Writing content and doing SEO are two different elements that need to connect with each other to improve your online visibility.
If the content piece that you write for your brand doesn’t comply with the SEO basics, your efforts will just become a jumbled mess.
To be on the same page with the SEO team, you need an SEO content brief. A precise SEO brief will save precious time by minimizing the chances of a string of rewrites.
And, of course, it will help your content perform better from an SEO perspective.
Therefore, this blog covers the aspects that will help you write a fleshed-out SEO content brief.
What is an SEO Content Brief?
Your SEO content brief will be a collection of guidelines, recommendations, and instructions intended to ensure that a piece of content aligns with your SEO objectives.
It is an attempt to increase relevant organic traffic likely to convert to leads.
An SEO content brief is useful for adding flexibility to your workflows so that high-quality, consistent material can be produced right from the start.
Benefits of an SEO Content Brief
Here are the advantages of an SEO content brief:
1. Better Quality of Content
An SEO content brief helps you maintain a consistent quality and a unified brand voice across all platforms.
Content briefs ensure this and help to clear up any potential miscommunications.
2. Cutting Production Costs
A project can easily go over budget and past the deadline with several rounds of edits and rewrites.
An SEO content brief will help the writers do more accurate and smart work, helping them achieve targets easily.
3. Produces Better Outcomes
Conducting your own keyword research and establishing the necessary requirements can significantly increase the effectiveness of your content.
If you want to know how you can find keywords for your strategy using Google Search Console, read this blog.
4. Saves Time
The SEO content brief reduces the time spent on rewriting, revising the concept, and refocusing the target keywords.
5. Stick to the Voice and Style of the Brand
You’ll notice a distinct brand voice forming if you read a lot of SEO content from any brand.
If you currently find inconsistency in the brand voice, an SEO content brief will sort that issue out for you.
Once you determine your company’s preferred writing style and brand voice, you get the ability to select the appropriate words and create a cohesive tone. As a result, every new piece of content you write for a brand complements the rest of your content.
How To Write An SEO Content Brief: An SEO Content Brief Template
Here is an outline for an SEO content brief template you must follow to write a great SEO content brief:
1. Figure Out the Intended Audience
When you identify the target audience for a brand, it gets easy to give them the content they require.
Depending on the demographics you desire to focus on, you can also divide the categories of keywords you can use.
For instance, content for those nearing the top of the funnel (TOFU) should focus on informing, educating, and raising awareness.
Mid-funnel (MOFU) or bottom-funnel (BOFU) targets will want more accurate, in-depth information to help them make a final purchasing choice.
2. Choose a Title & Keywords
For an SEO content brief, your main subject of the content should have targeted keywords in them.
Your entire SEO content brief will miss the mark if you choose the wrong main keyword.
The structure of the content brief is guided by the primary keyword, and the subsequent research is centered around this one keyword and the subject matter.
If you want to enhance your workflow with the help of keywords, keep these two things in mind:
Searcher Intent: Find out what your audience may be interested in learning. Then, produce the SEO content brief in accordance with what will satisfy them.
Google Intent: Compare the top 10 ranking pages after searching for your main keyword to see which type of content is well-liked by Google. You may not rank if you create content with a primary keyword that does not align with Google’s intent.
Secondary Keywords
Your main keyword becomes clearer and more accessible with the help of secondary keywords.
If you want to ensure that your material is thorough and addresses every relevant subject, consider including them in your SEO content brief.
For these reasons, you should incorporate secondary keywords into your SEO content brief:
User Intent: Secondary keywords may address subtopics, inquiries, or variations of user queries, whereas primary keywords focus on the main topic.
Steer clear of keyword stuffing: Incorporate keywords organically into your writing without overusing the same term.
Depth of content: Using secondary keywords can provide material that is more thorough and appealing to a wider group of searchers.
Use the right keywords: Long-tail keywords are a common type of secondary keyword that can draw highly tailored visitors.
The likelihood that your content will rank for multiple keyword variations in addition to the main target keyword increases when secondary keywords in your SEO content are brief.
3. Structure the Content
The format of an SEO content brief is the base of any material. It acts as a guide for your team, showing them how to arrange the content most effectively.
Readers expect pages with a similar structure or type when they search online.
For instance, if someone searches for “things to do in Ontario,” they’ll get a ton of listicles or pages that list various attractions and events in the area. Therefore, if you want to rank for a query like this, make sure your format is comparable to the top-ranking pages.
Determining the structure of the SEO content brief will also help you with on-page SEO.
4. Work on On-Page SEO
SEO-optimized keywords content brief can’t be created without H1, meta description, URL, and page title.
