9 Powerful Blog Post Research Techniques to Boost Your Content Quality
When you’re working on your blog, you won’t always be the expert. We all want to be, but let’s be real here – we can’t be perfect in all things all the time. Your niche is filled with sub-niches and subject matter that won’t always be in your wheelhouse. That’s where these blog post research techniques will come in handy.
Research? Didn’t I do enough of that in high school?
When you think about it, we do research all the time. We just do it without labeling it as such. Whenever you ask Siri, Alexa, Google, Quora, Reddit, or the friend sitting next to you, you’re doing research. We just don’t give it the scary label and it’s usually something we have an interest in knowing or learning.
Research doesn’t have to be thesis papers and lecture halls. It can be the natural curiosity that draws you in and makes you want to learn more. Especially if you’re dealing in your niche.
Research is what allows you to build a large base for your blog content strategy and learn more as you grow. Research will allow you to review products you’ve never used before. Research will allow you to cover topics that you might not have otherwise.
What was it they said in the old G.I. Joe cartoons? “Knowing is half the battle.” The more you know, the more ground you’ll be able to cover in your niche and the only way to get familiar with new areas of your niche is to research and learn.
1. Harness the Power of Advanced Google Search Operators
If you’re like most people, you head over to Google (or your search bar – does anyone “go” to Google anymore?), type in a few words or a particular phrase, hit “enter” and wait for Google to do its magic.
Searching is so commonplace we don’t even think about it much. It’s an automatic response when you find yourself curious and needing to know something.
Those words and phrases are called keywords (I’m thinking you knew that already) and form the foundation of search on the internet (and SEO).
But did you know about all the operators you can use in your daily Google searches to hone in on exactly what you’re looking for?
Operators are small text commands you give to the search engines within your keywords to help get you to where you want to be. Knowing just a few of them can radically change the way you search.
Search Operators
Know the site that you want to learn from, but don’t know where to find the answers? You can use the “site:” operator. This one allows you to search a specific site instead of scouring the entire internet. This one is especially useful when doing product reviews.
Format: site:mattstigliano.com
Getting results you don’t want or maybe have a word that’s tied to several things? You use the minus sign (-) to exclude words from your search. Want to learn about jaguars (the animal), but keep getting results for the Jacksonville Jaguars (football team)? Try removing football by searching jaguars -football or if you are also getting results for the car, you can string multiple operators together:
Format: jaguars -football -car
If you’re looking for exact phrases instead of individual words, wrap it all in quotes (“”). Without quotes, Google will try to look for the phrase but may come up with results based only on part of the phrase. If you want to know more about “cheese sandwiches” those quote will keep it from giving you articles about just cheese or just sandwiches.
Format: “peanut butter cookies”
Perhaps you want to find a file related to a topic. I probably use this one the most when I’m looking for PDF docs like e-books or how-to guides. You can search for filetype:pdf (or use another file type like jpg, doc, xls, etc.) – just add the words you want to search for within that type of document.
Format: filetype:pdf cheese sandwich recipes
If you’re a bit nerdy, you can break out your Boolean operators and use them on the search engines. The words AND, OR, and NOT can be used for the exact purpose you might think they would be. It is a good idea to keep them in ALL CAPS as some systems require them to be capitalized so as not to confuse them with those same words in a phrase or long-tail keyword.
Format: cheese AND swiss OR gouda NOT parmesan
While doing research on this post (how very meta), I also discovered an old operator I had totally forgotten about. You can use the tilde character (~) to search for synonyms of words or phrases. When searching for ~healthy food Google would also look for terms like nutritious food or wholesome food.
Format: ~amazing restaurants near me
You can string multiple operators together to perform more complex searches, but be careful of going too hard on the operators. It can get complicated fast and hurt the quality of your search engine results.
Experiment and find what works for you.
2. Leverage Social Listening Tools for Real-Time Insights
If you’re a self-professed data nerd, social listening tools might be the route for you. These tools aggregate data from around the web and serve it up to you in charts, graphs, and a flood of data.
It can be overwhelming.
Most people I know struggle enough with their own data from Google Analytics and Google Search Console. With these tools, you’re opening up a world of data and possibilities.
Social Listening Tools
Sites like Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Brand Watch, Brand24, and Buzz Sumo allow you to keep an eye on your brand, but also on competitors and trending topics.
