Surfer SEO is an SEO tool used to help you find LSI terms, know their keyword density, and have a guided way of optimizing your content.
It also provides information on the word count range (based on the first 10 SERPs).
When used accordingly, Surfer SEO will help you outrank the first 10 pages on search engines. And you’ll know how well you are close to that goal by checking the SEO score. This score ranges from 0-100 with 100 being best optimized for the search terms, images, and relevance.
The best thing about this editor is that the data is real-time. As you optimize the relevant search terms, the score increases.
So how do you use it to get the highest score?
1. Explore
At this stage, open the content editor to gather the following:
- Your keyword phrase
- Search terms
- Topics
- Word count
The terms that you should use in your content provide a scoping of your content. If you are doing a product review, you’ll see the popular brands and products that you should make sure you mention to correctly optimize your piece.
The topics further add to the scoping and help you know how to plan your writing and which direction it should take.
If you don’t know where to start, I can offer a suggestion on how to use the topics.
- You can use it frequently asked questions when writing a product review
- They can form part of your subheadings if writing a blog post
2. Start Researching Your Topic
You’ll find the relevant websites on the first page of the search results.
- Open each page result at a time to check if it’s relevant based on your terms and topics.
- If not, close it and open another web page.
- Do this until you have about 4-5 relevant pages to help you in creating your content.
3. Create an Outline
Now that you know the word count required, the scoping of your writing, and the available information create a plan.
Here, you can specify the number of words per section.
Example
If we are doing a 2000 words product review on the best smartphone for travelers, our outline would be something like this:
- Introduction -100w
- 5 products 250 words each =1250w
- Huawei
- iPhone
- Samsung
- Sony
- Techno
- Buyers Guide 450w
- Frequently asked questions 200w
4. Create Your Content
Unlike using a Word document content editor where you write based on what you research only, Surfer SEO requires a slightly different approach.
You’ll need to keep looking at your terms and determining which word fits where naturally. This may be quite slow, especially when doing it for the first time, but will prove extremely helpful during the editing phase.
It’s very important to create fluff-free content. Let your article be engaging, precise, and clear. This requires some conscious writing process. Ensure you’re well rested and writing in a distraction-free environment to maintain exceptional quality.
Can I Exceed the Headings and Paragraphs Range?
Do not bother much about the paragraphs and headings. As long as you’ve used short paragraphs and relevant headings, no need to worry much.
Are Images Important?
Something you want to make sure you fulfill is images. Besides creating a great user experience, images can help you explain the processes better, which reduces bounce rates and can increase social shares. So be creative in your images.
The number of images specified on Surfer SEO comes from an average of the images used in top images. If you are writing Amazon product reviews, don’t worry as the ASIN code will help generate the image once the posts are published.
But for blog posts and articles, ensure you get relevant images. To avoid copyright issues, ensure you get stock-free images from sites like Unsplash or Pixel. Alternatively, you can get customized images that are well-edited.
5. Structuring Your Content
Just like a word editor, you’ll need to format your content accordingly.
On the top, there are commands for headings, links, redo, undo, links, images and even listing.
As of Feb 2023, you may experience a challenge when numbering your headings. The trick is, write the number say 1, then a full stop, 1. And then press shift, and backspace to maintain consistency. But hopefully, that challenge should be sorted out soon.
6. Editing and Proofreading Your Work
One of the challenges you may experience is how to use Grammarly to edit your work while using Surfer content editor.
No need to worry.
You’ll need to install the Grammarly Chrome extension. This awesome tool helps you in editing your work when online. It doesn’t matter whether you are writing an email or using Google Docs to create content.
The installation process is easy, as long as you’ve premium Grammarly logins. Just follow the prompts and you’ll be good to go.
Once installed, you can edit your work as you write (I find it slowing down by writing) or you can wait until you’re done to edit.
Scroll down and you’ll see the Grammarly icon. When you click on it, you will see the issues highlighted and you can now go ahead and edit your work.
7. How to Submit Your Work
Now that you’re through with your writing, how do you submit to the client?
Just alert them that you’re through or follow the laid down procedures of submitting the work.
But since it’s an online editor, like Google Docs, your client can access it from their side. This means they can also check on your progress from time to time. So, if you agree to start immediately, just do exactly that.
Final Thoughts
Surfer SEO is an amazing content editing tool, but like any other tool, it’s a robot and uses artificial intelligence (AI). As such, don’t use it blindly and when a word cannot fit in the context of your writing, do not force it. After all, it’s designed to be a guide not to take over your writing.
Endeavor to maintain that human and conversational tone as you write. With this, you’ll have a piece well-optimized for SEO that also resonates with your readers. This will ensure a high ranking on search engines.
