Create SEO Content That Ranks: A 7-Step Framework

If you want to increase your visibility online, SEO content is a must. 

SEO content drives the majority of online discoverability, both in search engines and LLMs.

It also helps build a solid foundation for long-term rankings, backlinks, and traffic.

In this article, I will guide you through the steps to create SEO content that ranks well in search engines, drives organic traffic, and delivers real value to your target audience.

What you will learn:

• What SEO content is, and how to create content that ranks
• The importance of adding something new to a topic and how this impacts search results
• How to optimize your content for on-page SEO to increase your SERP rankings
• What to do after publishing SEO content and how to monitor it for the best results

What is SEO content?

SEO content is content designed to rank in search engines like Google to attract organic traffic.

There are various types of search engine optimized content, such as blog posts, product and landing pages.

Besides written content, SEO also includes multimedia like videos and infographics, which boost engagement and signal value to search engines.

SEO content is essential for improving your website’s visibility by targeting relevant keywords and matching user search intent. It involves creating valuable, comprehensive content that satisfies user queries and builds authority, leading to higher search engine rankings.

In 2024, Surfer users saw an average increase of 205% in organic traffic thanks to SEO content. This increase in clicks translates to direct business results, such as product sign-ups, new leads, and conversions.

There are different aspect to creating SEO content, from optimizing on-page elements to improving technical SEO elements.

Creating effective SEO content is an ongoing process requiring regular updates and monitoring to maintain and improve rankings over time.

How to create SEO content that ranks

Content creation should be approached as a strategic, process-oriented activity in SEO, focusing on developing valuable and optimized material that stands out in search results.

Here’s how to start creating SEO content that actually moves the needle to increase organic traffic to your website.

1. Target the right topics

You must do keyword research to decide what topics to write about.

Otherwise, it’s a little like shooting arrows at a target in the dark—you might hit the board, but more often than not, you’ll miss.

When choosing what topics to write about, consider the following:

• Traffic potential: Is this topic searched for regularly?
• Ranking feasibility: Can you realistically compete in the SERP for this topic (i.e., what's the ranking difficulty)?
• Business value: Can you relate the topic to your product/service?

Aim to achieve a balance of the three. You can write the best article with ranking feasibility and traffic potential, but if it’s not relevant to your business, it’s a waste of resources.

For a good balance, focus on evergreen keywords with the occasional trending topic. Evergreen keywords are keywords and topics that consistently maintain interest and relevance and are unlikely to change.

For example, “how to save money” is an evergreen keyword and topic. It’s unlikely to change and will maintain interest year-round. You can verify this by looking at Google Trends.

If you were in the personal finance space and wanted to create SEO content, trending topics could be the latest on inflation and energy bills, and what this means for your spending and budgeting.

When doing keyword and topic research, it’s easy to become distracted by high search volume keywords. While they look great on paper, they need to match the user’s needs and be a good fit for your business. 

To give an example, if you’re in the retirement planning business and write an article on how to save for college, this isn’t relevant.

You can use Surfer’s Topical Map tool to find an abundance of topics and keywords relevant to your website.

Alongside each keyword you can see its keyword difficulty and search volume. This way you can decide whether a keyword is worth targeting and which ones to prioritize.

2. Match the search intent behind each topic

Once you have a list of possible topics, you need to find and match the search intent for each.

There are five types of search intent queries:

1. Informational—the user wants to learn more about a topic.
2. Navigational—seeking a specific destination.
3. Commercial—interested in making a purchase but needs more info.
4. Transactional—ready to make a purchase.
5. Local—queries aimed at a specific geographic location.

Understanding search engine results pages (SERPs) is crucial, as analyzing how your keyword appears in SERPs helps you align your content with what users are actually clicking on and what Google is ranking.

I recommend reverse-engineering Google’s expectations. Working backwards when doing research is much easier.

Start by analyzing the SERPs for content type, format, and angle.

Pay attention to what types of content rank for your keyword. Common types of SEO content include:

• How-to guides
• Comparison posts
• Explainer posts
• Review content
• Tutorial posts
• Listicles
• Landing pages
• Category pages

You also want to look for the angle the article adopts. Look for phrases in the titles like “Best,” “Top,” “Cheap, or “For beginners.” These are clues as to what Google and users expect you to do.

For example, for the keyword, “cast iron seasoning,” the top results are instructional blog posts focusing on step-by-step care and restoration. It’s a how-to post with an informational intent.

To match the search intent and increase your chances of ranking for this keyword, you should also create a how-to informational article.

To give another example, the keyword “project management pricing” is a transactional keyword, and organic search results are product and pricing pages and the occasional round-up of the best project management tools.

Some keywords may include multiple intent paths. In that case you’re dealing with what SEOs call a “fragmented intent” or “multi-intent” query.