Being able to identify trending topics is probably one of the best pieces of this puzzle, but there’s a problem – this stuff is not cheap. For the average blogger, it’s out of reach.
If you’re looking for trending topics you can write about to fill out your blog content calendar, you’re better off looking to Twitter/X’s trending topics (and searching hashtags) and YouTube’s Trending Videos section.
User Driven Content Sites
Another great method to listen to what’s out there is to head to Reddit and Quora. Both of these sites focus on discussions related to specific topics and are highly searchable, allowing you to find what you need.
(One side note about Quora. I have found it to be quite self-serving – many of the questions are self-posted or posted from a fake account for the purpose of a blogger answering it so that they can gain links, so sometimes their info is a little weak. Reddit tends to be more user driven and moderators tend to keep the riff raff from junking it up with that kind of self-serving post.)
Google Is Your Friend
If you want one of the cheapest tools with the most data, turn to our might overlords, Google.
They know what’s going on, because the world flocks to Google to find what they need.
Check out Google Trends to learn what matters most to the internet public. You can even use their “Trending Now” menu item to get right to the heart of what matters most right now.
Be careful chasing trends, though. They’re trends for a reason – here today, gone tomorrow. Remember, we’re after evergreen content, because that’s where the long term growth is.
3. Dive Deep with Academic Databases and Research Papers
When the internet started, or more precisely, before the modern internet started, some universities were connected through an early network known as ARPANET. When the early networks started to become public through dial-up connections, but before we had the graphical interface we think of as the web, there wasn’t a lot to do online. Some simple email, text based games (I played a lot of those on early bulletin board systems), and access to really smart people’s research.
From a simple dial-up connection, you had access to a world of research and library information. Not the sexiest or most fun version of the online world, but it’s all we had, so we found it fascinating.
Now, the internet itself is one giant repository for more academic and scientific research than you can shake a stick at.
No matter what your niche is, there is probably some solid information about it online. Sometimes you have to go to boring, plain text sites with limited HTML to find it (they still exist), but they’re out there.
Be careful what “research” you rely on, though. Sadly, the internet is full of official sounding sources that are really just fronts for someone trying to sell you something. Just because it calls itself a Foundation or Association or Alliance or Technical Institute or whatever, check its credentials and rely on well known sources.
PS Wikipedia, although very useful, is not always a good resource. #justsayin
Just remember to cite sources if you’re going the scholarly route. Giving facts and figures you pulled from a random site won’t serve you well.
4. Master the Art of Expert Interviews and Outreach
When in doubt and in need of solid info, turn to industry experts.
If there are experts in your niche, reach out and see if they’d be willing to take a few moments to answer some questions or take part in an interview.
Know your subject and know who you’re talking to. Don’t go into an interview blind. The more you know about the topic and the person, the better you will do.
As someone who has done thousands of interviews over the years, I can tell you, the interviewers who got the best response out of the band were the ones that did their homework.
Interviewers also got points for steering clear of the obvious – if you can read their About Me page and get the basic info, don’t ask them all of that. Weave that info into the post you write.
The worst question you could ask my band was, “How did you all get together, and where did the band form?” We answered it a million times. BORING. It’s in our bio, look it up. But ask me what my favorite cheeseburger toppings were, and you’d get a full, in-depth look at what mattered to me most.
When you do write your post, weave the questions and answers into, don’t just copy and paste the info. Talk about it, tell a side story, explain why the answer matters for your niche…give people insight.
It’s just like I’ve always said about social media – don’t share anything with me unless you tell me why I should care. Tell me what makes it important and why you felt the need to share it and I am 100x more likely to interact and engage with it.
5. Unlock the Potential of Data Visualization Tools
We’ve discussed the importance of visual content in your blogs and when presenting data and information, visuals go a long way.
We are visual creatures, and when presented with too many facts and figures (in particular, numbers), our brains tend to shut down and tune out.
But when that same data is presented in visual form, suddenly, we can process and remember much more of it. The human brain is a strange thing.
You can create charts and graphs with just about any information. From simple pie charts/bar graphs created with a data set to more complex infographics showing a step-by-step journey through a particular process, you can create visual representations of just about anything you have.
There are also some great tools out there to help you turn info into visuals. Some of my favorites are SlideShare, SketchWow, designrr, and Napkin.
