How to Write an SEO-Focused Material Brief
Or how about this scenario?
You're a marketing director at a startup. You know that you need content, however do not have the know-how or time to do it yourself, so you ask your network for suggestions and find yourself a freelance author. The only problem is, you're not always sure what to designate them. With little direction to work off of, they produce material that fizzles.
The option in both of these circumstances is a content quick Nevertheless, not all content briefs are created equal.
As somebody who deals with one foot in content and the other in SEO, I can shed some light on how to make your material briefs both thorough and cherished by your material group.
Let's begin by settling on some terms.
What's a content quick?
A content brief is a set of directions to direct an author on how to draft a piece of material. That piece of content can be a post, a landing page, a white paper, or any number of other initiatives that require content.
Without a content short, you run the risk of getting back content that does not satisfy your expectations. This will not only frustrate your author, but it'll also need more revisions, taking more of your time and money.
Generally, content briefs are written by somebody in a surrounding field-- like demand generation, item marketing, or SEO-- when they require something particular. Content teams normally do not simply work off of briefs. They'll likely have their own calendar and initiatives they're driving (content is one of those weird functions that needs to support almost every other department while likewise creating and carrying out on their own work).
What makes a content brief "SEO-focused"?
An SEO-focused material brief is one amongst many kinds of material briefs. It's distinct because the goal is to instruct the author on creating content to target a specific search inquiry for the function of earning traffic from the natural search channel.
What to consist of in your content quick.
Now that we understand SEO-focused material briefs in theory, let's get into the nitty gritty. What information should we consist of in them?
1. Primary inquiry target and intent
It isn't an SEO-focused material quick without a question target!
Utilizing a keyword research tool like Moz Keyword Explorer, you can get countless keyword concepts that could be relevant to your business.
For instance, in my existing task, I'm concentrated on producing material for retail store owners and others in the traditional retail market. After listening to some sales and support gets in touch with Gong (numerous teams utilize this to record consumer and possibility calls), I may learn that "merchandising" is a huge subject of focus.
So I type "retailing" into Keyword Explorer, include a couple more useful filters, and boom! Tons of keyword recommendations.
Select a keyword (check your existing content to make certain your group hasn't already written on the subject yet) and use that as the "north star" query for your content short.
I believe it's likewise valuable to include some intent details here. In other words, what might the searcher who's typing this query into Google desire? It's a good idea to browse the query in Google yourself to see how Google is analyzing the intent.
For example, if my keyword is "types of visual retailing," I can see from the SERP that Google assumes an educational intent, based on the reality that the URLs ranking are largely informational short articles.
2. Format
Dovetailing well off of intent is format. Simply put, how should we structure the content to provide it the best chance of ranking for our target query?
To use the exact same keyword example, if I Google "types of visual merchandising," the top-ranking short articles contain lists.
You may notice that your target inquiry returns results with a great deal of images (common with queries including "motivation" or "examples").
This better helps the author understand what material format is likely to work best.
3. Subjects to cover and associated concerns to answer
Picking the target inquiry helps the author comprehend the "big idea" of the piece, but stopping there implies you risk composing something that doesn't adequately respond to the inquiry intent.
That's why I like to include a "subjects to cover/ associated concerns to answer" area in my briefs. This is where I note out all the subtopics I have actually found that someone searching that question would most likely need to know.
To discover these, I like to use methods like:
Using a keyword research tool to show you questions connected to your primary keyword that are questions.
Taking a look at the People Also Ask box, if one exists, on the SERP your target question sets off
And while this isn't specifically search-related, often I like to use a tool called Frequently Asked Question Fox to scour online forums for threads that discuss my target question
You can likewise produce the outline yourself utilizing your research with all the H2s/H3s currently written. While this can work well with freelance authors, I've discovered some authors (especially in-house material marketers) feel this is too prescriptive. Every author and content group is various, so all I can state is just utilize your best judgment.
4. Funnel stage
This is relatively similar to intent, however I believe it's helpful to include as a separate line product. To fill out this portion of the material short, ask yourself: "Is someone browsing this term just searching for information? Motivation? Looking to examine their alternatives? Or seeking to purchase something?"
And here's how you can identify your answer:
Top-of-funnel (TOFU or "problem mindful") is an appropriate label if the query intent is informational/educational/inspirational.
