Article ideas and the Writer

The Writer turns what your customers search for into articles for your Shopify blog, written in your brand voice and linked to your real products. It works in two steps: ideas, then articles.

You need a Store Brain first. The Writer uses it for your products, your customers and how you sound.

Step 1: get ideas (4 credits for 8)

On the SEO tab, click Find article ideas. MAALI researches:

• the questions your customers ask before they buy,
• what currently ranks for those questions, and
• what your blog already covers, so it doesn't suggest the same topic twice.

You get 8 ideas. Each has a search phrase (what someone would type), the intent (what they want to know), and an outline.

MAALI doesn't show search volume numbers. It can see what people ask and what ranks, but not reliable volumes, so it doesn't invent them.

Picking the right ideas

Good first articles share three things:

1. They're specific. "How to wash linen without shrinking it" is winnable; "linen clothing" is owned by big brands.
2. They lead to your products. The best article answers a question and then shows the product that helps.
3. You can add something. Your experience with your own products is what makes an article better than the ones already ranking.

Click Not for us on anything that doesn't fit your store. Click Find more ideas any time for a new batch.

Step 2: write the article (2 credits)

Click Write it. Up to 3 articles can be written at once, and each takes a few minutes. You'll find them on the Articles tab.

Every article comes with:

• about 900 to 1,300 words in your brand voice,
• an SEO title (about 50 to 60 characters),
• a meta description (140 to 160 characters),
• a URL handle, and
• links only to real collections and products on your store.

The Writer uses only facts from your Store Brain and your product pages. It won't invent statistics, reviews, quotes, prices or guarantees. If something it needs isn't in your Store Brain, it leaves it out.

Step 3: edit before you publish

Open the article and click Edit. You can change the title, meta description, URL handle and the article itself (in Markdown). A good edit takes 10 minutes:

• Add what only you know. A tip from a customer, how you test a product, why you chose a material. This is what readers and search engines value most.
• Check every fact. Sizes, materials, care instructions and shipping promises should match your product pages.
• Check the links. Each one should go to the product or collection a reader would want next.
• Cut anything you wouldn't say. If a sentence doesn't sound like your store, change it, then fix your Brand voice document so the next article is closer.

Step 4: publish

Copy the title, the article HTML and the meta description into Shopify, or download the Markdown. It takes about a minute: Publishing an article on Shopify. One-click publishing to Shopify and WordPress is coming next.

How often to publish

Consistency beats volume. One useful article a week builds more search traffic over a few months than a burst of twenty followed by nothing. Your 30-day plan in the Store Brain suggests where articles fit alongside your other tasks.