Resources & Templates

Ready-to-use templates, frameworks, and checklists to standardize your strategic SEO workflows. Copy these into Google Sheets or your preferred tool and adapt them to your needs.

How to Use These Resources

Start simple: These templates are starting points, not rigid rules. Adapt them to match your team's workflow, business context, and available data.

Living documents: Review and refine your templates quarterly. What works for a 5-person team won't scale to 50, and vice versa.

Share liberally: Make templates accessible to everyone who needs them. Standardization reduces friction and improves quality.

Content Brief Templates

Standard Content Brief Template

The foundation of quality content production at scale

Brief Components:

Target Keyword: Primary keyword with volume and difficulty
Search Intent: Informational, commercial, transactional, navigational
Target Audience: Who is searching and what do they need?
SERP Analysis Summary: Top-ranking content patterns and formats
Content Angle: Your unique take or perspective
Suggested Outline: H2/H3 structure based on SERP analysis
Questions to Answer: PAA and related questions from AlsoAsked
Internal Links: Suggested hub/spoke linking opportunities
Success Metrics: Target rankings, traffic, conversions
E-E-A-T Signals: Author credentials, citations, original data needed

Pro tip: Store briefs in a shared folder (Sheets, Notion, Airtable) with status tracking. This creates an audit trail and helps onboard new writers.

Editorial Calendar Templates

Editorial Calendar & Workflow Tracker

Manage content pipeline from brief to publish

Calendar Columns:

Content Title / Topic
Target Keyword (with volume)
Priority (High/Medium/Low based on traffic potential × business value)
Status (Backlog → Briefed → Drafted → Review → Published)
Assigned Writer
Draft Due Date
Publish Date
Content Brief Link
Live URL (once published)
Notes (blockers, dependencies)

Advanced: Add conditional formatting to highlight overdue items, color-code by content pillar, or create pivot tables for capacity planning.

Keyword Clustering Framework

Keyword Grouping & Topical Authority Mapping

Organize keywords into content clusters and hub pages

Clustering Approach:

Export Keywords: Pull 500-2000 keywords from Ahrefs/Semrush for your topic
Group by Intent: Create tabs for Informational, Commercial, Transactional
Identify Parent Topics: Look for keyword modifiers that suggest subtopics
Create Hub Pages: Assign broad head terms as hub content
Map Spoke Pages: Group related long-tail keywords under each hub
Plan Internal Links: Define which spoke pages link back to hub

Example Cluster:

Hub: "content marketing strategy" (2,500 volume)

Spokes:

• "content marketing strategy template" (400 volume)
• "how to create a content marketing strategy" (600 volume)
• "B2B content marketing strategy" (300 volume)
• "content marketing strategy examples" (500 volume)

SERP Analysis Template

Systematic SERP Review Framework

Analyze top 10 results to inform content strategy

What to Track:

URL & Page Title of top 10 results
Domain Authority (Ahrefs DR or Semrush AS)
Content Format (listicle, guide, comparison, tool)
Word Count (to gauge depth expectations)
SERP Features (featured snippet, PAA, video, images)
Content Gaps (topics competitors missed)
Common Subtopics (recurring H2/H3 patterns)
E-E-A-T Signals (author bios, citations, original research)

Time saver: Use Thruuu to automate most of this analysis. Export to Sheets and add your qualitative notes.

KPI Dashboard Template

SEO Performance Tracking Dashboard

Monitor key metrics and prove ROI

Essential KPIs:

Organic Traffic: Monthly visitors from search (GA4)
Keyword Rankings: Top 3, Top 10, Top 20 counts (Ahrefs/Semrush)
Click-Through Rate: Average CTR by position (GSC)
Impressions: Total search visibility (GSC)
Conversions from Organic: Leads, sales, signups (GA4)
Pages Indexed: Coverage status (GSC)
Backlinks: Referring domains and total links (Ahrefs)
Content Published: New pages this month

Dashboard Structure:

Build in Looker Studio with three sections:

• Executive Summary: High-level metrics with MoM % change
• Traffic Breakdown: By landing page, device, country
• Content Performance: Top pages by traffic, conversions

E-E-A-T Checklist

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust

Google's quality framework for content evaluation

Content Checklist:

Experience: Does the author have first-hand experience with the topic?
Author Bio: Detailed bio with credentials, photo, social links
Citations: Link to authoritative sources for claims
Original Research: Proprietary data, surveys, case studies
Content Freshness: Last updated date and review schedule
Transparency: About page, contact info, editorial standards
Reviews/Testimonials: User-generated trust signals

Link Prospecting Workflow

Outreach Tracker & Link Building Pipeline

Systematic approach to earning backlinks

Prospecting Columns:

Target Website (domain)
Domain Authority (DR/DA)
Contact Name (editor, journalist)
Contact Email (verified)
Linkable Asset (which of your pages)
Outreach Status (Not Contacted → Sent → Follow-up → Earned → Declined)
Date Contacted
Response Date
Link URL (if earned)
Notes

Pro tip: Target a 5-10% conversion rate from outreach to earned link. Quality over quantity—personalized emails to relevant sites beat mass blasts.

Getting Started with Templates

Step 1: Start with the Content Brief and Editorial Calendar templates. These are foundational for any content operation.

Step 2: Add Keyword Clustering and SERP Analysis templates once you're consistently publishing content.

Step 3: Implement KPI Dashboard when you have 3-6 months of data to track trends.

Step 4: Add Link Prospecting workflow once you have linkable assets (research, tools, data).

Remember: Templates are starting points. Customize them based on your team size, industry, and business goals. Review quarterly and refine based on what actually gets used.