Creating comprehensive content briefs manually can take hours of research and competitor analysis. This workflow shows you how to use AI tools to automatically generate data-driven content briefs that include keyword research, competitor insights, content structure, and detailed outlines. You'll end up with a complete brief that gives writers everything they need to create high-ranking content.
This process is perfect for content managers, SEO specialists, and agencies who need to scale brief creation while maintaining quality and depth. The workflow combines automated research with AI analysis to produce briefs that would normally require 3-4 hours of manual work.
What You'll Need
Active subscriptions to Frase and Keyword Insights, plus a ChatGPT account. You'll also need a target keyword or topic to build the brief around, and access to your brand guidelines or content style requirements. Make sure you have competitor URLs identified beforehand if you want to include specific competitive analysis.
Step 1: Generate Primary Keyword Research
Time: 8-10 minutes | Tool: Keyword Insights Open Keyword Insights and navigate to the Keyword Research tool. Enter your primary target keyword in the search field and select your target country/language. Set the search volume filter to show keywords with at least 100 monthly searches to focus on viable opportunities. Click "Generate Keywords" and wait for the tool to pull related terms, questions, and long-tail variations. Export the results as a CSV file, focusing on keywords with search volumes between 100-10,000 monthly searches that align with your content goals. Look for question-based keywords and "how to" phrases that indicate informational search intent. Sort the results by relevance score and search volume to identify 15-20 primary and secondary keywords that should be included in your content brief. These will form the foundation of your content strategy.
Step 2: Analyze Search Intent and Competitor Content
Time: 12-15 minutes | Tool: Frase Launch Frase and create a new document using your primary target keyword. The platform will automatically analyze the top 20 Google results for that keyword. Wait for Frase to complete its SERP analysis, which typically takes 2-3 minutes. Review the "Competitors" tab to see which sites are ranking in the top 10. Click through to examine their content structure, word count, and key topics covered. Pay attention to the "Statistics" section which shows average word count, heading count, and reading level of ranking pages. Navigate to the "Questions" tab to see what questions searchers are asking related to your topic. Frase pulls these from People Also Ask boxes and related searches. Export or copy the most relevant questions - these will become subsections in your content outline.
Step 3: Extract Key Topics and Themes
Time: 8-10 minutes | Tool: Frase In your Frase document, click on the "Topics" tab to see the most frequently mentioned concepts across all ranking competitors. The tool uses AI to identify semantic themes and displays them as a topic cloud with frequency scores. Select 10-15 high-frequency topics that are relevant to your target audience and business goals. These topics represent the semantic keywords and concepts you need to cover to compete effectively. Note the topic scores - aim to include topics that appear in 70%+ of ranking content. Use the "Outline" feature in Frase to see how competitors structure their content. Look for common H2 and H3 patterns across multiple ranking pages. This reveals the content architecture that search engines expect for your target keyword.
Step 4: Create Comprehensive Content Structure
Time: 10-12 minutes | Tool: ChatGPT Open ChatGPT and input a detailed prompt combining your research data. Use this template: "Create a comprehensive content brief for [target keyword]. Include these semantic topics: [list from Frase], answer these questions: [list from Frase Questions tab], target these secondary keywords: [list from Keyword Insights], and structure for [target word count] words." Specify your content goals, target audience, and desired content format (blog post, guide, etc.). Ask ChatGPT to create an outline with specific H2 and H3 headings, suggested word counts per section, and key points to cover under each heading. Request that ChatGPT include a recommended title tag, meta description, and internal linking suggestions based on your topic cluster. The AI should also suggest relevant statistics, examples, or case studies to include in each section.
Step 5: Develop Detailed Writing Guidelines
Time: 8-10 minutes | Tool: ChatGPT In the same ChatGPT conversation, ask the AI to generate specific writing guidelines for your brief. Request tone and style recommendations based on the competitor analysis, including whether the content should be technical, conversational, or authoritative. Ask ChatGPT to specify the target reading level, sentence length recommendations, and any industry-specific terminology to include or avoid. The AI should also suggest calls-to-action, conversion elements, and where to place them within the content structure. Request formatting guidelines including how to use bullet points, numbered lists, and visual elements like tables or infographics. Have ChatGPT specify where to include statistics, quotes, or expert opinions to support key points.
Step 6: Compile Final Content Brief Document
Time: 5-8 minutes | Tool: ChatGPT Ask ChatGPT to format everything into a complete content brief template. The final document should include: target keyword and secondary keywords, competitor analysis summary, detailed content outline, word count targets per section, writing guidelines, and SEO requirements. Include specific requirements for images, internal links, and external citations. Add your brand voice guidelines and any legal or compliance requirements relevant to your industry. Specify the desired publish date and any promotional plans that might affect the content angle. Export or copy the completed brief into your content management system or share it with your writing team. The brief should be comprehensive enough that a writer can create the content without additional research.
Common Pitfalls
- Relying only on high-volume keywords without considering search intent alignment with your business goals
- Not analyzing enough competitor content to understand what depth and structure Google expects
- Creating outlines that are too similar to existing content instead of finding unique angles or gaps
- Forgetting to include conversion elements and calls-to-action in the content structure
Expected Results
You'll have a comprehensive 3-4 page content brief that includes data-driven keyword targeting, competitor-informed structure, and detailed writing guidelines. The brief should enable writers to create content that targets 15-20 relevant keywords naturally while covering all semantic themes needed to rank competitively. Expect your content creation time to decrease by 40-60% while maintaining higher topical relevance and search performance.