3 Simple Tricks For Figuring Out Exactly What an Audience Wants

While your customers' search queries are important for on-page and off-page SEO, that's far from the only way that this data comes in handy.

With tens of thousands of searches happening every second, Google has access to vast amounts of data.

Keyword research tools aren't the only way you can find information about what your customers are searching for.

In fact, even the best professional-level tools for this won't tell you everything.

An alternate way you can find keywords is just doing a Google search, and looking at what's suggested by Google's autocomplete feature.

Typing in question-based keywords, or keywords centered around a problem your product solves, will generate some common related searches via autocomplete.

Using this information, you can tailor your content marketing to exactly what your audience is looking for.

In many cases, these longtail question keywords aren't something anyone's really optimizing for, so even if SEO isn't a primary concern for you, you can often find yourself ranking for potentially profitable terms.

In a recent blog post at Quicksprout, Neil Patel explains how you can hone in on what your audience is asking.

Autocomplete

Let’s start with an incredibly simple yet effective feature: autocomplete.

I’m sure you’re familiar with it.

With the insane amount of data Google has accumulated and continues to accumulate, it offers autocomplete to streamline user searches and help people find the information they’re looking for quicker.

Here’s a screenshot that summarizes how this feature works:

[image source: Quicksprout]
Notice I highlighted two key points.

Autocomplete predictions factor in the popularity/freshness of search terms and terms other people are searching for.

Using autocomplete can provide you with valuable intel on what your customers are searching for and, more importantly, what their collective frustrations are.

Let me give you an example of how you can use it.

Type in a broad keyword phrase that relates to your industry, niche or product you’re selling.

I’ll use “organic soap” as an example.

Here’s what pops up:

[image source: Quicksprout]
Just like that, I can tell what some of the most popular search terms are.

It’s obvious people are interested in organic soap bases, recipes and organic soap-making supplies.

Therefore, this user base has questions and concerns about these topics.

So this is a good starting point.

I recommend recording these popular searches for future reference because you’ll want to create content around those topics.

Performing a question-based search

Another easy way to understand your average customer’s frustrations is to figure out what types of questions they’re asking regarding your niche/product.

You can do this by typing in search phrases such as “what is,” “why is,” “how to,” etc., followed by a broad keyword.

Here’s an example:

[image source: Quicksprout]
Within seconds, I can get a pretty good idea of which aspects of the organic soap topic people are curious about.

Remember, if it pops up on Google autocomplete, you know a large number of people have entered that search phrase.

So, you’re dealing with a high volume of searches.

Again, you’ll want to record those search phrases because you can target them later on.

Performing a problems search

Let’s take it one step further.

Type in your broad keyword followed by the word problems:

[image source: Quicksprout]
Here are some of the results I got:

[image source: Quicksprout]

[image source: Quicksprout]
I also highlighted some frustrations, concerns and questions people have.

Considering the fact these are all on page one of this Google search, it’s safe to say there’s a significant number of people who share these frustrations.

As a result, these are all potential topics I could cover.