Hi, I want to let you know of a website called Answer the Public. This "new-to-me" website is a powerful tool to help you generate content for your website and social media. The best way to think of Answer the Public is to think of it as secret shopping yourself. You can learn search terms and information that users are searching for on Google. Below are 3 resources for you to provide additional context on the power of this website.
Consumer insight in minutes. – by Gary Preston at Answer the Public
"Let’s bring this to life with an example. Natasha has a site selling shoes and is currently planning editorial content for September. Autumn/winter boots are going to be a key product focus so she is planning blog posts on boots for the same time. Natasha realized that people don’t just want information on boot styles. They are looking for more.
The data delivered back has sparked new ideas beyond just boots. Many people are asking for “Boots like Uggs but cheaper” which is perfect for a new range that Natasha has in stock. She will be able to seamlessly link to a selection of boots on the main site and have some interesting editorial that can capture searching for some Ugg-like boots. Natasha want’s to ensure that she is also providing helpful advice. So explores answerthepublic.com a little more and sees that ‘Boots with skirts’ is a common question. A trend-setting piece is now scheduled for the end of summer on ‘ways to wear boots with skirts’. Natasha is also planning to contact some fashion bloggers to get involved in the content too. But wait...there’s more. People are looking for advice on ‘boots with leggings/dresses/jeans’. This has sparked an idea for a regular series on the blog. Natasha wants ways for her target audience to find her content so if people are searching for this topic frequently the posts should be easily stumbled upon.
Be Specific...
By creating the ultimate answer to some these questions, we are stepping away from generic blog posts and being specific to our target audience. With the right promotion, the blog posts will be found and could be referred to for years to come. It is this type of content and recognition that Google really values and will help push both the blog and the website up the search rankings, increasing the audience of the blog, which, if everything is aligned, will have a positive impact on sales. Simple right?"
Here's an exerpt from a recent article on Ko
"Answer the Public is a clever consumer insight tool that combines the suggested searches from Bing and Google and visualizes them in what could be called a search cloud. Organized in categories such as what, where and why, these search clouds provide an overview of the questions people are typing into search engines from their various devices.
It allows you to get to know your audience and what keeps them up at night
It helps you target your keyword research
It helps you optimize for long-tail key phrases
It helps you answer questions that can get you into Google’s featured snippets."
And Sean Si at SEO Hacker offers these insights on using Answer the Public:
"Content marketers might want to play around with Answer the Public to generate topic and even content ideas. In addition, a long list of alphabetically sorted keyword suggestions at the bottom, Answer the Public also provides questions and list of popular prepositions. It does this by combining keywords with terms like “what”, “when” and “how” for questions and “for”, “like” and “near” for prepositions. This can automatically generate keyword and content ideas that other keyword suggestion tools might miss."
We hope this will be a helpful new tool as you plan out your marketing strategy. For assistance with this and other tools to create great marketing content, increase sales and grow your business reach out to us here at the Small Business Development Center at JCC. Our services are free and confidential. Contact us at 716-338-1024.