Blog Calendar: Editorial Planning

Generates editorial calendars with topic clusters, publishing cadence, material-change reviews, content-decay investigation, template recommendations, distribution planning, and seasonal hooks. It does not treat publication or update frequency as a ranking or citation signal.

Cross-reference

This skill operates at the FLOW Find stage. Before selecting topics, run /blog flow find for keyword discovery, content prioritization, and audience avatar prompts that should inform cluster selection and topic sequencing.

Workflow

Step 1: Understand the Blog

Gather context:

1. Niche/industry: What is the blog about?
2. Existing content: Scan for existing blog posts (Glob for *.md, *.mdx, *.html)
3. Publishing cadence: How often can they publish? (default: 2x/week)
4. Timeframe: Monthly or quarterly calendar?
5. Business goals: What should the blog drive? (traffic, leads, authority)

Step 2: Topic Cluster Design

Design 3-5 topic clusters (pillar + supporting content):

Cluster: [Pillar Topic]
├── Pillar Page: [Comprehensive guide - 3,000+ words]
├── Supporting: [Subtopic 1 - 2,000 words]
├── Supporting: [Subtopic 2 - 2,000 words]
├── Supporting: [Subtopic 3 - 1,500 words]
├── Comparison: [X vs Y - 1,500 words]
└── FAQ: [Common questions - 1,500 words]

Each cluster should:

• Target a primary keyword theme
• Cover the topic comprehensively for topical authority
• Include varied content types (guides, comparisons, how-tos, listicles)
• Support internal linking between cluster pages

Step 2.5: Content Decay Detection

Scan existing posts for material change signals. Dates are inventory metadata, not proof that content is stale or fresh.

Do not prioritize an update solely because a frontmatter date is old or a vendor sample observed recently updated citations.

Output a decay report:

## Content Decay Report
| Post | Material Change Evidence | Performance Context | Priority | Action |
|------|--------------------------|---------------------|----------|--------|
| [slug] | [changed fact/source/intent] | [surface and comparison] | Critical | Correct material error |
| [slug] | [documented change] | [sustained trend] | High | Schedule substantive review |
| [slug] | [no confirmed change] | [stable/unclear] | Low | Monitor |

Priority levels:

• Critical: Materially wrong or harmful information needs correction
• High: Confirmed fact, source, product, or intent change affects usefulness
• Medium: Sustained performance change warrants investigation
• Low: No material change; monitor without editing the date

Step 3: Freshness Update Schedule

Plan review triggers around the topic:

• Fast-changing topics: Review when the governing facts or official sources change
• Seasonal topics: Review before the relevant season using current evidence
• Product or pricing content: Review after documented product changes
• Evergreen topics: Review when evidence, intent, or performance indicates a need

Change lastUpdated only after substantive content changes.

Step 4: Seasonal & Trending Hooks

Research seasonal opportunities:

1. Industry events: Conferences, product launches, algorithm updates
2. Seasonal trends: Use Google Trends UI, API, or exported data when available; if relying on WebSearch only, mark trend timing as unverified
3. Annual reports: When do major studies release new data?
4. Algorithm updates: Validate the current Google update timeline against the Google Search Status Dashboard before scheduling update content. Do not rely on a static list.

Seasonal Trends Integration

• Map seasonal peaks to content production schedule
• Plan content 4-6 weeks before seasonal peaks for indexing lead time
• Create "evergreen with seasonal hook" content (e.g., "X Guide [Year]" updated annually)
• Track industry report release cycles:
  • Ahrefs Annual State of SEO (typically Q1)
  • Google Year in Search (December)
  • HubSpot State of Marketing (Q1)
  • Gartner Hype Cycle (August)
  • Major conference dates in the niche
• Use WebSearch to validate timing of trends before scheduling

Step 5: Generate the Calendar

Content Mix Formula

Start from this planning heuristic, then adjust for decay risk, authority gaps, team capacity, and available source material: 60% new content / 30% freshness updates / 10% repurposed content

Within new posts, aim for content type diversity:

• Guides/How-tos: 30-40% of new content
• Comparisons/Alternatives: 15-20%
• Listicles/Roundups: 15-20%
• Case studies/Data research: 10-15%
• Thought leadership/News analysis: 10-15%

Template Integration

For each new post entry, recommend a content template from these 12 available: how-to-guide, listicle, case-study, comparison, pillar-page, product-review, thought-leadership, roundup, tutorial, news-analysis, data-research, faq-knowledge

Reference: skills/blog/references/content-templates.md for full template details.

