A content brief is often treated as a formality — a topic, a word count, a deadline. In our experience it's one of the highest-leverage documents in an SEO programme, because a good brief does the strategic thinking so the writer can focus on writing well.
Start with the query, not the topic
Before drafting a brief, we look at what's actually ranking for the target query today — the format, the depth, the angle, and crucially, what those pages leave out. The brief should name the gap the new content is going to fill, not just restate the keyword.
Structure that mirrors how the answer is actually organised
We build the heading structure into the brief itself, based on the sub-questions a reader genuinely has, in the order they'd ask them. This does double duty: it gives the writer a scaffold, and it tends to produce the kind of clear structure that both readers and search engines respond well to.
Give the writer opinions, not just facts
The briefs that produce the best content include a point of view — what we believe about the topic, based on client data or direct experience — rather than a list of facts to include. Generic content answers the question; opinionated content, backed by evidence, is what actually earns links and shares.
What belongs in every brief
- The specific query and searcher intent behind it.
- A heading structure built from real sub-questions, not generic sections.
- Internal linking targets, decided before writing begins.
- A stated point of view the writer should argue, supported by evidence.
A brief that does this work up front consistently produces content that needs less rewriting and ranks faster — because the strategic decisions were made before the first sentence was written, not after.
