content-research

Systematic content research — topic cluster mapping, content gap analysis, keyword grouping, and search intent classification. Use when researching topics for content creation, SEO strategy, or authority building.

Model	Source
sonnet	pack: recon

Full Reference

content-research

Systematic research pipeline for content strategy. Maps topic clusters, identifies gaps, groups keywords by intent, and produces a structured content brief ready for execution.

Item	Value
Phases	5
Output	Content research brief + keyword map + gap analysis
Delegated skills	seo-audit (Phase 5), content-strategy (planning)
Approval gate	Phase 4 — stop before recommending execution

Reference Index

I want to…	File
Build a topic cluster map for the subject	reference/topic-authority.md
Research and group keywords by intent	reference/keyword-research.md
Structure the output as a content brief	reference/output-format.md

Phase Map

Phase	Focus	Output
1	Seed topic + pillar identification	Topic cluster skeleton
2	Keyword discovery + intent classification	Keyword groups by intent
3	Content gap analysis	Gap matrix vs competitors
4	Competitive content audit	Authority score + gaps
5	Brief assembly	Content research brief

Phase 1 — Seed Topic + Pillar Identification

1. Confirm the core topic with the user — one sentence, specific
2. Extract 3–5 pillar themes from the core topic
3. For each pillar, brainstorm 5–10 supporting subtopics
4. Map relationships: pillar → cluster → supporting content
5. Flag subtopics that are out of scope — include in brief as exclusions

See reference/topic-authority.md for cluster mapping rules and authority signals.

Phase 2 — Keyword Discovery + Intent Classification

1. Seed keywords from Phase 1 pillar themes
2. Expand with modifiers: informational (what/how/why), commercial (best/vs/review), transactional (buy/hire/get), navigational (brand + topic)
3. Group keywords into intent buckets
4. Note volume tiers: high (10k+), medium (1k–10k), low (<1k) — estimates acceptable without tool access
5. Flag keyword cannibalization risks — same intent, same site

See reference/keyword-research.md for grouping methodology and intent rules.

Phase 3 — Content Gap Analysis

Identify what exists vs what’s missing:

1. Audit existing content (if any) against the Phase 1 cluster map — mark covered, partial, missing
2. Search for top-ranking competitor content on each pillar keyword
3. Note topic angles, content formats, and depth that competitors cover but this site doesn’t
4. Identify “People Also Ask” questions with no current answer on site
5. Flag quick wins: topics with existing partial coverage that need expansion

Gap categories:

Gap Type	Description
Full gap	Topic cluster exists, zero coverage
Depth gap	Page exists, lacks depth vs competitors
Format gap	Topic covered but wrong format (e.g., needs video/table)
Freshness gap	Coverage exists but outdated (>18 months for fast-moving topics)
Intent gap	Page ranks for wrong intent — misaligned content

Phase 4 — Competitive Content Audit

STOP after Phase 4 output. Present findings for approval before recommending any execution.

For each major pillar keyword:

1. Identify top 3 ranking competitors
2. Note: word count, content format, heading structure, media use, schema markup
3. Score their authority signals: backlinks, topical depth, E-E-A-T signals
4. Find the angle they all miss — that’s the differentiation opportunity

Deep competitor content extraction: Use firecrawl to extract full competitor articles for gap analysis — captures heading structure, word count, media usage, and internal linking. Rate limit: max 10 firecrawl pages per competitive audit.

Signal	What to check
E-E-A-T	Author bio, credentials, first-hand experience signals
Freshness	Last updated date visible? Content matches current reality?
Comprehensiveness	Does it answer follow-up questions, or force a second search?
Trust	Sources cited? Data backed up? Claims verifiable?

Phase 5 — Brief Assembly

Compile Phase 1–4 findings into the content research brief template.

See reference/output-format.md for the full brief template.

After assembly, if the next step is active SEO work — invoke seo-audit. If it’s editorial planning — invoke content-strategy.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Correct approach
Researching without a defined core topic	Confirm the one-sentence topic before any research
Treating all keywords as equal	Group by intent first — intent mismatch kills rankings
Skipping gap analysis, jumping to writing	Gaps define what to create — writing without them is guessing
Copying competitor structure directly	Find the angle they all miss — differentiation beats imitation
One brief per keyword	One brief per pillar; supporting content listed within it
Skipping Phase 4 approval gate	Never recommend execution without sign-off on findings

Related Skills

• seo-audit — full technical + content audit
• content-strategy — editorial planning from brief output
• competitor-analysis — deeper competitive recon
• web-research — source gathering and fact validation
• schema-markup — structured data for content pages
• ai-visibility — LLM discoverability from content

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Announcement

┏━ 🔍 content-research ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓ ┃ Systematic content research — topic clusters, ┃ ┃ keyword intent, gap analysis, content brief ┃ ┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