I would not hand a writer an SEO content brief that is mostly empty fields and keyword counts. Briefs exist to prevent wasted drafts, not to look professional in a shared doc.
A bad brief wastes a week. A good one saves one.
The brief needs a job
One sentence: what is the reader trying to do when they land here — buy, compare, learn a narrow how-to, or find a local provider — and if you cannot answer that in plain language, stop briefing and research SERPs first.
Include proof the writer must use
Real examples, screenshots, pricing ranges, customer objections, internal data.
Without proof, writers fill space with generic advice.
Say what to avoid
No FAQ unless the SERP truly rewards it.
No repeating the intro three ways.
No chasing tangential keywords that belong on another URL.
Link intent
Name the internal links this page should support and the page it should point to next.
A brief without internal linking is half a brief.
A good SEO brief reads like instructions from someone who already clicked the top ten results and knows what is missing. Anything less is keyword decoration.
