Last updated: November 1, 2026.
Good content is often won or lost before the writing even starts. Because the most expensive mistake in content production isn’t bad writing; it’s trying to produce the right article from the wrong brief.
We see this a lot on the agency side. When the brief isn’t prepared properly, the same work may need to be redone 4-5 times. The writer prepares the text, the client asks for changes, the SEO team steps in, the text gets rewritten. In the end, the problem is usually not the writer but the fact that what needed to be produced wasn’t described accurately enough at the start.
That’s why, for me, a content brief is much more than a list of “use this keyword this many times”.
1. What is a content brief?
A content brief isn’t a document that just tells the writer what topic to write about. It describes why the content is being produced, who it’s for, which question it will answer, which topics it will cover, which topics it shouldn’t get into and which sources it will draw on.
A good brief should answer at least these questions:
- Why is this content being prepared?
- Who is it for?
- What is the user’s problem?
- What searches will bring users to this page?
- What is the search intent?
- What are competitors covering?
- What will we cover that’s different from them?
- Which questions must be answered?
- Which sources are needed?
- Which pages will we link to internally?
- What do we expect the user to do at the end of the content?
If these answers are missing, we’ve only given the writer a topic. We haven’t given them a brief.
2. The first topic isn’t the keyword, it’s the audience
I think this is one of the areas where clients make the most mistakes. When content comes up, the first question is usually “How many searches does this keyword get?” But I think there’s a question that should be asked before that:
Who are we writing for?
Completely different content can be prepared for different audiences for the same product. For example, let’s say we sell a professional coffee machine.
For a café owner, these topics may matter more:
- Capacity
- Daily usage volume
- Service
- Maintenance cost
- Durability
- Spare parts
- Return on investment
A home user, on the other hand, may care more about:
- Size
- Cleaning
- Ease of use
- Milk frothing
- Noise
- Design
Same product, similar keyword, but not the same user. That’s why keyword research alone isn’t enough when preparing a brief. You also need to do audience analysis.
3. You also need to question the audience the client describes
This topic is a bit sensitive but important. Clients don’t always see their own brand the way we see it from the outside.
For example, a client might say “We’re a luxury brand.” But when you look at the website, the images, product presentation, pricing policy, logo use, writing style, social media content or packaging design may not support a luxury brand perception.
I don’t think it’s right to write “Audience: premium consumers” in the brief without questioning what the client said. You need to raise the issue in a suitable tone:
“We understand that you want to position the brand as premium, but we see a few points in your current digital communication that don’t support that perception. Should we build the content tone around the positioning you’re aiming for, or should we also look at the current brand perception together?”
I think the agency’s job isn’t just to execute the brief it’s given. Questioning the brief when needed is also part of our job. Because executing the wrong strategy very well still produces the wrong result.
4. The purpose of the content should be clear
Not every piece of content is prepared for the same purpose. A piece can be created to bring traffic, sell a product, build brand awareness, answer a question, move users to a category page, collect leads or show expertise.
For example, “what is SEO” and “SEO agency pricing” are not at the same point in the user journey. In the first query the user may be learning about the topic, while in the second they may be much closer to buying a service.
If we don’t know the purpose of the content, we can get the CTA, the depth of the content and even the page type wrong.
5. The brief should include not just the keyword but also the search intent
We talked about keyword research in detail in Chapter 9. At the brief stage, we use the output of that research. But just telling the writer “keyword: espresso machine” isn’t enough.
They also need to know: Why is the user searching for this keyword?
For example:
- “what is an espresso machine”: They may be looking for information.
- “best espresso machine”: They may be comparing options.
- “espresso machine prices”: They may be closer to buying.
There are three different search intents and three different content approaches for the same product group. That’s why the search intent should be clearly stated in the brief.
6. The SERP also tells us the content format
Searching the query on Google before preparing content is still one of the simplest and most useful analyses you can do.
I look at:
- Is Google showing category pages?
- Product pages?
- Blog posts?
- List content?
- Videos?
- Forum results?
- Comparison pages?
If Google mostly shows category pages on the first page, writing a 4,000-word blog post may not be the right approach. Or if Google highlights list content like “Top 10…”, the user probably doesn’t want a single product description.
SERP analysis tells us not only about competitors but also how Google interprets that query.
7. Competitor analysis: not to copy, but to find the gap
When doing competitor analysis, I sometimes see a bad habit. We open the top three results, collect their headings, then use the same headings in our own article.
That isn’t competitor analysis. That’s a plan for copying content.
