Everybody who is involved in SEO is properly fully aware of the need of SEO optimized content.
If you aim for a top position in Google for a specific keyword or search phrase, your content needs to be optimized for that particular keyword.
The first part of the journey usually starts with keyword research. It would help if you targeted a keyword with a decent search volume, and hopefully, it is not super competitive.
You also need to focus on the user intent behind a keyword or search phrase – what do you think the user wants to achieve during this particular search. (And what do you want to achieve if the user lands on your site).
Perhaps the user is just searching for information, looking for a “freebie,” or maybe he or she seriously consider buying a product.
Once you have found a keyword with a decent search volume and without too much competition, you are ready to craft your content – or are you?
Feed your users first – then Google
Your main focus should always be to focus on your users’ needs and not just write content for Google. That being said, it is important that Google fully understand your content and rate highly relevant to the search term – else you are never going to rank.
One of the first places to look for inspiration is by examining your competitor’s content that is already ranking in Google. If they are already ranking on page one, they must obviously have done something right! 🙂
Your job is to address the same questions and craft an article that is more informative – pretty easy, right?. Sadly this process takes a lot of time, but the good news is that it can be done smarter!.
Work smarter – Not harder!
If you are still with me this far (hopefully), try to imagine the following.
- The ten results on page one in Google might have something in common since they all rank.
- Is it possible that those results share some of the same words or phrases?
- Is it possible that those results use keywords in titles, H1, H2 in a certain way?
- Is it possible that some of those results answer specific questions?
- Is it possible that you need a minimum word count obtaining a spot on page one in Google?
Since Google has already qualified those results to be on page one, those ten results have already proven that they deliver what the users and Google demands.
Instead of just being creative, why not examine those data and use it to your advantage and make even better content? Yes, it is doable!
How to examine competitors and make a content brief
This strategy for creating SEO content is not new. I have been using tools for doing this for about three years now (with some quite amazing results).
The problem was that the software I used to use was only able to extract total word count and phrases. It was a nightmare sitting with thousands of words and trying to come up with a content brief.
A couple of months ago, a new tool was launched, and it is called Frase. (If you decide to sign up, use the code: forever50 for 50% discount!) Frase is a Cloud-based tool that can examine your competitor’s content and show you exactly what you need to focus on.
You type in your keyword, and then Frase examines your competitors brings you a full overview of what you need to focus on – and there is a built-in editor where you can write your content.
Frase consists of the following areas.
Overview – In this section, you can examine:
- Average Topic Score: (It shows your topic score vs. your competitors from 0-100) The more words and phrases you use, the higher topic score you get
- Average Sections: how many sections you use in your content vs. your competitors
- Average Links: How many external links you use vs. your competitors
- Average Word Count: The word count for your content vs. your competitors (example: if the average word count is 750 words, that is the minimum word count to aim for)
- Average Question Sections: How many question sections you have Vs. your competitors.
- Average Images: How many images you use Vs. your competitors
Summaries: In this section, you can examine:
- Topics: It would show each URL and what topics they are covering
- Outline: Shows the use of the articles of headlines and which type of headline (ex. H2)
- Statistic: If the article has any stats you might consider using
There is a button under each article to open the article if you want to examine it further. If you don’t want to see or use a specific result, you can use a button to blacklist that result from your content brief.
A brilliant feature is a button where you can “Add t document.” That would pull in some of the content and link back to the source – that is brilliant for content curation. Of course, you can also import and rewrite the paragraph in the editor.
Topics – In this section, you can examine:
- Type: Here, you can sort the top words by “All topics,” “N-grams,” “1 word”, “Header topics,” and “favorites
- Sort: Here, you can sort by “Frase Score,” “Sources,” and “Mentions per Source.”
- Filter: Here, you can filter by typing in a word
Questions – A virtual goldmine
In the “Question” section, you get a massive list of questions (and answers!) related to your keyword.
Links – What are your competitors linking to
The link section shows the list of resources your competitors are linking to – a nice little to give you an overview of useful resources you might consider linking to as well.
Stats – Relevant stats related to your keyword
Here you get a quick overview of stats that is relevant for your main keyword. You can click on the results you find relevant, and the stats would be inserted as an annotation in your content.
News – Grab a summary from relevant news publications.
Here you would get an overview of news that is relevant for your content. You can hit a button, and then Frase would summarise the article. You can also add the summary
to your content by clicking another button.
Conclusion – Final thoughts about Frase
Frase is a great tool for content creation. I have been amazed at how fast they continue to add new features almost every week.
They have a very active Facebook group with 2600 customers, and the developer interacts directly with the customers. You can ask questions directly to the developer, and the other group members are also quite good at sharing success stories and how they use Frase.
But don’t just take my word for it. Instead, I suggest you sign up for a free trial.
Try Frase for free here – Use this code: Forever50 for a lifetime 50% discount