The state of SEO is unstable at the moment. A great deal of uncertainty and worry surrounds the future, with reports of Search Generative Experience (SGE) taking over the SERPs and a ton of algorithm adjustments.
Right now, it can be a perfect timing for you to put some under-utilized SEO research initiatives into play.
-
Keyword Trend Analysis
Once you are done with Keyword Research, there comes keyword trend analysis. With this analysis, SEO experts gain more insights into new keywords, changes in the keyword landscape, and more.
There are several tools available in the market that can help you perform analysis, such as Google Trends, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and more. Apart from these, there is a Glimpse Google Trends extension that can help ease your task. It helps enhance the standard Google Trends insights with a ton of additional data and capabilities.
Utilize this extension to get a plethora of trending topics, long-tail keyword data, trend notifications, and data exports. You may use the tool—along with a little mindset adjustment—to tackle your top keywords in real-time rather than by setting them aside and reviewing them once in a while.
-
Customer research
To understand customer requirements, we often monitor their patterns and behavior. With these insights, we often conclude what people want, what problems they have, and what could be the right solution for them. Based on it, we generally create our content.
However, in my opinion, SEOs don’t often adopt a thorough strategy for understanding customers that include team discussions and tool fluency.
Here are a few tools that may ease your research process are:
Heat Mapping Tools, Typeform, Google Forms, and a few other survey tools.
If you are planning to go with survey tools, here is the tip: Give clear instructions on how the data will be used.
In the event that the information you’re gathering is worthwhile for your efforts, you may even think about providing little gifts or incentives.
Regarding various teams, the sales and customer support teams of your company or your client have access to a multitude of up-to-date data regarding customer queries, problems, use cases, difficulties, and so forth. It’s a smart use of your time to have recurring check-ins with those teams (hint: make it as simple as possible for them to share learnings with you).
You can even connect with the paid teams to access the data and understand what’s working and what’s not.
-
Analyzing content across non-search channels
Several platforms provide real-time information on user behavior and understanding, for example competitor FAQ pages, Reddit, Quora, and Social Media comment section. Further, using these platforms, you can even track the type of content people are looking for.
One of my favorite places to find data is Slack forums, which have also helped me attract new customers. Engaging Slack communities around business-related issues may be quite beneficial as members raise questions and seek advice that you can directly respond.
Note: Work as per Slack guidelines or you might get blocked by the platform.
In conclusion, there have been many changes to the SEO sector over the years, with the introduction of AI-generated content signaling one of the most active phases to date. It’s normal for firms to forget about the core SEO concepts that have continuously spurred growth in the midst of these changes. It’s critical to concentrate on what we can control as we prepare for the effects of SGE (AI-generated content) and make sure our best practices are optimized and flexible. We can adapt to these changes and keep growing in the always changing digital landscape by keeping a solid foundation in SEO principles.
