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LESSON 2 OF 7 · 7 MINUTES

Pick topics from what people already search

Search Console shows the questions you already appear for. Start there, not with a brainstorm.

Open Google Search Console and look at the queries report for the last 28 days. Sort by impressions. You will probably find searches you show up for and never wrote about.

That list is better than any brainstorm. People typed those words, and Google already thinks your site is related.

The ones worth writing for

  • Queries where your average position is 11 to 20. You are on page two. One good page can move you onto page one.
  • Queries with impressions and almost no clicks. People see you and do not choose you, usually because no page answers the question directly.
  • Questions phrased the way a buyer talks, not the way your homepage talks.

Track a few, not all of them

Pick the five searches that matter most and watch them week to week. Average position moves around; a trend over four weeks means more than any single day.

EASIEST WAY

The topic map proposes topics from your Search Console queries, with the evidence for each. Tracked searches show each one's position over time, and the articles you published for it.

Open the topic map

Or start with the free site audit

DO IT YOURSELF

Export the queries report from Search Console to a spreadsheet. Filter to positions 11 to 20. Group what is left by meaning, not by exact words. Each group is a topic. Write the five you care about on a sticky note and check them every Monday.

Do it now

  1. Open the Search Console queries report, last 28 days.
  2. Filter to average position 11 to 20.
  3. Group the queries into three to five topics.
  4. Choose the five searches you will track.

Quick answers

I do not have Search Console set up.

Set it up today. It is free, and it starts collecting from the day you verify. Come back to this lesson in two weeks.

Why not use a keyword tool?

You can. A keyword tool tells you what the world searches. Search Console tells you what you already appear for, which is a much shorter path.