Pain Point SEO: Finding Solid Topics That Can Drive Revenue

When doing SEO for a SaaS, pain point SEO is one of the best places to start.

Not only is it great for conversions, but it’s also great for brand building too.

If an audience feels like you understand them, they’ll be more receptive to other content you create.

Too often, middle of funnel content is randomly planned that completely disregards your audience’s actual intent.

Content ends up being too focused on keywords that don’t have any relevance to our company, brand, and/or product. 

So, while these keywords might generate traffic, they’re not guaranteed to bring in any tangible results. 

One of my favorite frameworks to fix this is by using the pain point SEO framework.  

Keywords that show some intent into a problem your audience is facing where we can plug in our product as a solution. 

So that’s why I’m creating this article.

I want to showcase what pain point SEO is and how you can apply it to your strategy.

What is Pain Point SEO?

Pain point SEO is very simple.

It’s finding the keywords or search terms from your audience that signal some pain point or problem.

They’re going to Google for answers, and our job is to deliver them an answer. 

This could be problems they face in day-to-day operations or problems with their overall strategy.

Either way, we want to identify what these keywords are, why our audience is experiencing these issues, and then show how they can fix that issue.

It’s all about understanding why your audience would be using your product in the first place.

Why Are Pain Point Keywords Worth Going After?

So why are pain point keywords even worth going after in the first place?

This is also pretty simple.

Your audience is actively looking for a solution to a problem they’re currently experiencing.

They want to know how to fix this problem and make their lives easier.

So when we create content based around pain point search terms, we’re positioning your product as an easy solution for that specific problem.

It immediately positions your product as a top option to consider when a person or company decides they need a specific solution to help with that problem.

Since it’s a MoFu strategy, it adds to the consideration stage when they’re considering different product solutions.

But there’s something to consider here also.

When you create content around pain points, you can’t just list your product as the only solution.

You have to include other solutions to make your content more comprehensive to match the intent of what your audience is searching for.

The more comprehensive your article is, the better it will rank.

Not only that, but it’s helpful to the user too.

Your content won’t just read as a promotional pitch on your product.

You’re actively helping your audience fix a pain point they’re experiencing and showing them different solutions they can use to help with it.

But of course, your product will likely be the simplest way of doing things.

What Pain Point Keywords Should We Go After?

Ideally, your pain point keywords should be long tail and specific.

If you go after a broad keyword like “keyword research,” you won’t know the actual intent behind that keyword.

It’s too broad, and you’ll likely face high competition from other websites.

Now, if you make this keyword more long tail, like “How am I doing keyword research wrong,” it gives you a better understanding of what your audience is actually trying to learn.

They’re obviously experiencing some kind of issue or problem with keyword research, and now you have a better understanding of what they’re trying to fix. 

You can create content that you know will be helpful for a person searching for that term.

With pain point SEO, if you’re a keyword research tool, you can show the person searching that all the different ways they can improve their keyword research strategy. 

And one of the different ways they can improve their keyword research strategy is by using your tool.

I should also mention that you want to show, not tell, when it comes to pain point SEO.

That doesn’t mean telling the reader that your product will be the perfect solution for them.

It means showing the reader exactly how your tool can be used to help with that pain point.

This means:

• Using product-led images
• Using examples from your product
• Giving a mini demo to address that pain point 

How to Find Pain Point Keywords

So now that you know which pain point keywords are worth going after, here’s how to find the best pain point keywords to use in your content strategy:

Ask Your Audience First

Truthfully, your audience will probably be the best starting point for finding pain point keywords.

Ask them what problems they commonly face and then why they’re actively using your tool to fix that problem.

Really dive into the specifics about what they hope to achieve by using your tool.

Each client/company will be unique, so interview as many people as possible to see if you can spot patterns in the problems they’re facing.

Interview Your Client-Facing Teams

If you can’t interview your audience, your next best option would be your client-facing teams.

Your customer success and demo teams.

These are the employees actively on the frontline when it comes to your clients.

They will have a general idea of what your audience’s day-to-day looks like.

Ask them what problems clients usually reference on calls.

Ask them why our clients like using our tool over the competition.

Ask them anything that will help give you a better idea of the problems your current (and ideal) clients are facing.

Use Google Search Console + Your Product Pages

While clients or client-facing teams would be my first option, Google Search Console is probably the best way to get actual keyword data.

With your client questions, you’ll still have to validate those topics with a search term.

With Google Search Console, you’ll have access to a whole database of keywords coming straight from your audience.

Since pain point keywords are usually long tail, I like to add a “how” modifier to find keywords that are typically formatted as questions.

Another favorite tip is to add your product page path as a page filter, too.

This will then show you all the keywords tied to your specific product and maybe have some pain point intent behind them.

 Use Review Platforms

Outside of interviewing your clients, review platforms like G2 are the next best option for finding pain points from your audience.

In this case, we can see how those pain points are tied to your competitor’s products.

I recommend plugging your competitors into G2 and then looking at what people have to say about them.

Reviews with 1-4 stars will be the real gems.

G2 will even ask reviewers what they hoped the product would help with and why they were using the product (its use cases).

If you know your product does something that your competition doesn’t have, you can then create an article around that hopeful use case, showing them how it can be done easily.

Using Reddit for Pain Points

While I think there are better options here, I think Reddit is also an extremely solid way to find pain point keywords.

You can use specific subreddits from your ICP to search for any common problems they’re facing.

I have a whole article on using Reddit for keyword research, but I think the easiest way would be to use a search operator.

Plug in “site: Reddit.com/r/*subreddit*” and then use some kind of search modifier.

I’ll usually use “how” or a “?” but it will really depend on the type of problems you want to find.

This usually looks like this: site:https://www.reddit.com/r/SocialMediaMarketing/ “how”

Wrapping Up Pain Point SEO

When creating pain point content for SEO, it’s important to actually think about the actual intent behind your audience. Not their search intent but their actual intent. Why are they even searching for this in the first place? 

The real success in pain point SEO lies in understanding your audience. Make them feel like they’re being heard and that you understand the problem they’re currently facing. Once you have that, you can show them a better way to do things.