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10 Question-Based Keywords That Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic - WordStream PDF
10 Question-Based Keywords That Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic - WordStream PDF
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I was pretty psyched a few months back when Glenn Gabe published some research showing that WordStream is “the king of featured snippets,” ranking in more featured snippets (AKA position
Partners
zero) than any other marketing site he analyzed. (However, since I manage our SEO and content marketing and not Larry Kim, I think that should be “queen of featured snippets.” Ahem.)
Investors
Newssome tips with you for ranking in Google’s featured snippet, the first of which is to target complex question queries rather than simple queries that can be answered by
I’ve already shared
Wikipedia or byLegal
Google itself – see the query below where Google anticipated a weather search and showed me the weather forecast right from the browser search bar in Chrome!
Search
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
Here’s the reason you should target complex questions: Anyone can answer an easy question, but by providing smart answers to hard questions, better than anyone else on the SERP, you
position yourself as an expert that your site visitors can trust. That means those visitors are more likely to come back for more, and more likely to convert. And happy visitors send good
engagement signals to Google, which helps your content rank even higher. Positive feedback loop FTW!
Over the years, we’ve targeted many different question keywords on our blog, and some of this content has enormous evergreen value to our business. Below, I’ve identified ten types of
question keywords – think of them as question-answering content templates – that can work for any type of business to drive tons of high-quality traffic. I've also included some tips for finding
more question-based keywords, and optimizing your content to rank for questions.
A perfect example of this is people searching for salary information – they want to know if they’re underpaid and underappreciated, or, if they are managers, they want to confirm that they’re not
underpaying their underlings.
In our industry, marketing, people are always looking for advertising benchmarks, asking questions like “What’s a good click-through rate?” and “What’s a good conversion rate?” Since these are
complicated questions, we provide complicated answers based on real data. This post, which provides benchmarks and averages for Google AdWords CTR, conversion rate, cost per click and
cost per action across 20 different industries, gets several thousand visits a WEEK and drives tons of leads, too!
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
As always, remember to provide deep, actionable advice that’s better than what’s already out there. Give people a reason to click on your site instead of one of those dumb wikiHow articles.
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
Wow, no wonder I’ve got insomnia! I’ve been trying to sleep standing up in a full tux.
If you’re in the green building or energy industry: “How to reduce my electric/gas bill?”
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
If you’re in the healthcare or fitness industry: “How to increase muscle mass?”
If you’re in the email marketing industry: “How to increase open rate?”
Want more information on driving tons of traffic? Download our Free Guide: 25 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website
People also love to get stuff for free, so they’re always looking for free or cheap online courses, tutorials, etc. to improve their knowledge and make them more marketable.
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
What’s in it for you? Again, providing a free resource increases trust in your brand. You can also soft-sell visitors on a relevant, gated offer as a way to generate leads. And if you offer a paid
version of what they’re looking for, hopefully they come back your way if the free resources out there don’t meet their needs.
If you offer language classes or software: “How to learn Spanish for free?”
If you’re in the music industry: “How to learn piano for free?”
If you sell art supplies: “How to learn to draw for free?”
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
You’re unlikely to rank on a keyword like “best portable grills” with a product page – aside from ads, the top spots are all articles on review or food sites. These are great keywords to go after
with unbiased reviews of your favorite products.
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
Examples from our site:
If you’re in the beauty industry: “What are the best waterproof mascaras?”
If you’re in the home and garden industry: “What are the best deck stains?”
If you’re in the online marketing industry: “What are the best A/B testing tools?”
Take instead a layered question like “How much does Google AdWords cost?” The answer depends on a lot of different variables and factors, which is why we dug in to answer this question with
a long-form post and lots of visuals and data. This post, which ranks in the coveted featured snippet, got over 150,000 visits in the past year alone!
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
If you’re in the security business: “How much does a security guard cost?”
If you’re in the legal industry: “How much does a defense lawyer cost?”
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
If you’re in the higher education industry: “How much does a graduate degree cost?”
This is another example of a complex question format, and if you happen to have access to unique data or can do the research that no one else has bothered to do, you can provide a ton of value
to a ton of people.
