Thread by @semrush

You've identified a promising keyword.

Now what? 🤷🏾‍♀️

Whether you'll tackle the content yourself or pass the torch to a writer, an SEO content brief will come in handy.

How? And what should it include beyond keywords?

The answers lie in this #SEOThread by yours truly.

1. AUDIENCE SEGMENT

Some briefs have short, unhelpful descriptions. E.g.
"for design teams."

Others reuse broad descriptions for every piece, resulting in too-broad content.

Specify the audience segment each piece is for and what they need from it.

@optimized3x #SEOThread

2. CUSTOMER JOURNEY STAGE

True, the traditional customer journey is getting rarer. But give an approximation of the stage the top audience segment is at.

It can dramatically affect how a piece is written and whether or not it satisfies the audience.

@optimized3x #SEOThread

3. CONTENT TO BEAT

To set the bar for quality, link to 1-2 of the best pieces on your topic.

(These may not be in positions 1-3 in the SERP.

If they aren't, balance what search engines like about the top 1-3 with what's good about top quality pieces.)

@optimized3x #SEOThread

4. YOUR EDGE

Using the combo of info from your analyses above:

Explain what you'll do better than ranking pages. Specifically, plan for how you can outdo the 1-2 best pages.

E.g. could you make your content more actionable, complete, readable, etc.?

@optimized3x #SEOThread

5. INTERNAL LINKS

Mention the 2-3 most important internal links to add so they're not forgotten. (More can be found later.)

6. CALL-TO-ACTION (CTA)

Specify the best CTA based on:

✅ Audience

✅ Customer journey stage (+ search intent)

✅ Your goals

@optimized3x #SEOThread

Now, for some extras that can be helpful.

1. Style guide link to make consistency across content contributors easier to maintain

2. Resources such as helpful articles, interviews, and quotes from (or contact info for) internal subject matter experts

@optimized3x #SEOThread

3. A suggested outline to give context on what subtopics must be covered to be competitive

4. Title direction based on patterns across already-ranking pages

5. A checklist to ensure other details (e.g. title tags and meta descriptions) are cared for

@optimized3x #SEOThread

But why spend extra time creating detailed briefs like these?

1. It's easy to forget details that can impact performance when in the weeds of writing, even for experienced SEO writers.

A strong brief keeps content on course and helps cover all bases.

@optimized3x #SEOThread

2. If you hire freelance writers, they may understand intent, customer journey, etc.

But they may not know YOUR strategy, audience, and competitors like you do.

Briefs keep them from guessing at what to write and for who. It's built-in quality control.

@optimized3x #SEOThread

Now, I'm curious.

Do you use content briefs?

Why or why not? And, if you do, what do you include?

Tell me in the comments!

@optimized3x #SEOThread