Step 3: Create a content brief
Content briefs are created to establish a clear direction on what’s expected in a piece. A detailed brief aligns you and your writer on its intended style and outcomes to avoid the need for extensive edits and revisions.
I spoke with Precious Oboidhe, and he noted, “A good brief should share the vision of what’s expected from a piece. When I get a brief, I look out for the article’s goal, SEO information, and details about where the audience is and where we expect them to be after they finish reading the piece.”
Creating a thorough SEO content brief may seem easy, but it can be complex. Check out valuable resources from Moz for guidance on crafting SEO-focused content briefs.
Step 4: Optimize your content for SEO
Once your article is finished, optimize it for SEO. If you use content optimization tools like Clearscope, aim for a high SEO score to create Google-friendly content. Here’s how:
A. Optimize your title to align with the topic’s main idea.
B. Ensure your targeted keywords match the search intent.
C. Organize the content structure logically, with relevant H2 and H3 headings answering questions.
D. Add internal links for better navigation and search bot crawling.
E. Optimize content depth to go beyond competitors without deviating from the main point.
F. Craft an engaging and search-optimized meta description.
G. Optimize sections for featured snippets.
Victoria Kurichenko, an SEO expert and writer, shared an interesting case study on topic-based content gap analysis. After noticing a drop in high-ranking content on her Beehiiv article, she conducted a content gap analysis by collecting keywords the competitor’s content ranks for. Then, she rewrote and optimized her article, meta title, and description.
The results:
Impressions tripled.
Daily clicks increased from 2–5 to 20–30.
The article secured a top 5 ranking for target keywords.
The article started ranking for new keywords. She even got two new referrals within two weeks after the content update.
Buyer-based gap analysis: Content gap analysis in the buyer’s journey
A buyer-based gap analysis focuses on understanding the difference between what customers expect and what a company delivers. It does this by evaluating content at various stages of the buyer’s journey to align the company’s marketing and sales strategies with the evolving needs of its target audience. Addressing gaps in your buyer’s journey helps buyers transition smoothly between stages.
How to do a buyer-based content gap analysis
There are five steps to doing a market-based content gap analysis:
Step 1: Map out the buyer’s journey
The first step in a buyer-based gap analysis is mapping the buyer’s journey. Put simply, a buyer’s journey is a representation that outlines a potential customer’s process before purchasing. This happens in four stages:
A. Awareness stage: This buyer recognizes a problem.
B. Consideration stage: This buyer delves deep into the problem and seeks solutions.
C. Decision stage: This buyer selects a product to resolve the issue.
D. Post-purchase: After buying, the customer starts using the product