Start with the searches you already have evidence for: queries your site appears for in Search Console, search terms that convert in Google Ads, and the questions customers ask you. Group them by what the searcher wants, check what already ranks, then prioritise by commercial value and how realistic ranking is. That gives you a plan built on proven demand, not guesses from a keyword tool.
Most content plans I’m handed start with a keyword tool export and end as a list of topics nobody can prioritise. Here’s the process I use instead, with examples from real sites.
Why start with your own data
Your own data shows real demand for your business specifically. Search Console shows searches you already appear for, Google Ads shows searches that turn into sales or enquiries, and customer questions show what people genuinely need. Keyword tools estimate volumes. Your own data proves them.
| Source | What it tells you | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Search Console queries | Searches you already appear for, including ones with no dedicated page | Performance report, Queries tab |
| Google Ads search terms | Searches that cost money and convert | Google Ads search terms report |
| Customer questions | What people ask before and after buying | Sales calls, emails, reviews, live chat |
| Live search results | What Google already ranks and whether AI Overviews answer it | Searching on google.co.uk |
| Keyword tools | Estimated volumes and related searches | Keyword Planner and similar tools |
Keyword tools still help with volume estimates and ideas. They work best as the last step, filling gaps, rather than the first.
Step 1: collect the searches
Export 12 to 16 months of queries from Search Console, the search terms report from Google Ads if you run ads, and a list of the questions customers ask. Put them in one spreadsheet with impressions, clicks, position, cost and conversions where you have them.
- Search Console. Export queries with clicks, impressions and average position. The interface limits exports, so for larger sites use the API or a connector to get the full list.
- Google Ads. Export the search terms report for the same period, with cost and conversions.
- Customer questions. Ask whoever speaks to customers to list the ten questions they hear most.
- Combine them. Match queries that appear in more than one source.
Step 2: find the gaps
The most valuable gaps are searches with clear demand but no page that properly answers them: queries where you appear on page two or lower, paid search terms that convert but have no organic presence, and customer questions nobody on your site answers.
Look for these patterns:
- High impressions, low position. Search Console shows demand exists and Google already connects you with it, but no page answers it well enough.
- Converting paid searches with no organic ranking. The demand and the commercial value are proven by your own ad spend.
- Questions with no page. Customers ask them, but your site never answers them.
- Several pages ranking for the same search. A sign of overlap that may need merging, not new content.
On condoms.uk, joining Google Ads and Search Console data surfaced thousands of converting paid searches with no organic presence, many combining a brand with a product attribute. That gave the content plan proven demand to target, rather than guesses.
Step 3: group searches by intent
Group related searches under the single page that should answer them, based on what the searcher wants: to learn, to compare, to buy or to find a local business. One page per intent avoids creating several thin pages that compete with each other.
For example, “how long does lube last”, “does lube expire” and “can you use expired lube” are one intent and belong on one page. “Best lube for sensitive skin” is a different intent, a comparison, and needs its own.
Google’s AI optimisation guide warns that creating separate content for every variation of a query, primarily to manipulate rankings or AI responses, violates its scaled content abuse policy. Grouping by intent keeps a plan on the right side of that.
Step 4: check what already ranks
For each group, search the main query on google.co.uk and look at what ranks, what format it takes, whether an AI Overview answers it, and what’s missing. That tells you whether you can realistically compete and what your page needs to do better.
Note for each group:
- What format ranks: guides, product pages, comparison tables, videos or local results
- Who ranks: marketplaces, national brands, specialists or forums
- Whether an AI Overview appears, and whether it fully answers the question
- What’s missing: first-hand detail, current information, a clear answer, a comparison nobody has made
If the results are dominated by national brands for a broad search, a narrower, more specific version of the question is often the realistic target.
Step 5: prioritise
Rank each content idea by commercial value, strength of evidence and how realistic ranking is. Pages closest to revenue, with proven demand and competition you can genuinely beat, go first. Informational content that supports those pages comes next, followed by anything backed only by a tool estimate.
| Factor | Higher priority | Lower priority |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial value | Leads directly to a product or service | Loosely related to what you sell |
| Evidence | Converting paid searches, strong impressions, frequent customer question | Keyword tool estimate only |
| Realistic ranking | You already appear on page two, or competitors are thin | Dominated by major brands |
| Effort | Improve or expand an existing page | A new page needing research, photos or tools |
Informational guides can pay off far beyond their direct value. On FalseEyelashes.co.uk, a single guide on removing acrylic nails without acetone earned 2,125 clicks from 92,759 impressions in the last 12 months, reaching people long before they’re ready to buy. The FalseEyelashes case study covers the wider content strategy.
Step 6: turn it into a schedule
Turn the prioritised list into a schedule you can actually keep: a realistic number of pieces a month, the most valuable first, with each piece briefed before writing. Review the plan every quarter against Search Console, adding what’s working and dropping what isn’t.
A brief for each piece should include:
- the main question and the related searches grouped under it
- the intent and the format that ranks
- what the page must do better than current results
- the first-hand detail, data or examples to include
- which product or service pages it should link to
- the sources for any facts
A plan published steadily usually beats an ambitious plan that stalls. When I built River Bend, a new fishing guide site, the content structure was planned before launch and every guide answered its question properly. It reached over 8,000 daily impressions within 75 days of registering the domain. The River Bend case study covers how.
What I learned
The best content plans I’ve built started with the business’s own data, not a keyword tool. Converting ad searches, pages sitting on page two and the questions customers keep asking are all evidence of demand. Keyword tools are useful afterwards, but they can’t tell you what your customers buy.
The other lesson is that a shorter plan, prioritised properly, gets more done. Twenty pieces aimed at proven demand have consistently outperformed a hundred ideas nobody could rank in order.
If you’d like a plan built from your own data, content strategy covers research, prioritisation and briefs.
FAQ
How many blog posts should a small business publish each month?
There’s no ideal number. A pace you can sustain with genuinely useful content beats a high target that leads to thin posts. For many small businesses, two to four well-researched pieces a month, focused on proven demand, is realistic. Improving existing pages can count as much as publishing new ones.
Do I need a paid keyword tool to build a content plan?
Not to start. Google Search Console is free and shows the searches you already appear for. If you run Google Ads, its search terms report shows what converts, and Keyword Planner gives volume estimates. Paid tools add competitor data and ideas, but your own data is the stronger foundation.
How do I avoid creating pages that compete with each other?
Group searches by intent before writing, and plan one page for each intent. Check Search Console for queries where several of your pages rank. If two pages target the same need, improve the stronger one and merge the weaker one into it with a redirect.
How often should a content plan be reviewed?
Review it every quarter against Search Console and your sales data. Look at which pieces are gaining impressions and clicks, which searches have appeared, and whether priorities have changed. Adjust the next quarter’s schedule based on what’s working rather than following the original plan rigidly.
More on content:
If you’d like help building your plan, get in touch or ask for a free assessment.
Sources
- AI optimization guide, Google Search Central, accessed 15 September 2026. Supports: separate content for every query variation and scaled content abuse.
- condoms.uk, Search Intelligence analysis joining Google Ads and Search Console data, August 2026. Supports: converting paid searches with no organic presence.
- FalseEyelashes.co.uk, Google Search Console data, 15 September 2025 to 14 September 2026. Supports: the acrylic nails guide clicks and impressions.
- River Bend, Google Search Console data, launch to 14 September 2026. Supports: over 8,000 daily impressions within 75 days.