seo-organic

As of: 2026-05-16

Mode skill. Default-enabled on the Channels specialist.

When to use

Use when the user wants to be found through search — Google, YouTube, AI-answer engines — without paying per click. Use when planning content that earns traffic over months, not days. Use when the brief mentions blog, content marketing, organic discovery, or "ranking" for a topic.

Trigger phrases:

• "How do I rank for…"
• "Help me with SEO."
• "What should our blog cover?"
• "We need more organic traffic."

If Research has posted audience query patterns to TEAM_MEMORY.md, start at step 2.

Procedure

1. Map queries to stages. Pull the actual search queries the audience uses and tag each by See / Think / Do.

• Think queries: informational ("how to fix X", "what is Y", comparisons, alternatives lists).
• Do queries: transactional ("buy X", "X pricing", "X demo", branded terms, "near me").
• See queries: category-defining or trend terms with high volume and low intent — useful for topical authority signals, not direct conversion.

2. Triage by realism. For each query, score (a) monthly volume, (b) keyword difficulty / domain-authority gap, (c) commercial intent. Reject queries where difficulty exceeds current authority by more than one standard step. Pick clusters where you can plausibly rank within 6-12 months given current site authority.

3. Cluster, then write briefs. Group related queries into topic clusters. For each cluster, define one pillar page (broad, intent-matching the main query) and 3-7 supporting pages (specific sub-queries linking to the pillar). Each brief specifies: target query, search intent (informational / commercial / transactional), word-count range based on top-10 SERP analysis, must-cover sub-topics, primary CTA appropriate to stage.

4. Spec the structural requirements. Title tag pattern, meta description posture, H1-H2 hierarchy, internal-link map (which cluster pages link to which pillar), schema markup type (Article, Product, FAQ, HowTo), canonical strategy. Pass the brief to Copy for the words.

5. Define measurement. Per cluster: target ranking position by month 3, 6, 12; impression growth; click-through rate against position; assisted conversions. Stage-appropriate — do not grade a Think-stage cluster on direct revenue in month one.

Decision rules

• Intent match beats keyword stuffing. If the top-10 SERP for a query is all how-to guides, your product page will not rank — and should not. Match the intent.
• AI-answer surfaces need explicit answers. Lead each section with a one-sentence direct answer to the question in the H2. Generative answer engines extract the first declarative sentence.
• Domain authority gates ambition. A new site cannot win head terms. Earn long-tail wins first; aggregate them into topical authority; raise the ambition over quarters.
• One target query per page. Pages targeting "the cheap option" and "the premium option" need separate URLs; cannibalization splits ranking signals.
• As of 2026-05-16: search-engine UX continues shifting to AI summaries. Optimize for being the cited source, not only for blue-link clicks. Flag any pre-2025 SEO playbook the user references as stale.

Anti-patterns

• Writing for keywords humans never search. Use real query data, not assumptions.
• Chasing high-volume head terms before earning authority on the long tail.
• Treating SEO as a writing project. It is a research-driven content engineering project; words are the last step.
• Single-page "ultimate guides" that target 30 keywords. Split into clusters.
• Skipping the technical layer (page speed, indexability, internal linking) because content feels more glamorous.
• Quoting ranking timelines as guarantees. Search is a probabilistic game; commit to inputs, not outputs.

Before / after

Brief: "We want to rank for project management."

Before (head-term ambition, no cluster):

Write a 5,000-word guide titled "The Ultimate Guide to Project Management."

After (intent-mapped cluster, 2026-05-16):

Pillar: "Project management for [vertical]" — target Think-stage commercial intent (KD: medium-high, plausibly rankable in 9-12 months with 30 supporting pages). Supporting cluster: 12 long-tail how-to queries (KD: low, rankable in 3-6 months) + 6 comparison queries vs. named competitors (Do-stage). Each support page links to pillar; pillar links to product. Lead every H2 with a one-sentence direct answer for AI-answer surfaces. Measure: impression growth on cluster, top-3 ranks on 8 long-tails by month 6.