The content manual is the writing brief for your entire site: one entry per page, saying what that page is for, which confirmed keyword it targets, and what its content needs to cover. It's the document you hand a writer — or the calendar's auto-writer — so every page gets written against the plan rather than improvised.
If you've designed your site in the sitemap planner →, the manual builds from that designed structure: your page names, sections, and notes become the brief. Without a planner board, it builds from the audited pages instead.
When to generate it
Generate it once keyword confirmation and site structure are settled — after the audit flow and any planner work, before writing starts. It pairs with the on-page SEO mapping →: that sheet carries the metadata layer, and this manual carries the content layer.
Generate the manual
To generate a content manual:
- Complete an audit and confirm your keywords.
- If you use the sitemap planner, finish arranging pages and sections there — the manual reads them.
- Generate the content manual from the analysis flow. The output is a spreadsheet linked on the run.
What each entry gives you
Each page's entry gives the writer what they need without further questions: the page's purpose, its target keyword from your confirmed set, the sections to cover, and internal-link guidance. Work through it page by page — the entries are independent, so several writers can take different pages at once.
Limits and usage
- The manual is rate limited with the other content tools, and a run stops at 5 minutes.
- Keyword data in the manual comes from your confirmed keyword set and its real search metrics — the manual doesn't invent volumes.
- The manual reflects the structure at generation time. If you redesign the sitemap, regenerate it.
If something isn't working
Pages show as "Untitled" or entries look generic. The run had neither a planner board nor a rich crawl to read. Run an audit first, and if you use the planner, generate sections for pages before building the manual.
The manual disagrees with the on-page sheet. They were generated from different runs. Regenerate both from the same analysis so the keyword mapping matches.