Crafting Your Way to Success: How to Write an Optimised Content Brief

Nowadays we face ever-growing demands as the speed of content production is becoming increasingly crucial, particularly in the context of AI tools, which revolutionize the way we create content. The recent Google’s Helpful Content Update in August 2023 has further reinforced the complexity of SEO, with topical maps requiring an increasing number of blogs to be created while also maintaining the quality of content. Simultaneously, we are witnessing a rapid evolution in the realm of social media, with videos becoming the new norm.

Modern AI tools now offer impressive efficiency in content production. However, the key to success lies in the internal processes of marketing teams and external agencies. This is where the significance of a well-crafted content brief and effective planning comes into play. A solid content brief can lead to a significant boost in efficiency.

In this blog post, we will delve deeper into what is needed for a high-quality content brief and how to optimize your content marketing funnel in this dynamic landscape. What are the key principles that will help you create successful content and achieve your marketing strategy goals? Stay tuned!

What is a content brief?

A content brief, in the world of content creation and marketing, is a document that outlines the key objectives, requirements, and guidelines for a particular piece of content (blogs, white papers, scripts, and web copies etc.). Content brief serves as a blueprint for content creators and ensures that all parties involved are on the same page when it comes to what needs to be accomplished. The content brief typically includes information such as the target audience, the relevant keywords and topics, the desired tone and style, and any formatting or design specifications. By providing these details upfront, the content brief can help to streamline the content creation process and ultimately lead to more successful and effective content.

What is a SEO content brief?

In fact, there is no huge difference between “content brief” and “SEO content brief”. Both should help writers in crafting comprehensive, informative content. However, SEO-focused brief may concentrate more on search engine optimization by offering guidance to target particular keywords. Content briefs can help establish topical authority by ensuring that the website’s materials meet the needs and expectations of its target audience, which in turn enhances the site’s reputation and visibility. Additionally, a good “SEO content brief” advises on other “on-page SEO factors” such as headings, subheadings (to match keywords), as well internal linking suggestions. Tip: these tasks can be simplified with our Keyword Clustering tool. In a nutshell, the objective of an SEO-centered content brief is to offer clear instructions to content creators so that they can produce compelling and efficient content that is tailored for search engines, satisfies the audience’s needs, and meets project goals. For consistency, we will be utilizing the phrase “content brief” in the rest of this article, but we’ll be talking about SEO content briefs.

Why you need content briefs

Whether you are creating a blog post or a white paper, a well-crafted content brief is an essential tool for ensuring high-quality content that aligns with marketing goals and resonates with your target audience:

• Content briefs provide a structured framework for any project involving written content, ensuring that all essential elements are included and presented in a cohesive and comprehensive manner. Rather than working haphazardly without direction, content briefs help writers, editors and clients to stay on the same page throughout the entire process, ultimately leading to a more successful outcome.
• By outlining the audience, purpose, tone and desired outcomes of a piece of writing, content briefs give writers a clear roadmap for what needs to be communicated and why.
  
• Content briefs simplify tracking and meeting deadlines by including key details, such as timelines for drafts, revisions, and publishing dates.
  
• Effective content briefs help ignite a writer’s creative spark by giving well-defined direction and fresh ideas for focus areas.
• Content briefs are necessary for consistency and compliance with requirements, which is crucial when multiple writers are involved.
  
• Ultimately, they save time, money, and resources by helping avoid the need for multiple revisions and by reducing the likelihood of a missed opportunity due to ineffective communication.
• The clearer the content, the form, and the goal are defined, the easier and more precisely the prompts for AI tools can be developed.

What do you include in an SEO content brief?

Word count

The first step is to define the appropriate word count for the article. The length of your content will depend on the topic you’re writing about, the competition, and the intent behind the search query. For instance, topic clusters or cornerstone content usually have a higher word count. On the other hand, product pages or landing pages often have less content. Generally, blog posts range from 600 to 2000 words, but in-depth articles can exceed 3000 words. By setting a clear word count, you can ensure that the article is comprehensive, meets the user’s intent, and is optimized for search engines.

Goal of the article

This step should align with your business objectives and the audience’s needs. Are you trying to educate, entertain, or persuade the reader? Do you want to generate leads, increase brand awareness, or improve your website’s rankings? Defining the goal of the article will help you create a tone of voice that resonates with the target audience. In our article on content marketing funnels, we have discussed that you need to create and deliver content that meets the needs of the target audience at different stages of their decision-making process, such as capturing attention, generating high-quality leads, and finalizing conversions. That is why, you need to consider the goal of each stage of the funnel since each of them necessitates different types of content that will resonate with potential customers and motivate them to progress further down the funnel towards a conversion.

Page title suggestions

Remember that a title tag directly affects your ranking, so it’s important to adhere to SEO best practices:

• Keep it brief, aiming for max 55 characters as this is usually the maximum length displayed in search results
• Make sure to incorporate the relevant keywords that are defined in your keywords mapping and topical map. Doing so will help search engines comprehend the topic of your page, which will, in turn, increase its chances of ranking for those keywords.
• Be sure to provide a clear and precise description of your page’s content, avoiding vague or misleading titles.
• Lastly, make sure you use proper grammar, spelling, and capitalization (title case).

Meta description guidelines

Follow best SEO practices to get a meta description that is

• Concise: Aim for maximum 155 characters to ensure it will display fully in search results.
• Accurate: Include relevant keywords that describe the content on your page. Although they aren’t a ranking factor, they are able to include more valuable information to encourage users to click.
• Compelling: Use language that entices people to click on your page. Ask a question, provide a solution to a problem, or use strong verbs to convey a sense of action.
• Action-oriented: Include a call to action (CTA) that encourages visitors to take a specific action, such as “Learn more”.
• Diverse: Use bullets, emojis, & numbers.

Headings and subheadings

Your suggested headings help writers identify the precise subjects and subtopics they should cover. Keep in mind, your heading suggestions will contain formatting that specifies whether it should be a <h1>, <h2> or <h3>, etc.

Internal linking recommendations

Internal linking is crucial for SEO as it allows search engines to understand the structure of your website and helps distribute link equity across your pages. When creating an SEO content brief, make sure to include recommendations for internal linking with optimized anchor text. For example, if you’re writing about ‘Digital Marketing Strategies,’ you can link to other pages on your website that cover related topics such as ‘Social Media Marketing’ or ‘Email Marketing.’ However, make sure to avoid overusing exact match anchor text as it can lead to a penalty from search engines.

Multimedia content

Multimedia such as images, videos, and infographics can improve the user experience of your content and also boost your search engine rankings. When creating an SEO content brief, include, if needed, recommendations for adding multimedia to your content.

Images need to be in modern formats like webp and not bigger than 1MB in size. If there is an intense use of images and videos, implementing a caching tool like WP Rocket for WordPress Pages is recommended.

To sum up

Producing successful content is not a one-time task, but an ongoing process. While crafted with care, the main goal of having a content brief should be to produce top tier content that satisfies the customer’s motives. If you still are in search of more best practices for creating quality content, feel free to contact us for more information on how to make the most out of your unique subject material ideas. We’re always ready to share our best advice with you!