SEO Brief Generator is a brief creation tool inside the Content Toolkit in Semrush. It crafts SEO-friendly content briefs based on real-time SEO and competitor data.
The tool suggests (and lets you add your own) target keywords and competitor pages for your topic. Based on these it provides downloadable and transferable briefs with all key SEO details:
- Primary and secondary keywords
- High-ranking pages from the SERPs
- Content titles
- Meta tags
- Full content outlines
You can use it to guide your own writing, share with your team, or send it directly to AI Article Generator to draft a blog post.
What Can You Do with SEO Brief Generator?
With SEO Brief Generator, you can:
- Create SEO content briefs using real-time SEO data
- Go from a single keyword to a full brief in just a few minutes
- Manually select top-ranking competitor pages to use as references for your outlines
- Get relevant secondary keyword suggestions
- Share the brief via Google Docs or read-only links
- Send the brief straight to AI Article Generator to draft your article instantly
All this helps you create the strategic basis for successful, high-ranking content.
How to Use SEO Brief Generator
Here’s how to generate your SEO content brief step by step:
Step 1: Launch SEO Brief Generator
Open SEO Brief Generator from the left-hand menu inside the Content Toolkit.
Step 2: Start a New Brief
Enter your primary keyword and select your target location.
Step 3: Choose Competitor Articles
The tool will suggest top-ranking competitor articles for your primary keyword. These are used to shape the structure and outline of your brief.
Select the ones you want to include, or add your own URLs to tailor the outline.
The tool won’t simply copy your competitors’ content, of course.
Instead, it will find common patterns to make sure your outline doesn’t miss any important details—and add unique ideas on top.
Step 4: Customize Your Brief Inputs
On the next screen, you’ll be guided through setting up your brief.
You’ll see a suggested word count based on what’s ranking. Adjust it up or down depending on your preferences.
You’ll also get AI-generated title suggestions based on the keyword and SERP context. You can choose one of these or write your own title if you have a specific direction in mind.
Next, you’ll see a list of secondary keyword suggestions, along with SEO data like intent, volume, and average keyword difficulty.
Select the ones you want to include.
You can also enter your own secondary keywords manually.
The tool will then generate a suggested article structure. You can keep it as is or customize it section by section.
Next, you’ll move to the meta description. The tool will provide AI-generated suggestions, or you can write your own from scratch.
Finally, you can add any notes or writing instructions, like internal links to include, tone guidelines, or formatting preferences.
Step 5: Review the Generated Brief
The tool will generate an SEO content brief based on SERP analysis and your customized inputs.
It will include your target keywords, competitor links, title, meta description, and the full content outline with H2 and H3 tags.
Step 6: Share Your Brief or Start Writing
You can now use this brief to kickstart your writing. You have three options:
- Export it to Google Docs
- Share it with your writer via a read-only link
- Or generate/start writing content yourself directly inside the Toolkit
For example, click “Generate SEO article” and the tool will create a full, SEO-friendly blog post using details from your brief.
Finally, if you’re working with a writer, you can upload the draft to the Content Optimizer tool to make sure all keywords and other key details have been implemented correctly.