How to find content opportunities
Where to find the questions and searches your site does not answer yet, how to judge which are worth a page, and how to turn them into a short plan.
What a content opportunity is
A content opportunity is a search or a question that people bring to Google, that fits your business, and that your site does not answer well yet. Some are missing pages. Some are pages that exist but miss the question. Some are subjects your competitors cover and you don’t.
Finding them is not about writing as much as possible. It is about finding the few gaps where a good page would help real customers, then filling those first. A site with twenty pages that each answer something people search for will usually do better than one with two hundred that answer nothing in particular.
Where to look
Your own Search Console
The best ideas are often already in your data. In Search Console, open Performance, then Queries, and sort by impressions. Look for searches with many impressions where your position is low or your page only touches the subject. Google already links you with the subject; a page that truly answers it often does better. Our guide to reading Search Console data shows how to filter by page.
Google’s results pages
- Autocomplete: type the start of a search, then add letters or words such as “how”, “why”, “best” or “vs” to see more suggestions.
- People also ask: the boxes of questions on many results pages. Opening one adds more. Each is a question real searchers have.
- Related searches: the list at the bottom of the results page, showing how people narrow or change their search.
- AI Overviews: when Google shows one, note the questions it answers and the follow-up questions it suggests.
Your customers and the people who serve them
Questions people ask by email, on the phone, in reviews and in the shop are among the most valuable, because few websites answer them. Keep a running list. A question asked three times this month is very likely searched by many more people who never asked you.
Your competitors
Look at the businesses that rank above you for your main searches. Which subjects do they cover that you don’t? Which of their pages bring them visitors? You don’t want to copy them; you want to find the questions they answer, then answer them better from your own experience.
Forums and communities
Discussion sites and forums show how people describe a problem in their own words, what confuses them, and which answers they find unhelpful. Google often shows these discussions in its results, which is a sign that searchers want first-hand answers.
Your own analytics and site search
If your site has a search box, its log is a list of things visitors expected to find and often didn’t. Searches that return no results, or that people repeat with different words, point straight at missing pages or missing words on existing pages. In your analytics, look for pages where many people arrive from Google and leave quickly: the page may rank for a question it does not really answer.
Seasons and trends
Google Trends shows when interest in a subject rises and falls through the year. A garden shop sees “how to plant bulbs” rise every autumn; a running-shoe shop sees interest in race training rise before the big spring races. Plan seasonal pages a couple of months ahead, so they are published and found before the peak, not during it.
Judge each idea
A long list of ideas is easy. The work is choosing. Put each idea through four questions:
| Question | Keep the idea if… | Drop it or change it if… |
|---|---|---|
| Does it fit? | The person searching could become a customer. | It only shares a word with what you do. |
| What kind of page wins? | You can make that kind of page. See search intent gaps. | The results want something you can’t offer, such as a tool or a national news report. |
| Is there room? | Some results are from sites like yours. | Every result is from a very large, well-known site. |
| Do you already cover it? | No page of yours answers it. | A page answers part of it. Improve that page instead of adding a new one. |
Update before you add
Many opportunities are better filled by improving a page you already have: a new section, a clearer answer near the top, a table that compares options. A second page on a subject you already cover can end up competing with the first. Check your keyword map before you plan a new page.
Put them in order
- Group ideas into topics. Several questions often belong on one page, or in one topic cluster. Grouping them first stops you from writing five thin pages where one good one would do.
- Start close to your sales. A question asked just before buying, such as “how to choose the right size of trail shoe”, is usually worth more than a general one such as “history of running shoes”.
- Prefer searches you nearly win. Subjects where Search Console already shows you on page two need less work than subjects where you don’t appear at all.
- Write a short brief for each page. One line on who it is for, the main question, the related questions to answer, and the page it should link to. A brief keeps the page focused and makes it easy to hand to a writer.
Turn it into a plan you will keep
A plan of three or four pages a month that you actually publish beats a plan of thirty that never starts. Put each page in a calendar with a date, and leave time to update older pages too. When a page goes live, add its searches to your keyword master list so you can see whether it is found.
Then look at the results after a couple of months. Pages that bring visitors suggest more of the same subject. Pages that bring nobody may need a better title, more depth, or links from your stronger pages, before you write the next one.
When you write, our guide to helpful new content covers what makes a page worth choosing over the others in the results.
Read next
Phase 2How to plan topic clusters
Group your keywords into topics, give each topic a main page and supporting pages, and link them so people and search engines see what you know.
Phase 2How to find and fix search intent gaps
Every search has a purpose: to learn, compare, buy or visit. How to read it from Google’s results and check your page gives people what they came for.