As like many making a living online, in the last 12 months we’ve dived deep into AI, and vigorously researched, tested and executed AI strategies in all areas on our businesses.
Some have failed, some were underwhelming, and others have performed well. Some very well.
What we’ve experienced with using AI, is that there is just as much work involved in flow and prompting, as with anything else. The better the preparation the better the output. Garbage in, garbage out as they say.
But once you nail your preparation, flow and prompting, the results can be very good indeed.
A little while ago we published a video titled How To Consistently Get 73 + SurferSEO Scores With Zimmwriter. This process below follows on from that by cutting out the step of using Zimmwriter.
Both work well, and it’s entirely up to you which to use. We’re talking pennies in the cost difference. The custom GPT version is slightly more efficient for our systems.
Below is one of our blog content processes using AI, to generate adequate quality, ready to publish. We do however, always edit thoroughly, and ensure the pillars of publishing are solid. Good content without an appropriate SEO title, URL, and H1 tag will not perform well.
Below is written almost like an SOP you could give to writers or a VA.
The Goal: Generate New Content For A Website Page Or Post Using Best Practice Publishing Guidelines & Processes To Rank In Google & Meet User Intent
Below is written almost like an SOP you could give to writer or VA.
Results
Firstly, it’s probably a good ide we show you some of the results of using this exact process, and survived all the recent carnage of Google updates.
Site 1: Established information site with a strong legacy. 33% increase in organic clicks over 6 months.
Site 2: Australian Ecommerce site. 32% increase in organic clicks over 6 months.
Site: 3: USA Ecommerce. 26% increase in organic click over 6 months.
Background
This is the foundation standard operating procedure for publishing content on our web properties and related projects. This SOP forms a foundation process. Depending on the type of content, the SOP may vary.
Note: The following example is based on using WordPress as the CMS, but the same process can be implemented on any popular CMS such as Shopify, BigCommerce, Medium, Webflow et al.
Resources Required:
- ahrefs.com or semrush.com
- Chat GPT PRO (4 or 4o)
- SurferSEO.com
- Location Guard (https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/location-guard/cfohepagpmnodfdmjliccbbigdkfcgia) – Optional is creating for non local content.
1. Identify Topic (Root, Seed, Node(s))
The first step is to identify the position within the website for the content to be published. Using semantic relevance, we should use the concept of root, seed and node.
Definitions
- Root – This refers to the most foundational topic of the website.
Example: (not a real domain – domain for example purposes only):
south-australia.com.au/ - Root = South Australia- Seed – Seeds are sub-topics or categories that are directly relational to the root.
- Example:
south-australia.com.au/adelaide/ - Seed = location of Adelaide- Node – Nodes are detailed topics that sit under each seed topic.
Example:
south-australia.com.au/adelaide/things-to-do/ - Node 1 = things to doThere can be more than one node that sits under a seed. If the CMS allows, an example would be:
south-australia.com.au/adelaide/things-to-do/kids. Where /things-to-do is node 1, and /kids is node 2.Generally an established website will have root, seed, and nodes already within the structure.
It’s important to always think in terms of root, seeds, and nodes. This allows the publisher to identify where a piece of content should be published within a website, and the relationship between each.
2. Topic Research
Note: the section below makes the assumption you have already create a comprehensive topical map for the site.
Using the example above for the root south-australia.com.au, we will conduct research to create content for “things to do with kids in Adelaide”.
In this case, we are creating content for a node: things to do with kids, where the seed is Adelaide.
2a) Visit the either https://app.ahrefs.com/keywords-explorer or https://www.semrush.com/analytics/keywordmagic/start
2b) Add the seed into the field and select the correct location.
2c) Select View all.
2d) Filter for node
2e) Identify if the node has search volume. The node does not necessarily need search volume. For example, many topics may have zero search volume per month, and still be appropriate to include in the seed / node relationship in an attempt to cover the seed topic extensively. In our example, we can identify that node 1 has strong search volume (along with low keyword difficulty):
Node 2 shows show good volume and also low difficulty:
Example:
- south-australia.com.au/adelaide/things-to-do (node 1)
- south-australia.com.au/adelaide/things-to-do/kids (node 2)
Other options for content creation:
- south-australia.com.au/adelaide/things-to-do/today (node 2)
- south-australia.com.au/adelaide/things-to-do/adults (node 2)
Below, we’ve identified there is search volume, demand, relevance, and appropriateness for the website to include a piece of content on the topic (node 2) – south-australia.com.au/adelaide/things-to-do/kids
3. Competitor Research & Intent
3a) Use Location Guard, and set the location to the location of the best user. For example, the content piece for “things to do in Adelaide with kids”, would likely be targeting visitors or residents of Adelaide.
