Topic clusters · Briefs · Editorial calendars · AI-citation shape

Content Strategy

Content built for both search rankings and AI citations. Topic clusters mapped to commercial intent, briefs that brief writers (not just describe topics), editorial calendars that ship — and content shapes engineered for ChatGPT and Perplexity to quote.

What it is

Content Strategy, defined.

Content built for both search rankings and AI citations. Topic-cluster strategy mapped to commercial intent, briefs that brief writers (not just describe topics), 12-week rolling editorial calendars, and AI-citation content shapes engineered for ChatGPT and Perplexity to quote verbatim.

Why it matters

The cost of not fixing this.

Most content programs publish at volume but don't compound. The cause is upstream of the writers: no cluster strategy, no intent mapping, briefs that don't tell writers what to write, and content shapes optimized for human reading — not for the LLM extracts that will represent your brand inside AI answers. Fixing the upstream lifts every piece the program ships from then on.

How it works

Engagement mechanics.

A brief + edit + publish flow. I produce a 12-week editorial calendar updated weekly, write briefs detailed enough that any decent writer can execute, and edit final drafts for AI-citation shape. If you don't have writers, I bring vetted ones; if you do, I plug in alongside them.

The process

Phased, not pitched.

Each phase has a defined scope, a defined deliverable, and a defined timeline. No mystery, no scope creep.

  1. 01

    Weeks 1–2

    Cluster + intent map

    Top 10 commercial themes identified. Intent mapped per theme (informational / commercial / transactional / navigational). Target keywords selected (head + long-tail). Content-type plan: pillar / cluster / FAQ / product.

  2. 02

    Week 2

    Editorial calendar

    12-week rolling calendar set up: topic, intent, target keyword, assigned writer, deadline, publication date. Updated weekly with GSC data so the next 2 weeks always reflect what's moving.

  3. 03

    Continuous

    Brief + draft

    Briefs delivered ~3–5 days before deadline. Writers execute. I edit drafts for AI-citation shape — definition blocks, FAQ schema, citation-dense paragraphs LLMs can quote.

  4. 04

    Monthly

    Reporting

    Page-level performance: rankings, traffic, citations in ChatGPT and Perplexity for the priority pages. Identifies what's working and what needs refresh.

What you walk away with

Measurable outcomes.

  • A 12-week editorial calendar that actually ships — not the kind that's pinned to a Notion page and forgotten
  • Briefs delivered ~3–5 days before deadline with writer-ready specs (target keyword, intent, search-result analysis, internal-link targets, success metric)
  • Final drafts edited for AI-citation shape — content that ranks AND gets cited
  • Page-level performance reports showing which pieces are working and which need refresh
  • Documented brief template + AI-citation content spec your team applies to new content forever
Evidence

Receipts, not promises.

Programs run for 6 clients across B2B SaaS, e-commerce, healthcare, and packaging. Recent results: a Canadian healthcare practice (1.6× organic traffic in 4 months on a 16-page program), a UK packaging brand (zero AI citations baseline → cited in 4 of 5 priority queries in 9 weeks), a US SaaS company (47% increase in non-brand traffic in 6 months).

Capabilities

What's covered under this pillar.

  • Topic Clusters
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Content Briefs
  • Pillar Pages
  • AI-Citation Content
  • Internal Linking
  • Intent Mapping
FAQ

Honest answers, before the call.

Do you write the content yourself or hand it to my writers?

Both. I produce briefs detailed enough that any decent writer can execute, and I edit final drafts for AI-citation shape. If you don't have writers, I bring vetted ones at +$0.20/word.

What does an editorial calendar look like?

12-week rolling calendar with topic clusters, search intent, target keyword (head + long-tail), assigned writer, deadline, and publication date. Updated weekly with GSC data so the next 2 weeks always reflect what's actually moving.

Do you cover blog AND money pages?

Yes — blog (TOFU/MOFU), pillar pages (MOFU/BOFU), product/service pages (BOFU). Each gets a different brief shape, a different word-count target, and a different success metric.

How often should we publish new content?

Cadence matters less than topical authority. Two well-briefed pieces a month that close real topic gaps beats four shallow posts. Most B2B programs settle at 4–8 publishes per month once the topic-cluster strategy is in place; the wrong question is "how often to post" — the right one is "what gaps remain in my cluster strategy this month?".

Does AI-generated content actually rank in Google in 2026?

Yes — Google ranks content by quality signals, not authorship. Pure unedited LLM output usually fails on quality (no original insight, no specific examples, no defensible position). LLM-assisted content with human editing for original framing, named entities, and verified claims ranks fine. Google's March 2024 helpful-content updates penalized scaled low-effort AI content; quality-edited AI content was unaffected.

How do you decide which old posts to refresh vs delete?

Three criteria: (1) does the page have impressions in GSC for queries with commercial intent → refresh, (2) is the topic still relevant but the post is outdated/thin → refresh, (3) is the topic dead, the keyword cannibalizes a stronger page, or the page has no impressions for 6+ months → consolidate or delete with redirect. Refreshing typically lifts CTR more than position; consolidating typically lifts position more than CTR.

Content Strategy

Ready to start?

30 minutes, live screen-share, 5 prioritized fixes for this exact pillar. Concrete recommendations in your inbox within 48 hours of the call.

No contract No commitment Reply within 24h
Other pillars

Explore the rest of the practice

AI Engine Optimization

GEO · AEO · Voice · LLM Optimization

Position your brand inside generative AI answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini. Workflows for entity coverage, semantic clusters, and answer-first content that LLMs cite.

Learn more

AI Automation & Agentic AI

AI Agents · Workflows · SEO Ops automation

Custom AI agents and automated workflows that compound your team's output. From SEO ops automation to multi-step research agents — Agentic AI built for real production use, not demos.

Learn more

Local & International SEO

GMB · Map Pack · hreflang · Multi-region

Win the Map Pack at home and rank globally abroad. End-to-end Local SEO plus international architecture (hreflang, multi-region) — proven across Canada, UK, USA, Australia, and UAE.

Learn more