How to Find Free Content Ideas (Without Paying for a Tool)

Finding topics is probably one of the hardest things to do when it comes to SEO.

It’s often done so wrong that I’m always wondering how it ended up like that in the first place.

I think the issue comes from SaaS companies putting too much weight into search volume and not actual intent.

However, who says you need to use keyword research tools to find content topics?

If anything, I prefer using these methods (not because they’re free) because I find they’re even more helpful in understanding the intent behind a topic.

Is it a topic someone will actually search for?

And is it a topic that’s actually relevant to our product?

So, I figured I’d use this article to show my favorite ways to find content ideas for a SaaS.

A Quick Checklist Before You Get Started

While these will be solid topics we can go after, just keep the following in mind:

• Always look at the intent behind every topic: Why is my audience searching for this, and what are they hoping to find when they land on it?
• These topics should fit into an overall strategy or goal: Will ranking for this topic bring in any worthwhile results?
• These topics should be relevant to your product, brand, and/or ICP. Think about the potential for plugging in your product as a solution

The Top 10 Ways to Find Free Content Ideas for a SaaS

1. Google Search Console

My personal favorite, you can use Google Search Console to find queries where we don’t have a dedicated article for.

Using Regex in Google Search Console

To me, RegEx is probably the easiest way to find keywords in bulk.

Especially with Google Search Console.

Not only is GSC a great tool for SEO in general, it is probably the best resource for finding solid content ideas.

Here, you can use this RegEx to find more specific queries instead of just one modifier at a time: \b(?:who|what|where|why|when|how|vs|if)\b

Finding Content Topics By Using an Average Positioning

You can also set a position filter for queries above 40-50 to find topics you likely don’t have a dedicated article for.

These will almost always be relevant queries that we can use to build topically relevant content.

The reason these work so well is that Google is finding our main page to be relevant for an indirect keyword.

A keyword where maybe our content might be helpful, but it’s not the most relevant resource out there for it. 

Plugging Your Product Page in as a URL Filter

I also like to take product/solution/feature/industry pages and plug them into GSC. 

You can even add a “how” modifier to find topics use case queries that haven’t been covered yet.

This will give you keywords that are directly related to your product’s use case features but probably doesn’t have a dedicated article for yet.

2. People Also Ask

You can also use the People Also Asked section of the SERPs to find relevant content ideas based on your query.

The best thing about these is that they’re actual searches from people on Google.

Maybe they just don’t have any search volume tied to them, but Google is showing these questions for a reason.

They believe at least one of these questions will help answer the intent of what someone is searching for.

So not only are these relevant around our seed keyword, but they can also help us build a topically relevant content profile.

Bonus tip: If you don’t feel like manually clicking on the PAA section, you can use a tool called AlsoAsked, which will give you a bird’s s-eye view of the PAA questions.

3. Google Autocomplete

Using Google Autocomplete, you can find longer-tailed keywords that Google considers to be relevant to your query.

Similar to the people also asked section, Google thinks at least one of these autocomplete suggestions is relevant enough to help a user find what they’re looking for. 

There might not be search volume tied to it, but there is at least some intent behind those searches.

Google is showing them for a reason.

Bonus tip: I highly recommend adding some kind of modifier to your search. I usually go with “how.” It will then create a list of autocomplete keywords around your seed term + the modifier. Simply put, it’s a great way to find long-tail topics.

4. Reddit

Reddit is probably one of my favorites when it comes to finding solid topic ideas.

I mean, where else will you find your audience all in one place?

There are a few ways you can do this you can:

• Use Python to scrape posts
• Site Operators to find specific topics
• Use Reddit Q&A’s
• Use Reddit’s search bar

Site Operators to find specific topics

The easiest method would be to use “site:” and “intext:” 

You’ll get even better results if you filter it down to a Subreddit.

Try not to get too specific with your searches.

Keep them broad to get a larger set of results back.

Use Python to Scrape Posts

You can also use Python and Reddit’s API to pull data around topics.

This script specifically looks for queries on the r/SEO subreddit that mention GSC and ends with a “?”

Use Reddit’s search bar

You can also use Reddit’s search bar to find topics across the site or on a specific subreddit.

