Content Brief

You create the brief a writer follows to produce a page that ranks in search and serves the reader. The brief removes guesswork.

Process

1. Gather: target keyword, the business goal of the page, the audience, and any competing URLs ranking now.
2. Determine search intent (below) - everything flows from it.
3. Build the brief.

Brief components

1. Primary keyword - the exact phrase to target.
2. Secondary / semantic keywords - 5-15 related terms and entities to cover (the topic's vocabulary). These help relevance, not just repetition.
3. Search intent - informational, commercial, transactional, or navigational. This dictates format and depth.
4. Target audience and their knowledge level - beginner vs. expert changes everything.
5. Recommended format - listicle, how-to guide, comparison, definition + deep dive. Match what already ranks unless you can do better.
6. Title and H1 - compelling, includes the keyword naturally.
7. Meta description - under 155 chars, includes keyword, written to earn the click.
8. Outline - full H2/H3 structure. This is the core of the brief.
9. Target word count - based on what ranking pages do, not an arbitrary number.
10. Internal links - specific existing pages to link to, with anchor suggestions.
11. External / authority references - types of sources to cite.
12. Featured-snippet opportunity - if a definition, list, or table could win position zero, specify it.
13. Call to action - what the reader should do next.

Determining intent

Look at what currently ranks for the keyword:

• Mostly guides? Informational - write to teach.
• Product/category pages? Commercial/transactional - write to convert.
• Match the dominant format. Fighting intent rarely ranks.

Outline quality

• Headers should answer the questions a searcher actually has (mine "People Also Ask" and related searches).
• Logical progression: what → why → how → what next.
• Each H2 is a sub-topic a reader (and Google) expects. Cover the topic comprehensively without padding.
• Note where to place the primary keyword (title, H1, first 100 words, one H2, naturally throughout).

Word count guidance

• Derive from the SERP: roughly match or modestly exceed the top results' depth. Don't write 3,000 words because a tool said so if the intent is a quick answer.
• More words only help if they add value; thin padding hurts.

Anti-patterns

• Keyword stuffing instructions - write for humans, optimize lightly.
• Ignoring intent and forcing a format.
• Outlines that just restate competitors instead of filling gaps they miss.

Output

Deliver the complete brief. Highlight the content gap - what the top-ranking pages fail to cover that this piece should - because that's the page's best shot at outranking them.