Publishing new and engaging content regularly on your website is important. As a general rule, consider posting something new and interesting at least once a week, and be consistent about when you publish (every Wednesday, for example). But what should you write about? Where should you seek inspiration for topics that would make for valuable, engaging and popular content? Here are 3 tools that will scrape the Internet to find you data on trending search terms (keywords), hashtags and social shares.

3 Free Tools to Inspire Your Next Post

1. Google Trends

Google is very open when it comes to what search terms are trending with Google Trends. Simply pick a country, date range, categories and keywords to discover what search terms have been growing in popularity. Google Trends is also great for finding which provinces and cities search a keyword the most. This is ideal for businesses targeting locally. Here is how the keyword ‘ping pong’ trends by subregion in Canada (provinces) And now by city

Interpreting Google Trends Data

Google Trends shows you keywords trends as a percentage rather than absolute search volume. In the above example, ace ping pong has 250% more searches than it did 12 months ago. Google Trends only tells you if a term is growing in popularity, not how often it’s actually searched for. If you would like to know more about keyword research, check out our Beginner’s Guide to Keyword Research. If the result is listed as a breakout, you’ve found a seriously growing trend. Breakout trends generally represent a growth of more than 5000%!

Picking the Best Topics to Write About with Google Trends

Start by entering your primary and secondary keywords to identify trends and variant. This is very useful if you have to make a decision between related keywords (e.g. ping pong or table tennis). Secondly, pick a possible candidate in the related topics or queries suggestions and check its search results. This will likely provide insight into why the keyword is gaining interest. Is it something you can use or is it trending for other reasons (e.g. you’re a cranberry farmer but the trend relates to a band)? Lastly, the data can show you when a keyword is most popular. This helps to identify seasonal keywords. Using Google Trends in this way, you will likely be able to narrow in on a few possible topics for your next article. Let’s see this approach in action with our ping pong example. If you’ve a couple of possible topics in mind you can compare up to 5 keywords. At a glance you can see that, in Canada, more people search for the term ‘ping pong’ than they do ‘table tennis’. So if you’re looking to get the most possible traffic go with ping pong. For a site dedicated to the game of ping pong, the query below shows that “ace ping pong lounge” is a good topic as it’s a breakout. You will also notice that under topics you get some rather odd results. “Smoke” as a topic related to ping pong? What does that even mean? To find out, search “smoke ping pong” and you will find your answer. Lastly, you may want to know when a keyword is most popular. Here’s an example with ‘skiing’ over five years. It’s no surprise that people search for ‘skiing’ far more in winter and it gained even more popularity during the 2018 Winter Olympics. Considering this, it’s best to publish skiing related content between November and April. Try Google Trends

2. Hashtagify

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 10 years, you’ve probably already heard of and seen hashtags. Hashtags are used to group content into topics. Besides the convenience of grouping similar posts, hashtags have been shown to improve engagement on social media by 12.6%. So applying them to your social media posts is an easy way to boost visibility. Hashtagify is a freemium tool that allows you to find data on hashtags. Just type in a hashtag keyword to receive information on:

• Overall popularity
• Recent popularity
• Monthly trend
• Week trend
• Related hashtag by correlation and popularity
• General popularity by country

Data on #tabletennis

Finding topics to write about with Hashtagify

1. Start by searching for a general topic of interest
2. Note the hashtag’s popularity
3. Look at related hashtags and the tweets wall, at the bottom of the page
4. Rinse and repeat this process for information on different hashtags to see which one has the highest popularity overall and highest recent popularity

This information will help you find what is currently trending through hashtags. As a general rule, focus on recent popularity to find information on current trends (e.g. recent events in ping pong) and focus on overall popularity if you’re going to write something that has more long term value (e.g. “how to properly hold a ping pong paddle”). Once you have a few popular hashtags, dive deeper. Search the hashtag on Google, Twitter, Instagram or Facebook to find what people are saying about it. You want to make sure that the topic is useful (a new ping pong product) and not something completely different (a viral video of a dog named Ping Pong). With some digging you’ll find an idea to create content that is trending on social media, with hundreds of thousands on social media users already engaged in the topic. Try Hashtagify

3. Buzz Sumo

Buzz Sumo is a great tool to find out what’s being shared the most on social media. Just type in a keyword and you will be provided with the top 9 most shared pieces of content for free. You’ll find the number of shares on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Reddit, as well as total engagement. The evergreen score lets you know if a piece of content has staying power. The higher the score the longer the content has been continually shared over time.