In this case, searchers from other locations around the world may also be searching. In this case we will assume the searchers are based in Adelaide. In this case you will set your location to the Adelaide.
3b) Visit google.com. in that location. In this example it would be google.com.au and search for the node: “things to do in Adelaide with kids”. You can also search for semantic variations, ie “what to do with kids in Adelaide”, “best things to do in Adelaide with kids” etc.
Scroll to the bottom of search and ensure the location is set correctly. If not, click “update location”.
3c) Visit each URL on page 1 of Google, and identify the type of page that is consistently ranking. Types of pages may include informational, blog posts, ecommerce product pages, lists, aggregated listings, social media, UGC, video etc.
It’s important to identify the type of pages that are ranking. For example, if all the pages are ecommerce product pages, it is not advised to create a blog post for the topic. Give Google what it wants.
In some cases, there may be multiple types of pages. In this case you can choose which type of page to create, that best suits the intent of the topic.
In our example, most of the pages are from either travel sites or regional tourism sites. Their pages are blog posts or aggregated pages with event, venue, and attraction modals within the content.
We can therefore make an informed decision that we can create a blog post, as there are 3 or 4 pages that are traditional blog posts. This also fits within our site intent and goals.
4. Content Outline
You can view the TL;DR version of actually creating the content by viewing the video below:
4a) Open SurferSEO. In the content editor dashboard, add the node topic. Set the location, and click “Create for 1 CE credit”. Allow Surfer to complete.
4b) Open ChatGPT and navigate to https://chat.openai.com/g/g-FITlf2QSK-semantecseo-article-outline-generator
Add the topic into the appropriate field and click the black arrow button.
The custom GPT will output an outline. In some cases it will generate more than 1 outline. Given the limitations of GPT, in most cases it’s fine to use the first 7 step outline.
4c) Head back to SurferSEO, visit the completed crawl, and click the gear icon on the editor page.
4d) Select 5 appropriate competitors. Surfer will do its best to select the best competitors by default. Remove any that are not appropriate. Ie youtube videos, reddit posts, Facebook pages.
The idea is to analyze competitor pages that are of a similar quality and intent of the content to be published. In this case, the entire first page consists of large tourism and event sites. As we are already competing with these sites, we’re happy to use them for competitor research.
This part may take some experimenting with what works best in your market / niche.
4e) Head back to the editing page in Surfer SEO. Click on the NLP keywords tab, scroll to the bottom and click Copy All. Also take note of the recommended word count. The Copy All button is at the bottom of the page in this section below.
4f) Head back to the custom GPT. Ask GPT to complete and article, and include the NLP keywords and meet a word count range. For this task, you may want to experiment with your prompting for your market, niche, or content quality needs. However we’ve found that this simple prompt below is a good starting point. – the custom GPT has already done much of the heavy lifting.
In this example the prompt would be:
Now create content from the 7 section outline with information on things to do in Adelaide with kids. Focus on this subject only. Stay on topic. You can use extra sub headings if needed. Also use bullet points and tables if appropriate. The word count should be around 2300 words. If you need to, you can create more than 7 sections. Also include the following NLP keywords :
adelaide hills
south australia
kids entertained
younger kids
whole family
wildlife park
adelaide zoo
adelaide park lands
farm animals
cleland conservation park
adelaide botanic garden
older kids
farm shop
school holiday workshops
national railway museum
adelaide's city centre
giant rocking horse
family fun day
hahndorf farm barn
rock climbing
mount lofty adventure hub
north terrace
morialta conservation park
kids busy
west beach
cubby houses inspired
younger children
new south wales
pony rides
port adelaide
train ride
south wales
fairy garden
family friendly events
grand course
children's zoo
art gallery
marine life
aquatic centre
adventure playgrounds
exotic animals
open range zoo
toy shops
bike riding
kids activities
green spaces
kid friendly activities
mega swing
woodhouse activity centre
cubby houses
aboriginal culture
dodgem cars
climbing boulders
diverse range
bumper boats
water slides
tube slides
water play
glen osmond road
kids
enjoy exploring
disc golf
treeclimb adelaide
entry fee
family
great outdoors
stepping stones
main street
adult content
families
river torrens
fun
juicy strawberries
adelaideAgain, you can experiment with prompts for you market, niche, writing style, or feel. The above is a basic example.
