A content brief is a document that includes instructions, guidelines, and other necessary information to guide a writer in the content creation process. In an SEO context, it ensures the article meets the correct search intent and content format and covers a topic sufficiently.
This article explains everything you need to know about content briefs, from topic ideation and keyword research to real-life examples to help you create the best possible content briefs for your writers.
What you will learn
- What a content brief is, and why it is important for SEO
- How to create a content brief to improve your content marketing strategy
- What to include in a content brief to improve SERP rankings
- How to structure your content brief with real examples for the best results
What is a content brief?
A content brief is a document that outlines requirements and guidelines for a piece of content. Typical elements included in a content brief include target audience, content format, target keywords, and the objective of the content piece.
This simple but often overlooked document helps guide writers in creating consistent and aligned content.
Often, people interchangeably use content briefs, content guidelines and content outlines. They are generally meant within the context of providing writing instructions for writers.
SEO content briefs become even more important when working with multiple writers. It helps ensure consistent brand voice and messaging, regardless of the writer.
Why are content briefs important?
Content briefs are important because they provide direction and clarity for writers. A good content brief will reduce revisions and misunderstandings. And it will improve the overall quality of work.
Content briefs enable you to maintain brand voice and messaging consistency across different pieces of content. For example, if you work with a team of five or more writers, the brief ensures each piece of content looks and sounds similar.
Also, most content teams provide style guidelines and a content brief. These guidelines further enforce consistency across all writers and pieces of content.
Guidelines can be as basic or as advanced as needed. For example, guidelines may include using American English, avoiding sentences that add fluff, or keeping paragraphs to 3-4 lines max.
More advanced guidelines may include how to structure headings for people also ask sections, how to add internal links to your post, or what anchor text to use and how to find these linking opportunities.
The team at Surfer sends a link to these guidelines with every content brief. It’s a document I constantly refer back to when writing.
8 steps to write an SEO content brief
A good SEO content brief includes more than a primary keyword, a few heading ideas, and links to competing articles for research purposes.
Here are eight steps to creating an SEO content brief.
1. Choose a topic
You can’t create a content brief without a topic. That’s like trying to bake a cake with no ingredients.
Step one is to find what to write about.
When choosing a topic, ensure it aligns with your content goals and audience interests.
For example, if you are in the personal finance industry, you wouldn’t write an article on commercial finance like how to raise investment funds.
Instead, topics would include budgeting tips, retirement planning, and household insurance options.
To find topic and keyword ideas, you can do keyword research by entering a seed keyword, like “personal finance,” into a keyword tool like Surfer's Topical Map to discover relevant target keywords and topics.
For example, here's a snippet of content ideas for a blog post in the personal finance niche.
I also like to use forum sites to find keywords and topic ideas—I cover this in more detail in the research section shortly.
By staying on topic, you are more likely to create helpful content for your audience.
Google prioritizes helpful content that benefits people. Google’s helpful content guidelines mention the importance of creating people-first content.
The questions outlined here are great starting points for evaluating your content and topic.
I recommend you read all the sections in the guidelines, but this is a great place to start.
Always keep these guidelines in mind when choosing a topic.
You may find it useful to rank potential topics ideas out of ten.
The higher the score, the more it aligns with business objectives. When I do this exercise, I typically don't use topics below a 6-7.
2. Identify search intent
Before proceeding, identify the search intent of your keyword and topic.
There are four main types of search intent:
- Informational: want to learn more about a topic or product
- Navigational: the user is looking for a specific destination
- Commercial: interested in making a purchase, but more research is needed
- Transactional: ready to make a specific purchase
It’s essential to identify this correctly to increase SERP rankings. If you do not meet the correct intent, you not only deliver the wrong type of content to the user, but you will struggle to rank in search results.
To find the right search intent, Google your primary keyword and assess what search intent the top pages follow.
Note down the top 10 search results—this is page one—and write down each search intent. You want to use the same intent as the search results.
Ignore paid results when doing this. You may find it helpful to use a Google sheet. For example, below are the top results for the key phrase “budgeting tips for students.”
The results for this keyword were overwhelmingly related to informational search intent.
Also, ensure your chosen topic(s) fit the broader context of your content strategy.
Are you creating this blog post because it has a high search volume or because it helps achieve business objectives, for example?
It should be the latter. If you also have a mid-high search volume, you’re onto a winner.
Getting the search intent right is one of the most important steps to improve SEO performance.
3. Research your subject
Although a good writer thoroughly researches a topic, the content team should do the same when creating a content brief.
This ensures key talking points are included in the article.
Topic research methods include:
- Reading competitor blogs
- Browsing forums sites like Reddit and Quora
- Watching YouTube videos
- Listening to relevant podcasts
- Asking sales and customer support teams for common pain points and questions
Researching your audience on forums
One of my preferred methods is using forum sites.
For example, you can search your topic + Reddit using a Google search to find topic ideas.
You’re reading content from potential customers and your ideal customer persona (ICP). It includes pain points, challenges, deep dives, and discussions on certain topics.
The image below shows a custom Google search on personal finance.
There’s a subreddit with more than 21 million members asking questions and debating topics. This is an excellent starting point for topic research.
