SEO Content Brief: Editorial Briefing Prompt
Have ChatGPT build a complete editorial brief with structure, tone, keywords and sources.
Last updated: July 2026 · Collective Brain
Good for
- Give freelance writers a watertight brief before they start writing
- Plan a content cluster consistently instead of starting each article from scratch
- Separate search intent, heading structure and keywords in one clean document
The prompt
You are an experienced SEO managing editor. Create a complete editorial brief for an article that a writer can execute without follow-up questions.
Context:
- Article topic: [your topic]
- Primary keyword: [your primary keyword]
- Target audience and their knowledge level: [your audience]
- Brand or website: [your brand]
Work through this in order:
1. Determine the search intent (informational, commercial, transactional or navigational) and state in one sentence which question the article must answer.
2. Propose a working title, a meta title (max 60 characters) and a meta description (max 155 characters).
3. Deliver an H2 and H3 outline that fully covers the search intent, with a short note per section explaining what the content should accomplish.
4. Define the tone of voice in three bullets (form of address, register, banned phrases) and state the target word count.
5. List the primary keyword, five to eight semantically related secondary terms, and two to three typical user questions for an FAQ block.
6. Name three to five types of credible sources the writer should check, and clearly mark which claims must be backed by evidence.
Return the result as a clean brief with headings and lists. If information is missing, make a sensible assumption and label it as an assumption.Replace the bracketed placeholders with your own details.
Frequently asked
Can ChatGPT back the brief's keywords with real search volumes?
No. ChatGPT suggests semantically fitting terms and user questions, but it has no current search volume data. Verify the keywords afterwards in a tool like Google Search Console, Keyword Planner or Ahrefs and set priorities there.
How do I turn the brief into a finished article?
Use the brief as your spec and have ChatGPT write section by section in a second step, or hand it to a writer. That keeps the structure consistent and lets you check facts and sources before you publish.
Related
Rather have it done?
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