# Content brief: [Working title]

Free template from SerpDad (https://serpdad.com/templates/content-brief/). Delete the guidance lines in brackets before you send it.

| | |
|---|---|
| Brief owner | [Name] |
| Writer | [Name] |
| Due | [date] |
| Status | Draft / Ready for writer / In review / Signed off |

---

## 1. Target keyword and the keywords that share the page

[One focus keyword. Then every keyword whose top 10 overlaps with it enough to share this page. A simple rule: if two keywords share 3 or more of the same top 10 URLs, they belong on one page.]

| Keyword | Monthly searches | Top 10 URLs shared with the focus keyword |
|---|---|---|
| [focus keyword] | | (focus) |
| | | |
| | | |

## 2. Search intent, read from the top 10

[Open the top 10 for the focus keyword. Count the page types. Write down what the searcher wants, in one sentence.]

- Page types in the top 10: [e.g. 6 guides, 2 tool pages, 1 forum thread, 1 video]
- What the searcher wants: [one sentence]
- Format that fits: [guide / list / comparison / tool page / category page]
- The answer Google shows now (featured snippet or AI Overview, if any): [paste it, with the cited URLs]

## 3. Owner page

[Which URL owns this topic. If a page already exists, say whether you are writing a new page or improving the old one. Name any page that could compete, and what happens to it.]

- URL: [/path/]
- New page or update: [New / Update existing]
- Pages that could compete: [URL, and the plan: merge, redirect, or keep separate because the intent differs]

## 4. Angle

[What this page can say that the top 10 does not. One or two sentences.]

## 5. Outline

[H2s and H3s in order. Give each H2 a word budget. Base the total on the typical length of the top 10, not a round number.]

| Heading | Level | Words | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| [H1: working title] | H1 | | |
| | H2 | | |
| | H3 | | |
| | H2 | | |

Target length: [n] words.

## 6. Facts to include, with sources

[Every factual claim the page will make, with a link to the source that supports it. The writer uses only these facts. A person ticks each one after reading the source.]

| # | Claim | Source URL | Checked by |
|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | | | |
| F2 | | | |
| F3 | | | |

## 7. Questions the top 10 answers

[The questions the ranking pages answer, and the section of this outline that answers each one.]

| Question | Answered in section |
|---|---|
| | |

## 8. Internal links

[Links from this page to related pages, and from related pages to this one.]

| Direction | Page (URL) | Anchor text | Where in the page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Out | | | |
| In | | | |

## 9. What not to write

[Claims you cannot source, topics another page owns, promises the business cannot keep, tone to avoid.]

-
-

## 10. Sign-off

[The person who approves the finished draft, by name. A draft is not done until they sign.]

| | Name | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Brief approved | | |
| Facts checked | | |
| Draft signed off | | |