What I want to see is:
- Which questions have competitors answered?
- Which topics have they skipped?
- Where have they stayed superficial?
- Which examples haven’t they given?
- Which problems keep coming up in user comments?
- After reading the competitor’s article, which question is still left unanswered?
The goal shouldn’t be “Whatever the competitor has, we should have too.” It should be “Let’s understand what the competitor has and find what the user still needs.”
8. Where do we find users’ real questions?
Google is a great source for this. Search suggestions, People also ask, related searches and the actual SERP results give us a lot of ideas.
But Google isn’t the only source. I also value the client’s own data a lot:
- Questions coming in to customer service
- WhatsApp messages
- Product reviews
- Questions the sales team gets
- Questions before a quote
- Complaints
- Questions from dealers
What users search on Google tells us what they’re looking for. What they ask the sales team tells us what worries them before they buy.
When we put these two side by side, very good content ideas can come out.
9. The sales team sometimes gives more valuable data than an SEO tool
Think of a machinery manufacturer. SEO tools may show us queries like:
- packaging machine prices
- automatic packaging machine
- vertical packaging machine
But customers may keep asking the sales team questions like:
- How many packages does it make per hour?
- Which products does it package?
- How many staff does it need?
- How long does installation take?
- Are spare parts available?
- Do you offer service outside Turkey?
- Can the machine be customized for our product?
The SEO tool shows search demand. The sales team shows the barriers to buying.
A good brief brings these two kinds of data together.
10. Search Console can be used to understand existing users
When we’re going to produce new content, I don’t only look at third-party tools. If the site already gets traffic, Search Console is very valuable.
We can look at this data for a page:
- Which queries it gets impressions from
- Which queries it gets clicks from
- Which queries it’s stuck at positions 8-15 for
- Which unexpected queries it has started appearing for
Sometimes content was prepared for one purpose, but Google has started associating the page with different queries. This can give us new headings or new content ideas.
Sometimes it’s even better to expand the existing content instead of writing new content.
11. What goes into the same piece should be decided from the start
Let’s say we found these queries:
- espresso machine cleaning
- how to clean an espresso machine
- espresso machine descaling
- coffee machine cleaning
We don’t have to write a separate article for each of these. Queries that serve the same user need can be gathered into one strong piece.
But “espresso machine cleaning” and “espresso machine buying guide” don’t have to be on the same page.
If we don’t separate these at the brief stage, we may run into keyword cannibalization problems later.
12. The H1, H2, H3 structure can be planned before the writer starts
A good brief can include an overall heading structure, but we shouldn’t overdo this either. If we give the writer 25 headings and say “Use all of these in order”, the content can become robotic.
For example:
- H1: How to Choose an Espresso Machine?
- H2: What Should You Look for When Choosing an Espresso Machine?
- H2: Differences Between Home and Professional Machines
- H2: Does the Pressure Value Matter?
- H2: Who Are Models With a Built-in Grinder For?
- H2: Cleaning and Maintenance Costs
- H2: Frequently Asked Questions
This structure gives the writer direction. But if a better section comes up during research, it can be added.
A brief isn’t a law, it’s a roadmap.
13. The “use the keyword 10 times” approach
We still sometimes see briefs like this:
- Use the keyword 12 times.
- Use the secondary keyword 7 times.
- Put the keyword in the first paragraph.
- Include the keyword in every H2.
This approach can seriously damage content quality. The writer stops answering the user and starts counting words.
Using the keyword naturally in the content is of course important. But I think the purpose of a brief isn’t to lock the writer into keyword density; it’s to make sure they cover the topic completely and accurately.
14. Internal links should be planned at the brief stage
Instead of saying “Now let’s add a few internal links here” after the content is written, it’s healthier to identify related pages while preparing the brief.
For example, if we’re preparing a coffee machine guide, these pages can be identified from the start:
- Espresso machines category
- Coffee grinders
- Coffee beans
- Cleaning products
- The “how to make espresso” article
This lets the writer use the links naturally and also supports the site architecture.
15. Image needs are part of the brief too
Instead of looking for images at the end, you need to think about them from the start.
- Do we need a product photo?
- An infographic?
- A comparison table?
- A diagram?
- A screenshot?
- A video?
- A photo from a real project?
For example, if we’re explaining “espresso machine parts”, a good image showing the parts can be far more useful than explaining it in text alone.
Sometimes an image explains things better than 300 words.
16. Sources should be decided from the start
Especially on health, finance, legal or technical topics, sources shouldn’t be an afterthought.
