You will be able to write a content brief detailed enough that you or a writer can build a page that wins the query.
Open your keyword map from Lesson 2.5, Build your keyword map, and pick the one search you most want a page to rank for. Write it at the top of a blank document. Everything else in that document will be a decision about the page, made before anyone writes it.
You need this document because of what happens without it. If you ask a writer to "write us a blog post about PSLE maths", you get competent, generic copy that is close to the five pages already ranking. Nothing in the request gives the writer a reason to do anything different. The same thing happens when you are the writer, brief yourself only in your head and start typing.
A content brief is one document that holds every decision about a page before anyone writes it. It records who the page is for, what it must answer, what makes it different, and how you will know it worked. Writing one brings everything from module 5 and much of modules 2 and 3 into a single brief for a single search. The parts go in a fixed order: target, reader, main answer, follow-up questions, format and outline, what makes it yours, author, links in, links out, call to action and success measures. A finished brief fits on about two pages.
The example throughout is Priya, a PSLE maths tutor who teaches upper primary maths. Each section below shows part of a shortened version of her brief for a heuristics guide.
The target section starts with the main search and the keyword cluster it belongs to, both taken from your keyword map. Next, name the topic cluster the page sits in, using Lesson 5.4, Topic clusters and internal links. Finish with the intent, as you confirmed it on the results page. Priya's target search is "how to solve PSLE maths heuristics". It sits in a cluster on PSLE heuristics, inside her PSLE maths topic cluster, and the intent is informational.
The reader section is one or two sentences on who is searching and what situation they are in. For example: a parent of a P5 child losing marks on problem sums, probably not a maths specialist, reading on a phone in the evening. Priya's reader is a P5 or P6 parent whose child knows the heuristics by name but cannot tell which one to use.
The main answer is the two or three sentences that will open the page, written out in full. If you cannot write them yet, you are not ready to brief the page. Priya's main answer says that heuristics are named strategies for problem sums, such as drawing a model or working backwards. Most children know several but lose marks because they cannot tell which one a question needs, and the guide shows how to spot it.
List five or more follow-up questions, in the order a reader would ask them. They become the page's subheadings. You find them using Lesson 5.1, Match the format and depth the searcher needs. Priya's follow-ups are which heuristics come up most, how to choose, what to do when a child freezes, common model-drawing mistakes, and how a parent who never learned the model method can help.
For format and outline, state the format the top results use and the format you will use. Then list the headings in order, as you practised in Lesson 3.2, Headings, body copy and the words people use. Priya will write a guide with worked examples and photos of real models, which matches the top results.
The section on what makes it yours draws on Lesson 5.2, Add what the current results are missing, and it holds three lists. The first is first-hand details: examples from your work, photos you will take, your own figures and mistakes you have seen. The second is proof, such as reviews, results shared with permission and credentials. The third is sources for any facts or figures. Where a figure changes often, name the official site where readers should look it up. Priya's first-hand details are her three-question checklist, two anonymised pupil errors and four photos of wrong models with corrections.
Name the author who will appear on the page and add a line about their experience. If the page touches money, health or safety, also state what qualifications or licence details will be shown. Priya's author line is "Priya, twelve years teaching upper primary maths."
Links in are the pages on your site that will link to this one, each with the anchor text it will use. Priya's links in are the PSLE maths overview page and the P5 and P6 class pages. Links out are the pages this one sends readers to next, including any service page. Hers are the overview, the Paper 2 mistakes page and the P5 class page.
The call to action must fit the intent and match what the reader is ready to do. An early-stage informational guide for worried parents might offer a free worksheet or a link to a related guide. A commercial page might ask the reader to book a trial or ask for fees. The lessons on calls to action in the course Content and copywriting that people read cover this matching in more detail. Priya offers a free set of five practice problems sent on WhatsApp, with a note about trial classes.
Choose the measures you will check in Search Console after three months. These are impressions and clicks for the main search and for the page, average position for the main search, and whether the page is indexed. Under them, write down today's figures if the page already exists, or "new page" if it does not. You will learn to read Search Console in module 9. Priya's measure is that after three months the page is indexed and shows impressions and clicks for the main search.
When you finish, a writer should be able to work from your brief without asking you any questions. Choose your top priority search and write yours as the activity below sets out.
Use your results-page notes and the gaps you found to write a full content brief for one priority search.
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