Google already told you what to write
Before you write a word, look at what already ranks. The results page shows what searchers expect.
You pick a keyword, write the best page the internet has ever seen, and Google shrugs. Often the problem isn’t quality. It’s that you built the wrong kind of page. Someone searching “invoice template” wants a template, not your 2,000-word essay on the history of invoicing.
Ahrefs breaks search intent into three Cs: content type (blog post, product page, free tool), content format (how-to, list, comparison) and content angle (the selling point the top pages share). Its advice is to follow the crowd, because what the top results have in common tells you what searchers expect to see. Ahrefs learned this on its own “backlink checker” page, which wasn’t ranking well because it lacked an actual free tool. After adding one, the page got 516% more traffic in less than six months.
Before you write for any keyword, search it in a private window and note what the top five results have in common. If they’re all tools and you’re planning a blog post, change the plan, not the keyword density.
The example
- Instead of
- “Keyword “invoice template” → a 2,000-word blog post on why invoices matter”
- Try
- “Keyword “invoice template” → a free, editable invoice template you can download in one click”
Before you flush
Search your main target keyword in a private window, note the content type and format of the top 5 results, and compare them to your page.