Seo content brief

SEO Content Brief & On-Page

Great SEO content starts from intent, not keywords. First answer "what is the person actually trying to do?", then build the page that satisfies that better than the current results. Write for the human; structure for the crawler.

Step 1 — Classify intent

For the target query/topic, decide the dominant intent (a query can be mixed):

Intent	The searcher wants	Page type that wins
Informational	to learn / understand	guide, explainer, how-to, FAQ
Commercial investigation	to compare before buying	comparison, "best X", reviews, alternatives
Transactional	to act / buy / book now	product, service, pricing, booking page
Navigational	a specific site/brand	brand/home/login page
Local	something near them	location/service-area page, map, hours

Verify intent against what currently ranks: if the SERP is all comparisons, a single product page won't win. Match the format the SERP rewards.

Step 2 — Build the cluster

Group the topic into a pillar + supporting pages:

• One pillar page targeting the head term and broad intent.
• Supporting pages for sub-intents, long-tail, and conversational questions.
• Define internal links: supporting → pillar (and back) with descriptive anchors.
• Flag cannibalization risk: two pages targeting the same intent compete with each other — consolidate or differentiate. (Hand borderline cases to seo-quality-gates.)

Step 3 — Write the brief

Deliver a brief a writer or content agent can execute without guessing:

## Brief: <target page>
- Target query / topic + dominant intent
- Audience & what success looks like for them
- Differentiating angle (why this beats the current top results)
- Working title options (see on-page rules below)
- Outline: H1, then H2/H3 covering the must-answer questions
- Entities & subtopics to include (people/places/things/concepts)
- Questions to answer (from People-Also-Ask, real customer questions)
- E-E-A-T evidence required (see below)
- Internal links in / out (with anchor text)
- Primary CTA + secondary CTA
- Schema to add (route to seo-schema-builder)
- Media needed (original images/diagrams/data)

Step 4 — E-E-A-T / people-first requirements

The brief must specify how the page will demonstrate, not just claim:

• Experience — first-hand proof: original photos, tests, data, specifics only someone who did it would know.
• Expertise — a real, named author with relevant credentials/bio.
• Authoritativeness — citations to primary sources; earned mentions/links.
• Trust — accuracy, transparency (Who/How/Why), disclosure of AI assistance or reviews, contact/about info, no fabricated claims.

Reject "search-engine-first" patterns: bulk thin pages, content that just restates the obvious, keyword-driven topics nobody asked for, fabricated detail.

Step 5 — On-page optimization (for existing pages)

Element	Rule
Title tag	Unique, intent-matching, primary topic near the front, ~50–60 chars, no stuffing. Compelling for clicks.
Meta description	Unique, ~150–160 chars, summarizes value + soft CTA. Not a ranking factor but drives CTR.
H1	One per page, matches the page's core promise.
Headings	Logical H2/H3 hierarchy that mirrors the questions; scannable.
URL slug	Short, lowercase, hyphenated, descriptive, stable.
Body	Answers the dominant intent early (don't bury the answer), then depth.
Internal links	Descriptive anchors to related pillar/supporting pages.
Media	Descriptive alt, real images, dimensions set (helps CLS).

Output

A finished brief (or an annotated on-page diff for existing pages). Send schema to seo-schema-builder, answer-engine framing to ai-search-optimization, and run the result through seo-quality-gates before publishing.

See references/intent-and-clusters.md.