If SERPs show both landing pages and blog posts, and the query is important, you should create both. Optimize each for its specific intent (comparison vs. conversion), interlink them, and let them work together—not against each other.

Similarly, if category pages are ranking alongside other content types, consider creating a category page optimized for the keyword to capture additional organic traffic.

3. Write comprehensive content

Most people don’t realize that comprehensive content is not determined by word count. It’s how well you cover a topic, including subtopics, facts, and key definitions.

A recent study of Surfer’s top 100 blog posts revealed that comprehensive content ranks better. The top 10 best-performing articles included approximately 74% of the key facts present across the top-ranking SERP pages. Meanwhile, the bottom 10 articles covered just around 50%.

To write comprehensive content, analyze the SERPs for your primary keyword.

For instance, using the keyword “how to train for a marathon,” I would analyze the top 3-5 non-paid results and identify subtopics to include in the article.

Here are the subtopics included in the article by High5.

Repeat this process for the top 3-5 organic search results and ensure to include relevant headings used by your competitors. This ensures your content is comprehensive.

You can also use the People Also Ask section to find new heading ideas.

Add relevant headings and create a mix and match of the top posts to create a more comprehensive piece. If the heading is irrelevant, you don’t need to include it. You may find that a heading may be best reserved for a separate blog post.

You can use Surfer’s Content Editor to create comprehensive outlines and ensure topical coverage.

The Insert Outline feature ensures you are not left staring at a blank page. It analyzes the top ranking SERPs and gives you a detailed outline to start the writing process.

Once you are done writing the article, look at the Facts tab to ensure you are covering all the key information related to the topic. You can use the Coverage Booster to add these important facts and create truly comprehensive content that ranks.

The process of creating a first draft can be tedious. However, you can use AI writing tools to help streamline this process.

Google’s developer guidelines state that they do not penalize AI content. Instead, they reward content that is high-quality and demonstrates qualities of their E-E-A-T guidelines.

It means you can use AI to help create content, but ensure it’s not spam or thin content.

AI tools like Surfer AI can help you get that first draft in less than 20 minutes. The tool does the research, outlining, and writing for you.

The result is a fully optimized article based on SERPs or on a template of your choosing.

You can then focus on adding your experience, expertise, authority, and trust to the content, and you’ll be on your way to creating valuable, high-quality content. Incorporating user generated content, such as insights from forums or social media, can further enhance the uniqueness and value of your article.

4. Focus on information gain

Your content needs to bring something new to the table. Effective SEO copywriting is essential for differentiating your content and making it stand out in search results.

Google’s information gain patent explains their system aims to reduce redundant information shown to users when they request or search for content. When they search, an information gain score (IGS) is calculated, and this can serve as a ranking factor that influences your page's position in search results.

A high IGS means the results contain lots of new information that the user has not seen. A low score means the reader has already seen similar content.

By adding something new to the table, you’re more likely to appear high in SERP rankings, even when another competitor has covered the fundamentals of a topic.

Unique content not only supports your SEO efforts but also attracts quality backlinks, which are crucial for improving your site's authority and visibility.

But how do you add something new? You can:

• Share firsthand experience or results
• Include screenshots, workflows, or behind-the-scenes processes
• Add expert quotes, data visualizations, or case studies

Presenting new information benefits search engines and users alike, making your content more valuable and relevant.

I suggest adding at least two of these throughout your article to ensure you bring something new to the table.

I will now explain each of the above methods in more detail below.

1. Share firsthand experience

Firsthand experience is best for reviews, product roundups, and articles that benefit from a personal experience, like how to fuel for a marathon.

Here’s an example of firsthand experience with a Sole F80 treadmill.

Another example of firsthand experience and results is this standing desk review from Tom’s Guide. Personal experiences, when genuine, add trust, expertise, and personality to an article. 

2. Include screenshots, workflows, or behind-the-scenes

Screenshots, workflows, and behind-the-scenes can help your article stand out. By sharing these unique insights, your content becomes more relatable. Bonus points if you can embed these naturally into your article.

Here’s an example by ActiveCampaign in an article on using email marketing for content distribution. They showcase their AI brandkit tool in the content.

3. Add expert quotes, data visualizations, or case studies

Expert quotes are my personal favourite way to add something new to a conversation.

You can use sites like Qwoted to request quotes from experts to add to your content.

Here’s an example of using expert quotes to provide new, unique information for a blog on advanced lead generation from Orbit Media.

You can also include data visualizations or case studies. In particular, case studies are excellent at building trust and credibility while also showing first-hand experience.

5. Optimize for on-page elements

You need to optimize your content for SEO elements to help search engines better understand what your content is about.

