Research customer language and intent

Begin with decisions customers make

Search queries are fragments of a larger job. Combine customer interviews, sales calls, support tickets, onboarding questions, community language, Search Console queries, site search, and competitor positioning. Preserve exact phrases, but also record the situation, role, urgency, current workaround, desired outcome, and evidence source.

Group evidence by problem and intent, not just shared words. A query asking “what is revenue recognition” needs education. “Revenue recognition software for SaaS” signals solution evaluation. “Product A vs Product B” needs a fair comparison. “How to migrate from spreadsheets” needs a workflow and risk plan. Each deserves a different page and conversion path.

Distinguish signal from demand

One loud customer request is not a market. High keyword volume is not product fit. Competitor coverage is not a mandate. Score opportunities with several inputs: audience fit, problem frequency, commercial relevance, evidence strength, product credibility, existing coverage, differentiation, and production cost.

Maintain a living product-context record so content does not overstate capabilities. Record unsupported, stale, conflicting, or rejected facts and prevent them from entering drafts until resolved.

Build a research brief

For each priority problem, write the audience, job, stage, primary question, supporting questions, current alternatives, proof needed, relevant capability, objections, and next useful action. Add representative phrases and source links. This brief becomes the contract for page selection, research, and editorial review.

The result should help a writer make decisions—not just display a keyword list.