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Content plan: what it holds and a finished sample
A website content plan is a list of the pages a site needs, each tied to the search it answers, with a page type, an owner and a status, in the order they should be written. People in the US search "content plan" about 1,300 times a month, and "sample content plan" about 390 times. This page shows a finished sample, a one-page outline, and how to rank the rows.
It is part of website structure. It covers plans for the pages of a website. Social media calendars are a different job: "content plan for social media" is its own search, about 720 times a month, and it needs its own plan.
What a website content plan holds
Every row is one page. Each row has the same columns.
- The page: its working title.
- The need it answers: the search a person makes when they want this page.
- The monthly searches: how big that need is.
- The type: a service page, a guide, a comparison, a location page, a price page.
- The owner: who writes it. A plan with no owner is easy to ignore.
- The status: to write, in progress, live, to rewrite.
Some people call this a web content plan or a website content plan. The words differ; the plan is the same.
A finished sample content plan
The business below is invented: a landscaping company with a yard-design service. The search numbers are example numbers.
| # | Page | The need it answers | Example searches a month | Type | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lawn care service | Hire someone to mow and treat a lawn | 5,400 | Service page | Owner | Live; rewrite |
| 2 | Landscape design | Hire a designer for a yard | 3,100 | Service page | Owner | To write |
| 3 | What lawn care costs | See a price before calling | 2,200 | Guide with prices | Writer | To write |
| 4 | Retaining walls | Build a wall on a slope | 1,600 | Service page | Designer | To write |
| 5 | Landscape lighting | Hire someone to install outdoor lights | 900 | Service page | Designer | To write |
| 6 | Irrigation repair | Fix a broken sprinkler | 750 | Service page | Owner | In progress |
| 7 | Spring clean-up | Book a seasonal clean-up | 700 | Service page | Writer | Live |
| 8 | Fairview location page | Find the company's shop | 300 | Location page | Writer | To write |
Look at the order. The first two rows are the biggest needs. The third is a price page: people who want a price are close to a call. The last row is small but concrete, so it comes late rather than never.
A website content outline: the plan for one page
The plan decides which pages exist. An outline decides what one of them says. Here is the outline for row 5, Landscape lighting.
- H1: Landscape lighting installation
- Opening: two sentences that say what the service is and who it is for
- What is installed: path lights, deck lights, uplighting for trees
- What it costs: a price range with what moves it up or down
- Recent jobs: three jobs with photos and the neighborhood
- Questions: how long it takes, whether it needs a permit, what happens in winter
- Next step: a call or a quote form
- Links out: to lawn care, landscape design and the Fairview page
A website content outline or a web content outline is short. It lists the headings and what proves each one. The writing comes after.
How to rank the rows
Rank on three questions.
- How big is the need? More searches means more people who could arrive.
- Does a rival already have the page? If competitors serve the need and you do not, that is a gap, and gaps come first. See competitor gaps for how they read.
- How much is a customer worth? Say a small need brings a $3,000 job and a large need brings a $50 one. The small need can come first.
Set the three beside each other and the order usually becomes plain. If two rows tie, build the one with the easier page first.
What to leave out
- Social media posts. They need their own calendar and their own channels.
- Blank templates. A plan is only useful with rows for your own pages.
- One-off news. Announcements do not answer a repeated search.
- Pages with no need behind them. If no one searches for it, leave it out or give it another reason to exist.
Mistakes in content plans
- A plan with no owner and no date.
- Writing in the order that is easy instead of the order that pays.
- Planning fifty pages when ten would use the whole budget.
- Mixing needs into one row: "Services" is not a need.
- Skipping the rewrite rows. A weak page that exists is worth fixing before a new page is added.
What to do with the plan
Plan the next ten pages, not the next hundred. Put the rows in the shared place where owners work. Review the plan each month: mark what is live, move what slipped, and add what rivals now have. Use the keyword clustering guide to see how searches group into one row, and the site map examples to see how the finished pages sit in a diagram.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a content plan and a content calendar?
The plan says which pages exist and why. The calendar puts dates on them. A small team can use one table for both.
Is a website content plan the same as an outline?
No. A plan is a list of pages. An outline is the structure of one page.
What is a marketing content plan?
It is the wider plan across channels: the website, email, social media and more. About 880 searches a month in the US look for it. The website plan is one part of it.
How long should a content plan be?
Long enough for the next ten pages. Add rows as pages go live.
Agencies that write plans for clients can see how a delivered list supplies the first rows.
Checked by a person and delivered within 24 hours, with a link and a search number behind every row.