Goal: Confirm that your discovered topics have sufficient audience interest and monetization potential before investing time in content creation
Verify search volume and growth trends:
- Use free keyword research tools to check monthly search volume for your top topics ubersuggest
- Aim for topics with 1,000+ monthly searches (niche topics) or 5,000+ (broader topics)
- Return to Google Trends and confirm your topics show upward or stable trends over 12 months
- Check if related keywords also show growth patterns
- Access Google's keyword data through their planner tool keyword planner
- Expected result: Confirmed search volume data and growth trends for your priority topics
Test social media interest levels:
- Search your topics on major social platforms and count recent posts
- Look for topics generating 50+ posts per week with engagement (likes, retweets)
- Check Instagram hashtags for your topics - aim for 10,000+ posts minimum instagram search
- Search YouTube for your topics and note view counts on recent videos (uploaded within 6 months) youtube search
- Monitor Twitter discussions and engagement levels twitter search
- Expected result: Evidence of active social media discussions and content consumption
Assess monetization potential:
- Search for products related to your topics on major platforms amazon search
- Count how many relevant products have 100+ reviews (indicates market demand)
- Check if there are affiliate programs for products in your topic area
- Look for online courses about your topics on educational platforms udemy courses
- Research course pricing and student enrollment numbers coursera search
- Expected result: Clear monetization pathways through products, services, or affiliate opportunities
Analyze competition difficulty:
- Use free SEO tools to check the "SEO Difficulty" score for your main keywords
- Target topics with difficulty scores below 40 for easier ranking
- Check if top-ranking pages are from major authority sites (Wikipedia, major brands)
- Look for topics where smaller blogs and individual creators are ranking well
- Expected result: Realistic competition levels where you can potentially rank
Validate audience willingness to pay:
- Search for paid courses, books, or coaching services in your topic areas
- Check course prices on platforms like Udemy (look for courses with 1,000+ students)
- Look for consultants or coaches charging for services in your topic area upwork profiles
- Search for premium tools or software related to your topics
- Research coaching and consulting rates in your niche google coaching search
- Expected result: Evidence that people pay for information and solutions in your topic areas
Create a topic scoring matrix:
- Add a new spreadsheet tab called "Topic Validation"
- Create columns: "Topic," "Search Volume," "Trend Direction," "Social Interest," "Monetization Potential," "Competition Level," "Total Score"
- Rate each factor 1-5 and calculate total scores
- Focus on topics scoring 20+ out of 30 possible points
- Expected result: A ranked list of validated topics with clear scoring rationale
If search volumes seem low: Remember that niche topics with 500+ monthly searches can still be profitable
If competition seems too high: Look for more specific, long-tail variations of your main topics
If monetization isn't clear: Consider indirect monetization through building authority and audience
You'll know you're done when: You have data-backed confidence in your topic choices and clear monetization paths
- You've confirmed search volume data for 10+ topics
- You've verified social media interest and engagement levels
- You've identified clear monetization opportunities for each topic
- You've assessed realistic competition levels
- You've found evidence of audience willingness to pay for information
- Your scoring matrix ranks topics from highest to lowest potential
Ready for next step? Now you'll organize your validated topics into a systematic content creation pipeline for maximum efficiency and impact.