This Content Brief was one of our first deliveries for the client (November 2022). The format is no different from a recent CB, but the content is completely different.

Here, we added content recommendations based on the level of understanding with the Notion brand that we had at the moment, and with their feedback and our experience, we managed to improve how we presented the content.

Over time, we improved the quality of sections, such as the outline or the title tag, to make them more efficient and accurate to what a great Graphite article would look like.

Below, you’ll find a more recent version of a content brief.

Titles can be challenging. You'd want to create something engaging for the readers while fitting the keyword as an SEO practice. Usually, I start prioritizing the content value of the title and then arranging it so its keyword is well placed and helps the article's ranking on the SERP.

You might also consider the angle of the article. Do you want to create a brand-oriented piece or an informative article? Since this is a more stylistic aspect of the article, following the blog's guidelines is as important as the SEO value of the title tag.

When it comes to selecting any secondary keyword for any content brief, we ask ourselves, "How does it fit the final article?". We prioritize the editorial value of the keyword by considering it as a possible subheading or subsection of the article.

We also want to pay attention to the keyword's SEO-data side. Adding something with a valuable search volume would benefit the article ranking.

There are more format-related sections of the content brief. Personally, I always tackle anything like this first, removing the easiest and more repetitive parts of the content brief, in order for me to focus on the more creative and manual aspects of it.

That being said, this information is as essential as the outline or the secondary keywords, giving the writer the elements they need to properly tackle the article and its audience.

We're not designers, so we approach these image recommendations by positioning ourselves as readers. What visual would make the article interesting for me? We need words, but not too many, so anything that stands out and complements the written content helps the article's performance.

Similar to the title tag, you'd also need to consider the style side of the article, making sure that you tell a coherent story with your visual throughout you blog's content.

Here's one of the most essential elements of the content briefs. When we started doing CBs for this client, we weren't fully sure who would read me. Are we targeting project managers, team leaders, or team members? We concluded that the best approach is to make the articles as relatable as possible for all readers. Maybe you're a manager trying to lead a team or a team member trying to improve the team's performance.

But this needs to be planned from the topic's conception. It would help if you started the content brief completely sure about who's gonna read the article because that will help the writer to provide something of value in the content.

There's a simple method for selecting the editorial competitors, and it's in its very title: choosing the best article from their editorial perspective. Not only consider their SERP ranking or how well they're performing but instead look at their content, their sections, what's their angle, and how they tackled it.

With time, choosing the right competitors as a reference, it's really simple. A content brief should take more than 30-40 mins to create, so don't waste your time completely reading all the SERP articles. Focus on how they're structured and how the present the information.

Now, this is the main attraction of the content brief: the outline. Here, you'll add the suggested content that the final article should have in order for it to rank well in the SERP and get those precious clicks. And this content brief's outline is the best example of what not to follow exactly...

We created some premium content briefs by trial and error, especially with this client. After you make a bunch of this, it tends to become formulaic and repetitive, so you must avoid that at all costs, starting with the introduction.

Something we learned is to place the direct intent of the topic at the beginning of the article, just below the introduction. We want to answer the reader's question as soon as possible to keep them engaged and keep the article relevant in the SERP.

Here, we did the opposite, but we improved our structuring with experience, as you can see in the CB below.

A CTA is always a great SEO tool to drive conversions to your site. Highlight why the client is the right choice to answer the topic's intent and include a direct link to one of the site's services.

We add the Clearscope link for our writers so they can use it to improve their content, tweaking and adding keywords to help them perform in the SERP.

Not only that, but you can find some important content recommendations for the brief itself, analyzing the most beneficial keyword you could add to your article.

We learned a lot by creating these content briefs and improved our process. The outline in the past CB needed to be more bulky, with many details that could be excluded to make the content brief creation process more efficient.

The goal is to reduce the CB-creating time to 30 minutes per piece so a lot of information can be presented more smoothly. This content brief is cleaner and has a more precise outline.

Experience, feedback, and patience are what improve any content-creating process.

Take the title tag as example. Notice the different between this and the last one? It's target keyword is much more explicit and 100% matches it. That improves rankings and position, while also adding something of interest to make it stand from the rest of the SERP's competitors.

This is our selling section. Here, we're telling to the reader the reason why they should read this article and what's the answer they'll find in it.

We have a formula for this: Introduction/Necessity/Solution. We introduce the article, mention the actual problem and how you'll find the answer right here.

Compared to the first CB outline, this one looks more efficient and concise. It approaches the suggested content to respond directly to the keyword's intent without delaying the answer for the reader.

Something that helped is to apply a 70/30 rule: 70% of the content should be based on the SERP's ranking articles, and 30% should be the client's perspective of the topic.

Juan Diego Álvarez Martínez

These two content briefs show the evolution of the specs we provide our content writers in order to create a rank-worthy article.

Titles can be challenging

When it comes to selecting any secondary keyword for any content brief, we ask ourselves, "How does it fit the final article?"

There are more format-related sections of the content brief

We're not designers, so we approach these image recommendations by positioning ourselves as readers

Here's one of the most essential elements of the content briefs

There's a simple method for selecting the editorial competitors, and it's in its very title: choosing the best article from their editorial perspective.

Now, this is the main attraction of the content brief: the outline

Something we learned is to place the direct intent of the topic at the beginning of the article, just below the introduction

A CTA is always a great SEO tool to drive conversions to your site

We add the Clearscope link for our writers so they can use it to improve their content, tweaking and adding keywords to help them perform in the SERP

Content Brief: how to engage stakeholders

SEO Content Brief at Graphite

Content Brief: Project timeline

Content Brief: how to engage stakeholders

Sign up to see more