Authentic SEO Content Generation

In 2022, I joined an agency workgroup and mentorship program called Ugurus, founded by Brent Weaver, and run by Jen Buzza. Ugurus was purchased and joined with Cloudways and then Cloudways was purchased by Digital Ocean. In 2025, Ugurus was shut down. In response, Jen Buzza created Work Elevation. It's a wonderful community and if you are an agency owner, I highly suggest joining us.

In November, I presented to the group a full behind-the-scenes workflow of how my team and I use to create powerful, SEO-optimised, emotionally resonant website content. I show how discovery calls, custom GPTs, meeting transcripts, and tools like Surfer SEO come together to form a replicable process that puts our client’s unique voice front and center — while delivering content that ranks. This is a great solution or agency owners, content teams, and digital strategists wanting to elevate your content game without sacrificing authenticity.

Watch the full presentation here.

The Problem: AI-Generated Content All Sounds the Same

• With tools like ChatGPT, everyone’s content is starting to sound identical — generic, repetitive, lacking tone.
• Google is shifting focus to Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust (E-E-A-T) — and AI alone won’t cut it.
• Agencies need to capture the human voice, emotional truths, and expertise that define brand identity.

End-to-End Content Creation Workflow

1. Discovery is Gold

• Client discovery calls are the foundation of the entire process.
• Ask about:
  • Why they started
  • What they do and how they do it
  • Who they serve
  • Their mission, tone, and customer journey
• These calls are often more valuable than clients expect — they gain clarity on their own value, audience, and strategy.

2. Record & Transcribe Everything

• All calls are recorded (via Zoom + Fathom) and transcribed.
• Transcripts are shared with team members (e.g., designers) to ensure everyone has an aligned understanding.
• Recordings serve as a tone of voice library and brand knowledge base.

3. Train a Custom GPT for the Client

• Use the insights from discovery to create a custom GPT (or Claude) trained with:
  • Client tone
  • Target audience details
  • SEO strategy
  • Past transcripts and content
• GPT becomes a sandbox that knows the client and supports future writing/editing.

4. Content First, Design Second

• Major shift: Don’t design until you have content.
• Used to feel like a chicken-and-egg problem, but content-first design leads to better results.
• With content upfront, the designer’s work becomes more intentional and impactful.

5. Content Meetings by Page/Topic

• Hold focused meetings for each key content area (e.g., a service page).
• Use the trained GPT to generate question lists for each meeting.
• These interviews mine emotional insights, metaphors, and real language that make marketing feel real.

6. Generate Initial Drafts with GPT

• Feed transcripts into GPT to generate:
  • Drafts in the client’s tone
  • SEO-aligned structure
  • Messaging that feels authentic
• Review internally, refine, then move to optimization.

7. Optimize with Surfer SEO

• Feed draft into Surfer to improve on-page SEO:
  • Keyword usage
  • Headings
  • Word count
  • NLP-based term suggestions
• Use it as a guide, not a gospel — balance human and machine needs.

8. Page Design Strategy

• Top of the page: Designed for humans (clear copy, CTAs, visuals).
• Lower sections: Add more SEO-heavy content and FAQs.
• FAQs are especially effective for surfacing keyword-rich content and answering Google’s “People Also Ask” queries.

9. Final Review with Client

• Validate: Does the copy sound like them? Does it resonate?
• Collect edits, fact-check, and make final refinements before sending it to design.

Bonus Tips & Nuggets

• Client pushback on content? Emphasize that your goal is conversions — not just pretty words. You’re not writing for them; you’re writing for their clients.
• Use Zoom transcripts to settle misunderstandings, do requirements gathering, or clarify tone post-meeting.
• Watch out for sketchy AI meeting bots (like Fireflies and Read.ai). Fathom is a preferred, safer tool.
• Train your GPTs over time. Each meeting makes them smarter.
• Explicitly instruct GPT to only use your data, not external web sources, when appropriate.

Core Takeaways

1. Discovery interviews are the goldmine — everything else flows from that.
2. Recording and transcribing client calls builds a tone-of-voice vault that makes everything easier and more accurate.
3. Train custom GPTs to streamline copywriting, SEO strategy, and content generation.
4. Use Surfer SEO to strengthen SEO performance without compromising human readability.
5. Content comes first — always. Design supports content, not the other way around.
6. Design pages for humans at the top, and for robots at the bottom. Think experience-first, then SEO.
7. FAQs are your SEO secret weapon — use “People Also Ask” data as a guide.
8. Validate with clients — get their feedback, but guide them with confidence and data.