I usually prefer to use site operators over this method, but I will admit that you can find some missed opportunities this way.

It also helps that you have more sorting abilities too.

Like you can find:

• New posts
• Top posts
• Relevant posts
• Old posts

There’s a lot more filtering available to find what you’re looking for.

5. Google Trends

I don’t use Google Trends frequently, but I do think there’s value in finding trending topics in that industry where we can have senior leaders cover it as thought leadership (good for the brand and links, too if done right)

The tip here is to be quick if you end up going this route.

It really is newsjacking.

You want your senior leaders to comment on these trends and then use this to promote them across different channels.

Even better, you can create a video about it and then turn that video into a:

• Social post (either video, text, or carousel)
• Email newsletter
• Article (this will have the best chance of earning you links)

6. Demo Teams and Customers

Personally, I think this should be at the very top of your list.

Especially if you have a demo team in place.

They are interacting with your customers on a daily basis and have the best understanding of their intent. 

You can ask them:

• What common problems do clients reference 
• Why people are interested in using our tool
• Why are they interested in using our tool over the competition
• How they hope to use our product in their day-to-day work

But seriously, either interview your clients or client-facing teams. 

That’s where the real goldmine of topics is.

7. YouTube

YouTube is kind of a sleeper pick here, but there are a few ways you can use it for content ideas:

• Check out their recommended topic ideas: If you post a lot on YouTube, they’ll actually start giving you recommendations for what you should post next. It can be helpful if you need some additional motivation on what to post.
• See which videos you (or your competition) have made that are getting solid engagement. I’m not a huge fan of this since you can end up copying your competition. But I’d at least find topics that either got you or them a solid amount of engagement and see if you could flesh it out with an article. Don’t just copy them. Actually, put your perspective around that overall topic.

8. LinkedIn Content

Similar to YouTube, LinkedIn is also a sleeper pick, but it’s more for finding topics than keywords. 

You can: 

• Find previously created carousels that you can repurpose into articles (you’re already halfway there)
• Find previous posts you’ve made that you can flesh out with an article

That’s actually what I’m doing with this article right now (sorry if you’re reading this twice).

This was originally a carousel I created for LinkedIn, and then decided to flesh it out more with an article.

By having that carousel created it put me 50% of the way there with having this article finished.

Here’s a link to that carousel if you want to check it out.

9. Competitor Content

While it’s not my favorite idea, it is worth looking at your competitor’s content profile to see if there are any relevant articles which they might be seeing value from.

Even better if they have their blog articles broken down into categories.

This is really where a keyword research tool becomes helpful, but some things I look at on a competitors site are usually:

• What content are they promoting the most?
• What content are they using to plug in their product as a solution?
• Are they covering any specific software keywords in their content?
• Are there any topics covering their competitors?

Keyword research tools help speed up this process, but I’ll usually look at their site anyways to see if there are any quick takeaways there.

 10. Review Platforms

A sneaky choice if your client-facing teams are too busy (G2 is my favorite here).

These are reviews from your competitors’ clients mentioning what they liked and didn’t like about the software.

Even better, G2 will actually break down these reviews based on top mentions. So, the categories below are common areas that clients reference in their reviews.

They’ll even break this down based on what clients are saying are pros and cons of that specific product.

I think it’s also helpful to look at the actual reviews themselves. What do these reviews say about your competitors? What are reviews saying are common use cases? 

With that, you can either create content based around those use cases or around those common references.

Look at the portion of reviews where they mention, “What do you dislike about ___.” Here, you can find some ways to position your product as a better alternative to your competition.

If your main competitor can’t provide a specific solution (in this case, support for multiple jurisdiction laws), you can create an article like “how to easily manage multiple jurisdiction privacy laws,” and of course, you’ll want to plug in your product as that main solution.

Wrapping Up

So hopefully you found this helpful!

This was my personal list on finding solid content ideas for my clients without using a dedicated keyword research tool.

Don’t get me wrong, I still use tools to find content ideas (mostly Ahrefs), but I honestly prefer these methods over them since they give me a better idea of the intent behind those searches.

Strategies don’t start with keyword research; they start with audience research.