You can also search a subreddit for a specific topic or query. This is helpful when researching for an article.
Let’s say you're writing an article on the best money saving tips. You can use a custom Google search to find all posts with relevant keywords.
To find these, use the following search operator: “site:URL here / “keyword here.”
This method helps you find pain points and challenges of your target audience first-hand. It may also reveal new topic ideas for future blog posts as part of your content strategy.
Researching your organic competitor pages
To find competitor blogs, Google your keyword and evaluate the top results.
The image below shows an example for the keyword, “best way to save money.” I found this keyword using the above Reddit example. It gets an estimated 1,600 monthly searches.
Use these posts as research and, if relevant, as research references for the writer.
As a writer, I always read competing articles before writing.
I also sometimes watch YouTube videos and, on occasion, listen to Podcast clips if necessary. This helps me understand a topic better before writing.
In the content brief, add links to additional resources you think will help the writer.
You can also add notes next to each resource on what you like or dislike about the article. For example, one article may have a great introduction, lack expert quotes, or covers a topic extensively.
These notes help guide the writer and ensure you create the best possible article that fills the holes in what’s already out there.
Additionally, leverage competitor analysis to gain further insights, like what sub-topics to include and whether to add expert quotes and insights to your post.
When researching your subject with the above methods, it’s essential to fact-check and use the most up-to-date information.
Google favors fresh and up-to-date content. Content that is not factual—whether included by accident or not—is not helpful. And it may negatively impact search rankings.
If you’re using AI tools like ChatGPT or DeepSeek to help research and write content, fact-checking is even more important, as these tools can make mistakes.
4. Analyze the SERPs for keywords, word count, structure, and headers
Use Google to analyze the search engine result pages (SERPs). It will help you find the ideal keywords, structure, and headers for your content brief.
Start by analyzing the top search results.
For example, if your primary keyword is “personal finance,” click the top results and take notes on the following:
- Word count
- Article structure—is it a listicle, for example?
- Layout
- What headings do they use?
- What sub-topics do they cover?
- Do they use expert quotes?
Use these notes to guide your article structure and content.
To find which keywords to include in your content brief,
- Note down which keywords are used in prominent places like the URL and H1. These are your primary keywords.
- Look out for their long-tail versions in H2 header tags
- Identify semantically relevant keywords for the writer to include in the body of your page.
Determining the proper keyword density can be tedious. It is a time-consuming process, and you can't really be sure if you're doing well or not.
Surfer's Content Score simplifies this process to ensure your content covers the most important keywords related to your topic.
Guided by a live score, your writers only have to ensure they include them in your article.
Surfer's Content Editor can also help streamline your content outline and content brief process by analyzing the SERP for you, and making recommendations for your page's word count, headers and content structure.
To determine the word count manually, look at the top 3-5 results.
Find the length of each, add them together, and divide by the number of results.
This is a very basic and manual process, but it's enough to get started if you’re not using Surfer.
As a general rule of thumb, aim to match or exceed the average word count for competing posts. But don’t add more words for the sake of it.
More words do not equal better results. Stay in the ballpark range for the best results.
5. Outline headers and talking points
When creating a brief, add main headers and subheaders. This helps ensure sufficient topical coverage, improves SEO, and keeps the writer on topic.
You can find heading ideas when doing keyword and topic research. You may have also found potential heading ideas when analyzing the SERP in the above step.
I like to Google my primary keyword and take note of the “people also ask,” “people also search for,” and “Google’s autocomplete feature.”
As previously noted, I suggest viewing the top 3-5 articles for your keyword and taking note of their headings and sub-headings.
You don’t need to copy these. But you want your article to stay on topic and deliver on the correct search intent so these are great places to start.
You can use Surfer's Outline tab see suggested headings for the topic you're creating a brief for.
Additionally, read the bulk of the content.
If several of the top posts cover the same sub-topic, chances are you should, too.
Also, look for opportunities to expand on certain topics or add expertise by adding quotes, examples or case studies.
Once you have your headers, add key talking points under each header to ensure topical coverage.
Additionally, organize your headers logically to improve readability and SEO.
For example, if you have an article on “what is keyword research,” your first H2 would not be how to assess search volume. It would likely be an explanation of what keyword research is and why it’s important.
6. Provide references
Add example articles for tone, information, and inspiration to your content briefs. Often, these will be competing articles for your chosen keyword.
As a writer, these resources are super useful. It allows you to see what your client or content team is looking for in the article.
You can find these reference articles by searching your primary keyword in Google and clicking the top 3-5 results. Avoid paid results.
For example, if my topic/primary keyword is “What is a business bank account,” I would evaluate the top search results. If they are relevant, I would add these as a reference in the content brief.
You can search keyword variants to find similar articles. Use tools like Google Trends to discover new keywords and topics.
Often, the related topics may vary ever so slightly. This process can also help you discover new information to include in your article.
Surfer's Content Editor also shows the top five competitors for your keyword. You can add these competitors to your content brief.
Or, if you’re using content editor, you can send a link to the brief, and the writer can find these under the “BRIEF” heading in the top right of the page.