4g) Paste the output content in the SurferSEO editor. The content score will increase. A score of above 70 is optimum. However a score of 55 and above is adequate. You can improve the score but manually and contextually adding in more NLP keywords that are not get green into the content.
You can ask the GPT to re-write and include more NLP keywords in the content, however it’s not essential to do this.
You can also ask the GPT to create a “Key Takeaway” section and an FAQ section (with schema if required). You could use prompts below after the initial output:
Now provide a key takeaway section for the top of the article, and 4 FAQs for the bottom with associated FAQ schema html code.You can see from our example, our raw output has a score of 74. The word count is not as high as Surfer suggests, but in most case we’re happy with the score and content quality.
Additionally you can also use the Auto Optimize feature of SurferSEO. This will essentially automatically improve you content score via it’s AI algorithm. It’s common to get an extra 5 to 10 points in the content score. Note though this does tend to sometimes add a bit more fluff, so you”ll need to be more thorough with your editing.
4f) AI Word Removal (Optional)
Open this custom GPT:
Paste the content into this GPT. It will remove annoying AI footprint words and phrases. For example, “delve”, “crucial”, “nestled” etc.
IMPORTANT: Almost without exception, we have our content team manually edit and adjust the content as needed. At times we all will run the piece through tools like Grammarly, however our content is team is well versed and consistently edits to output high quality completed articles.
5. Publishing The Content
In our opinion, the point of publish is critically important for the success or failure of a piece of content. In our opinion, this is underrated by many publishers. In particular, the following 3 pillars need to be carefully considered.
- URL
- SEO title
- H1 page title
The 3 pillars should be the first elements complete in the publishing process.
5a) Depending on your CMS, either create a new page / post or duplicate an existing page. For the purposes of our example, we will be using WordPress.
Duplicating an existing page of the same type can improve efficiency as content blocks and structure can be repurposed for the new piece of content.
In our example, we will clone a previously created page. Use a WP clone plugin if not already installed.
5b) Add URL, SEO title and H1 Page title
- Click the Rankmath (if installed and using WordPress) tab in the top right hand corner, and open the preview snippet editor. For Shopify, you would use the SEO snippet section.
SEO Title: The SEO title should include the main topic keyword, preferably at the start of the field. It should also include both nouns and verbs associated with the topic and user intent.
Example: Things To Do In Adelaide With Kids – A Guide
Where “Do” is the verb (irregular verb) associated with the nouns, Adelaide & Kids.
Permalink (URL): The url should be as short as possible, while accurately identifying the node for the topic. If root, seed, and node are correctly associated, the URL string can be short, in this case 1 word: kids
The resulting full URL will therefore be: https://south-australia.com.au/adelaide/things-to-do/kids
SEO Description: While not as important as the 3 pillars, it’s important to explain to both the algorithm and user what the page is about. It’s also a relevant place to add a CTA.
Example: Check out your options for things to do with kids in Adelaide. From budget options to more exciting events, check prices and times for offerings in the city.
FIll in the rankmath field as per above, and then close the Preview Snippet Editor.
H1 Page Title: The H1 page title should contain the main topic keywords, and also include nouns and verbs, but not necessarily in the same order or context of the SEO title. This is also an opportunity to add in extra semantic entities.
Example: Find Things To Do With Your Kids While In Adelaide
5c) Add Schema: Depending on the type of content being published, you will either create new schema, add a customer schema template, or rely on automatic page schema.
In this example we will add FAQs and associated schema using the FAQ Gutenberg block in WordPress. Using this block automatically adds the appropriate FAQ schema.
You can also add custom templates if needed.
5d) Add paragraph 1 – Introduction
Head back to SurferSEO, and copy the first paragraph into the WordPress editor.