Finding topics to write about with Buzz Sumo

Start by searching your primary keywords or trending terms discovered earlier through the previous 2 tools and examine the results for interesting topics you may be able to expand on. Pay attention to which sharing platform is used. If most of the shares happen on a Pinterest (Instagram is not yet supported), the post may be visual in nature and its topic may be of limited use if your own company or brand doesn't also have presences on these social media platforms. If Facebook or Twitter, consider the type of post along with your target audience: if you target people looking to buy, then a share that’s a collection of memes probably isn’t targeting the same audience. Next, look at the Evergreen score. It lets you know if an article has staying power. If a share has a low evergreen score, then it may not be popular for long and you probably shouldn't wait too long before creating some related content. On the flip side, a high evergreen score means you can spend more time crafting the content, and may mean your content will be useful for a longer time. Once you've found a promising result, try to build on it:

1. What can you add to this topic, that would make it more successful?
   When looking at a result ask yourself: “Why is this being shared so much”? Is it entertaining or informative? What question does it answer? Can you write something similar from a different point of view to add value? Basically, the article was shared because it gave people something. What can you do to give them more of that something? You can also look for information the content is missing. Does it provide only a surface explanation of a particular subject? The good thing is that you know people are interested, so ‘expanding’ the topic is a great way to grab some of that attention.
2. How should you write your article, to make it more engaging?
   Put on your critical thinking cap and ask yourself: “What makes this piece of content so interesting”? You know it’s being shared a lot so there has to be something about it which works. Look at the title, format, tone and keywords. Keep these in mind when looking at other results to find similarities between them. If you are drawn to a particular style or piece of content, it’s likely your readers will be as well. Learning from what works is never a waste of time.

Try Buzz Sumo

You’ve found your topic. Now start writing!

These 3 tools will help you find topics to write about and hopefully make writer’s block a thing of the past. By looking at trends in search results, hashtags or social shares you may uncover new popular subjects that will gain traction and give your website and organization more visibility. But remember, finding a great topic is only the first step! Make sure the content you write is original and useful to your readers to keep them coming back for more! Thinking of starting a blog? Managed WordPress Hosting will get you up and running in minutes! Happy Blogging,

In part three of our ongoing series, SEO for Beginners, we look at changes you can make to a single web page to improve its ranking on search engines.

What is On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO helps improve your search engine rankings by optimizing the content of specific pages of your website, as opposed to elements external to your website, like inbound links. In addition to being one of the most effective parts of SEO, on-page strategies allow you to narrow your focus to one page of your website at a time, making the process more straightforward. Before delving into on-page SEO, you’ll need to identify your web page’s primary and secondary keywords. If you haven’t already done so, read our Beginner’s Guide to SEO: Keyword Research for a detailed walkthrough.

5 Ways to Improve Your On-Page SEO

Let’s discover the most effective ways to improve your page’s online search engine rankings.

• 1. Title Tag and H1 Optimization
• 2. Meta Description Optimization
• 3. On-Page Written Content Optimization
• 4. Image Optimization
• 5. URL Optimization

1. Title Tag and H1 Optimization

Your page’s title and its first header are two of the most important SEO elements of your page. The title isn’t visible to visitors directly on your page; however it will be used by Google (and other search engines) as the text of the main link in search results. It’s also the name that appears in your browser’s title bar as well as the name of your website when you bookmark it. Titles are placed between title tags in HTML and their code look like this: <title>This is my title!</title>. The H1 is your web page's main headline (or first-level heading). It’s usually shown in larger, bold text at the very top of your page, and one of the first things visitors to your page will see, so it's hugely important! First-level headings are placed between <h1></h1> tags in HTML. Each page you create should contain only one title tag and one H1 tag. The title tag and H1 can have the same wording, but don’t necessarily need to. In the examples above you can see they are different but still have the primary keyword “Labrador Retriever” at the beginning and provide a clear description of the information on the page. Since both tags share a similar purpose, similar SEO strategies can be applied to both. In general, your title and h1 tags should:

1. Contain your primary keyword(s)
2. Include the primary keyword near the beginning of the phrase
3. Accurately represent the content of the page
4. Be engaging! Consider asking a question, stating a problem or offering a solution
5. Contain secondary keywords if they can be inserted naturally into your phrase
6. Not exceed 70 characters

While title tags exceeding 70 characters are possible, they may be cut short in search engines results.

Example of optimized title tag

Example of a non-optimized title tag

While the second example contains the keyword “Labrador Retriever” at the beginning, its excessive length leads it to be cut short.

In content management systems like WordPress or website builders like Weebly, adding the H1 is the first thing you are prompted to do when creating a new page or post. You can usually also set up your titles so that your company name is appended to the end each page's individual title, separated by a hyphen or a vertical bar | . This will ensure that branding elements such as your company’s name are always present as secondary keywords in all your pages.

2. Meta Description Optimization

In HTML, the meta description tag is a short text used to summarize a web page's content. Search engines can display this text in search results to describe a page’s content before visitors click on it. Just like title tags, meta descriptions are not seen by website visitors, but Google and other search engines often display them below your page's title in the search results. However, unlike title tags, meta descriptions affect SEO indirectly. Search engines do not place much ranking weight (or any!) on meta descriptions themselves, but they can entice people click on the link and go to your website, which in turn increases your click-through rate and contributes to better rankings. So, think of the meta description as a piece of ad copy to get people interested. It’s also important to note that search engines will not always use the meta description in their results. If the algorithm finds other information on the page which it considers more accurate, then it will override the description you wrote. Still, meta descriptions can be optimized by:

• Writing an engaging text that will grab the reader's attention and intice them to click on your link. Ask yourself: would I click on this link if I were reading this description?
• Accurately describing the content of your page, to avoid misleading readers
• Adding primary keywords which search engines will highlight in bold if they match the keywords used during the search
• Keeping the meta description shorter than 120 characters so that it is not cut off in the search results

In HTML, a meta description tag looks like: <meta name="description" content="This is the content of my meta!" />
It should be placed between the <head></head> tags of your page.

