Content brief
A content brief is a short plan for a page: who it's for, the questions it answers, the facts it must include and how you'll know it worked.
A content brief is a short plan for a page, written before anyone writes the page. It says who the page is for, which questions it answers, what facts it has to include, and how you'll know whether it worked. The writer gets it, and so does whoever approves the page.
For AI search, a good brief starts from the answers. You already know which questions people ask, which pages the platforms cite, and which competitors they name. The brief turns that into a page that has a real chance of being used.
What to put in it
- The prompts the page should answer, word for word
- The pages the platforms cite for those prompts today, and what they cover that you don't
- The competitors named in the answers, and why
- The facts the page must state plainly, like prices, sizes and delivery areas
- What the opening should say, so the page answers the question in its first lines
- How you'll measure it: which prompts, which number, over what period
An example
Fernhill wants to be named for "best coffee subscription for an office." Its brief lists that prompt and four close variations. It notes that the answers cite two buying guides and Kestrel's office page, and that all three give prices per person per week. It asks for a page that opens with Fernhill's office prices in one sentence, has a table of plan sizes, and names the cities with next-day delivery. Success is being named in a third of answers to those five prompts within eight weeks.
Why the brief matters
The brief is where the evidence meets the writer. Without it, a page gets written from what the brand wants to say. With it, the page is written from what the answers show people are asking.
In AnswerOrbit
A recommendation such as creating a page on a topic, in Recommendations, comes with why it matters, the steps to take, and the answers and pages it's based on. Page checks run the same eight checks on your page and on up to five pages the platforms cite for the prompt, so you can see what the brief needs to cover.