Search intent to page brief
A worked example of turning football injury searches into a page opening, a source plan and a useful next step.
Also in Search behavior and intent
Content strategy
Content without architecture is just noise.
Writing on how intent alignment, site architecture, and hub-spoke structure determine whether pages compound in value or cannibalize each other across search and AI surfaces.
10 posts
The content work on my own sites, and what the pages earned
SEO strategy vs SEO systems
Strategy decides what to build; systems decide whether it holds together as the site grows, and a table puts the two side by side.
Read the articleKeep reading
More on content strategy, newest first.
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Seasonal SEO: updating a gift guide
An existing gift guide becomes more useful for holiday buyers through clearer recommendations, timely details and links from related pages.
Also in Search behavior and intent
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Topic clusters: what to build next
What belongs in a topic cluster now that AI answers run their own searches, and how I read my own data to find the next page or the next section.
Also in AI and modern search
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My audit: where I trusted AI too soon
Nine things that broke on three reference sites I built in early 2026, ranked by severity, and the checks I wrote so they stay fixed.
Also in Technical SEO
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Content structure for answer-first search
When the answer shows up before the click, the page has to be the next step, so I lay out the four-part structure for one, with two worked examples.
Also in AI and modern search
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How I structured my old site for search
Every structural call behind the WordPress version of this site, written on day 10: pillars, URLs, redirects, breadcrumbs and speed.
Also in Technical SEO
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Why informational content stalls
Informational pages rank and get read, then leave the reader with nowhere to go; the fix is helping them place their problem and see the next question.
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How misaligned intent stalls decisions
Most content stops at awareness, so this maps the links, calls to action and measurement that move a reader from learning to deciding, with real funnel examples.
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Why transactional pages fail ready buyers
Ready buyers still leave when a page skips the confirmation step, so a buying page has to answer three questions first: is this the right option for me, can I trust this business, and what happens after I click?
How often the content strategy posts link to each other
A cluster is pages holding each other up. Here are the 10 posts filed under content strategy, and how often each one is linked from the others, counted from the posts themselves.
| Post | Linked from the others | Links out to them |
|---|---|---|
| Why informational content stalls | 2 | 1 |
| Why transactional pages fail ready buyers | 2 | 1 |
| Topic clusters: what to build next | 1 | 1 |
| How I structured my old site for search | 1 | 0 |
| Search intent to page brief | 1 | 0 |
| How misaligned intent stalls decisions | 0 | 2 |
| Seasonal SEO: updating a gift guide | 0 | 1 |
| SEO strategy vs SEO systems | 0 | 1 |
| Content structure for answer-first search | 0 | 0 |
| My audit: where I trusted AI too soon | 0 | 0 |
7 links run between these 10 posts. The most linked: Why informational content stalls and Why transactional pages fail ready buyers, from 2 of the others each. Content structure for answer-first search, My audit: where I trusted AI too soon link to none of the others and get no link from them.
Counted from the body of each post on this site, links to the other posts in this topic only, a link from one post to another counted once, as of this build.
Content strategy is deciding which pages should exist
The most common content strategy mistake I see is building pages around topics instead of around how people actually search. Someone searching "what is a water softener" needs a fundamentally different page than someone searching "best water softener for hard water."
Content strategy is infrastructure. It's deciding what pages should exist, what each one is for, and how they connect to each other.
From the Content Strategy page on the old version of this site, first published January 2026.