Monthly Calendar Format

# Editorial Calendar: [Month Year]

## Publishing Cadence: [N] posts/week
## Content Mix: [N] new / [N] refreshes / [N] repurposed

### Week 1: [Date Range]
| Day | Type | Title | Template | Cluster | Target Keyword | Status |
|-----|------|-------|----------|---------|---------------|--------|
| Mon | New | [Title] | how-to-guide | [Cluster] | [keyword] | Draft |
| Thu | Update | [Existing post] | - | [Cluster] | [keyword] | Refresh |

### Week 2: [Date Range]
| Day | Type | Title | Template | Cluster | Target Keyword | Status |
|-----|------|-------|----------|---------|---------------|--------|
| Mon | New | [Title] | comparison | [Cluster] | [keyword] | Brief |
| Thu | New | [Title] | listicle | [Cluster] | [keyword] | Brief |

### Week 3: [Date Range]
[...]

### Week 4: [Date Range]
[...]

## Content Mix This Month
- New posts: [N]
- Freshness updates: [N]
- Repurposed content: [N]
- Content types: [guides, comparisons, how-tos, listicles, ...]

## Freshness Update Queue
| Post | Last Updated | Priority | Scheduled |
|------|-------------|----------|-----------|
| [slug] | [date] | High | Week 2 |
| [slug] | [date] | Medium | Week 4 |

## Seasonal Hooks
- [Event/trend and how to leverage it]

Quarterly Calendar Format

# Quarterly Editorial Plan: Q[N] [Year]

## Content Strategy
- Topic clusters: [N] active
- New posts planned: [N]
- Freshness updates planned: [N]
- Repurposed content: [N]
- Total content actions: [N]

## Month 1: [Month]
### Focus: [Primary cluster or theme]
| Week | Type | Title | Template | Cluster | Keyword |
|------|------|-------|----------|---------|---------|
| W1 | New | ... | how-to-guide | ... | ... |
| W1 | Update | ... | - | ... | ... |
| W2 | New | ... | comparison | ... | ... |
[...]

## Month 2: [Month]
### Focus: [Primary cluster or theme]
[...]

## Month 3: [Month]
### Focus: [Primary cluster or theme]
[...]

## Quarterly Goals
- [ ] Publish [N] new posts
- [ ] Update [N] existing posts for freshness
- [ ] Complete [Cluster] pillar + [N] supporting pages
- [ ] Achieve [metric target]

Step 5.5: Topic Cluster Progress Tracking

Track the build-out state of each topic cluster. Prioritize completing partially-built clusters over starting new ones.

## Topic Cluster Progress
| Cluster | Pillar | Spokes Published | Spokes Planned | Coverage |
|---------|--------|-----------------|----------------|----------|
| [Topic] | Published | 5/10 | 5 this quarter | 50% |
| [Topic] | Draft | 2/8 | 3 this quarter | 25% |
| [Topic] | Not started | 0/6 | 1 this quarter | 0% |

Rules for cluster prioritization:

• Clusters at 50%+ coverage: highest priority to complete
• Clusters with published pillar but few spokes: second priority
• New clusters: only start when existing clusters reach 75%+ coverage
• Never have more than 3 clusters in active build-out simultaneously

Step 5.6: Distribution Scheduling

For each new post, plan distribution across channels. Include distribution timing in the calendar output.

## Distribution Schedule
| Post | Publish Date | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email | YouTube |
|------|-------------|----------|--------|-------|---------|
| [Title] | [Date] | Same day | +2-3 days | Next batch | If pillar |

Channel timing rules:

• LinkedIn: Same day as publish (share key insight + link)
• Reddit: 2-3 days after publish (share genuine insight, not a link drop)
• Email newsletter: Batch weekly (include 2-3 posts per newsletter)
• YouTube: Plan companion video for pillar posts only (resource-intensive)
• Twitter/X: Same day as publish (thread key takeaways)

Reference: skills/blog/references/distribution-playbook.md for detailed channel tactics.

Step 5.7: Freshness Automation

Set up a system for ongoing freshness maintenance:

## Material-Change Review Queue
| Post | Review Trigger | Evidence | Priority | Owner |
|------|----------------|----------|----------|-------|
| [slug] | [official source/product/fact changed] | [link or observation] | High | [name] |
| [slug] | [sustained performance or intent shift] | [surface-specific comparison] | Medium | [name] |

Automation recommendations:

• Monitor official sources or product changes for fast-changing topics
• Sort the queue by material risk and reader impact
• Use traffic only as context, not proof that an update is needed
• Update lastUpdated only after substantive content changes
• Track what changed and compare relevant Search surfaces separately
• Suggest /blog rewrite only when a substantive review finds work to do

Step 6: Save & Next Steps

Save to calendars/[yyyy-mm]-editorial-calendar.md unless the user specifies another path. Create calendars/ if it does not exist.

Suggested workflow:

1. Run /blog strategy when positioning or pillars are unclear
2. Run /blog cluster plan <seed-keyword> for cluster-heavy calendars
3. Use /blog brief <first-topic> or /blog outline <first-topic> for the first scheduled item
4. Use /blog write to generate articles from approved briefs or outlines
5. Use /blog rewrite for freshness updates on existing content
6. Re-run /blog calendar next month/quarter for the next plan
7. Review the Content Decay Report weekly and address Critical items first
8. Track Topic Cluster Progress monthly to ensure clusters reach completion