Weekly Content Brief Generator

5 content briefs in CMS/Notion with: title, keyword data, full outline, SEO notes, assignment, and deadline. Weekly report as Google Doc or Notion page shared with marketing team. Editorial calendar updated with new entries.

Before you start

Content strategy document with target topics and personas
Keyword research tool access with tracked keywords
Editorial calendar showing published and planned content
Target keyword list (10-20 keywords with search volume and difficulty)
Competitor content published this week (URLs or RSS feeds)
Product updates or company news to weave into content

The steps

Review last week's content performance — Pull analytics for content published in prior 2 weeks: page views, time on page, scroll depth, conversions (email signup or trial). Identify top performer (replicate angle) and worst performer (diagnose why). Note any content that ranked page 1 — schedule internal linking from new briefs.
Scan competitor content published this week — Check 3-5 competitor blogs and LinkedIn feeds. Log: topics they covered, angles they took, content formats used (listicle, how-to, comparison, case study). Identify gaps: topics they didn't cover well, angles they missed, questions they raised but didn't answer. These gaps are brief candidates.
Select 3-5 briefs to produce this week — Cross-reference: keyword opportunities (volume > 200, difficulty < 50) + competitor gaps + product news angles + past performance data. Select 3-5 topics. For each, assign: primary keyword, secondary keywords (3-5), target word count, content format, funnel stage (TOFU/MOFU/BOFU), target persona.
Write detailed brief for each piece — Each brief includes: working title (with primary keyword), target audience and their question, outline with H2/H3 structure (8-12 sections), key points to hit per section, internal links to existing content, external data/sources to reference, CTA (what the reader should do next), competitive differentiator (what makes ours better than the top 3 results).
Add SEO optimization notes — For each brief: recommended title tag (< 60 chars), meta description (< 155 chars), URL slug, featured snippet opportunity (if applicable — format answer as direct response in first 100 words), schema markup recommendation (FAQ, HowTo, or Article), and image alt text suggestions for planned visuals.
Assign and schedule in editorial calendar — Assign each brief to a writer (human or AI) with deadline. Set publish date based on optimal day/time from past analytics. Add to editorial calendar with status 'Brief Ready'. Notify assigned writer via Slack/email with brief link. Set review checkpoint 2 days before publish.
Generate weekly content report — Compile report: briefs produced this week, content published this week (with early performance), keyword movement (rankings gained/lost), total organic traffic trend, email signups from content. Highlight one insight or recommendation for strategy adjustment. Share with marketing lead.

If it goes wrong

Briefs too generic — writers produce thin content

Add 'unique angle' field to every brief. Force a specific POV, data point, or framework that differentiates from existing SERPs. Review SERP top 5 and explicitly state what's missing.

Keyword selection doesn't match business goals

Add funnel-stage requirement to weekly brief quota: minimum 1 BOFU piece per week. Review keyword-to-revenue attribution monthly to ensure SEO effort drives pipeline.

Competitor monitoring misses key publications

Expand RSS/alert coverage. Add LinkedIn company page monitoring for top 5 competitors. Set up Google Alerts for competitor brand + content keywords.

All OpenLabor playbooks