How to Compose an SEO-Focused Content Brief
As an SEO Manager, you are accountable for growing your company's organic search traffic. You're working with your dev team on some technical improvements, but you observe a big slice of the chance lies with content. Your company has a content group, however you notice they're not utilizing keyword research study to inform their posts. You have actually tried to send them keyword ideas, however up until now, they haven't been responsive to your recommendations.
Or how about this situation?
You're a marketing director at a start-up. You understand that you require content, but don't have the expertise or time to do it yourself, so you ask your network for recommendations and discover yourself a freelance writer. The only problem is, you're not always sure what to designate them. With little guideline to work off of, they produce material that fizzles.
The service in both of these scenarios is a content short However, not all content briefs are produced equal.
As someone 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 beloved by your material group.
Let's begin by settling on some terminology.
What's a content quick?
A content quick is a set of guidelines to direct an author on how to draft a piece of content. That piece of content can be a post, a landing page, a white paper, or any variety of other efforts that require content.
Without a material quick, you risk returning content that doesn't meet your expectations. This will not only frustrate your author, however it'll likewise require more modifications, taking more of your money and time.
Generally, content briefs are composed by somebody in a nearby field-- like need generation, product marketing, or SEO-- when they require something specific. Nevertheless, content teams typically don't just sweat off of briefs. They'll likely have their own calendar and efforts they're driving (content is among those unusual roles that requires to support practically every other department while also creating and carrying out by themselves work).
What makes a content brief "SEO-focused"?
An SEO-focused material brief is one among lots of kinds of content briefs. It's distinct in that the objective is to advise the writer on creating content to target a specific search query for the function of making traffic from the natural search channel.
What to include in your material short.
Now that we understand SEO-focused content briefs in theory, let's enter the nitty gritty. What information should we include in them?
1. Main inquiry target and intent
It isn't an SEO-focused material brief without a question target!
Utilizing a keyword research tool like Moz Keyword Explorer, you can get countless keyword ideas that could be relevant to your business.
In my existing task, I'm focused on creating material for retail shop owners and others in the brick and mortar retail market. After listening to some sales and support contacts Gong (lots of teams utilize this to record consumer and possibility calls), I may find out that "retailing" is a huge subject of focus.
So I type "retailing" into Keyword Explorer, include a couple more handy filters, and boom! Tons of keyword ideas.
Pick a keyword (inspect your existing material to make sure your group hasn't currently composed on the subject yet) and use that as the "north star" query for your content short.
I think it's likewise valuable to include some intent information here. Simply put, what might the searcher who's typing this query into Google want? It's a good concept to browse the inquiry in Google yourself to see how Google is translating the intent.
If my keyword is "types of visual merchandising," I can see from the SERP that Google assumes an educational intent, based on the truth that the URLs ranking are largely educational wordpress development brisbane posts.
2. Format
Dovetailing perfectly off of intent is format. Simply put, how should we structure the content to give it the best possibility of ranking for our target inquiry?
To utilize the very same keyword example, if I Google "types of visual retailing," the top-ranking short articles contain lists.
You may observe that your target inquiry returns results with a great deal of images (typical with queries including "motivation" or "examples").
This better assists the author understand what content format is most likely to work best.
3. Topics to cover and related concerns to respond to
Picking the target query assists the writer understand the "big idea" of the piece, but stopping there implies you risk composing something that doesn't comprehensively answer the query intent.
That's why I like to consist of a "topics to cover/ associated questions to address" section in my briefs. This is where I note out all the subtopics I have actually discovered that someone searching that question would probably want to know.
To find these, I like to use methods like:
Utilizing a keyword research tool to show you queries related to your main keyword that are concerns.
Taking a look at individuals Likewise Ask box, if one exists, on the SERP your target inquiry activates
Discovering websites that rank in the leading spots for your target question, running them through a keyword research tool, and seeing what other keywords they likewise rank for
And while this isn't specifically search-related, often I like to use a wordpress website gold coast tool called Frequently Asked Question Fox to search online forums for threads that mention my target inquiry
You can likewise create the summary yourself using your research with all the H2s/H3s currently written. While this can work well with freelance authors, I've discovered some authors (especially internal content online marketers) feel this is too prescriptive. Every author and content group is different, so all I can say is just use your best judgment.
4. Funnel phase
This is fairly similar to intent, however I believe it's practical to include as a separate line item. To fill out this part of the content short, ask yourself: "Is somebody searching this term simply looking for information?
And here's how you can label your answer:
Top-of-funnel (TOFU or "issue mindful") is a suitable label if the query intent is informational/educational/inspirational.
Middle-of-funnel (MOFU or "solution conscious") is a proper label if the question intent is to compare, examine choices, or otherwise suggests that the searcher is currently familiar with your solution.
Bottom-of-funnel (BOFU or "solution ready") is an appropriate label if the inquiry intent is to purchase or otherwise transform.
5. Audience sector
Who are you composing this for?
It appears like such a fundamental concern to respond to, however in my experience, it's simple to forget!
When it pertains to SEO-focused content briefs, it's simple to assume the answer to this concern is "for whoever is searching this keyword!" but what that stops working to answer is who those searchers are and how they suit your company's personalities/ ideal client profile (ICP).
If you do not understand what those personas are, ask your marketing team! They ought to have target market segments easily available to send you.
This will not just help your writers better understand 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 critical part of getting buy-in, which we'll discuss a little later).
6. The goal action you desire your readers to take
SEO is a method to an end. It's not only adequate to get your material ranking and even to get it making clicks/traffic. For it to make an impact for your company, you'll want it to contribute to your bottom line.
That's why, when producing your content quick, you not just need to think about how readers will get to it, however what you want them to do after.
This is a great opportunity to deal with your material marketing and bigger marketing team to understand what actions they're attempting 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 asset downloads (e.g. complimentary templates, whitepapers, and ebooks).
Case studies.
Free trials.
Request demo.
Product listings.
In basic, it's finest to utilize a CTA that's a natural next step based upon the intent of the short article. For example, 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 believer that the length of any short article should be dictated by the subject, not arbitrary word counts. It can be handy to use a ballpark to avoid bringing a 500-word blog post to a 2,000-word battle.
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.
Because you're reading the Moz blog site, you're most likely currently intimately knowledgeable about the value of links. Nevertheless, this details is frequently neglected of content briefs.
It's as simple as including these two line