autom8ic.
03 Case study Content briefing

Two hours of research,
in thirty seconds.

Topic in. Complete SEO content brief out — search intent, keyword map, full H2/H3 outline, FAQ, internal linking ideas, and competitive angle. Built for SEO managers who'd rather brief writers than research for them.

Production · live Built on real SERPs ~£0.06 per brief 30s end-to-end
01 · THE BRIEF, UNEDITED

What gets produced from one input.

Single input: a topic, a target audience, and an optional word count. Output: the brief below — pulled from real Top 10 search results and People Also Ask data, structured exactly the same way every time.

Output · unedited
Brief · #CB-2026-04412 · 12 May 2026
Best Espresso Machines Under £500: A 2026 Buyer's Guide for Home Baristas
Search Intent
Commercial · comparison
Target Audience
Home baristas, coffee enthusiasts
Target Length
2,400-2,800 words
Competitive Angle
Hands-on testing notes, not specs
Primary Keyword
best espresso machines under £500
Secondary Keywords
home espresso machine budget espresso machine UK espresso machine for beginners semi-automatic espresso bean-to-cup vs espresso 15 bar pump
Outline
  • What to look for under £500
  • Pump pressure: why 15 bar matters
  • Steam wand vs. milk frother
  • Build quality red flags
  • Top picks for 2026
  • Best overall: hands-on review
  • Best for beginners
  • Best for milk drinks
  • What we'd skip at this price
  • How we tested
FAQ (from People Also Ask)
Is a £500 espresso machine worth it?
Yes — under £500 you can get genuine 15-bar pressure, a real steam wand, and milk-drink capability. Below £200 the compromises stack up quickly.
What's the difference between bean-to-cup and espresso machines?
Bean-to-cup automates grind and dose for you; espresso machines give you manual control over both, which is preferred by serious enthusiasts.
Do I need a separate grinder?
For best results, yes — pre-ground beans lose freshness fast. Budget another £150-250 for a burr grinder.
Internal Linking Ideas
→ Best burr grinders under £200 → How to dial in espresso → Milk frothing techniques
02 · THE ROI MATH

Senior strategist hours, recovered.

A senior SEO strategist spending 90 minutes per brief at £40-60/hr is the actual cost of doing this manually. At any meaningful publishing cadence, that hour math gets ugly fast:

An in-house SEO team publishing 30 briefs/month
Strategist time per brief~90 minutes
Hourly rate (mid/senior SEO)£50/hr
Monthly cost · manual£2,250
Workflow cost per brief£0.06
Monthly cost · automated£1.80
Net saving per month£2,248

The actual win isn't just the saved hours — it's that the strategist now spends their time on strategy, not research. Briefs get written that otherwise wouldn't, because the friction's gone.

03 · THREE WAYS TO SHAPE IT

Pick the one that matches your team.

Same engine, three deployment shapes — depending on whether you're a solo SEO, a content team, or an agency building this into a productised offer. Each tier builds on the last.

Tier 01 · Starter
The Brief Generator
For: freelance SEOs & solo strategists
On-demand briefs through a simple web form. Type the topic, get the full brief back in 30 seconds. No integrations, no team workflows — just the fastest path from topic to brief.
Includes
  • Web form intake
  • SERP + PAA research
  • Full brief output
  • Email or copy-paste delivery
Tier 02 · Integrated
The Editorial Pipeline
For: content teams & agencies
Briefs flow into your CMS, project tool, or writer hub — assigned, dated, ready to brief out. Cuts your strategist's research time to near zero so they focus on strategy.
Everything in Starter, plus
  • WordPress / Webflow / Contentful sync
  • Asana / Notion / ClickUp task creation
  • Bulk topic input via spreadsheet
  • Slack delivery for editors
Tier 03 · Platform
The White-Label Brief Engine
For: agencies productising the service
A branded, client-facing brief platform with multi-workspace support, usage tracking, and billing hooks. Turn this from internal tool into a paid offer your clients log into.
Everything in Integrated, plus
  • Multi-client workspaces
  • Branded UI & domain
  • Usage analytics & billing
  • Client self-serve access
04 · HOW IT WORKS

Real SERPs in. Structured brief out.

Briefs aren't built on the model's training data — they're built on what's actually ranking right now. Two live Serper searches feed real Top 10 + People Also Ask data into Claude alongside the topic and audience, which is why the output reads like an SEO strategist wrote it, not a chatbot.

  [ Form: topic + audience + length ]
         
         ├──→ Serper: Top 10 results ──┐
         └──→ Serper: People Also Ask ─┤
                                              
                                       Claude Sonnet 4.5
                                              
                                       Structured brief
01
Built on real SERPs
Uses live Top 10 search results and People Also Ask data — not the model's training cutoff. Briefs reflect what's actually ranking today.
02
Consistent structure
Same template every brief — title, intent, keywords, outline, FAQ, links, angle. Writers know what to expect; editors know what to check.
03
Topic-agnostic
Tested across commercial reviews, informational guides, and how-to content. Same engine produces equally tight briefs for any intent.
05 · UNDER THE HOOD

The stack, plainly stated.

Orchestration
n8n, self-hosted on Hetzner
Language model
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Search
Serper · Top 10 + People Also Ask
Intake
Web form (or bulk spreadsheet)
Cost per brief
~£0.05-£0.08
Your data
Stays on your infrastructure. Always.
06 · GET IN TOUCH

Not sure which tier
fits your team?

Drop me a line with rough numbers — how many briefs a month, what CMS you publish into, where the friction sits — and I'll tell you honestly which tier makes sense and what it'd take to build.

hello@autom8ic.com →