Build log / Choosing the pages
Choosing the pages: 111 keywords checked, and the ones we left alone.
This build log entry is about choosing the pages for serpdad.com. We picked one main competitor, checked 111 candidate keywords in Ahrefs, and followed one rule: no marketing page may target a keyword our own 791-page SEO plan already owns.
Volumes and difficulty are Ahrefs estimates for the US, pulled on 21 Oct 2026. They will change.
Who we measured against. Surfer, the default choice.
When an SEO team looks for a content tool, Surfer is usually the first name on the list. So we used it as the main competitor and studied how its site is built.
The short version: a big blog, a long changelog and very few pages about the product itself. No templates and no security page. Every pricing path goes straight to checkout.
That told us where the gaps were: pages about specific jobs, honest comparisons and proof you can inspect. Clearscope came second, because it is the price our buyers already know. If any of these numbers are out of date, email [email protected] and we will correct them.
| Surfer page type | URLs |
|---|---|
| All URLs | 555 |
| Blog posts | 301 |
| Changelog pages | 89 |
| Role pages | 9 |
| Comparison pages | 8 |
| Product pages | About 6 |
| Integration pages | 6 |
What people search for. 111 candidates, checked in Ahrefs.
For every page idea we listed the keywords a buyer might use, then pulled monthly US volume and keyword difficulty (KD, 0 to 100) from Ahrefs. These are the ones that made the cut.
| Opportunity | Best keywords (volume, KD) | Page |
|---|---|---|
| SEO report templates | seo report template (2.7K, 16), monthly seo report (2.0K, 4), seo client report (1.4K, 0), seo reporting template (1.1K, 12) | /templates/monthly-seo-report/ |
| Agencies | seo agency software (3.1K, 20), seo software for agencies (2.3K, 1), seo tools for agencies (1.0K, 28) | /solutions/agencies/ |
| AI visibility (Google AI features) | ai search visibility tool (2.3K, 3), ai mode tracker (1.4K), ai overviews tracker (1.3K, 15), ai overview tracker (1.2K, 2) | /product/ai-visibility/ |
| AI Overview checker | ai overview checker (1.0K, 7), google ai overview tracker (800) | /tools/ai-overview-checker/ |
| Content brief template | content brief template (1.9K, 0), seo content brief template (700, 7) | /templates/content-brief/ |
| Surfer alternatives | surfer seo alternatives (700, 0), surfer seo alternative (600, 0), surfer seo free alternative (150, 2) | /alternatives/surfer-seo/ |
| Surfer review | surfer seo review (1.3K, 11) | Phase 2 |
| SEO automation | seo automation software (1.0K, 2), seo automation tool (450, 26) | /workflows/ |
| Content audit | content audit tool (600, 30), content audit template (300, 3), content audit tools (250, 12) | Phase 2 |
| Internal linking | internal linking tool (800, 52), internal linking tools (500, 26) | Phase 3, hard |
| Agency reporting | agency client reporting (450, 0) | Phase 2 |
| Other alternatives | neuronwriter alternatives (300, 1), clearscope alternatives (250, 0), frase alternatives (200, 0), marketmuse alternatives (200, 2) | /alternatives/clearscope/ first |
| Keyword mapping | seo keyword mapping (350, 5), keyword mapping tool (70, 0), keyword mapping template (70) | /product/page-plan/ |
Low difficulty and real demand went first. That is why a monthly SEO report template and an agencies page shipped in Phase 1, ahead of pages that matter more to us but have less search behind them.
The one rule. Marketing pages never target what the SEO plan owns.
Our own SerpDad run on serpdad.com planned 791 pages for the SEO content we are writing. Each keyword in that plan already has one owner page. If a marketing page went after the same keyword, we would have two of our own pages competing for it: the exact problem SerpDad exists to stop.
So the rule is strict. The SEO plan owns those topics, including their "tool" keywords. Marketing pages may mention them and link to the docs, but never put them in a title or an H1. Only the homepage targets "topical authority tool" (80 searches a month).
A test checks every title and H1 against the owned list on each release. How we tested Phase 1.
| Keyword | Monthly searches |
|---|---|
| keyword clustering tools | 1,900 |
| keyword clustering tool | 1,100 |
| keyword cannibalization tool | 350 |
What we said no to. Demand we chose not to chase.
Some keywords had more searches than anything we picked. We left them alone, for these reasons.
ai visibility tool (4.1K, KD 61)
The biggest number on the list. People searching it expect tracking in ChatGPT and Perplexity. SerpDad checks Google AI Overviews and AI Mode only, so the page would disappoint them. We target Google AI features instead.
surfer seo pricing (1.5K, KD 26)
People searching it want Surfer's own pricing page, and that page will keep winning. We compare prices on our Surfer pages instead, dated and sourced.
programmatic seo (2.3K)
An informational search: people want to learn what it is, not buy a tool. That belongs in content, not on a marketing page.
And the reverse. Pages we built with almost no demand.
Some pages have next to no search volume and we built or planned them anyway. They explain a part of the product or help the brand, and a buyer who is comparing tools will look for them.
We do not expect search traffic from these. We expect them to answer a question for someone who is already deciding.
| Keyword | Monthly searches |
|---|---|
| content decay tool | 20 |
| content refresh tool | 20 |
| fact check ai content | 10 |
| serp overlap checker | 0 |
| keyword insights alternative | 0 |
| serpdad | 0 |
What we'd change. Notes for the next round.
Run the list through SerpDad first
Before each phase, we will load the 791 SEO pages as existing pages and run the marketing keywords through SerpDad. The pass mark is 0 pages compete. That run will get its own entry.
Recheck the numbers
Volumes and difficulty from one day in October are a snapshot. We will pull them again before Phase 3 and say what moved.
Choose your own pages from the SERP.
Run your first 1,000 keywords free.
Your first plan is free up to 1,000 keywords, with briefs for the top 5 pages. No card needed.