Content briefs are killing creativity and rankings
Today’s opinion post is by Alex Foster, Head of SEO at Quikster. He has over 15 years of experience in marketing, SEO, and analytics.
Content briefs have become a real pain point lately. I’ve watched good writers turn into robots, cranking out articles that sound just like everything else online. After spending years in content marketing, I can tell you firsthand - these overly detailed briefs are doing more harm than good.
I recently had a writer tell me she felt like a machine, just filling in predetermined sections without any room to explore better angles. That hit home. These briefs, originally meant to guide content creation, have morphed into rigid frameworks that squeeze the life out of any original thinking.
Structure matters. Data helps. But when every subheading is dictated and keyword counts become gospel, we lose something vital. Last month, I compared three competitor articles on the same topic - they were practically identical. Same flow, same points, same tired examples. No wonder readers bounce.
Google’s getting better at spotting this manufactured content too. While we obsess over hitting exact keyword densities and following strict outlines, the algorithm keeps evolving. It wants authentic, valuable content that helps people. Not another cookie-cutter article checking predetermined boxes.
- Originality suffers: Over-reliance on briefs leads to cookie-cutter content, making your brand voice just another echo in the crowded digital landscape.
- Stifled creativity: Writers become order-takers, not creators, dulling their edge and reducing innovation in storytelling.
- Missed opportunities: Following a brief too religiously means bypassing fresh angles, relegating unique insights to the trash.
- SEO stagnation: Rigid adherence to pre-set keywords without room for exploring intuitive, naturally-derived phrases can cause rankings to stall.
I’m not saying throw out briefs completely. That would be chaos. But maybe loosen the reins a bit. Give writers room to discover interesting tangents, explore unexpected angles, adapt when something isn’t working.
Think of briefs more like rough sketches than architectural blueprints. Set the destination but let your team find interesting routes to get there. Some of our best-performing content came from writers who dared to deviate from the brief when they spotted a better approach.
Trust your content team’s instincts. They know your brand voice, they follow industry trends, they understand what resonates with readers. A writer’s gut feeling often beats a mechanical checklist.
Content creators are storytellers at heart. When we strip away their ability to craft engaging narratives in favor of filling predetermined slots, we’re wasting talent and creating forgettable content.
Time to rebuild these briefs from the ground up. Make them flexible frameworks that inspire rather than restrict. Because real creativity - the kind that captures attention and drives sharing - needs space to breathe. Rankings tend to follow when you focus on creating genuinely valuable content first.