If you want to include scientific studies or statistics, you can use AI tools like Perplexity to help find sources.
Use a prompt like: “Show me studies on [insert topic] from [insert year] and beyond.”
Sometimes, AI can link to the wrong studies, so always fact-check before including these in your content brief.
7. Include specific case studies and examples
Sometimes, you will work with writers unfamiliar with your niche or industry.
In these instances, it’s helpful to provide case studies, statistics, and other examples they can include in the content.
Even if a writer is familiar with your niche, you can still add specific case studies to ensure sufficient topical coverage. It also allows you to cover any specific points you want to include in the finished article.
For example, in a recent post on content pruning, the brief had notes on embedding a LinkedIn post with a real-life case study (see the image below).
You can also add links to case studies or journal articles. This is especially helpful for posts on sensitive topics like health and wellness.
Discover these by using a Google search or sites like Pubmed or Google Scholar. You can also use the AI prompt provided in the above step.
8. Identify internal pages to link to
Add relevant internal links to pages and blog posts in your content briefs. This helps improve topical authority—how well your website covers a specific topic in depth.
It also provides extra resources for the writer during the research process.
Getting the writer to include these in the content helps the writer stay on topic and prevents back-and-forth between editing and publishing.
To find relevant anchor text for internal links, use a custom Google search.
Enter your site URL and include a suitable keyword to identify relevant pages that may benefit from an internal link.
Here’s what it should look like: site:surferseo.com / keyword research
You can instruct your writer on the above so they can also find and add relevant internal links when writing.
3 examples of content briefs
To help visualize what a content brief should look like with the above components, I’ve gathered three examples of real-life content briefs from top SEO companies, including the process the Surfer team follows.
1. Surfer
Let’s examine why Surfer’s brief on "X Steps to Writing a Great Article" is a good example.
The content brief opens with clear context about the target audience, explaining that it must serve students and professionals. It provides specific guidance about maintaining neutrality while including SEO concepts and mentioning Surfer strategically.
The content brief’s notes follow concrete steps that build upon each other (choosing subject → platform → brainstorming → structuring) backed by specific examples for each central point, like the cybersecurity analyst article structure here.
Real-world illustrations are carefully chosen to demonstrate the concepts in action.
What makes this brief particularly strong is that it doesn't just tell writers what to do—it shows them how to do it through carefully selected examples and clear, actionable steps.
This ensures consistent, quality SEO content while still allowing for creative expression within Surfer’s established writing style. Each section provides clear directions to the writer.
- Main directive (what to do)
- Supporting details (how to do it)
- Practical examples (what it looks like in practice)
The use of examples is emphasized repeatedly to help the writer understand, as Surfer’s blog promotes a “show, don’t tell” approach.”
2. Backlinko
Next up is a brief from Backlinko on content briefs (oh, the irony).
The content brief starts by highlighting top competing URLs for the writer to better understand the topic. The bullets under each link are great additions to help guide the writer. I like how there is also an inspirational resources section below.
The additional notes in the inspirational resources section, such as “solid hook,” are also a welcomed addition.
It complements the competing URL section nicely and may help the article sound less generic and regurgitated from the top posts.
Often, as writers, we’re given examples of what to do but NOT what to avoid.
Notes like “too much text” or “uninspired page title” help steer us away from what the content team does not want. I see this as just as necessary as including what to do.
Finally, the search intent section contains bullets explaining the target persona.
Instead of saying “informational intent,” for example, Backlinko creates clear and actionable bullets that help the writer see the bigger picture and overall goal of the piece.
As a writer, this helps ensure you stay on topic and hit the key drive-home takeaways in the article.
3. Ahrefs
Lastly, here is a content brief from Ahrefs on content calendars.
This content brief starts with a section on audience. The jobs to be done section (JTBD) adds emotion to the content brief, e.g., “feel in control of (and not overwhelmed by) the process.”
Identifying these pain points and emotions allows the writer to address them throughout the article. It also ensures the topic is especially relevant and less generic by talking to the reader about their current problem(s).
The takeaways and next steps section is also strong because it provides a clear direction for the writer and the reader.
By noting down what you want the user to get out of the article before writing it makes it that much easier to achieve those goals.
Without a goal, it’s much easier for content to be aimless with an added CTA at the end with an action like “try our product.” I am sure you’ve seen many examples of this before.
And finally, the goals are specific and not a generic statement like “get more people to sign up to Ahrefs.”
Instead, they say, “Plant the seed of how Ahrefs can be used to plan content.” See the below image for more examples.
These explicit goals ensure a consistent brand voice and provide a clear direction for the article.
Key takeaways
- A content brief is a document that outlines guidelines and requirements for a piece of content
- It helps give clear direction to writers and reduces revisions and misunderstandings
- If you manage multiple writers, a content brief ensures consistent messaging
- When choosing a topic for your content brief, ensure it aligns with business objectives and meets search intent
- Research your topic and the SERP rankings, and take note of headings and content to help outline your content brief
- Add internal links to the content brief to improve topical authority and to help the writer with research
- Add competitor posts to the content brief with notes on what you like and dislike for the best results
