Semrush published a fresh list of 12 SEO writing tips for 2026, and a few clients sent it to me within an hour of it going live. So I read it twice, ran it past 2 of my senior strategists, and then sat down to write what I actually think.
Short version: the list is solid. The problem is that the tips that will move the needle most for local businesses and growing brands are also the ones marketers are most likely to skim past.
Part 1: What Semrush Actually Said
Semrush published "12 SEO writing tips to earn visibility [2026]" on June 10, 2026 (Semrush, 2026). The article is a practitioner-focused checklist aimed at writers, in-house marketers, and SEO leads trying to earn visibility in both classic Google search and AI answer engines.
The 12 tips, summarised, cover: matching search intent, writing for the SERP feature you're targeting, using a clear thesis and TL;DR, structuring with descriptive H2s and H3s, writing short sentences and active voice, adding original data or examples, citing primary sources, using schema where it helps, optimising for AI Overviews and ChatGPT-style citations, refreshing existing content on a cycle, internal linking with descriptive anchors, and editing ruthlessly before publishing.
Part 2: The 66th Take
Here's the thing about a list like this. Every tip on it is correct. None of them are wrong. But treating all 12 as equal is how brands waste 6 months pushing content that ranks for nothing and gets cited by no AI system.
Let me rank them by what actually drives outcomes for the kind of clients we work with: local service businesses, ecommerce brands doing 7 to 8 figures, and SaaS teams trying to win category visibility.
The 3 tips that actually move rankings in 2026
If you only do 3 things from Semrush's list, do these.
1. Original data and examples. This is the single biggest separator between content that gets cited by ChatGPT and content that disappears. Generic restatements of what's already on the internet do not earn citations. Specific numbers, screenshots, client outcomes, and first-person observations do. We saw this play out clearly on the WashTech project, where the pages that pulled traffic after month 9 were the ones with proprietary benchmarks, not the ones that summarised industry trends.
2. Match the SERP feature, not the keyword. Semrush mentions this and then moves on. I'd put it at the top. If the SERP for your target term is dominated by a comparison table, a how-to with steps, or an AI Overview that pulls from list posts, you need to write that format. Writing a 2,000-word essay when Google wants a 12-row table is how you stay invisible. This is also why we built our depth map process before any writer touches a draft.
3. Descriptive H2s and H3s. This is the boring one nobody clicks on. It's also the one that determines whether an LLM can extract your content as a clean answer chunk. Headings like "Pricing" lose. Headings like "How much does a roof replacement cost in Vancouver in 2026" win, because they match how people and AI systems phrase questions.
The tips Semrush undersells
| Tip | Semrush framing | The 66th framing |
|---|---|---|
| Citing primary sources | Builds trust | Required for AI citation. LLMs preference content that itself cites named, dated sources. |
| Internal linking | Helps navigation | Determines which of your pages earn promotion. See the promotion test. |
| Content refresh cycle | Keep things current | Often the wrong move. Many pages should be rebuilt or killed, not refreshed. See the striking distance trap. |
| Schema | Helps with rich results | One of the highest-leverage AI visibility signals, especially Article, FAQ, and Product schema with author and date. |
The tips I'd quietly demote
Short sentences and active voice are good writing advice. They are not ranking factors. A long, well-constructed sentence that answers a specific question will outrank a choppy, shallow one every time. Edit for clarity, not for word count.
The TL;DR at the top is fine, but it's become a tell. When every article opens with "TL;DR: here are the 5 things you need to know," readers tune it out and so do AI systems looking for substantive content. A real thesis statement in your opening 2 paragraphs does the same job better.
What Semrush did not say, and should have
The list is a writer's list. It treats SEO writing as a craft problem. In 2026, the craft is necessary but not sufficient. The 3 things missing from the article that matter more than half the tips on it:
- Entity and author signals. Who wrote this, what else have they written, and is the author entity connected to a real, citable person? AI systems weight this heavily.
- Review and citation density off-page. A page does not earn AI visibility in isolation. It earns it when the brand around it shows up in third-party lists, reviews, and structured directories. This is the 20% of GEO that sits outside the writing itself.
- Format honesty. If your page is a thin product page pretending to be a guide, no amount of writing tips will fix it. Sometimes you need a new page in a different format, not better prose.
What to actually do with the Semrush list
If you're an in-house marketer reading this, here's the order I'd run it in. Pick your next 5 pieces of content. Before writing, decide: what SERP feature am I targeting, what original data am I bringing, and what is the H2 structure that matches the actual question being asked. Write the draft. Then come back and apply the rest of Semrush's tips during edit.
Do not apply 12 tips evenly to every post. That's how you end up with content that ticks every box and earns no visibility. We see this pattern constantly when we audit prospect sites. Everything is technically correct. Nothing is specific.
The brands winning in 2026 are not following longer checklists. They're going deeper on 3 or 4 things that compound. The Semrush list is a good reminder of what those things could be. The work is deciding which 3 to actually commit to.
If you want help running that decision against your own site, we do this as part of every SEO retainer. Start with the audit tool or get in touch.