Middle-of-funnel (MOFU or "solution mindful") is a suitable label if the inquiry intent is to compare, assess choices, or otherwise indicates that the searcher is already familiar with your solution.Bottom-of-funnel (BOFU or "solution ready") is an appropriate label if the query intent is to buy or otherwise transform.
5. Audience segment
Who are you writing this for?
It looks like such a fundamental concern to address, however in my experience, it's easy to forget!
When it concerns SEO-focused content briefs, it's easy to assume the answer to this concern is "for whoever is searching this keyword!" What that stops working to address is who those searchers are and how they fit into your business's personalities/ perfect client profile (ICP).
If you don't understand what those personas are, ask your marketing team! They should have target audience segments easily offered to send you.
This will not only help your authors better comprehend what they ought to be writing, but it likewise helps align you with the remainder of the marketing department and assist them comprehend SEO's connection to their objectives (this is also a vital element of getting buy-in, which we'll discuss a little later).
6. The goal action you want your readers to take
SEO is a way to an end. It's not only enough to get your content ranking and even to get it making clicks/traffic. For it to make an impact for your business, you'll desire it to add to your bottom line.
That's why, when creating your content brief, you not just require to consider how readers will get to it, however what you desire them to do after.
This is a fantastic opportunity to work with your content marketing and larger marketing group to comprehend what actions they're trying to drive visitors to take.
Here are some examples of call-to-actions (CTAs) you can consist of in your briefs:
Newsletter sign-ups
Gated property downloads (e.g. totally free templates, whitepapers, and ebooks).
Case studies.Free trials.
Request demo.Product listings.
In basic, it's finest to use a CTA that's a natural next action based on the intent of the post. For instance, if the piece is top-of-funnel, attempt a CTA that'll move them to the mid-funnel, like a case study.
7. Ballpark length.
I'm a company follower that the length of any article need to be determined by the topic, not arbitrary word counts. It can be valuable to offer a ballpark to avoid bringing a 500-word blog post to a 2,000-word fight.
One tool that can make developing a ballpark word count easier is Frase, which among other things, will show you the typical word count of pages ranking for your target query.
8. Internal and external link chances.
Considering that you read the Moz blog site, you're most likely currently thoroughly acquainted with the value of links. This information is frequently left out of content briefs.
It's as basic as including these 2 line items:.
Appropriate material we ought to link out to. Note out any URLs, especially by yourself site, that might be natural fits to link out to in this post.
Existing content that might connect to this new piece. List out any URLs on your website that discuss your topic so that, after your brand-new piece is live, you can return and include links in them to your brand-new piece.The second item is particularly important, given that including links to your new post can help it get indexed and begin ranking quicker. A quick way to find internal link opportunities is to use the "website:" operator in Google.
The following search would reveal me all posts on the Moz blog that point out "content short." These could be fantastic sources of links to this blog post.
9. Competitor content.
Browse your target query and pull the leading three-or-so ranking URLs for this area of your material quick. These are the pages you require to beat.
At danger of developing copycat content (material that's essentially a re-spun version of the top-ranking posts), it's an excellent idea to advise your author on how best to utilize these.
I like to include concerns like:.
What's our special point-of-view on this topic?
Do we have any unique data we can pull on this topic?What specialists (internal or external) can we ask for quotes to include on this subject?
What graphics would make this more visually engaging than what our rivals have?You understand!
10. On-page SEO cheat sheet.
One thing I always like to consist of in my briefs is some kind of an "SEO cheat sheet"-- tips and resources for helping your authors with important on-page SEO aspects.
Here's an example of one I've used in the past:.
Crucial caution: Writers have differing levels of SEO expertise. Some content groups are very bullish on SEO (companies like G2 and HubSpot enter your mind), so the writers might not need much assistance in this area. For others, SEO is relatively brand-new to them. Identify what's needed for your special situation so that you can prevent over or under-prescribing in this area.
What to prevent when writing content briefs.
Unfortunately, "SEO" has actually ended up being an unclean word to lots of authors. Understanding why will help us avoid the significant mistakes that can result in overlooked briefs and interdepartmental stress.Do not provide ideas after that property has actually been written.
When writing for search, we're producing the output. The keyword is the input. To put it simply, target inquiries are questions to be addressed, not something to be packed into copy that's currently been written.
Google wants to rank material that responds to the question, not simply duplicates it on the page.
