Skip to main content

Step 1A: How to write a new SEO-optimized article

A step-by-step workflow for writing a new SEO-ready article from scratch

Updated today

💡 Why is this important?

Creating SEO-optimized content is more than just good writing—it’s how your articles get discovered by Google and by LLMs like ChatGPT. If it’s not optimized, it won’t rank. And if it doesn’t rank, it won’t convert.

SEO content fuels visibility, traffic, authority, and ultimately, growth. This workflow helps you write content that ranks and resonates.

❓ What’s in it for you?

  • Rank Higher: Better visibility on search engines and AI tools

  • Drive Organic Traffic: Bring in more potential leads for free

  • Connect with Readers: Create content people actually want to read and keep them on your site longer

  • Grow the Business: Get real results from every post you publish

🛠️ What you’ll need:

  • Surfer’s Content Editor

  • [Optional] Tools for generating and compressing images

  • [Optional] Paid ChatGPT plan and Surfer in Google Docs Chrome extension

📆 When to do it and how often?

Every time you create a new article. Start with one a week and work your way up to 2–3 per week to multiply growth factor.

You can write manually or use Surfer AI to generate articles faster (and still optimize for SEO, here’s how →)

Prepare

Start with a solid content idea. Use Topical Map to find article topics that are designed to rank.

Create a new article

Option 1: From Topical Map (recommended)

  1. Open Topical Map

  2. Find an idea you want to cover (we recommend starting with the Recommendations tab)

  3. Click Write and decide if you want to write manually or with AI

    1. Generate with Surfer AI will create a ready-to-rank article for you in minutes. Here’s how →

    2. Write yourself will take you to a regular Content Editor → follow steps below 👇

Topical Map will auto-fill your location and device settings, as well as keyword and competitors guidelines.

Option 2: From scratch

  1. Go to Content Editor

  2. Click + New Content

  3. Make sure the Write yourself option is selected

  4. Enter your main keyword or import from a URL to pull content from an existing, published article

  5. [Optional] Pick a folder you want to assign this Content Editor to

  6. Set location & language (which country and language you want to rank in) and device type (desktop, mobile)

  7. Click Create

💡 If you want to create multiple Content Editors (1 CE = 1 article), click Create multiple and add your keywords (keywords in a single line = 1 article).

Write your content

  1. Review your guidelines (optional but smart)

    1. Adjust competitors in Customize Settings ⚙️ (ditch big, unmovable sites like Wikipedia or YouTube, keep relevant ones).
      ​
      Our algorithm always picks (by the quality of their content) top 10 ranking URLs for your article’s primary keyword but these may sometimes include pages you do not want to compete with (like Wikipedia). In that case, uncheck them.
      ​
      You can add different competitors by reversing this process and manually checking any empty checkboxes on the competitor list.
      ​

    2. Adjust Terms in Settings (add/remove if needed).

    3. Open Facts tab to scan what top results already cover. The competitive analysis takes a couple of minutes, so it’s better to launch it ahead of time

Remember: While we allow for manual competitor choice, we do not recommend it. If you still decide to do it, focus on pages that have a high Content Score (ideally, 67 or higher). Your guidelines will be benchmarked off of the competitor list; if you pick poor content, you will receive poor recommendations.

💡 If you’re optimizing content different than a blog article (e.g., a landing page or product category), try choosing competitors with the same content format and a high Content Score (ideally, 67 or higher)—this way, the guidelines will be more relevant to the format you picked.

2. Create an outline

Open the Outline tab. Here you can:

  1. Generate an outline from a template (learn more about Templates)

  2. Review and copy the top competitors’ outlines

  3. Review and copy facts from the Facts tab

  4. Add and edit additional Notes for writers (💡 You can also pin them to the top of the tab)

When it loads, pick a template of your choice (we recommend using the SERP-based outline for best results) and click Generate Outline—it will be automatically added within the writing space.

💡 Generated outline will already include relevant keywords in headings, saving you time and effort you’d normally spend on optimization.

3. Write your content

Option 1: Write faster in Content Editor

  1. Expand each section of the outline to draft your article

    1. (Recommended) Ask Surfy, our AI writing assistant to do it for you:

      1. Highlight a portion of text (or entire outline)

      2. Click Ask Surfy

      3. Type in a detailed command of what you want to happen, eg. “Write an article/paragraph for business owners based on this outline; use plain American English, add relatable examples, and keep the content concise but friendly”

      4. Before you hit Enter, adjust the Tone of voice, if needed (learn more about Tone of Voice)

      5. Click Enter
        ​

  2. Write each section manually (or with Surfy) by typing under each H2 and H3. As you write, you’ll see your progress reflected in the Guidelines tab.

    1. Follow the guidelines for the number of words, headings, and paragraphs.

    2. If you get stuck writing, use Surfy AI assistant—type /ask or hit the Ask Surfy button to write from scratch, rephrase, expand, format, or even add a table to your article.

    3. If you get stuck adding terms, use Auto-Optimize with the “Allow to create new sections” mode ON.

💡 Surfy can draft an entire article for you in a minute and unlike external LLMs such as Chat GPT, he has all the necessary context of your article and automatically follows recommended SEO guidelines.
​

Use Surfy in the Editor—type /ask or hit the button to rewrite, expand, format, or add a table. You can also ask Surfy research questions, like “What do my competitors say about this issue?” and then ask him to add the most interesting parts into your article. Here’s a list of the most useful Surfy prompts →

[Optional] Option 2: Write in ChatGPT 👈 click the arrow to expand

Generate the article’s draft with ChatGPT:

  1. Install the Surfer for Google Docs Chrome extension and log in to your Surfer account.

  2. Open ChatGPT in the same browser.

  3. In the chat, ask to "use canvas".

  4. In the chat, ask it to write an article about the topic of your choice.

  5. Activate the Surfer Guidelines panel. Once the Canvas model is on, send a first prompt, and then click on the Surfer logo in the bottom-right corner to activate the Surfer Content Editor Guidelines panel.

