POV: Your keyword research is 12 words holding hands

_{Day 225/100}

Hey—It's Tim. 

I’ve been thinking about a conversation I had a few weeks ago with a CMO.

Ooof. I felt that.

For the longest time, I did the same thing.

Started with what I already knew: old blog tags, terms we ranked for, phrases people used in Slack. Super comfortable. Also super narrow. It's like fishing off the same dock every single day and then being shocked when you never catch anything new.

The thing that changed everything for me wasn't a tool. It was a question:

“How does someone's intent change as they learn more?”

Once I started mapping that learning curve, my clusters stopped looking like synonyms holding hands in a circle. They started looking like actual routes people take.

Let me show you exactly what I do now.

Let's use a real example

I'm going to walk through one example the whole way, so you can see how this actually works.

Let's say you're working on content for a project management tool.

You've got a prospect—let's call her Maya.

She's a RevOps lead at a 120-person SaaS company. Right now, her team is drowning in weekend spreadsheet merges. Every Friday at 5pm, someone manually pulls data from Salesforce, HubSpot, and their support tool, then spends two hours combining everything in Google Sheets. Every. Single. Week.

That's the job to be done: "Replace weekend spreadsheet merges with a button."

That's your hub. That one sentence. Not "improve data workflows" or "enhance operational efficiency" or any of that fluffy nonsense.

The actual human problem: weekend spreadsheet merges that need to die.

Here's how I find the spokes

Maya doesn't wake up one morning and immediately buy your tool. She goes through a whole journey. Let's map what she actually does:

First, she tries the duct tape solution:

• She sets up a Zapier chain to auto-merge the data

• It works! For three weeks.

• Then it starts failing at 2am on Saturdays

• She's getting Slack messages all weekend: "Where's the report?"

Then she explores real solutions:

• She starts googling "Zapier alternatives for data syncing"

• She asks in a RevOps Slack: "Anyone solved HubSpot + Salesforce reporting without dying?"

• She downloads three tools and realizes IT will block all of them

Then she hits the internal wall:

• She finally finds a tool that might work (yours!)

• But now she needs to convince the CFO

• Who wants "proof of three-month payback"

• And the IT director who wants to see the security docs

Each of those moments? That's a spoke.

See how we went from one job statement to a whole map of content you need to create?

Now let's build the actual cluster

Here's what I do next. I open up ten search results for each phase Maya's going through.

Let's start with that early phase: "Zapier alternatives for data syncing"

I'm not reading the articles. I'm collecting patterns.

I pull out three types of things:

Entities (the proper nouns):

• Zapier, Make, Workato, Tray.io

• HubSpot, Salesforce, Stripe

• CSV, API, webhook

• RevOps, Finance, IT

Formats (how the content is shaped):

• "Top 10" lists

• Comparison tables

• Templates

• Calculators

• Checklists

• Video teardowns

Stages (where they are in decision-making):

• "vs" (Zapier vs Make)

• "alternatives to"

• "for [role]" (for RevOps teams)

• "pricing"

• "how long does [thing] take"

• "migration guide"

Now here's the fun part. You mix and match these.

Entity × Format × Stage

So "Zapier alternatives for data syncing" explodes into:

• "Zapier vs. Make vs. Workato for RevOps teams: 2025 comparison table"

• "HubSpot + Salesforce sync calculator: ROI in hours saved per month"

• "Data sync migration checklist (with rollback plan)"

• "How long does Zapier to Workato migration take? Real timelines from 5 RevOps teams"

Start with 2 of the variables against each other, and as you cross all those, then make the 3’s. Better yet, just add the 3’s as sections into the already created blog.

You're not guessing anymore. You're combining what the market's already teaching buyers to expect.

Make every spoke lead somewhere real

Here's where most content dies: it answers a question but gives you nothing to hold onto.

Maya googles "How to sync HubSpot and Salesforce without Zapier"

Most content gives her a 2,000-word essay about integration methods. Cool. Useless.

What she actually needs: a thing she can use right now.
So instead, you create:

"HubSpot + Salesforce sync checklist (with field mapping template you can copy)"

The template is:

{question} → {deliverable} + {constraint}

More examples from Maya's journey:

"Why does my Zapier chain keep failing?" → "Zapier failure debug flowchart (5-minute diagnosis)"

"How to convince CFO to replace Zapier" → "Three-month payback calculator with ready-to-send CFO memo"

"What's the fastest way to migrate off Zapier" → "Weekend migration runbook (with rollback script)"

Write the deliverable first.

If you can't name an actual file you'd attach to an email - a template, a checklist, a calculator - the spoke is probably too mushy. Keep tightening until you can picture dragging a .xlsx into Slack.

Put this into practice (today)

Okay, let's make this concrete. Here's a 90-minute sprint you can run this afternoon.

Minutes 0-20: Find your hubs

Write down three recent wins or losses.

For each one, extract the job in plain language:

• "Replace weekend spreadsheet merges with a button"

• "Get CFO sign-off without a three-month pilot"

• "Cut report building from 4 hours to 20 minutes"

Those are your hubs.

Minutes 20-45: Map the journey

Pick one hub. Write down the six things someone does before and after that job gets solved.

For Maya:

1. Sets up Zapier (it breaks)

2. Asks in Slack for alternatives

3. Downloads three tools

4. Hits IT security wall

5. Needs CFO business case

6. Needs migration plan with safety net

Those six things are your first six spokes.

Minutes 45-70: Gather the patterns

Open ten search results for "Zapier alternatives."

Pull out:

• Entities: Zapier, Make, HubSpot, Salesforce, RevOps

• Formats: comparison table, calculator, checklist, template

• Stages: "vs," "for RevOps," "migration," "pricing"

Minutes 70-90: Build six pieces

Combine entity × format × stage for six content ideas:

1. "Zapier vs. Make vs. Workato for RevOps: 2025 comparison"

2. "HubSpot + Salesforce sync calculator (ROI in hours saved)"

3. "Data sync migration checklist (with rollback plan)"

4. "Weekend reporting template for 50-200 person teams"

5. "CFO business case: Data automation payback calculator"

6. "IT security questions: Pre-built answers for sync tools"

Each one needs a deliverable. A file. Something they can download or copy.

End of day: Ship one

Pick the easiest spoke. Write it. Publish it.

Don't wait for perfect.

Edit tomorrow.

The whole map for Maya

Let me zoom out and show you what the full cluster looks like:

Format variety across the same intent:

• The comparison article

• The calculator

• The checklist

• The template

• The case study

• The video teardown

You're not just covering synonyms. You're covering the entire route someone takes from "I have a problem" to "I bought a solution."

I have 8 more go to ways on how I build out clusters. This is just a current favourite.
Do you want the rest?

Give it a shot and let me know how it goes? I'm curious if the Maya example makes sense or if I should walk through a different type of buyer journey.

See you tomorrow.

✌️ Tim "Tabs Open = % Locked In" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S. One more thing

Keep an anti-keyword list.

For Maya's cluster, you'd exclude:

• "influencer"

• "B2C"

• "small business"

• "solopreneur"

• "side hustle"

This keeps your content tight.
You're not trying to rank for everything.
You're trying to own one specific route.

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