Module 1: Know What to Create
Topic research the research-driven way: search data, keyword workflows, customer questions, and competitor gaps — so you never guess at topics again.
Start with search data
Guessing at topics is the most expensive habit in content marketing. Every hour spent writing about something nobody searches for is an hour you’ll never get back — and the tragedy is that the data telling you what to write is free. Search data is buyers raising their hands and telling you, in their own words, what they want to know. Your job is to listen before you write.
Here’s the workflow, step by step. Step one: list your seed topics — the 5 to 10 subjects closest to what you sell. A roofer’s seeds: roof replacement, roof repair, metal roofing, gutters, storm damage. Step two: expand each seed with free sources. Type it into Google and note the autocomplete suggestions. Scroll to “People also ask.” Open Google Search Console and look at the actual queries already bringing people to your site — the Queries report is a goldmine most businesses never open.
Step three: classify every phrase by intent. Informational (“how does metal roofing work” — researching), commercial (“metal vs shingle roof cost” — comparing), transactional (“metal roof installer near me” — ready to buy). Step four: score each topic on three factors — buyer intent (how close to money?), relevance (how close to what you sell?), and winnability (can a business your size realistically rank?). Pick the topics that score high on intent and relevance first, even if the search volume is smaller. A hundred buyers beat ten thousand browsers.
At a glance
Topic sources, ranked by reliability
How to score a topic (weight each factor)
Build brief
List your 5-10 seed topics — the subjects closest to what you sell. Then write 3 actual search phrases a buyer might type for your top seed.
Saved
Mine your customers’ questions
Search data tells you what strangers type. Your customers tell you what buyers ask — and buyers’ questions are higher-intent than strangers’ searches. The richest topic source you own is the record of what people have already asked you: sales calls, support tickets, emails, reviews, and comments. Nobody else has this data. That’s what makes it a moat.
Build the pipeline. After every sales call, spend two minutes writing down what the prospect asked — especially the questions that came right before they bought or walked away. Scan your support inbox monthly for repeats; the question you’re tired of answering is a content piece your competitors don’t have. Read your reviews and your competitors’ reviews — complaints are unmet-content opportunities wearing a disguise.
Sort what you collect by buying heat. Questions asked right before purchase — cost, timeline, guarantees, “how do I choose” — are your highest-priority topics. They’re asked by people with credit cards out. Curiosity questions go last. And capture everything in the asker’s exact words: “how much does it cost to replace a roof in Texas” is a headline; “roofing cost optimization” is a graveyard. Your buyers’ exact words are your content briefs — steal them verbatim.
Build brief
List 5 questions customers or prospects have asked you recently. Mark each one: was it asked by someone close to buying, or just curious?
Saved
Find the competitor gap
Your competitors have already done free topic research for you — their best-performing content is sitting in public. The competitor gap is the set of topics they rank for that you don’t, and it’s the fastest way to find proven topics instead of gambling on unproven ones.
Do it manually. List your 3 to 5 real competitors — the businesses buyers compare you against, not the giants you’ll never outrank. Open their blogs and list every topic they’ve covered in the last year. Now mark each one: do you have something better, something equal, or nothing? The “nothing” column is your gap list. Then check which of those gap topics have buying intent — a competitor’s viral history-of-the-industry post is not your opportunity; their pricing guide is.
The goal isn’t to copy — it’s to find the proven demand and serve it better. For each gap topic, ask: can I make the definitive version? More complete, more current, more specific, with original examples or data? If yes, it goes on the calendar. If you can’t beat what’s there, skip it — a weaker version of an existing winner helps no one. Don’t chase their traffic. Chase the demand their traffic proves exists — then out-serve it.
The process
Finding the competitor gap
Teaching example — your numbers will differ. The lesson is the shape.
Build brief
Name your 3 real competitors. List 5 topics they cover that you don’t. Star the ones with buying intent — those are your gaps.
Saved
A plumber has 50 topic ideas and time to create 5 this quarter. How does a strategist pick the 5?
Your turn: Build your topic scorecard: list 10 topic ideas, classify each by intent (informational / commercial / transactional), and score each 1-5 on intent, relevance, and winnability. Circle your top 3.
Saved.
Your next 24 hours
Open Google Search Console’s Queries report (or just Google autocomplete on your top seed topic) and collect 20 real phrases buyers type. Classify each by intent tonight.
Steal this template
TOPIC SCORECARD
Topic: ___
Search phrase (buyer’s words): ___
Intent (informational / commercial / transactional): ___
Buyer intent (1-5): ___
Relevance to what I sell (1-5): ___
Winnability (1-5): ___
Total: ___/15 — create the highest scorers first.
Module 1 cheat sheet
- Never guess at topics — search data is buyers telling you what they want, for free.
- The workflow: seed topics → expand → classify by intent → score → create winners first.
- Free sources: Search Console queries, autocomplete, People Also Ask.
- Score on intent × relevance × winnability — volume comes last.
- Mine sales calls, support tickets, and reviews — buyers’ questions beat strangers’ searches.
- Competitor gaps show proven demand — then out-serve it, don’t copy it.