Speaker 1: 0:54

Hello and welcome to SEO is not that hard. I'm your host, ed Dawson, the founder of the SEO intelligence platform, keywordspeakleaderscom, where we help you discover the questions people ask online and learn how to optimise your content to build traffic and authority. I've been in SEO and online marketing for over 20 years and I'm here to share the wealth of knowledge, hints and tips I've amassed over that time. Hello and welcome back to SEO is not that hard. It's me here, ed Dawson, hosting, as usual, and this week it's the sort of the next part of my framework growth framework that I'm sharing with everybody as I'm going along, and sort of sharing, you know, in public, as I develop it bit by bit, as much because I can then promise that I'm going to deliver the next part, and it gives me accountability that I have to get this next bit done to pass on so that everybody can look at it and see how I'm getting on, and I will tell you at the end of this episode what I'm going to do for the next accountability milestone in a couple of weeks' time. So today we're going to go through the next parts that I'd say get completed over this two-week period, which is an intro over the framework and then the first part of the framework, which is the gather part. So this is all available in the document that I share. It's in the show notes, it's google doc. You can go along, you can have a look, you can read all the way way through it. So far, in the last couple of weeks, I've created the outline for the document and then I did the introduction in the last section, which is where I explain the journey that it took to get me from how I used to do SEO before Penguin to in 2012 and now how I've changed that and the framework that I developed for creating content which was successful for me, built sites, including broadbundlingcouk from that and you know how the successful exits and still have sites running successfully based on this methodology, in this framework that I developed from it, and how it relates to keywords people use. So that was where we went last week. Go back to the previous episode a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 1: 3:00

They all start with growth framework if you want to search for them. So this one is now we're getting into kind of the meat. We're explaining what growth means and then what the first letter of the acronym growth, the G the gather stands for, for what it does and how we do it. So I'll start and I'll read through it. So, um, just so you can hear what it is, and then we'll, at the end of that, I'll explain what we're going to do next and what the next part of the plan is. So let's go.

Speaker 1: 3:28

So the framework. So it's time to get into the detail. What exactly is the growth framework? How do we implement it? Now? I named it the growth framework as, over time, it will do what we all want, which is to grow your organic search visibility and volume.

Speaker 1: 3:43

Secondly, it's also an acronym that covers each of the six steps of the framework, which are gather, refine, optimise, watch, tune, hone and repeat. That last H hone and repeat is the h from hone and repeat. It's important. So we gather the questions people are asking online about our subject area. We refine those questions into clusters to define the content we need to produce. We optimize our content and publish it. We watch how our content grows, performs and how users interact with it. We then tune our content based on data from Google and we then hone and repeat. That builds a flywheel of constant improvements in visibility and traffic. So through the next few sections, we'll cover in detail how to implement the framework in detail from the ground up, and throughout these sections I will include how I use keywordspeopleusecom when I implement this process, but the same principles can be applied. Applied without it, it's just a bit more of a manual process.

Speaker 1: 4:41

So step one gather mining for questions. So the foundation of a successful, sustainable SEO strategy is rooted in understanding what your audience is really asking. In this step, we focus on mining for questions, the raw data that will fuel your entire content strategy. This section explains why questions matter, outlines the various sources you can tap into, provides a step-by-step guide for using keywords people use to gather a wealth of question data, and introduces the use of keyword lists to save these results for later manipulation.

Speaker 1: 5:13

Why questions matter At the heart of every search query is a question. Users aren't simply typing in keywords to game an algorithm. They're looking for answers to problems, clarifications and guidance. Understanding user intent, every search is driven by a need Solving a problem, learning something new or confirming a hypothesis. For example, someone searching how to improve website speed is not just looking for generic tips. They want actionable, specific advice to solve a frustrating issue. The power of answer based content. Focusing on answering these questions means creating content that speaks directly to your audience's need. This approach builds trust, engages users and establishes your site as a reliable authority in your niche. When you answer real questions, you not only satisfy your audience, but also attract organic links and social shares Long-term engagement. Content that answers genuine questions tends to perform better over time. It becomes a lasting resource that continues to attract visitors even as search trends evolve. This is the cornerstone of a sustainable SEO strategy.