That last one is an AI tool that creates images based on the text you feed into it. I used it to create all of the graphics seen in my post about writing catchy blog titles.
If you have the skills, creating infographics to turn complex posts into easily digestible images can be a great way to get a lot of info into an easy to remember (and highly sharable) format.
6. Tap into the Wisdom of Online Communities and Forums
Find your people and join.
There is a place for everyone on the internet, and with a bit of work (and some luck), you can find an online community that relates to your niche. Whether it’s a Facebook Group or an online forum, there is a place for you on the internet.
I mentioned Reddit earlier, and it’s a great place to find your people. And if there are more communities outside of Reddit, they’re probably being talked about on Reddit.
There are Facebook Pages and Groups for just about everything under the sun, so even though Facebook isn’t quite as cool as it once was, there’s still a lot of value there if you want to connect with others in a community.
And even though the internet has evolved from the early days of the BBS, many sites still host online bulletin board systems and forums.
If you start poking around Google, you’ll find the communities. Plus, once you join one and make friends, those people will also lead you to other communities.
My best advice for joining a new community? Join and then don’t speak for a bit. Just watch. Learn who’s who and how people conduct themselves in the group. Sometimes silence is golden.
As you learn the way the community operates, look for any posts regarding rules or how-tos of the community. Many have something posted to help guide you and keep you from doing anything that will annoy other community members or get you kicked.
Whatever you do, don’t spam the community. Yes, your goal is to eventually turn them all into readers, but just saying, “Hey, come check out my site at xyz.com!” will probably get you booted fast.
Make friends, join discussions, and offer opinions and thoughts on the topic at hand. Eventually, it will become clear what you do, and people will recognize you for that. Don’t jam it down their throats.
Be honest about your intent. Tell people you are trying to learn more about the topic or you’re trying to gather some info for a post you’re working on. Don’t just pick everyone’s brains and then disappear. Be come a part of the community and contribute. Give back more than take out.
When you find info that you want to use, make sure it is legit, and then give credit where credit is due. Links to other sites, mentions of who you discussed the topic with, references to the community – these are all ways you can give proper credit to the people who helped you with your research.
7. Embrace AI-Powered Research Assistants
If you’re talking about technology of any kind these days, you’re going to have to talk about AI. It’s everywhere. I’m waiting for my Cap’n Crunch cereal to tell me it’s powered by AI. (That’s an Amazon link, that should net me about a half a cent per case. Haha.)
The first time I tried AI, I wasn’t a big fan. It was clunky and the output was predictable. AI has made huge leaps and is getting better as you read this. The output can still be somewhat predictable, but it has definitely improved and continues to improve.
I used Jasper when it was still known as Jarvis and although it was certainly cool, I just didn’t think it was all that great. But, as AI grew, and Jarvis became Jasper, I started to see more and more uses for AI in my work life.
The more I started writing, the more I found a need to research content or dig deeper into a subject. I toyed with Google’s Bard a bit, but for some reason, it just never captured my attention like I thought it would.
Perplexity
Instead, Perplexity became my go to for AI powered searches. I first heard Perplexity mentioned in some comments to a post about AI, so I did what any curious nerd would do…I googled it.
The site is very simple – quite like Google – and that’s what I like about it. No frills, no fancy colors, no endless explanation of what it does. Just a simple search box and a few menu items.
But don’t let the simplicity fool you. Perplexity is powerful stuff. Instead of returning a list of web pages you can go visit and learn more on a given topic, Perplexity synthesizes the information out there and gives you summaries of what it “knows.”
It shows you the sources of the answer it gives you and also provides images related to the topic at hand. It also provides a list of related questions that might help you drill down deeper into the topic you’re asking about.
Search, in general, is heading in this direction, so you now see similar elements appearing in the search engines, but so far, I like Perplexity overall.
Notion AI
I am not a great user of Notion, but with the new Notion AI release, I just may become one.
The thing is, I never disliked Notion, I just never got into it and really made a habit of using it. In fact, I really like Notion. I like it’s incredibly flexible, simple to use, has tons of features, and looks great.
Plus, there are a million and one templates, including some great ones to use for your blog content planning.
With the release of Notion AI, you have AI superpowered note taking, journaling, brainstorming, etc. Have an idea? Jot down a note, then ask AI how to implement your new idea and see what happens?
