How to Generate SEO Content Briefs with Frase

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Updated · May 22, 2026

Most content briefs get written backwards. A writer picks a structure they like, adds headings that feel right, and hopes the result happens to match what Google’s already rewarding on page one. Frase flips that: it pulls the top 20 SERP results first, extracts what topics, questions, and headings those pages cover, then helps you assemble a brief from that data. You could approximate this manually with ChatGPT by pasting in competitor content one page at a time — but Frase automates the SERP pull and topic extraction in seconds, which is where it earns its price. Here’s the exact process, step by step.

Before you start, you’ll need a Frase account (the Solo plan runs around $15/month and covers four documents; a free trial is available), one specific target keyword, and about 20 minutes.

1. Create a new document and enter your keyword

From the Frase dashboard, click New Document in the top right corner. A modal will ask for a document title and your target keyword. Enter the exact keyword you want to rank for in the search field — one keyword, not a topic cluster.

Frase kicks off a SERP analysis automatically the moment you create the document. The progress bar at the top of the screen runs for about 15 to 30 seconds while it fetches data from the top 20 results.

One gotcha worth flagging upfront: Frase defaults to Google.com with US results. If you’re targeting a different country, go to Document Settings and change the search location before running the analysis. You can’t swap the SERP dataset after the fact without starting the document over.

2. Read the SERP data before you build anything

This step takes five minutes and most people skip it. Don’t.

The left-hand research panel lists all 20 results with estimated word count, content score, and heading count for each. Scan this before touching the brief builder. You’re looking for three things:

1. Average word count — Frase shows this at the top of the panel. If the average is 1,600 words and you brief a writer for 700, you’re starting behind.
2. Outliers — a single 4,000-word result with a high score often signals Google rewards depth for this keyword. A 300-word result from a major domain probably doesn’t mean thin content works; it means that domain gets a free pass you don’t.
3. Search intent — click through two or three of the actual results inline. Are they listicles? How-to guides? Comparison pages? If the intent is commercial investigation and your brief is set up for a tutorial, no volume of optimization fixes that mismatch.

This five minutes of context shapes every decision in the steps that follow.

3. Pull topics and questions into your brief

In the research panel, switch to the Topics tab. Frase has already extracted key topics from all 20 competitor pages and sorted them by frequency. A topic appearing across 15 of 20 results is essentially required coverage. One appearing in 3 of 20 is optional depth.

Click the checkbox next to any topic to add it to your brief as a suggested talking point. Aim for the top 10 to 15 topics that are directly relevant to your angle. You don’t need everything competitors mention — you need what your specific piece actually has to cover.

Then switch to the Questions tab. This pulls People Also Ask data and questions extracted from competitor pages. These are consistently the most useful raw material for FAQ sections and H2 subheadings. Click the + icon next to any question that matches your reader’s intent to add it to the brief.

4. Build the heading structure in the brief editor

Switch to the Brief tab — the document icon in the left sidebar. This is where the actual deliverable lives.

Click Generate Outline to let Frase draft an AI-generated heading skeleton based on the SERP data you’ve collected. It produces a working H1/H2/H3 structure in about 10 seconds. Treat this as a draft, not a finished product.

Edit the outline directly in the brief editor. Drag and reorder headings, delete what doesn’t fit your angle, and add headings for gaps competitors missed — that’s often where you find ranking opportunities. For each H2, write a short instruction note in plain text below the heading: something like “Cover the three pricing tiers and call out which one suits freelancers best.” The more specific these notes, the more useful the brief becomes to a writer who hasn’t done this research themselves.

Drop in the topics and questions you pulled in step 3 as bullet points under the relevant headings. This adds another five minutes but cuts writer research time significantly and reduces revision rounds.

5. Set word count targets and content score goals

At the top of the brief editor, set the target word count to roughly the average of the top five results (Frase displays this in the research panel header). For the content score target, aim somewhere between the median and the top-scoring competitor. Matching the single best result is often overkill and tends to produce padded content.

If you’re on the Basic or Team plan (around $45 and $115/month respectively), writers drafting directly inside Frase see their content score update in real time. This alone removes most of the back-and-forth about whether a draft is “optimized enough” before it goes to edit.

6. Export or share the brief

Click Share at the top right of the document. Two options:

• Shareable link — the recipient sees the brief and research panel without needing a Frase account. They can’t edit or run new searches, just read and reference. Cleanest option for freelancers.
• Google Docs export — available under Document Settings via the Google Docs integration. Better if your writers draft in Docs and you’re pasting the brief into an existing template.

The shareable link is what we use most in practice. It gives writers full context without giving them access to the account.

What to do if it doesn’t work

The SERP data looks wrong or shows irrelevant results. This usually means the keyword returned mostly local results or has very low search volume. Double-check that the correct country is selected in Document Settings. If results still look sparse, try a slightly broader variant of the keyword — Frase needs enough data to extract meaningful topic clusters.

The AI outline looks generic and unhelpful. For keywords where the top 20 results are all structurally similar, Frase’s outline generator tends to produce a template rather than a strategy. If this happens, skip the AI outline entirely and build the heading structure manually. Click any result in the research panel to preview it inline — copying and adapting the heading patterns from the top three results usually produces a more useful structure than the AI shortcut.

The brief is too long for a writer to act on. This is a brief design problem, not a Frase problem. Cut the heading structure to 8 to 10 core sections and move the full topic list to an appendix. A good brief answers “what to cover and why” — it shouldn’t recreate the research process for the writer from scratch.

Taking it further

Brief creation is where most people stop, but Frase’s real leverage for content teams comes during the drafting phase. When writers work inside the Frase editor, the content score updates continuously and highlights exactly which topics are covered versus missing. Compared to sending a brief as a static Google Doc and hoping the writer interprets it correctly, this feedback loop cuts revision cycles noticeably.

If you’re producing more than a handful of articles per week, build brief templates for your recurring content types — comparison guides, listicles, tutorials. Save a blank document with your standard heading scaffold and instruction note format, then duplicate it for each new keyword. What takes 20 minutes the first time typically takes under five once you have a template in place.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it actually take to build a brief in Frase?

Expect 15 to 25 minutes for the first few briefs while you learn the interface. With a saved template and a familiar keyword type, most briefs take under 10 minutes from keyword input to shareable link.

Do freelance writers need their own Frase account to use the brief?

No. Any document you share via Frase’s public link is fully readable without an account. The writer sees the brief, the research panel, and the content score target — they just can’t run new searches or edit the document.

Does Frase work for languages other than English?

The SERP research panel supports multiple countries and languages, so the topic and question extraction still works. The AI writing assist is noticeably weaker for non-English content — useful for research, unreliable for drafting.

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