Speaker 1: 6:16

Sources for discovery To build comprehensive lists of questions, you need to gather data from various sources. Each source provides unique insights into what people are really asking online. Google people also ask PAS. When you search a query, google presents related questions that offer multiple angles on a topic. These are invaluable for uncovering variations. You might not initially have considered Google autocomplete. As you begin typing a query, google suggests completions based on popular searches. These suggestions reveal long-tailed questions and common modifiers such as how, why, what. When people use Reddit and Quora, both platforms are hubs of genuine user inquiries. Reddit threads and Quora discussions are filled with authentic questions, often capturing niche or detailed aspects of a subject before they come into search engines, other niche forums and social media communities, smaller forums, facebook groups and industry-specific communities often surface questions that might be overlooked by larger platforms, and they provide additional context and a deeper dive into user concerns.

Speaker 1: 7:16

Using keywords people use for gathering Keywords people use streamlines the process of mining for questions, allowing you to collect as many queries as possible without worrying about immediate relevance. And don't worry, we will cover how we narrow down the most relevant questions in the refined step of the framework by using our clustering processes. So, step by step, guide one setting up your account and dashboard. Create an account. Sign in up on keywords, people, usecom using your preferred method of google sign in or manual registration and, once logged in, take a moment to explore the dashboard. The interface is organized into different search types Google, people Also Ask, autocomplete, reddit Inquirer, semantic Keywords and more, each designed to tap into different sources of question data.

Speaker 1: 7:56

Initiating a search Select the appropriate tool. Start with the People Also Ask tool for your seed, keyword or topic. For instance, if you're focusing on website speed, type in improve website speed. Customise your search. Use your language and region selectors to tailor the results to your target audience. This ensures that the gathered questions reflect the interests and the language of your specific demographic. And step 3 collect the data so you can view the results. Keywords People Use will display a list of questions in both a visual map format and a data table. At this stage, your goal is to gather as many questions as possible, so don't worry about filtering out irrelevant queries. The clustering phase in step two will handle that. Save with keyword lists. Instead of manually filtering the questions, use the keyword list feature in each search result on keywords people use to save your entire search result of gathered questions into a keyword list. This allows you to preserve the raw data intact and later manipulate it, analyse or refine it using the clustering tools we'll cover in the refine step.

Speaker 1: 8:51

Step 4 is expanding your pool of questions. Use multiple tools. After gathering questions from people also ask. Switch to the autocomplete tool to capture long tail variations. Next, tap into the reddit and quora search to extract questions that are being actively discussed in communities. You want comprehensive data collection. You want to combine the results from all these sources into your keyword list. By collecting an extensive pool of questions, you ensure you're not missing out on any potential angles or nuances.

Speaker 1: 9:16

Remember, at this stage, quantity is more valuable than immediate quality Overcoming common challenges, since the goal at this stage is to amass a wide range of questions. You don't need to worry about manually filtering out noise. Right now, the idea is to let your data flow. Range of questions. You don't need to worry about manually filtering out noise. Right now, the idea is to let your data flow freely into your keyword lists for later analysis. So embrace quantity. Focus on collecting a large volume of questions without overthinking their initial relevancy. Trust that the clustering process in the refine step will help you sort out and group the most valuable queries later.

Speaker 1: 9:48

Keyword lists as storage tool. Use keyword lists to organise and save your raw data. This feature is essential because it enables you to revisit and manipulate your dataset once you're ready to refine and cluster your questions. It's like saving all your brainstorming ideas in one place so that nothing gets lost, and future flexibility. By gathering questions without premature filtering, you retain the flexibility to identify hidden gems that might initially seem off topic but could later evolve into valuable content when viewed in the context of your overall strategy. Bringing it all together.

Speaker 1: 10:19

Step one of the growth framework is about laying a robust foundation by gathering a vast array of user questions. This phase isn't about perfecting data quality. It's about amassing a comprehensive pool of questions that reflect the diverse interests and challenges of your audience. With Keywords People Use, you can quickly and efficiently collect this raw data and save it using keyword lists for later clustering and refinement. This abundant repository of questions will serve as the bedrock for creating truly engaging, answer-based content in the subsequent steps. By focusing on gathering first, you ensure that no potential question is overlooked. The real magic happens later, when you can sort through this data to create clusters that form the basis of detailed, high-quality content. In this way, the gather phase is your launch pad into building a content strategy that truly resonates with your audience and drives sustainable, long-term SEO success.

