AI-Powered SEO Keyword Research Workflow with n8n

This workflow automates comprehensive keyword research for content creation.

This n8n workflow automates SEO keyword research using AI and data-driven analytics. It combines OpenAI’s language models with DataForSEO’s analytics to generate comprehensive keyword strategies for content creation.

The workflow is triggered by a webhook from NocoDB, processes the input data through multiple stages, and returns a detailed content brief with optimized keywords.

Workflow Architecture

The workflow follows a structured process:

– Input Collection: Receives data via webhook from NocoDB

– Topic Expansion: Generates keywords using AI

– Keyword Metrics Analysis: Gathers search volume, CPC, and difficulty metrics

– Competitor Analysis: Analyzes competitor content for ranking keywords

– Final Strategy Creation: Combines all data to generate a comprehensive keyword strategy

– Output Storage: Saves results back to NocoDB and sends notifications

NocoDB Integration

The workflow integrates with two tables in NocoDB:

– Input Table Schema: This table collects the input parameters for the keyword research.

– Output Table Schema: This table stores the generated keyword strategy.

Data Flow

The workflow handles data in the following sequence:

– Webhook Trigger: Receives input from NocoDB when a new keyword research request is created

– Field Extraction: Extracts primary topic, competitor URLs, audience, and other parameters

– AI Topic Expansion: Uses OpenAI to generate related keywords, categorized by type and intent

– Keyword Analysis: Sends primary keywords to DataForSEO to get search volume, CPC, and difficulty

– Competitor Research: Analyzes competitor pages to identify their keyword rankings

– Strategy Generation: Combines all data to create a comprehensive keyword strategy

– Storage & Notification: Saves the strategy to NocoDB and sends a notification to Slack

Core Components

1. Topic Expansion: This component uses OpenAI and a structured output parser to generate:
– 20 primary keywords
– 30 long-tail keywords with search intent
– 15 question-based keywords
– 10 related topics

2. DataForSEO Integration: Two API endpoints are used:
– Search Volume & CPC: Gets monthly search volume and cost-per-click data
– Keyword Difficulty: Evaluates how difficult it would be to rank for each keyword

3. Competitor Analysis: This component:
– Analyzes competitor URLs to identify which keywords they rank for
– Identifies content gaps or opportunities
– Determines the search intent their content targets

4. Final Keyword Strategy: The AI-generated strategy includes:
– Top 10 primary keywords with metrics
– 15 long-tail opportunities with low competition
– 5 question-based keywords to address in content
– Content structure recommendations
– 3 potential content titles optimized for SEO

Setup Requirements

To use this workflow, you’ll need:

– n8n Instance: Either cloud or self-hosted

– NocoDB Account: For data input and storage

– API Keys:
– OpenAI API key
– DataForSEO API credentials
– Slack API token (for notifications)

– Database Setup: Create the required tables in NocoDB as described above

Possible Improvements

The workflow could be enhanced with the following improvements:

– Enhanced Keyword Strategy:
– Add topic clustering to group related keywords
– Enhance the final output with more specific content structure suggestions
– Include word count recommendations for each content section

– Additional Data Sources:
– Integrate Google Search Console data for existing content optimization
– Add Google Trends data to identify rising topics
– Include sentiment analysis for different keyword groups

– Improved Competitor Analysis:
– Analyze content length and structure from top-ranking pages
– Identify common backlink sources for competitor content
– Extract content headings to better understand content organization

– Automation Enhancements:
– Add scheduling capabilities to run updates on existing content
– Implement content performance tracking over time
– Create alert thresholds for changes in keyword difficulty or search volume

Example Output

Here is an example output generated based on the following inputs:

– Primary Topic: AI Automation
– Competitor URLs: n8n.io, zapier.com, make.com
– Target Audience: Small Business Owners
– Content Type: Landing Page
– Location: United States
– Language: English

The workflow provides a powerful automation for content marketers and SEO specialists to develop data-driven keyword strategies with minimal manual effort.