which one is searched for most frequently.
• Soovle is a customizable engine that unites the suggestion phrases from all the major providers (Google, Bing, Amazon, Answers.com, Yahoo, Wikipedia, YouTube) in one place. This tool can be a major help for search and content creation inspiration.
• YouTube has its own keyword research tools: vidIQ and TubeBuddy. Ubersuggest also has an option to look on YouTube.

5) Create content from keyword research.
Once you’ve utilized these tactics and tools, it’s time to use this knowledge for your content planning. Keyword research does more than just tell you which words to use. It tells you which topics are popular, which topics are competitive, and what your best content opportunities may be.

This is good news! This means that the organizational methods you learned for writing essays and research papers in school will now pay off in a practical way. For blogs and websites, begin by writing an introduction to a topic (one webpage), then cover the topic (another webpage), then cover related topics (more separate webpages) or background information (another separate webpage or two). It’s essentially writing an outline, and each section of the outline is a webpage. Blogs organized like this score highly in both search engine visibility and user-friendliness. For good examples of this, visit sdadata.org/seo and SDAdata.blog/DDandE.  From a visitor’s perspective, this streamlines navigation within a specific topic. But, be careful not to take this concept to the extreme, creating a confusing maze of short pages.

Remember that relevant topics and strong topic coverage have a stronger influence on search engine ranking than using individual words or phrases repetitively. The algorithm rewards quality writing and presentation.

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However, keywords do still matter!

Keyword research helps us know what words and phrases people are using. We still want to use those words and phrases as often as we can on a page—naturally. If it sounds hokey to keep repeating a phrase, find another way to say it that means the same thing. Overall, you still want the content to read as naturally and conversationally as possible, as if you were telling this information to a friend. Click here for tips on how to write conversationally.

Here are some tips for thorough topic coverage in natural language that can be adapted for a variety of content types:

• If you were telling your friend about Pathfinder knots because you’d done the research and knew they were interested in teaching this honor, you’d certainly use the proper names of each knot, as well as some common nicknames or synonyms.
• You’d also provide context for how you learned to master each knot and highlight some parts of the learning process that were trickier than others.
• You’d give advice regarding the best time to use one knot over others.
• You’d highlight some common mistakes people make when trying to determine which knot to use.
• Then, if you had a rope and video camera (or smart phone), you’d do a demonstration.
• You’d sum up the main ideas and conclude that knot-tying is important and that the reason so many knots exist is because they all serve a unique purpose.
• After that, you might ask if your friend had any questions.

 
Work your way through a topic, creating as much applicable content as possible over multiple digital media posts and platforms. Content organization techniques that may help you include outlines, topic trees, bubble graphs, etc. Using these as your foundation for content creation helps you determine topical goals, objectives, and key takeaways, and makes the whole writing process easier.

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