Likely Chatgpt has added fluff and “AI” terms. It’s important the first paragraph be edited as needed to be “humanized” as much as possible. The paragraph should also include the core topic node term, and 1 or two internal links to the seed and other nodes of the seed.
- Below is the raw output by Chatgpt for our example:
Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, is renowned for its family-friendly environment, offering a diverse range of activities to keep kids entertained. Whether you’re visiting with younger children or older kids, there’s something for everyone to enjoy exploring. Here’s a comprehensive guide to the best things to do in Adelaide with kids, ensuring the whole family has a fun and memorable experience.
- Below is the human edited paragraph:
Adelaide [links to /adelaide/] with a population of over 1.5 million, the capital of South Australia, is known for its family-friendly environment, offering a diverse range of activities [link to /things-to-do/] to keep kids entertained.
It doesn’t matter if you’re visiting with younger children or older kids, there’s something for everyone to enjoy exploring. We look at the best things to do in Adelaide with kids, ensuring the whole family has a fun and an amazing experience.
Note: The paragraph is split into two paragraphs. The concept of shorter, more concise paragraphs should be used throughout the entire content piece. Important entities are also added in “bold”. We’ve linked to the seed and also another node of the seed. If appropriate, you can also link to another seed if relevant. If the seed has a secondary node, you can also link this. For example you can link to /things-to-do/couples if the page exists.
Anchor text used in links should be relevant, and not overly used elsewhere in the site. Also avoid using generic anchors such as “click here” or “view this”.
5e) Answer the main question with a H tag after the first paragraph.
Google tends to convert queries into questions. For this example, “things to do in Adelaide with kids”, it could be assumed that the query could be converted into a question of “What Are The Most Popular Things To Do With Kids In Adelaide?” or “Where To Find The Best Things For Kids To Do In Adelaide”. As we can’t be 100% clear on how Google will convert a query, we try and meet the query answer in a common sense manner ad in a semantic manner.
Another good rule of thumb is to use statistics or data and cite the source where appropriate.
For our example, we will add a H2 heading, in italics, and centered:
According to Tripadvisor.com, there are over 57 favourite places rated by travellers for things to do in Adelaide with kids.
The intro section below has proven to respond well in the search results.
5f) Body Content
The remaining body content should be edited in a similar fashion, making considerable effort to humanize and “de-fluff” the content. Use smaller paragraphs and shorter sentences where appropriate.
It’s good practice to link out to 1 external authority source, however it’s not always required, only where appropriate and relevant. You can also link out to other relevant seeds and nodes on the site, but it’s not to be over done. The more links point away from a page, the more the link equity of a page is diluted.
Also ensure H tag hierarchy is followed appropriately. In general in the body of the page, H2 is used for the first heading, and h3 as a sub heading of a section. The following section can then use H2, and sub heading of that section as H3, and so on.
Note: The page title should always be the only H1 on the page.
Example heading structure
H1: Page Title
H2: Introduction section
H2: Query Answe3
H2: Further body content
H3: sub-section of further body content
H3: another sub-section of further body content
H2: More body content
H3: More body content sub-section
H2 Conclusion
5g) Adding Images
At least one image should be added along with the feature image/ In our example, we are relying on the images from the content blocks for this, so we will not add an extra image, however it’s good practice to do so.
Stock images should be avoided, and unique images used if available. Regardless if unique images or stock images are used the image filename should reflect the node, and the alt text added. Alt text should explain exactly what the image is.
A general rule of thumb is to add the first image after the query answer text or the second H2. Also complete similar for your feature image (if the post has one).
5h) Final Page Additions
If the content piece has page attributes to add, ensure these are checked. This is particularly important for node topics, where a parent page is required to be selected to publish a root → seed→ node relationship and permalink. The parent would be /adelaide/things-to-do/
For this example we would also will add Page attributes for the menu. This further strengthens the seed → node relationships.
5i) Hit publish
Once the draft is ready and previewed, the content piece can be published.
Final Review & Checks
It’s important to review the content piece on the front end of the website. Ensure the URL structure is correct, the structure is viable as expected.
Note that this article uses WordPress as the CMS for the example. However the same process can be implemented on all other popular CMS.