It’s essential to integrate keywords naturally into your content. Avoid keyword stuffing, which is the excessive or unnatural use of keywords, as this can harm your search rankings. Focus on using your target keyword in a way that reads naturally and provides value to your audience. Here’s how:

1. Use your primary keyword in the title, H1, URL, and meta description

The title tag and meta description are what appear in a Google search.

The URL is what you can enter into the search bar to visit the web page directly.

The H1 is the title of your blog post or page, not on Google. I often see many people confuse title tags and H1 headings.

Your H1 is the page title, and the title tag is what appears on Google.

2. Add keywords to subheads and body text

Your keyword and relevant keywords are added to subheadings and the body text.

The subheadings contain relevant questions and secondary keywords to ensure sufficient topical coverage.

3. Link to internal pages

The links below direct users to relevant internal articles, keeping your target audience on the site and providing them with the opportunity to explore more if needed.

It also tells Google what content is related and expands the crawl depth of your website. The more pages that can be crawled, the faster new pages are indexed, and overall, the better SEO results can be expected.

When considering how many internal links to add, aim for at least 3-5 relevant internal links per page, but this can vary based on content length.

To find internal linking opportunities, add your keyword to the custom search example below:

Site:url / “keyword”

This is how it would look for the target keyword “social media marketing.”

Assess relevant search results and add internal links when necessary. You can do this when writing an article, and after publishing, to ensure sufficient coverage.

Surfer’s Content Editor can help you optimize for all the above on-page SEO. It provides you with recommendations of keywords, headings, meta title and descriptions and it can automatically add internal links to your content.

You also receive a Content Score to feel confident knowing your article is optimized for search engines.

To make on-page optimization even more seamless, you can use the Auto-Optimize feature. This feature automatically populates your content with relevant keywords and sections, adding them in context and boosting your Content Score.

6. Ensure a seamless page experience

Great content still won’t rank if users bounce.

Google rewards content that’s easy to read, navigate, and engage with. Well-structured web content not only improves user experience but also helps search engines better understand your pages.

Google provides guidelines for users to self-assess their page experience. For example, you should consider how your content appears on mobile and desktop devices, whether ads interfere with your main content, whether your pages have good core web vitals—this is the loading performance and stability of your website.

You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights, a free tool to assess your site’s loading performance and find improvement opportunities.

Additionally, I recommend structuring your content for skimming and clarity. Most visitors won’t read your entire blog post, but they will read chunks of content that are most relevant to them.

To structure your content for skimming and clarity:

• Use short paragraphs (2-3 lines max)
• Add a table of contents with jump links for longer guides
• Use bulleted lists, visuals, and whitespace to break up dense content
• Include alt text for images and optimize for mobile
• Add key takeaways so readers can access information quickly

A well-structured page not only enhances user experience but also boosts your online visibility.

Surfer’s Content Editor Structure section provides guidelines on how many words, headings, paragraphs, and images to use in your content.

7. Publish, monitor, and iterate

After you publish content, your job is not done.

It’s now time to track, learn, and improve your online content.

You can use tools like Google Search Console to monitor impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and average SERP position.

In particular, watch for ranking decay after 3-6 months.

Inside Surfer Sites, you can find all this information at a glance inside one unified Dashboard. You can see how your rankings and traffic is changing and set up traffic goals to measure your progress.

There you can also spot pages with declining traffic and find recommended optimization opportunities.

Use this information to update the pages that are not performing well or are declining in performance.

Refresh outdated sections, reoptimize for missed search queries, and update visuals as needed to keep your content up to date. You can do all this inside the Content Editor.

Even updating a single section of a page or blog post can revive a page’s performance. For example, this Surfer user jumped from 50 to 500 clicks per day after implementing the content update recommendations.

By consistently monitoring trends in google searches, updating your content to stay up to date, and optimizing based on google search results, you set the foundation for long-term SEO success.

Key takeaways

• SEO content is website content designed to rank in search engines like Google, driving organic traffic and improving online visibility.
• Conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant keywords, including long tail keywords and related keywords, that align with your target audience and business goals.
• Understand and match the keyword intent and search intent behind each search query to create valuable content that satisfies user queries and ranks well in search engine results pages.
• Create comprehensive, high quality content that covers all necessary subtopics, providing valuable content that stands out from top ranking articles and supports your SEO strategy.
• Optimize on-page SEO elements such as primary keyword placement in titles, headers, meta descriptions, and URLs, and include internal links to other pages to enhance site structure and improve crawlability.
• Utilize content marketing techniques including multiple web pages and long form articles to build topic authority and generate leads effectively.
• Focus on creating unique SEO content that leverages competitive keywords and digital marketing best practices to achieve long-term SEO success.
• Regularly monitor your SEO content performance using tools like Google Search Console and Surfer, and update content as needed to keep it up to date and competitive.

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