Aside from the content you add, these four on-page SEO components are among your website’s key components.
Here is how you can modify these elements:
Page Title: Naturally, place our main keyword as close to the beginning of the title as you can. Try to make it click-worthy by using catchy terms.
URL: Replace any stop/gap words with our main keyword.
H1: Use the main term naturally above the fold on the page. Many people may not pay attention to it as it won’t show in the search results. However, if your title tag and SERP title don’t match, 50% of the time, Google will use the H1. therefore,
Meta Description: It can be up to 155 characters. It should be precise, attractive, and can have an obvious CTA related to the page’s content.
Some of these elements will appear in the search results, significantly influencing whether a user clicks on your content over another listing on Google’s search engine results page.
5. Specify the Word Count Range
When it comes to an SEO content brief, content length can be a crucial factor.
When you have a content brief in front of you, it becomes simple to determine the best length for your content.
The nature of the content, the objective of the content, and the niche of your industry may help you decide the word count.
For instance, if you want to promote specific goods or services, short-form content will do. However, lengthy, in-depth essays with the intention of enlightening, instructing, or educating readers do better.
According to research, 2250-2500 drive the most organic traffic.
Generally, you can aim for a word count between 1500 and 2000 while creating content for your brand.
6. Add a Questions & Answers Section
You can add a section on your SEO content brief that answers the people also ask from Google.
Consider your target keyword the overarching subject your writer should concentrate on.
One of Google’s most popular result types, “people also ask,” boxes are displayed in a box to set them apart from the regular results.
You can develop your authority as a subject matter expert by regularly winning the “People also ask” boxes in the top three search results.
Then, a searcher may find these linked inquiries to be subtopics. For example, “How to clean a mirror with a newspaper?” could be a related inquiry if your main keyword is “clean mirror.”
One of the best ways to produce customer-focused content that meets the user’s search intent is to include these queries in your writing.
Answering these questions also has an impact on the rankings.
7. Include Internal and External Links
For an SEO content brief, internal links are integral since they facilitate search engine spiders’ crawling of every page on your website. Internal links help in attracting online traffic.
The quicker your new content is indexed and shows up in the SERP, the easier it is for search engines to crawl your site.
Alternatively, using external links, which go to content that Google already considers popular and relevant, helps you build a reputation.
Also Read: How to Get Top Backlinks for Your Website: The Ultimate Guide
8. Use Compelling CTAs
It’s crucial to have a purpose in mind before you start creating your content. That is why deciding on the CTAs is important when creating an SEO content brief.
Knowing what you aim to accomplish will help you ensure your writing stays effective and focused.
Writers need to understand what actions they want readers to take after reading their work.
A clear call to action is anticipated and desired since consumers want to know what to do next after reading a piece of content.
When reading your content, consider what you would want to do next as a reader.
It can be anything; for instance, they may want to read more material, complete a purchase, subscribe to a mailing list, or check out your website.
Related Blog: 50 Powerful Call-to-Action Phrases in 2023 (With Tips & CTA Best Practices for Conversions)
9. Use Visual Assistance
When creating amazing content that readers love to read and share with their friends and coworkers, and other businesses link to as a resource, visuals play a critical role.
You’re essentially losing out on almost half of the potential traffic, social media shares, and link opportunities from your content if you’re producing it without providing visual aid.
It takes more than just searching Google for stock images and using them in your content. Nowadays, your audience is consuming way too much content. So they can instantly identify these overused images.
So rather than going for the generic graphics, create your own gifs and images that contain your branding colors and creativity.
FAQs
What distinguishes a standard content brief from an SEO content brief?
While a conventional content brief might concentrate more on creative elements, messaging, and audience interaction without particular SEO considerations, an SEO content brief is especially focused on optimizing content for search engines.
Who usually creates an SEO content brief?
The brief is typically created by SEO experts, content strategists, or digital marketers, but it can also be created using SEO tools that evaluate competitors’ material and offer recommendations.
How does the SEO content template tool generate a brief?
The SEO Content Template tool creates a brief by examining the pages that perform the highest for the target keywords. It offers suggestions for content length, readability, keyword density, and suggested topics to cover, assisting you in producing optimal content that can rival already existing, highly-ranked pages.
The Bottom Line
By following these steps, you can create a fantastic SEO content brief for your brand without making any mistakes.
Your content creators won’t be left wondering what the readers want. In addition, your content will produce the best results in the search engine results, meeting your goals for content marketing.
If you want smooth content creation and better final results, you can also reach out to The Dreams Agency.
We create successful content marketing strategies for businesses to help them scale in their respective niche.