The possibilities with this are rather exciting, and I think this could easily make Notion the note taking app winner.
And because you can integrate Notion AI into other apps, you can bring in documents to summarize or learn from, scan conversations (in something like Slack), and pull in data from other sources.
I suspect, I’ll wind up writing a whole post about Notion AI after I’ve used it for it awhile.
Claude
One tool that seriously impressed me is Claude (via Anthropic). While everyone’s obsessing over ChatGPT, I’ve found Claude particularly good at analyzing complex PDFs and breaking them down into understandable chunks. The accuracy of its summaries is honestly mind-blowing.
I use Claude daily in my day-to-day life, and I am glad I was turned on to it by a friend. With the Professional Plan, you can create Projects which are sets of instructions that you write once and can use over and over again.
I’ve found that taking my regular tasks and creating Projects with them works great – especially if I continuously refine the instructions as I use it.
If you need to do some research and find you have a lot of info in PDFs, I can’t recommend Claude more. In seconds you’ll have summaries that will help you understand the topic inside and out and let you write with solid information behind you.
Like anything AI, just remember to supplement your work with it – it’s not a replacement for good old fashioned hard work. And always be careful when relying on generated facts and figures (these are great when summarized PDFs, though). Don’t let the machines take over everything!
These tools can definitely be time savers and really help you up your game, but you still have to put in the work if you want to succeed.
8. Conduct Surveys and Polls for Original Data
If you have a big enough group to work from (newsletter subscribers, a particularly active blog, social media, etc.), conducting polls and surveys can be a great way to gather your own data.
Using your sphere of influence has its advantages when it comes to polling and survey data, because the people that are most interested in your data are the same people you’re getting the data from.
With a niche site, you may have some more focused data that may be more valuable to your readers. If you were polling weight lifters to find out what exercises they felt gave them the biggest gains, throwing the question to the public (and people who may not even lift weights) doesn’t make as much sense.
Use the built-in interest of your audience to gather data that matters more to those same people.
9. Utilize Competitive Analysis Tools for Content Gaps
When you really start to get into your niche, you’re going to find content gaps all throughout – both what you’ve posted and what you know. Like I said at the beginning of this post, we can’t all know everything all the time.
Content gaps are absolute goldmines if you’re willing to put in the work.
While there are lots of ways to find content gaps, one of the best ways is the least expensive (free) and a great way to learn more about your niche.
First, identify 3-5 of your top competitors. Open up a tab with each site in it. Go get yourself a strong cup of coffee.
Now, start at the first one and start poking around. See what they’re talking about. See what topics and sub-topics they’re covering. Let your mind wander.
See something of interest? Jot down a note. See something you know little about? Make a note to do more research (bookmark the post for later reading – or use something like Evernote or Notion to add the URL alongside your note). Learn what the competition is doing and fill in those content gaps.
By the time you’re done analyzing, your eyes will hurt, but you should have a list of ideas, thoughts, posts, titles, and inspiration. This will serve as the next chapter in your blog content strategy.
Another great trick is to use Google’s “People Also Ask” box – this little feature literally tells you what’s on people’s minds. Try writing from the perspective of one of those questions and you’ll see that even though you’re writing about the same general topic or theme, you’ll have a completely different take on things because you’re trying to answer that question.
If you have time, hitting Reddit or Quora is also great for research. Much like “People Also Ask,” this is information straight from users. They’re telling you exactly what they want to know. Use this and you will fill pages (or screens) of notes for future posts.
The more research you do with real people, the more real people will want to read your blog. So go where the people are and dive into the data.
Remember not to be super broad with your topics – think longtail keywords and user intent. An article about “best running shoes” is going to be very hard to be ranked for. But writing an article about “best running shoes for retail workers who stand all day” will get you a lot further. The search volume will be less, but you could dominate the search much easier than the broader topic.
Plus, the more refined topics that focus in on something very specific and then talk about it in depth and do it incredibly well? Those are the posts Google can’t get enough of. You’ll find yourself at #1 before you know it.
And what makes those great posts great? You guessed it. Research.
The key to writing killer content is knowledge of the topic and the best way to get there is to do your homework.
Now, you have 9 ways to get there. Which one do you plan on using first?
