Creating fresh search engine optimized content on a regular basis is one of the tried and true methods of establishing a successful online presence. Update your content consistently over a long period of time to build trust with the search engines by displaying your commitment to creating a useful website.

However, it can be difficult to generate SEO content ideas when you feel like you’ve exhausted all possible subjects for articles. What follows is a list of 5 ideas you can use to get the creative juices flowing for your web content.

  1. Read Other Blogs- Looking at other blogs in your niche can help you get an idea of what to create content about. Your goal shouldn’t be to copy exactly what the competition is saying, but these blogs can be a starting point for your new article. You can provide a new spin on the subject, or you can even write about an aspect of it the blogger overlooked.
  2. Look at Google Trends- Google Trends can help you see what the latest search trends are for your industry. This tool shows the most searched items for the day. By studying this, you can provide timely, relevant content users are searching for. Most of the time these sudden spikes in search volume are influenced by industry events or breaking news, so it often provides ideas for a topic you’ve never written about.
  3. Review Your Comments- If you have a blog, consider taking a moment to browse through your past comments. Often you will find someone raised a point you can further explore in a future post. Listen to your readers and give them the content they desire. It will keep them coming back, and it will give you a steady stream of SEO content ideas.
  4. Use Keyword Suggestion Tools- One of the best ways to generate fresh, optimized content is to use a keyword research tool to find new key phrases for you to target. The Google Adwords tool is one of the most popular around because it’s free and it suggests loads of keyword ideas. Browse through the keyword suggestions to find terms you can create content around. Simply seeing a the keyword might spark an idea for an article.
  5. Browse a Question and Answer Page- Lately, a hot internet trend has been the use of question and answer websites. At the most basic level, these websites are avenues of information where users ask questions for the community to answer. You can use WikiAnswers or Yahoo! Answers to gauge what topics are hot in your industry. Once you find a question relevant to your niche, you can create an article answering this question. Then, you can give links to your article in the answers section on these websites, earning yourself an inbound link.