Example of optimized meta description

Example of non-optimized meta description

The non-optimized example shows the text from the actual page because a meta description was never created. It has the primary keyword “Labrador Retriever” but is cut short due to excessive length and isn’t as engaging as the optimized example. Website builders like WordPress and Weebly will generally allow you to add a meta description to each page in the page’s settings or SEO screen.

3. On-Page Written Content Optimization

To have Google show your web page in its search results for specific keywords, you'll need to include them in your page's main content. You may find that your primary and secondary keywords will naturally be part of your content, but here are some guidelines for writing good SEO content:

• Think about your visitors first, not your keywords. If your page's content isn't engaging and visitors don't find it pertinent, manipulating keywords won't help much.
• Add your primary keyword to the first sentence on your page
• Include secondary keywords in the first 100 words or first paragraph of your page
• Don't overdo it! Primary keywords should comprise approximately 2% of your page's text
• Consider writing enough text on some of your more important pages to keep the visitor reading for a few minutes. A good starting target is 1,900 words
• Make your text easy to scan and fun to read:
  • Use secondary headings (H2s and H3 tags) to break up the text into sections and to add secondary keywords
  • Enhance content with images, bullet points and bolded words (plain text is boring)

Adding keywords for the sake of adding keywords (also known as keyword stuffing) might harm the quality of your content and may also send negative signals to search engines which can end up lowering your ranking. Let's look at a made up example using the keyword Retriever breeds.

Example of good content

Example of keyword stuffing

While the 2% rule is a good rule of thumb for content optimization, it’s more important to focus on having text that reads naturally and answers your visitor's intent. If you go over 2% but the page has a great flow and doesn’t feel ‘stuffy’ to the reader, then search engines will probably not penalize you. Here's a helpful tool to check keyword density. Also keep in mind that search engines often prefer longer articles for 2 reasons. 1) It helps keep visitors on a page longer, which signals value to search engines. 2) It can lower the chance of a visitor leaving right away, which signals a lack of value. In fact, the majority of first page articles have on average 1,900 words. However, writing 1,900 words should not be a goal when you create content. What is first and foremost is creating quality content, but if you can add some length by providing valuable information, all the better.

4. Image Optimization

Did you ever wonder how website images appear on the image section of Google search results? What’s interesting is that search engines only see images as specific arrangement of coloured pixels. You can help search engines understand what an image is about by including alt text and a descriptive file name. Alt text, or alternative text, is a short description added to that image’s HTML tag. It looks like this: <img alt="this is my alternative text" src="image1.jpg"> Alt tags can also be displayed in some browsers when you hover and hold your mouse over an image. Best practices for optimizing alt text:

• Limit their length to a maximum of 125 characters
• Do not start with ‘picture of’ or ‘image of’
• Add keywords only when they apply to the image

Image file names are what the images are saved as. Just like alt tags, the image file name can help describe what the image is.

Example of optimized alt text and file name

Alt text: Labrador Retriever laying down File name: labrador-retriever.jpg

Example of non-optimized alt text and file name

Alt text: picture of dog with a collar with a happy expression laying down looking at the camera with a white background and it’s tail is against its hind leg File name: image005.jpg

5. URL and Page Name Optimization

The address of a web page, also called a URL (or Unified Resource Location), is comprised of your domain name, an optional subfolder (or subdirectory), and your specific page’s name (or file name). Your page’s URL generally appears in green under the search result link (the title tag), in Google: As far as on-page SEO is concerned, we’ll be focusing mainly on the page name component. That being said, your domain name can also be optimized for SEO. For more information, check out The Canadian Guide to Finding Your Perfect Domain Name Here’s how you can choose a good page name:

• Place the primary keyword near the beginning of the page name
• Consider using parts or all of your page title in your page name
• Keep the URL length under 85 characters (i.e. the url in its entirety)
• Avoid spaces
• Avoid using uppercase letters

A concise but descriptive page name helps search engines index the page more effectively. Lengthy ones can also be cut short in search results listings, making them less informative and harder to remember.

Example of an optimized URL

Examples of a non-optimized URL

Doesn’t let you know if it has any information on Labradors. It gets cut off and is a little more difficult to remember.

Use On-Page SEO on Every Page

With these 5 simple strategies you will have a much better chance of being found on the first page of the search results. Remember that on-page SEO can be applied to almost any page of your website, so start with the most important ones first and work your way through the rest. It’s much better to create a plan where you can optimize pages on a regular basis than it is to rush through as many pages as you can in one go. To hit the ground running with the optimization of your site, consider trying WHC's SEO tool, rankingCoach. It will help you find keywords, analyze your competition and much more. Read our off-page SEO Beginner's Guide for strategies aimed at gaining more links to your site. Happy optimizing,