Tell a man the best time to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
Nope
This question keyword type might not apply to every industry, but it will apply to a lot of them, because it’s hard to escape the need to write things, from cover letters to social media updates to
thank-you notes.
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
via garfieldminusjon
If you’re in the data viz or analysis industry: “How to improve your Excel skills”
If you’re in the events industry: “How to improve your PowerPoint skills”
If you’re in the food industry: “How to improve your baking skills”
Question type #10: What’s the difference between X and Y? (or X vs. Y)
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it once more, with feeling: X vs. Y type keywords are most worth your while if they’re somewhat complex. I assure you, someone else has already posted a couple of
pictures on the internet showing the difference between a crocodile and an alligator.
But sometimes the differences between two complex concepts are a little more subtle. Or, people may be looking to figure out which of two options is better (for example, two competing
software offerings or two different approaches to solving a problem), in which case a detailed review and comparison would be in order, with data to back up your assertions if possible.
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
Examples from our site:
If you’re in the nutrition industry: “What’s the difference between eating vitamins in food and taking supplements?”
If you’re in the dating industry: “What’s the difference between Match.com and eHarmony?”
If you’re in the clothing or wedding industry: “What’s the difference between black tie and white tie (or formal and semi-formal)?”
Keyword tools – Specifically, Answer the Public and FAQ Fox both return question keywords. You can also filter the results in Moz’s Keyword Explorer to include question keywords (see
below)
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
Q&A sites – Browse Q&A sites (like Quora) and forums in your industry for questions that are common but not answered well already. Try to outrank content that ranks for those
questions while only providing shallow or out-of-date information.
Site search – If your site has a search box, dig through those site-specific search queries looking for question terms like “why” and “how to.”
Google suggestions – Start typing question queries like “where to buy…” or “how to improve…” in the Google search box and see what comes up. Check out the “Related searches” at the
bottom of the SERP too. Try the wild card tip outlined in this post, but note that it doesn’t work every time.
Surveys – Come right out and ask your readers or customers what their burning, unanswered questions are. Or ask your sales team what the most common questions they hear from
prospects are.
Use the question as the headline – This is more important if it’s a high-volume, competitive keyword. Barring that, make sure to use it in the post somewhere, in a heading, or at least in
the meta description, so users searching for that exact question will clearly see that your content provides a relevant answer.
Check the search volume on the keyword - Use a keyword tool (like Keyword Planner, KWFinder, or our own Free Keywod Tool) to see if your question has decent search volume. If
the full question doesn't show a lot of searches, and it may not, try to align the question with a shorter phrase with very similar intent. For example, "how much do facebook ads cost" has a
lower monthly search volume than "facebook ads cost." If you've got a site with a lot of domain authority, feel free to target high-volume keywords. If you're a newer or smaller site, you
might need to start with much less competitive, lower volume keywords.
Provide accurate, up-to-date, detailed answers to questions – Is this thing on? Did I already say that? I can’t stress enough how important it is to provide the best answer to the question
you’re targeting if you want to rank. And keep your content up to date through frequent content audits and updates, or risk getting scooped when people target those same keywords with
newer content. Consider implementing a “last updated” feature so people know your answers are still fresh and valuable.
Try different content formats – Sometimes the best way to answer a question is with a video. (For example, all the results for the apparently popular keyword “how to make a paper gun
that shoots” are videos.) Infographics or interactive data visualizations may be the best way to answer a question. You might need to provide a tool or an app. Don’t feel limited to text-
based articles and lists.
Include images and rich text formats – If the question implies that the user is looking for a visual or data or comparisons or a numbered list of steps (etc.) Google loves to include these
directly in the featured snippet, so build those into your content. Make it as easy as possible for Google to feature your answer right there at the top of the SERP and you’ll get awesome
click-through. Keyword-optimize your images, too.
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1/13/2017 10 Question-Based Keywords that Drive Tons of High-Quality Traffic | WordStream
Comments
Seo Training In Mohali
Aug 10, 2016
Nice post . Thanks for sharing very good information from this blog .
reply
Onaolapo Adeyemi
Oct 06, 2016
This is a well-researched content. Thank you for sharing. I had to bookmark and save this page on my desktop for easy access. Once again, thanks for sharing.
reply
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