  6. Select or create a content editor to open the Guidelines.

  7. Choose the Content Editor you want to connect your content to or create a new one directly within the Surfer panel. It works exactly the same as if you were to create a content editor directly in Surfer (and consumes one Content Editor credit).

  8. Use the "Paste Guidelines" feature.

  9. At the top of the Surfer panel, find the "Pass guidelines to your ChatGPT Canvas" button.

  10. In chat, write your instructions for ChatGPT to include those keywords in your article.

  11. Once generated, copy-paste the article to the Content Editor and follow the Humanize your article steps from this workflow.


Optimize your content

  1. Boost content coverage

    1. Start with the Facts tab. Our research shows that this is the factor that correlates the most with SERP positions. In simple words: the more comprehensive the content is, the more value Google sees in it.
      ​
      You can add missing facts manually, through Surfy, or by clicking the Boost Coverage button in the Facts tab to add them automatically in bulk.

    2. (Optional) To add extra value, add one or two paragraphs with your unique point of view or experience related to the article’s topic.
      ​
      As a general rule, the more trustworthy, expert, novel, and personalized your articles are, the better they will do in SERPs, and sharing your personal experience is always the quickest way to achieve that.
      ​

  2. Add missing terms and improve your Content Score

    1. Use Surfer’s built-in Auto-Optimize feature to automatically insert missing terms and boost your Content Score to the green zone. You can also follow the manual workflow below:

      1. Make sure to include the suggested terms from the Guidelines tab. Put them in paragraphs and headings, as per the Guidelines.

      2. Focus on the most important terms first—they will always be at the top of the list. Try to use them the recommended number of times, but keep it sounding natural and not forced.

      3. Make sure the density, prominence, and proximity of keywords are as natural as possible for the reader.
        ​
        Hint: Content written with real people in mind (instead of machines and algorithms) tends to perform better because of Google’s Helpful Content update.
        ​

    2. Don’t obsess over hitting a 100 Content Score. Aim to score 10–20 points higher than your top competitors.

    3. Focus on the most important terms first—they will always be at the top of the list.
      ​

  3. Add internal links

    Use Surfer’s built-in Auto-Internal Links feature to automatically insert up to 10 most relevant URLs into your article (GSC integration is required). You can also follow the manual workflow below:
    ​

    1. Make a list of related articles - pay attention to the topics they are covering, and if they are from the same content pillars and clusters.

    2. Find words and phrases in the article that are related to the article you want to link to. Usually, it’s related to the main keyword other article is targeting, but you don’t need to use exact match keywords.
      ​
      ​💡 Diversify anchor texts using synonyms, sentences, and keyword variations.
      ​

    3. Check the surroundings of these words and phrases. The paragraph should be closely related to the article you are linking to.

    4. Make adjustments in the paragraph if needed.

    5. Add the links
      ​
      ​Note: Add the most important internal link in the first paragraph of your article.
      ​
      There’s no exact number of internal links you should add. The longer the article, the more links you can place, but remember: too many URLs in unnatural placements can harm User Experience (UX) and readability. Try to make all links as relevant, natural, and contextual as possible.
      ​
      💡 You can mix both approaches or use just one.
      ​

  4. Add CTA(s) (Call to Action)

    1. Add links with relevant CTA (Call-to-Action), leading readers to actions you want them to take.
      ​
      ​Examples:
      - If the article is for an e-commerce blog, you can add a Buy Now CTA and link it to a specific product or a product category.
      - If the article is related to your services, you can add a Write to us CTA and link it to your contact form.
      ​

  5. Add images
    Add a few images (+3 per article) to your article and make sure to include targeted keywords in alt texts. (hint: our AI image generation will do it for you ;) )

    1. Use custom, unique visuals if you have them, or generate via Surfy. You can also use our Pixabay integration but keep in mind, that Google prefers unique, original images over stock images.
      ​
      Note: you can generate up to 3 high-quality images in manual Content Editors and up to 5 in Surfer AI. 3. Give images descriptive file names. Make sure to include keyword in file name.
      ​

    2. Give images descriptive file names. Make sure to include the keyword in the file name.

    3. Write and add descriptive alt text to each image. Make sure to include the targeted keyword in the alt text.

Review and prepare the article for publication

  1. Click Title and Description at the top of the editing space to review metadata suggestions. Make sure the main keyword you want to target is both in the title and the description.

  2. Prepare the URL address (slug) for your article. Make sure the keyword that you target is in the URL.
    ​

    Hint: Generally, H1 makes a good URL slug from the UX and SEO standpoint.
    ​

  3. Use Collaboration features if you don’t work alone. You can:

    1. Work simultaneously on the same article.

    2. Leave comments for your team.

    3. Review and switch between the article’s versions in Version History.

    4. Share your Content Editor with others.

      1. You can share Content Editor articles in a View & Comment only mode or with full Editing rights.

      2. Shareable links do not require a Surfer account—you can share them with anyone, and they will still see the guidelines tab (which is especially useful when working with external writers or with multiple clients).
        ​

  4. Run Plagiarism Checker to make sure your content is unique.

  5. Hit the Done button when you finish.

Next steps

  1. Publish the article.

  2. Check article indexation and performance over time with Google Search Console and Content Audit in Sites. Update after 3 months or as per Content Audit’s recommendations. Follow How to keep your content optimized for steps to refresh old content →

Did this answer your question?