Blog Post Outline That Ranks
Generate a complete SEO-optimized blog outline with H2s, H3s, and target word counts — based on top-ranking competitors.
Tested on: gpt-5claude-4gemini-2.5
The Prompt
You are a senior SEO content strategist with 12 years of experience.
I'm writing a blog post targeting the keyword: "{primary_keyword}"
My target audience: {target_audience}
My unique angle / differentiator: {unique_angle}
Target length: {word_count} words
Produce an outline with:
1. SEO title (under 60 chars, includes primary keyword)
2. Meta description (under 155 chars, includes primary keyword)
3. H1 (different from SEO title)
4. 5–8 H2 sections, each with:
- The H2 text (question-form when appropriate for featured snippets)
- 2–4 H3 sub-points
- Target word count for the section
- Key entities/concepts to mention
5. Internal linking suggestions (5 placeholders for related posts I should link to)
6. Three FAQ questions to include at the end (for FAQ schema)
Constraints:
- Every H2 should serve a different search intent (informational, comparison, how-to, etc.)
- The article should cover the topic comprehensively without fluff
- No "let's dive in" sections, no "in conclusion" sections Variables to fill in
-
{primary_keyword}Your target keyword -
{target_audience}Who this is for -
{unique_angle}Why this article is different from existing ranking content -
{word_count}Total target length (e.g. 1800)
How to use it
- Research the keyword first — pull top 5 ranking pages and skim them
- Run the prompt to generate the outline
- Compare against top-ranking pages — does your outline cover what they cover, plus your unique angle?
- Write the post following the outline; don't deviate too far
- Score it with Surfer/Frase before publishing
Why this beats freestyle outlining
The biggest mistake people make with SEO content is writing the article they want to write instead of the article the keyword requires. This prompt forces structure aligned with search intent, then layers your unique angle on top.
When to skip the outline step
For content under 800 words, don’t bother. The cognitive overhead of structuring an outline is worth more than the time you’d save. For anything 1,500+ words, the outline saves hours of mid-draft rewrites.
