# SEO content brief Human Guide

## What This Is For
Generate research-backed content briefs that help writers produce pages capable of outranking current top results. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for search and SEO workflows: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the SEO content brief agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for SEO content brief.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the SEO content brief guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Fetch the existing page content and structure
- Identify what is already strong (keep it)
- Identify missing, thin, or outdated sections
- Distinguish "keep/strengthen" vs "add new" sections in the outline
- Do not recommend a full rewrite when targeted improvements will win
- Use the target site's homepage or sitemap for business context only
- Build the brief from scratch for a new page
- Focus on competitive gaps the new page can fill
- Fetch the target URL or homepage to understand the business
- Fetch the sitemap to discover all existing pages, categories, and services
- This context is critical for the Website Relevance Rule (see below)
- Identify the top 5 ranking pages for the target keyword

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Process, Determine Brief Mode, Fetch Context, Analyse SERPs, Classify Search Intent, Build the Brief, Critical Rules, Website Relevance Rule, Site Structure Coverage Rule, Output Language Rules.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Do not recommend a full rewrite when targeted improvements will win
- Every heading, subtopic, keyword, and FAQ you suggest MUST be something the target website can credibly write about based on its actual services or products.
- Do not borrow competitor structure if those sections cover things this site does not offer
- The outline MUST reference every relevant product category, service, or sub-page that exists on the site
- Do not invent categories that don't exist, do not leave out categories that do exist
- For non-hub pages (single service page, blog post), use site structure to suggest relevant internal links but do not force every category into the outline.
- Never mention researcher names, framework names, or tool names in the output (no "Ben Goodey method", "Frase.io formula", "Princeton GEO", "Clearscope", "Backlinko")
- These are internal thinking tools only. The output must read as plain, professional advice.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the SEO content brief human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the agricidaniel/claude-seo skill entry for `seo-content-brief`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# SEO Content Brief Generator

Generate research-backed content briefs that help writers produce pages capable of outranking current top results. Briefs include competitor analysis with gap scoring, per-section word count breakdowns, keyword placement rules, and page-type-specific templates.

## Process

### 1. Determine Brief Mode

**Improve mode** (existing page URL provided):
- Fetch the existing page content and structure
- Identify what is already strong (keep it)
- Identify missing, thin, or outdated sections
- Distinguish "keep/strengthen" vs "add new" sections in the outline
- Do not recommend a full rewrite when targeted improvements will win

**New page mode** (keyword or topic provided, no existing page):
- Use the target site's homepage or sitemap for business context only
- Build the brief from scratch for a new page
- Focus on competitive gaps the new page can fill

### 2. Fetch Context

- Fetch the target URL or homepage to understand the business
- Fetch the sitemap to discover all existing pages, categories, and services
- This context is critical for the Website Relevance Rule (see below)

### 3. Analyse SERPs

- Identify the top 5 ranking pages for the target keyword
- Filter out non-competitors (Wikipedia, Reddit, Pinterest, Amazon, YouTube, government sites, SEO tool pages, job boards, directories, news aggregators, social platforms). See `references/excluded-domains.md` for the full list.
- Score each real competitor: Depth (1-10), Formatting (1-10), SEO (1-10), UX (1-10)
- Identify three gap types:
  - **Topic gaps:** subtopics competitors miss entirely
  - **Depth gaps:** topics covered but shallow
  - **Quality gaps:** outdated info, no expert perspective, poor formatting
- Calculate gap priority: `Impact x Competitive Advantage / Effort`

### 4. Classify Search Intent

- **Informational:** user wants to learn (guides, how-tos, definitions)
- **Commercial:** user is researching before buying (comparisons, reviews, "best X")
- **Transactional:** user is ready to act (buy, book, enquire, sign up)
- **Navigational:** user is looking for a specific site or page

Identify what SERP format Google rewards for this query: long-form guide, listicle, comparison table, landing page, FAQ, video, local pack.

### 5. Build the Brief

Apply the page-type template from `references/page-type-templates.md`, then customise based on competitor gaps and search intent.

## Critical Rules

### Website Relevance Rule

Every heading, subtopic, keyword, and FAQ you suggest MUST be something the target website can credibly write about based on its actual services or products.

- Read the site's homepage and sitemap to understand what it does
- Do not borrow competitor structure if those sections cover things this site does not offer
- Before each suggestion, ask: "Can this website actually deliver on this content?" If no, remove it.

### Site Structure Coverage Rule

When briefing a hub, overview, category, or "types of" page:
- The outline MUST reference every relevant product category, service, or sub-page that exists on the site
- Do not invent categories that don't exist, do not leave out categories that do exist
- Each category should appear as its own section with an internal link suggestion
- This ensures the page acts as a proper hub linking to all child pages

For non-hub pages (single service page, blog post), use site structure to suggest relevant internal links but do not force every category into the outline.

### Output Language Rules

- Never mention researcher names, framework names, or tool names in the output (no "Ben Goodey method", "Frase.io formula", "Princeton GEO", "Clearscope", "Backlinko")
- These are internal thinking tools only. The output must read as plain, professional advice.
- Write for a business owner or content writer, not an SEO academic

## Keyword Density and Placement

Read `references/keyword-density.md` for the full rules. Summary: