Build Your SEO Article Outline From the Top Pages' Headings

An Outline Decides Two Things: What to Match and Where to Differ

Top pages rank because they answer what searchers want for that query. An article that skips what nearly all of them cover fails the reader's expectations.

Google, on the other hand, asks in its self-assessment for helpful content whether your content provides substantial value when compared to other pages in search results, and whether, if it draws on other sources, it avoids simply copying or rewriting them and provides substantial additional value and originality. Repeating what the top pages say does not pass those questions.

So building an outline means splitting the content into what you match and what you add on top. Extracting and comparing the top pages' headings lets you draw that line by count instead of by feel.

Five Steps to Build an Outline From the Top Pages' Headings

A Real Example: Comparing Our Own Article for "How to Write Structured Data"

On October 12, 2026, we searched Google (Japan) for the Japanese query meaning "how to write structured data," extracted the headings of the top five explainer articles (excluding Google's official documentation, which plays a different role), and compared them with our own structured data guide. Other sites are anonymized; only topic counts are shown.

The gap was validation. All five top pages had a dedicated heading on checking markup with the Rich Results Test or Search Console; ours only pointed to our checker tool, with no validation section. Readers learning how to write structured data also want to confirm it works, so this is something to match — we added a validation section after this comparison.

Conversely, only one top page covered common mistakes, while ours covered five failure patterns with examples. That is where we stand out — and what we must not cut.

One more thing surfaced. Our article cited higher CTR from rich results as a reason to use structured data and still described FAQ rich results as if they were shown — but Google stopped showing them on May 7, 2026 (we corrected that after this comparison). Listing headings side by side also exposes sections that have gone stale.

How to Treat Each Topic by Coverage

Which format the top pages share (explainer, comparison, how-to) also tells you about search intent. See what search intent is and, for heading markup itself, how to use heading tags (H1–H6).

Four Mistakes When Using Top Pages' Headings

• Stitching together every top-page heading: you end up longer than everyone, with nothing new for the reader. Google lists mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value as a sign of search-engine-first content.
• Deciding by count alone: a topic only one page covers may be a differentiation opportunity — or something readers simply do not want. Judge it against the search intent.
• Matching the top pages' word count: Google states there is no preferred word count. The point of comparing outlines is to find gaps in what readers need, not to match length.
• Reading headings but not the body: identical headings can hide very different depth. After counting, read the top pages' body text for the topics where you want to stand out.

What the Headings and Co-occurrence Tools Do

Direbase's keyword tool includes Headings, which extracts a URL's headings, and Co-occurrence, which compares the words frequently used across several URLs. Use headings to find gaps in structure and co-occurrence to find gaps in vocabulary.

Both are paid features: 30 uses a month on Entry (¥980/month), 100 on Basic, and unlimited on Pro (as of October 12, 2026). Comparing five top pages with your own article uses six runs per outline.

• Keyword Research — suggestions, headings, co-occurring words
• Competitor Keywords — the keywords and pages competitors rank for
• SEO Audit — check headings, title, and structured data in one pass

Sources (checked October 12, 2026)

• Google Search Central — Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content