For this factor, I would avoid having an optimization action after your composing action. If you don't, you risk the material not matching the intent of the query, which implies it has little-to-no likelihood of ranking, and you'll also likely distress your authors, who do not wish to undervalue their editorially excellent content by stuffing keywords into it.
Don't prefer keywords with high volume over high intent match.
I once saw a short where the SEO Supervisor asked for that the author utilize a particular phrase instead of another phrase because it had search volume while the other didn't.The problem? While relatively comparable, the keywords in fact had totally different intents.
Don't do this.
At finest, targeting keywords simply for volume's sake can lead to vanity traffic that never converts. At worst, you'll be attempting to fit a square peg in a round hole and most likely missing intent-match totally.
Don't blindly follow keyword tools.
Keyword tools are helpful, however they're not best reflections of search demand. Due to the fact that they're not always upgraded extremely frequently, you may erroneously believe a query has no demand when in reality it has a heap.
A good example of this is COVID-19 associated keywords. As a recently trending topic earlier this year, lots of keyword research tools didn't sign up that they had any search volume, when in reality they did. If you would have blindly followed the tool, you may have lost out on the chance.
To resolve for this, you can use tools like Google Trends and even Google Search Console (if you have content on a trending subject or similar topic on your website already, you need to be able to see impressions/interest spiking within a few days).
Do not instruct writers to "include these keywords" (especially a certain number of times).
When listing out the target query (or queries) in your material brief, it is very important that we instruct our authors that this is the main question to answer rather than this the word I require you to sprinkle throughout the content.There's no magic number of times you can stick a keyword in your copy so that it ranks for that term. Instead, instruct your authors to focus on responding to the intent of the searcher's concern comprehensively.
Don't try to jam keywords into posts that weren't meant for search discovery.
Organic search is not the only channel for content discovery. As somebody coming from an SEO background, this took me a while to learn.
That implies including search content to your content calendar, not trying to cram keywords into whatever on the calendar.
While it's important to get the on-page SEO fundamentals right (title tag, heading tags, links, etc.) for every piece, not every piece lends itself well to natural search discovery.
If we just developed material based gold coast seo services on keywords that a tool informed us gets searched a particular number of times per month, we 'd never write about new principles. It takes a great deal of thought management off the table, as well as things like case research studies and interview/feature story pieces.
Organic search is effective, however it's not everything.
Tips for getting your material team purchased in.
Even the best material briefs will not make an impact if your material group refuses to use them-- and I've become aware of lots of circumstances where that happens.As an SEO, it can be mind-boggling that your material group does not want to use this: "Don't you desire traffic?!" However as somebody who leads a content team, I comprehend why they're often declined.
Fortunately, in most cases, this can be avoided by taking the following actions.
Involve them in the planning procedure.
No one likes to be micromanaged, and extensive content briefs can in some cases feel like micromanaging. One terrific method to avoid this is by bringing them along for the procedure. Make content briefs a joint effort in between SEO and Material.
For example, connect with the Material Lead and see if they 'd be willing to take a seat with you to produce the content quick design template together. By each of you bringing your unique expertise to the table, it can feel less like dictating and more like cooperation (plus, you'll probably wind up with a much better short template that way).
Make it clear that not all material has to be search content.
SEO Managers live and breathe the organic search channel, but content groups have a more different diet plan. They take a multi-channel technique to material, and sometimes are even writing content to support post-conversion groups like customer success.
When working with your content group on this, make sure you emphasize that this is a new content type that can be added to editorial planning. Not something that'll replace or need to alter the types of material they're currently writing.
Regard their knowledge.
Writing is hard. Doing it well requires immense skill and practice, however unfortunately, I've heard numerous SEOs speak about writers as if they didn't know anything, even if they don't understand SEO.
As an SEO, you'll get far with your content department merely by respecting their knowledge. Simply as lots of SEO Supervisors aren't writers, it's unjust of us to expect writers to have the SEO understanding of a full-time SEO specialist.
Prior to you implement a content brief process, sit down with the Material Lead and members of the content group to evaluate their search maturity. What do they actually need your help with? Then trust them with the rest.
Program outcomes.
One of the very best ways to get and preserve buy-in is by revealing outcomes. Program your material team just how much of their traffic is originating from natural search and how, unlike numerous other content discovery channels, that traffic is remaining consistent over time. Provide the writer a shout-out when you observe their post ranking on page one.