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Creating a stellar piece of content requires more than just good writing; it hinges on a well-crafted SEO. In the realm of content marketing, having a robust content brief template is the backbone of successful content creation. Whether you're a content writer, content strategist, or part of a marketing team, knowing how to create content briefs is essential for ensuring your content meets its goals. Especially if you produce in bulk and plan on dominating your competitive space.
SEO-focused content brief lays the foundation for high-quality content.
It guides content writers with a clear content outline, writing rulesets, and SEO-focused direction. This article will walk you through the process of brief creation. Furthermore, it will provide a detailed SEO content brief template to streamline your workflow.
By following a tried-and-true formula, you can enhance your content strategy, ensure your content is optimized for on-page SEO, and produce compelling, high-ranking content. Let's dive in.
An SEO content brief is a document that outlines the guidelines and objectives for creating a piece of content optimized for search engines. It is an essential tool in content marketing and SEO because it ensures that every piece of content aligns with your content marketing strategy, targeted keywords, and SEO goals.
A good content brief helps content creators make sense of SEO requirements.
However, SEO content briefs also help them produce high-quality content without wasted effort while also minimizing the risk of slipping through the engine's cracks.
An effective SEO brief should include essential SEO elements such as:
Keep in mind that this brief is not solely about, well, SEO. On top of metadata, you need to provide detailed instructions and resources to help nail the writing part. This includes specifying the desired tone of voice (ToV), the type of audience the piece is intended for, and a style guide to maintain consistency across all content.
Content brief should include links to relevant resources, such as content silo, cornerstone content it should link to, and relevant images and illustrations to support the content creation process.
An effective SEO content brief helps streamline the content workflow, making the content production process more efficient. By using an SEO content brief, you can ensure that your content is comprehensive, resonates with your audience, and satisfies search engine algorithms. This, in turn, helps create high-quality content that not only attracts traffic but also drives engagement and conversions.
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Utilising an SEO content brief creation isn’t just about making life easier—it’s about making your content work harder for you. Whether you’re looking to streamline your process or boost your authority, this tool is your go-to weapon.
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Crafting a solid SEO content brief is like handing the project plan to a team of builders— it sets the stage for the work that follows.
Ready to learn how to write an SEO content brief that leads to high-quality, search-optimized articles without any back-and-forth with writers? Let’s break down its components step by step.
For starters, you should identify and include the right keywords inside the briefing document. Use tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Google Keyword Planner to find keywords with a good balance of search volume and competition. In this piece on keyword research, I dive into details of pinpointing the keywords you can expect to bring home results.
Needless to say, include primary and secondary keywords within the document.
If your primary keyword is "software development services" secondary keywords might include "What is the difference between IT service and software development services" and "What is CSD in software engineering". The best possible scenario is if your secondary keywords come in the form of questions — these tend to give depth to your content just perfectly. I cover this in more detail in this Reddit for SEO guide.
Outline the primary topic that the content will revolve around, then break it down into secondary topics or subtopics in the form of titles and subtitles. This helps in structuring your content logically and ensures all relevant aspects of the main topic are covered. More importantly, it helps writers better understand the linking opportunities — you need these to build SEO discovery and relevancy.
On top of listing subtopics, you should provide more details about the way you think they should be covered. Since you know your business, it's best if you serve these inputs to ensure value and quality — two often forgotten ranking factors.
Creating a powerful title is crucial. It should be compelling, include the primary keyword, and ideally, be within 60 characters to ensure it displays fully in search results.
Using action words and numbers makes titles more attractive.
One thing writers often forget is to include the semantics within the titles. You need these additional phrases to improve the semantical relevancy of your content — which is the way Google reads your content. I talk more about this semantic relevancy in this post right here.
As I mentioned earlier, it's crucial to focus on semantics. Many NLP-based content optimization tools provide a list of keywords they believe Google sees as semantically related to your target keywords. While these tools may vary slightly in the expressions they consider relevant, about 80% of them typically align.
Your writers should be leveraging semantic SEO, and this largely hinges on your briefing document.
Provide them with a prioritized list of relevant phrases, indicating how frequently each should be used. Tools like SurferSEO and Page Optimizer PRO can offer these valuable insights.
Quick tips you can hand out as part of the SEO content briefing document:
Identify and list existing content on your site that relates to the new piece. This improves site structure and SEO by passing link equity and keeping users engaged longer.
For example, if the new content is about "The Benefits of Daily Walks," link to articles like "How to Start a Walking Routine" or "Best Walking Trails in Your City." This not only helps with SEO but also ensures the content is comprehensive and valuable to the reader.
Also, consider creating content silos to organize related topics.
Place cornerstone content, like an in-depth guide on "The Ultimate Walking Guide for Beginners," at the top of the silo to give it the most link juice. This approach strengthens your site's authority on the subject and improves user navigation.
Analyze top-ranking content for your primary keywords to determine an ideal word count. Tools like Yoast SEO, Surfer SEO, Neuron Writer, or even Chat GPT 4o can help with this analysis.
Generally, longer content tends to rank better as it is perceived as more comprehensive.
However, the content must be valuable and not just lengthy. Specify a word count range in your brief, such as 2,000-2,300 words, to ensure thorough coverage of the topic.
P.S. I conducted my own, anecdotal content-length study and covered it in more detail in this piece. The findings may surprise you.
Provide detailed formatting guidelines to enhance readability and SEO. This could mean using short paragraphs, bullet points, numbered lists, and incorporating images or infographics.
Anything specific about your formatting preferences — say it. Don’t let writers guess and create unnecessary work for your editors. Here are some best practices I've seen my clients specify for formatting:
The final component of "How to Write an SEO Content Brief" should be the "Notes" section. This is where SEO specialists, who have conducted competitive research on the target keyword, provide specific instructions for writers.
These notes ensure the content is crafted to outperform competitors.
SEO experts analyze what is missing in the competitors' content, whether it's the level of detail, visual illustrations, expert insights, or semantic density. Here’s what experienced SEO professionals focus on to differentiate their content:
By addressing these elements in the notes, SEO specialists can guide writers to create content that not only meets the SEO goals but also provides exceptional value to readers, thus standing out in the competitive landscape.
Over seven years in marketing, with the last three dedicated to SEO content writing, I've created systems that streamline content production.
One key tool is the SEO content briefing document.
This document has been instrumental in helping clients, including a Vending Machine company, achieve significant results — 12% of their content landed in Google's top 3 search results. In just eight months, they went from zero recognition to becoming a niche leader.
This document is straightforward and thorough. It covers every little detail needed to produce content that ranks. Feel free to use it!
Download the SEO Content Brief Template Here!
By avoiding these common pitfalls, you can ensure that your SEO content templates serve their purpose—streamlining content production while boosting search engine rankings and delivering value to your audience.
Creating content that ranks and resonates requires more than just technical know-how; it demands a strategic approach rooted in meticulous planning and execution.
By using a comprehensive SEO content brief, you set the stage for success. You guide your team to produce high-quality, search-optimized content that not only drives traffic but also engages and converts.
Whether you're managing a single piece of content or scaling your efforts across multiple projects, the principles outlined in this guide will help you streamline your process and achieve results that matter. Don’t leave your content's performance to chance—equip yourself with the right tools, and watch as your content climbs the ranks and delivers lasting value.
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