These sources can be identified in the brief from the start:
- Official sources
- Academic studies
- Manufacturer documentation
- Industry data
- Trustworthy expert sources
This is also where E-E-A-T, which we discussed in Chapter 20, comes in. If the content makes an important claim, there should be an answer to the question “How do we know this?”
17. The tone of the content should match the brand
A good brief doesn’t only explain SEO. It explains the brand too.
- Will we be friendly?
- Corporate?
- Technical?
- Plain?
- Premium?
- Youthful?
- Expert?
A brand that speaks very casually on social media and overly formally on its website can sometimes create a serious disconnect.
A brand selling children’s products and an industrial machinery manufacturer can’t use the same language either.
Here we go back to the audience again: Who’s speaking, and who are they speaking to?
18. What if there’s a gap between the client’s brief and the actual brand?
A client may tell us “We’re a premium brand, make the copy luxurious.” But if the current brand identity doesn’t support that, content alone can’t create that perception.
Sometimes the problem isn’t the content, but areas like:
- Visual identity
- Product photos
- Web design
- Price positioning
- Packaging
- Social media communication
In that case, instead of telling the client “The brief is wrong”, you need to explain the gap between the current perception and the target perception in a suitable tone.
I think one of the important points in client management is this: listen to the client, but don’t carry out everything they say without questioning it.
19. Why does a bad brief make you do the work 4-5 times?
We’ve been through this a lot.
The writer prepares the text. The client says “This isn’t our audience.” The text changes.
Then someone says “We don’t want to sound this technical.” It changes again.
Then the SEO side says “This doesn’t match the search intent.” It gets reworked.
Then the brand side says “This tone isn’t right for us.” The content is written one more time.
In fact, most of this feedback could have been resolved in the brief before the writing started.
That’s why a good brief doesn’t only improve content quality; it also saves time and money.
20. Does a very detailed brief kill creativity?
It can. That’s the other extreme.
If we give the writer everything, including the title, subheadings, first sentence, last sentence, words to use, examples, number of paragraphs and word count, there’s no need for a writer anymore.
A good brief says what needs to be covered and leaves the writer some room in how to cover it.
21. How do we decide on word count?
I’m not a big fan of rules like “An SEO article should be at least 2,000 words.”
The answer to some questions is 400 words. Some topics aren’t finished even in 4,000 words.
It’s better to look at:
- The scope of the topic
- The user’s need
- The search intent
- The SERP structure
- How much detail competitors give
Competitors’ word counts can give us an idea, but they shouldn’t be a rule.
The goal isn’t to write 500 words more than the competitor. It’s to meet the user’s need well enough.
22. Open the brief again after the content is finished
A brief isn’t just the file we send to the writer. It can also be used as a quality control document.
When the content is finished, we can check these questions again:
- Does it meet the search intent?
- Is it right for the audience?
- Have the key questions been answered?
- Are there unnecessary sections?
- Is the brand voice right?
- Have the internal links been added?
- Are the sources correct?
- Are the images ready?
- Is the CTA right?
- Does it offer value that’s different from competitors?
If this check isn’t done, the content may be technically fine but strategically wrong.
What do I roughly put in a content brief?
It doesn’t have to be the same for every project, but the basic structure can look like this:
- Purpose of the content
- Audience
- The user’s problem
- Primary keyword
- Secondary queries
- Search intent
- SERP analysis
- Competitors
- Where the content will make a difference
- H1
- Suggested H2s / H3s
- User questions to answer
- Questions from the sales team
- Sources to use
- Internal links
- Image needs
- CTA
- Brand voice
- Phrases or topics to avoid
- Information that needs to stay current
- Pre-publication checklist
But copying and pasting this into every project isn’t right either.
The brief for an e-commerce category page and a doctor’s health article can’t be the same.
What is the real purpose of a content brief?
I think the shortest answer is this:
Does everyone understand the same thing before the writing starts?
If the client is thinking one thing, the SEO team another, the writer another and the designer yet another, it’s very hard to produce good content.
The brief brings all of these to the same point.
Sometimes the problem in content production isn’t the writing. The writer wrote it well, but wrote the wrong thing.
I think this is where a good content brief helps the most:
Before getting the work written better, it gets the right work done.
Instead of rewriting a piece 4-5 times, thinking a bit more at the start and preparing the right brief is usually much cheaper and much faster.
Previous: Chapter 21: How Do We Enrich Google Results? · Contents · Next: Chapter 23: How Does Google Crawl Sites?
This chapter was first published in Turkish on X (September 24, 2026).