In this guide
- How to size your team’s real capacity
- How to balance new content and refreshes
- Why you should group work by topic cluster
- How to give every task an owner, a date, and a measurement window
- How to keep the plan current week to week
1. Size your real capacity
Before you plan anything, write down how much work your team actually ships in a week. Use real numbers from the last few weeks, not best-case guesses. And remember: a new piece and a refresh don’t take the same effort.
Practical tip
Don’t book 100% of your capacity. Leave some slack for ad hoc requests and fixes so the plan doesn’t slip.
2. Balance new content and refreshes
Tag every item on your priority list by action type: create, refresh, or internal link. Then plan a mix of all three every week.
- Refreshes often take less effort and build on visibility the page already has.
- New content targets search intents none of your pages answer yet.
- Internal linking tasks are quick wins that strengthen your topic clusters.
3. Group work by topic cluster
Schedule tasks from the same topic cluster in the same week or back to back. That way, when a new piece goes live, its related pages get refreshed and the internal links ship at the same time.
Week 1
- RefreshContent strategy guide
- Internal linkTools page
Week 2
- CreateOnboarding emails
- RefreshSEO techniques guide
Week 3
- CreateContent calendar template
Capacity: two tasks a week, max. The rest rolls to later weeks.
4. Assign an owner, a date, and a measurement window
Every row in the plan should include:
- Owner: Who does the work, and who signs off on it?
- Due date: A realistic date that fits your capacity.
- Target intent: What question should the page answer?
- Measurement window: When will you review it after publishing, and against which metrics?
5. Keep the plan current every week
Run a short weekly review: check off what shipped, reschedule anything that slipped, and update the plan if your priority list changed.
When a task’s measurement window closes, log the result right in the plan. Seeing what changed after each content decision makes your next plan sharper.
Content plan checklist
- Is weekly capacity based on real data?
- Did you leave slack for unplanned work?
- Are new content, refreshes, and internal linking balanced?
- Are tasks from the same topic cluster planned together?
- Does every task have an owner and a due date?
- Is the target intent written down for every task?
- Are the measurement windows set?
- Is the weekly review on the calendar?
Frequently asked questions
How far ahead should a content plan go?
Plan the next few weeks in detail and sketch out the weeks after that. For most teams, a detailed plan a few weeks out is plenty.
What columns should a content plan spreadsheet have?
Start with topic, action, rationale, target intent, owner, due date, status, and measurement window. That’s all you need to get going.
What should I do if the plan keeps slipping?
Re-check your capacity and plan fewer tasks per week. A plan that keeps slipping usually means you’re planning past what your team can handle.