/seo-content-blog

name: seo-content-blog
description: "Spec, audit, competitor benchmark and build for blog articles and the blog template, so a post ranks on Google and gets cited by AI engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews). Input: a keyword, topic, draft or post URL. Phase 1 spec: BLOG rows on top of the common page spec, covering the 12-element answer-first skeleton and the page template (author line with photo and dates, sticky table of contents, sidebar author and CTA cards, in-content CTA, author box with real social profiles, related posts, key takeaways, sources, hub cards with covers). Phase 2 audits the article, the hub and the home with seo_audit.py and section_audit.py. Phase 3 benchmarks the top 3-5 SERP results with page_benchmark.py and names the information gain. Phase 4 builds and re-runs the scripts. Output: spec scorecard, findings, benchmark, the publish-ready article with metadata and JSON-LD, acceptance. Use when writing, rewriting, refreshing or auditing a blog post or the blog template, or when one will not rank or get cited."
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: "Sorank (https://sorank.com)"
  version: "2.0.0"

SEO Blog Content That Ranks and Gets Cited

A blog article captures informational searches and hands that traffic and authority to the pages that sell; in AI engines it is the passage that gets lifted as the answer. It fails in two ways: text that restates the SERP with the answer buried under context, or good text in a bare template with no author, no dates, no table of contents and no call to action. This skill specifies both layers on a 12-element skeleton (field methodology from 115+ agency audits, layered with 2024-2026 citation research), audits them, benchmarks the pages that rank, and builds the article.

Company knowledge first (Obsidian)

If the working environment contains an Obsidian vault or any local knowledge base (a folder of .md notes, often with a .obsidian directory), read the relevant notes before acting: brand and product facts, target keywords, competitors, and the SEO action log of what was already tried. Ground every recommendation in that context instead of asking the user for facts the vault already holds. At the end of the session, append the actions taken to the vault's SEO action log so the next session starts informed.

When to use

• Writing a new blog article from a keyword, topic, or brief.
• Rewriting or refreshing a published post that decayed or never ranked.
• Reviewing a human-written or AI-generated draft before publication.
• Producing an outline or content brief for a writer.
• Building or auditing the article template, the author page or the blog hub, including a site generated by an agent.
• Planning publication cadence for a blog launch or an established site.

| Adjacent job | Skill | |---|---| | Choosing the target keyword, mapping intent, splitting overlapping topics (merge test) | seo-keyword-research | | Product, service, collection page copy | seo-content-product-page, seo-content-service-page, seo-content-collection-page | | Homepage copy, including its latest-articles block | seo-content-homepage | | Standalone "X vs Y" and alternatives pages | seo-content-comparison-page | | Block gaps on other page types | seo-page-sections | | Site-level link routing and silos | seo-internal-linking | | JSON-LD field rules, breadcrumb markup | seo-schema-markup | | News sitemap, RSS, AI crawler access, scaled content indexation | seo-technical | | Passage-level citability, AI citation tracking | geo-visibility, geo-tracking | | Full site diagnosis | seo-geo-audit |

Phase 1. The spec

Lock the target before reading the spec:

• Primary keyword and the intent behind it (informational or commercial investigation).
• Language and market: a French SERP and a US SERP rarely reward the same article.
• The commercial pages this article must support with internal links.
• Whether an existing article already covers this intent. If yes, rewrite it instead of creating a new one (BLOG-01).

Common requirements C-01 to C-27: skills/seo-geo-audit/references/common-page-spec.md

Every C row applies to the article, the hub and the author page. The rows below are blog-specific; "tightens C-xx" means the row sets the blog value of a common row, which still applies. Thresholds are field heuristics from 115+ agency audits unless marked measured.

**Article text (the 12-element skeleton, detailed in Phase 4)**

| ID | Requirement | Threshold | Verified by | Why | |---|---|---|---|---| | BLOG-01 | One angle = one article | 0 other URLs on the site targeting the same intent | manual (site: search, Search Console query to pages; merge test in seo-keyword-research) | Two articles on one intent cannibalize each other and split clicks, links and signals | | BLOG-02 | Title phrased as a reason to click, on the query-type pattern (tightens C-01) | 30-60 characters, keyword near the front, pattern from the title table | title_short, title_long, manual for the pattern | Beyond roughly 60 characters Google truncates; a label earns fewer clicks than a promise | | BLOG-03 | Length at or above the SERP benchmark, never shorter than the page it replaces (sets the C-08 floor) | Competitor median or above; 300 minimum, 500+ competitive, 750+ commercial-adjacent, under 180 critically thin | article_short (under 800), thin_content, page_benchmark.py "words" | Shorter rewrites are one of the most common self-inflicted ranking losses | | BLOG-04 | Answer-first block, shown as a labeled key takeaways box ("In short", "Key takeaways", "En bref") | 2-4 sentences or 3-5 bullets, directly after the H1 block, within the first screen | manual | The most cited passage of a page and featured snippet material; the highest-leverage GEO element | | BLOG-05 | Intro opens on the keyword in bold and links the first authority source (tightens C-09, C-10) | Keyword bold in the first sentence; first external source inside the intro | kw_not_bold, kw_not_in_intro, manual for