Speaker 1: 11:09

So that's this next section I've created. So in this section I'm really first of all telling you why GROWTH is called GROWTH, so that's for each step is a letter of the acronym G-R-O-W-T-H, and then we go through the gather phase of why we're concentrating on questions, why it's important that we go for quantity and not worry too much at this point about quality. The quality will surface in future, in the future steps, and we also touch on how keywords people use can help you with that mining process and how the keyword lists, which is a core sort of pillar within this, where you're going to pour data into your keyword list to later manipulate. So hopefully that makes sense. Hopefully it explains that first step and we can see why that you know at this point where we are using the tools to help us get as many questions as possible. We're not worrying about filtering these questions because that's an automated process that will come later and this is something that's really key.

Speaker 1: 12:13

I know when I've spoken to a lot of people when I first introduced this framework to them. They often start to worry about whether a question that's been discovered is or isn't relevant. And yes, you will find likely that, as you're just scanning over these questions, you will find ones that aren't relevant. But don't worry, leave them in. Let the tool down the line, do the process of eliminating the ones that aren't relevant and clustering together all the ones that are relevant. Just just trust me on this. It works. So go and read it yourself. I don't know how well it works when you're just reading out a document, especially with headings and things like that and bullet lists, um, but hopefully it made sense. Do go and look at the document. Any feedback? You know there's details in the document of how you can email me, how you can get hold of me to provide any feedback, and all feedback is welcome. Thanks, anyone, everyone who has so far left me feedback. It's really, really valuable.

Speaker 1: 13:07

Um, so next time, what I will aim to do, for two weeks from today, which will be about the 7th of march, about the 7th of march, I will provide the next two sections. I'll try and do the next two sections. They're quite big sections but they are the refine and optimize sections. So I'll definitely do refine. I'll see how long it takes before getting into optimize. The refine section. That's the one where I've been referring to in what we've talked about so far today. That's where we're going to get into clusters and how we're going to cluster all those questions together and find all the related questions, all the clusters, how the clusters relate to each other, how to interpret the clusters and then how to prioritize them. Then the optimized section is then when we're talking about choosing the right medium, whether it's creating or updating content, and some tips on on-page best practice and user experience, that kind of thing, which could be quite a big section. So I'll see how we get into that one, but I'll try and complete it.

Speaker 1: 14:09

So two weeks from today, that's where I'm going to deliver the next set to you. So you are holding me accountable, you're my accountability partners. It's really, really important and it's working so well so far, because every time I know I've got a deadline and I've got to report on it, and if I don't, I've let you down. So that's what I'm going to do for you next time. And if you are interested in being one of the case studies in this, when it's finished, you let me know All case studies as well as obviously being featured in this document, and however I publish this document, I'll also cover you on our website. So you know there'll be a linked back to. So it's obviously a nice easy way of getting yourself a nice editorial link. So, yeah, if you're interested in being included, the information's in the document or just contact me in any of the contact ways that I mentioned in the show notes of this document, of this podcast. Even so, yeah, that's it for today.

Speaker 1: 14:58

So until next time, keep optimizing, stay curious and remember SEO is not that hard when you understand the basics. Thanks for stay curious and remember SEO is not that hard when you understand the basics. Thanks for listening. It means a lot to me. This is where I get to remind you where you can connect with me and my SEO tools and services.

Speaker 1: 15:12

You can find links to all the links I mentioned here in the show notes. Just remember, with all these places where I use my name, that Ed is spelled with two d's. You can find me on LinkedIn and Blue Sky. Just search for Ed Dawson on both. You can record a voice question to get answered on the podcast. The link is in the show notes. You can try our SEO intelligence platform, keywords People Use at keywordspeopleusecom, where we can help you discover the questions and keywords people are asking online, poster those questions and keywords into related groups so you know what content you need to build topical authority and finally, connect your Google Search Console account for your sites so we can crawl and understand your actual content, find what keywords you rank for and then help you optimize and continually refine your content. Targeted, personalized advice to keep your traffic growing. If you're interested in learning more about me personally or looking for dedicated consulting advice, then visit wwweddawsoncom. Bye for now and see you in the next episode of SEO is not that hard.