6 Steps to Create an SEO Content Outline (+ Free Template)

As a writer, there must be times when you get stuck. You don't know what to write or confused about how to organize your ideas into a coherent piece. To overcome this, an SEO content outline can be the solution.

An article outline can help you write and produce SEO-friendly content that will improve your search rankings more effectively.

So, how do you create an SEO content outline? This guide will help you create a well-structured and organized outline for your writing.

What Is SEO Content Outline?

In general, a content outline is a detailed summary of the article you are going to write. It can also be thought of as a blueprint that provides an overview of the topic.

When creating an SEO blog outline, you can use any component depending on the topic. However, you can use the following components to create the outline:

• Title (H1): The title of your article.
• Main Section/Heading (H2): This section contains the content's main topic, which is then explained in more detail in the subsections. Headings provide a clear guide to the structure of the content and help the reader understand the material.
• Subsections (H3-H6): Within each main section, subsections break down the content into more focused topics. Subsections help organize information and make it easier for readers to navigate the content.
• Key Points: Key Points: Key points include the topics to be discussed in each section or subsection. Typically, key points are written in bullet points.
• Supporting Evidence or Examples: This section can include evidence, data, statistics, or other relevant examples that can support arguments, making the content more credible.
• Sources and Citations: If possible, you can include content sources so that editors or other writers can verify the accuracy of the information provided.

Why Is SEO Content Outline Important?

There are several reasons why you should create an outline before you start writing, including:

1. Clarify Writing Structure

An SEO blog outline can make the structure of your writing clearer and more organized. This outline will also help you arrange your ideas logically so that your writing flows from point to point.

2. Avoid Writer's Block

When you have a clear outline, you can visualize what will be written and how to write it. This greatly reduces the likelihood of experiencing writer's block or confusion in writing. You will also be more confident in the writing you produce.

An article outline helps you clarify ideas, identify key points, and break down the content into smaller sections. Thus, you can present information more thoroughly and organizedly.

3. Make Writing Clearer

With an article outline, you can clarify ideas, identify key points, and break down the content into smaller sections. This way, you can be more thorough and organized in presenting information.

4. Align content with marketing objectives

Next, an article outline can help you align your writing with marketing goals, especially if you are writing for a brand.

For example, if you are writing about different types of running shoes for your shoe brand, creating an outline of the different types of running shoes can help you decide how to connect the main sections with the selling points, such as a call to action or a dedicated heading that discusses the shoe’s advantages.

5. Helps Stay Focused on One Topic 

Writing down key points can help you stay on track and avoid discussing irrelevant matters. Also, this will help you stay within the recommended word count.

6. Produces Comprehensive Writing 

A well-crafted SEO content outline can keep you focused on content creation without worrying about missing other important points. As a result, you can write smoothly and quickly while still producing high-quality content.

How to Make an Article Outline

Although an outline can be customized according to your writing style and topic, you can also refer to the following steps on how to create an outline:

1. Identify Your Target Audience

First, you must identify your target audience so your content will be relevant to their needs. There are several aspects you can consider when identifying your target audience, such as:

• Search intent: The intent behind the search query and the targeted keywords. 
• Level of understanding: Is your content aimed at readers with beginner, intermediate, or expert knowledge? 
• Geographical factors: When writing for a global audience, you might need to find words or expressions that fit the place's culture to keep the content relevant. 
• Marketing funnel: This determines the content's purpose, whether to inform or sell a brand.

2. Determine Content Objective

After identifying your target audience, you need to determine the content objective so that you can write it with the right approach.

For example, you may want to achieve a high ranking in search results, get backlinks from trusted sites, increase brand awareness, etc.

3. Keywords and Topics Research

Once you've determined your target audience and the purpose of your writing, it's time to decide on a topic and keywords. 

Keywords and topics can help you determine the type of content and its purpose, whether it is transactional or navigational. 

When finding keywords, you need to consider search intent, search volume, latent semantic indexing, and the level of keyword competition. As an additional strategy, you can also research competitors' themes or search results.

4. Identify Key Point

Another step in how to make an article outline is to identify the key point. Once you have the keywords and topics, you can determine the main points of the discussion as the foundation of the writing structure. 

The main points also become content pillars that support each other, making writing clearer, denser, and more focused. 

5. Create a Framework with Headings and Subsections

Next, you can create headings and subsections from the main points. Write the main body in Heading 2 (H2) and the subsections in Headings 3-6. 

It also applies in heading 1 for the title. You can see this framework in the example below.

6. Reorganize the Outline

Finally, you can reorganize your outline by reviewing it and doing additional research. As you review, you may find some things that need to be added or removed to make the structure of your paper more coherent. 

Article Outline Template

After learning about how to make an article outline, you may want to have an example of an article outline and use it for your article writing activities. For this, we have provided an SEO content outline template you can use as a reference.

That's the explanation of SEO content outline that you can learn. You can also download the outline template that we present to make the writing process easier. 

However, if you need a writing service that is much more comprehensive and equipped with effective SEO strategies, then SEO Writing Services by cmlabs is the perfect answer. 

Our team of SEO content writers and SEO specialists will help you achieve your SEO goals professionally. Discuss your SEO needs with us now!