How to Outline Your Blog Posts for Maximum SEO Impact in 2024

How to Write Blog Outlines That Captivate Readers and Search Engines Alike in 2024

7 min readMay 5, 2024

How to Write Outlines for High-Ranking Blogs (2024)

Hey there, welcome back to my blog! In this post, I’ll be walking you through the step-by-step workflow that I use to write article outlines for high-ranking articles for my clients.

In my previous posts, I’ve shown how I find high-ranking topics and keywords to target. In this post, I’ll be focusing on how to write the outlines and what to include in them.

In the next post, I’ll be showing you how I actually write those articles that rank number one, number two, and on the first page of Google.

If you’re a business looking to get your expertise out there to attract more customers, this post will be incredibly helpful for you in understanding exactly what to think about and what to do when you’re writing articles, and more specifically, article topics and outlines that you want to cover in your content.

We strongly recommend that you check out our guide on how to take advantage of AI in today’s passive income economy.

Identifying the Searcher’s Intent

The topic I’ll be writing an article outline for in this post is “What is a deductible gift recipient and its benefits?” To provide some context, a deductible gift recipient (DGR) is a status that a charity can achieve in Australia, which allows them to receive donations from donors where those donations are tax-deductible for the donors.

The benefits for a charity that has become a DGR are that they can receive more gifts and donations for their charitable purposes. For donors, the benefit is that they can pay less tax.

When writing an article outline, it’s crucial to understand the intention of the Google search user who wants to find out what a DGR is and why it matters for them as a charity or as someone who’s donating.

Once you’ve understood the searcher’s intent, you can craft the outline of the article to meet those intentions and answer the questions that the search user is asking when they’re searching for this type of article.

Researching Existing Articles

After understanding the searcher’s intent, the next step is to look at the top-ranking results for these types of articles that currently exist.

I start by inputting the search term “deductible gift recipient benefits for organizations” into Google and then look at all the articles that come up. I read through each of them, skimming the content to see which article is the best so far.

As I go through the top search results, I look at what topics they’re covering. This helps me determine what topics I should include in my own content outline for the article, as well as what topics I should include that other articles aren’t covering.

It’s important to note that many of the top search results may be government websites, which may not necessarily be the best in terms of SEO and answering the searcher’s question. Government websites often rank high because of their topical authority, not necessarily because that particular search result is a well-written article.

As such, I tend to skip a lot of those government websites and focus on finding articles that have pretty good content.

Bookmarking Relevant Articles

As I find relevant articles, I bookmark them and put them aside for later reference.

For example, I found one article that provides a good overview of what a DGR is. It explains that there are two types of organizations that can receive the DGR endorsement status: an entity that’s endorsed as a whole, or an entity that’s endorsed for the operation of a fund, authority, or institution.

This is a helpful starting point, and the article also includes a more technical, legal explanation of what a DGR is, answering the question directly.

Another article I found is quite well-written and provides information on the different types of entities that can become a DGR, as well as the requirements for becoming one.

It also covers the purpose of the gift fund, which is something I’ll consider including in my outline.

Even if I’m not sure whether a particular subtopic from an existing article should be included in my own article, I still bookmark it and keep it in the back of my mind.

Identifying Benefits for Charities and Donors

In addition to understanding what a DGR is, it’s also important to cover the benefits of becoming a DGR, both for the charity and for the donors.

One article I found does a good job of explaining why an organization, such as a charity, would want to become a DGR. This is definitely something I want to include in my outline.

I also searched for articles that cover the benefits of donating to a DGR for donors, which primarily revolves around tax deductions.

I found a few articles that provide a good overview of the tax rules on claiming donations or gifts, which is essentially about donors being able to reduce the amount of tax they pay by donating to a DGR charity.

Using ChatGPT to Generate an Outline

Once I have a good understanding of the topic and have bookmarked relevant articles, I turn to ChatGPT to help me generate an outline.

I start by opening up a new chat and inputting a prompt that explains what I’m looking for. I mention that I’m a business looking to write a guide on what a DGR is and the benefits for charities who become a DGR, as well as the benefits for donors who donate to them.

I also mention that I have written a few draft articles on this topic and want to look at it with fresh eyes to come up with a new article outline that answers the question.

It’s important to note that I specify that the outline and content of the article must not include any details or facts outside of the drafts that I will be sending to ChatGPT. I want the outline to include both the heading of each subtopic for the article, as well as a few dot points about what the preceding paragraphs for each heading will talk about.

I emphasize that all the information, including the subtopics in the outline and the information covered in each subtopic, must be drawn only from the drafts I’ll be sending, nowhere else.

I then send each draft article I’ve bookmarked as a separate message to ChatGPT and tell it to start writing the outline once I’ve sent all the drafts.

Reviewing and Refining the Outline

After ChatGPT generates an outline, I review it carefully to see what’s relevant and what’s not, and determine if there’s anything that should be included in another article.

I start by looking at the introduction, which is always good to include as it helps the reader understand what the article will be about.

Then, I check that the outline dives straight into answering the question of what a DGR is, which is fantastic.

Next, I look at the subtopics covering the benefits for charities and donors, as well as the eligibility requirements. I may choose to remove the eligibility requirements section as it doesn’t directly answer the question of what a DGR is and its benefits.

I also consider whether to include information on the types of DGR categories and examples, as this helps answer what a DGR is.

Subtopics on applying for DGR status and obligations and considerations may be better suited for a separate article, so I make a note to remove those and potentially link to them from this article once it’s written.

Finally, I review the impact of DGR status subtopic to ensure it covers what DGR status means for charities in terms of donations.

After reviewing the outline, I refine it further by asking ChatGPT to remove the subtopics I’ve identified as not relevant and to flesh out the remaining subtopics.

Finalizing the Outline

After ChatGPT generates the revised outline, I review it once more to ensure it’s concise, straight to the point, and only includes information that directly answers the question.

I may choose to reorder some of the subtopics, such as moving “Types of DGR categories and examples” to right after “What is a deductible gift recipient?” since they both cover what a DGR is.

I’ll also ensure that the benefits for charities and donors are covered, as well as the impact on fundraising and donations.

Once I’m satisfied with the outline, it’s ready to be used to guide the writing of the actual article, which I’ll cover in my next post.

Conclusion

Creating a well-structured and comprehensive article outline is crucial for writing high-ranking blog posts.

By understanding the searcher’s intent, researching existing articles, bookmarking relevant information, and using tools like ChatGPT to generate and refine an outline, you can create a solid foundation for an article that directly answers the question being asked and provides value to the reader.

Stay tuned for my next post, where I’ll be diving into the process of actually writing the article using the outline we’ve created.