Favourite Tools for Finding Blog Content Ideas

Got blogger’s block?  Not sure what your audience wants to read?

Luckily there are some great tools out there that will help you find great blog content ideas and get your creative juices flowing.

The other good news is that of the eight billion daily searches on Google, 15% are new ones.  That’s right, 15% of all those billions of searches on Google are new, previously unread or unheard queries and the interesting thing is that that figure hasn’t changed much over the past decade or so.

Here’s why that stat is good news.

The demand for information is clearly unrelenting so if you know your audience well, it’s likely that every idea that you come up will probably answer a new query!

As I said, there are lots of different blogging tools for finding content topic ideas and it’s a good idea to explore all the options, but I find myself always going to back to my tried-and-tested favourites.

My 4 Best Tools for Finding Blog Content Ideas

1. Answer The Public

You’re always guaranteed a laugh when you use this tool, but while some of the answers may be a bit left of centre, it’s a seriously clever and powerful automated consumer insight tool and an awesome source of potential content ideas.  And it’s free (although there is a paid Pro version if you want more frequent searches).

Answer the Public works by ‘listening’ to all the autocomplete data resulting from search queries on Google and Bing and then consolidating and sorting them.  When you type in a keyword phrase, the info is presented in an easy-to-read infographic, categorised into sections like ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘why’, ‘who’, ‘how’ and will’.

It’s basically an overview of the questions that users type into Google and Bing and I love it for many reasons.

It’s a treasure-trove of consumer insights people can use as a basis for creating fresh, relevant and useful content and it can also help business owners get a better understanding of their audience.  It’s also great for keyword research and you can use the tool to optimise for long-tail key phrases.

2. Google Search Console

Take a look at the ‘Search Queries’ section on Google Search Console to see what keywords you are already ranking for.  You know your consumers are searching those topics so it’s really worthwhile brainstorming ideas for creating additional content around these keywords. You can find these under Performance>> Search Results in Google Search Console.

3. Google Search

Google is where it’s at.  You can use it to  search for keywords that are relevant to your business, investigate what’s working for your competitors, look for any customer pain points so you can write about solutions and identify topics which fill a need for missing niche information or support. You can use “ what” or “why” or “when” plus your keywords and have a look at the information that comes up on Google for these search terms and brainstorm blog content ideas from here.

You can also mine the ‘People Also Ask’ section on page one of Google for content ideas.  Click on these and you’ll get some additional results which could spark blogging ideas.

Another way to use Google search is to enter titles of blogs which may already be out there.  Then make sure whatever new content you publish on that same topic is better than what’s out there already!

4. Keyword Research Tools

SEMRush’s Keyword Magic tool is an international database of more than 20 billion keywords and it groups them into various categories eg topic, search intent, question type etc.  It’s perfect for exploring niche topics and discovering new ideas for your blog content.

I recommend using the ‘Questions’ tab once you’ve typed in your keyword, but be aware that it can be challenging to find keywords with high volume because people ask questions in slightly different ways.

Keywords Everywhere is one of the best SEO tools for keyword research – and that means it’s a great source of inspiration for content ideas.  Simply type in your keyword phrase and the app will sort results in terms of search volume, CPC and competition data.  When you hit the ‘Enter’ button, it’ll take you deeper into the data for that keyword with info on additional related keywords as well as a section containing results for ‘People also search for’.

Why You Need To Continually Push for Fresh Content Ideas

I know that you sometimes have to dig deep to come up with new blog ideas, but the content is king when it comes to SEO and your online visibility really will hinge on the frequency, quality and relevance of the new content that you publish.

The four tools above are my favourites for finding new ideas, but there are plenty of other options too. If you are struggling for inspiration then let me help you with 14 Blog Ideas You Can Steal!

Don’t forget the communities where your audience connects with other like-minded consumers like Reddit, Quora and Twitter as well as groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.  Trawl these conversations to see what questions your consumers are asking, what they’re venting about and if there are gaps that you can fill with relevant content. Are you new to SEO? Then download my free SEO Starter Kit to get you started.

Keen to discover more tips and techniques to get found online?  My self-managed course, The SEO School, could be just what you need to get your SEO up and running successfully with your website at the top of the ranking pages.  Book your spot now!

Karen Dauncey

Karen Dauncey has been working in SEO since 2003. She specialises in helping businesses get found online through Google using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) She is the founder and creator of The SEO School an online SEO Course to help teach business owners how to do their own SEO. She regularly delivers educational programs for both Local, State and Federal Government and is an advisor for the ASBAS Digital Solutions Program. Karen’s passion and commitment to help small business owners get found online is the driving force behind her online school, making SEO advice accessible to all with free resources and online courses.

Karen's wealth of SEO knowledge and practical digital marketing experience comes from running her own SEO and Google Ads agency, Blue Cherry Online Marketing since 2008. Karen has optimised over 1000 websites, managed millions of dollars' worth of spend on Google Ads and has a solid understanding of the constantly shifting industry of digital marketing and SEO. This gives her a unique advantage when it comes to being able to recommend the right online marketing strategies for your business. This gives her a unique advantage when it comes to being able to recommend the right online marketing strategies for your business. She was recently recognised as an SEO Expert for the popular course creation platform, Kajabi as well as appearing on ABC Radio
for her expert opinion on the ACCC's investigation into search engines.

Karen has attended search engine conferences in London, Stockholm, Adelaide and Sydney, and was also invited to attend a pilot Business Coaching Course at Google’s Head Office. She has a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK.

She is also the co-owner of the Digital Experts Directory, an online directory for female serviced-based businesses to promote their business (with a great backlink for SEO).

To keep up to date with the latest in SEO, join her Facebook group The SEO School Community or follow her on Facebook or LinkedIn.