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The planning playbook Moonrank's Writer Agent uses to map every page a site needs to own a topic outright — and the order to publish them in.
Download the methodology, see how the agent clusters and sequences, or run it live inside the Writer Agent.
--- name: topical-map description: Plan the full set of pages that makes a site the obvious authority on a topic, and the order to publish them in. owner: Moonrank Writer Agent --- # Topical Map Search engines and language models both reward coverage. One good article on a topic is a data point; twenty that answer every adjacent question is a source. ## When to use - You publish steadily but never own a topic outright. - Your content calendar is a keyword list with no structure behind it. - You're entering a new category and need the full shape of the work upfront. ## Inputs - **Required:** the core topic and the product it supports. - **Optional:** existing content inventory, and competitor domains to map against. ## Method 1. **Define the entity:** the core topic, stated as the thing you want to be known for. 2. **Enumerate subtopics:** every question a buyer asks on the way to a decision, not just keyword variants. 3. **Cluster:** group questions into pillars and supporting pages; one page per question cluster. 4. **Audit coverage:** map existing URLs onto the plan; mark covered, partial, missing, and duplicate. 5. **Sequence:** publish supporting pages that can rank early, then the pillar they feed. 6. **Wire it:** define the internal links between pillar and supporting pages before writing. ## Output format A map. For each node: - **Type**: pillar | supporting - **Question**: the buyer question it answers - **Status**: covered | partial | missing | duplicate - **Priority**: 1–3, by difficulty and commercial value - **Links**: which nodes link to it, and which it links out to ## Prioritization rules - Depth beats breadth. Cover one topic completely before starting the next. - Publish supporting pages first; a pillar with nothing feeding it ranks slowly. - Merge duplicates before writing anything new. - A node with no buyer question behind it isn't a page, it's a keyword.
The Topical Map skill is how Moonrank's Writer Agent turns a topic into a complete publishing plan: the pillars, the supporting pages, what you already cover, what's missing, and the sequence that gets results fastest.
It's written as a SKILL.md, a plain-language instruction format that people and AI agents can both follow. Read it to plan your own coverage, or let the Writer Agent audit what exists and build the map against it.
Downloading the playbook is free with a Moonrank account. Maintaining the map and working through it on a calendar is what the Writer Agent does for you.
“We publish two posts a week and still don't rank for our main category. What are we missing?”
You have 60 posts spread across nine unrelated topics — enough volume to own any one of them, spent on all nine. On your core topic, you cover eleven of the 34 buyer questions, and three of those eleven are near-duplicates. Merge the duplicates, publish the eight highest-value missing supporting pages, then rewrite the pillar they point to.
The thing you want to be known for, and the product it supports.
Every question a buyer asks on the way to a decision — not just keyword variants.
Existing URLs map onto the plan as covered, partial, missing, or duplicate.
Supporting pages that can rank early first, then the pillar they feed — with links defined upfront.
The core topic stated as the thing you want to be known for, not a keyword.
Every question on the path to a decision, including the ones with no search volume.
One page per question cluster, with the hierarchy made explicit.
Covered, partial, missing, or duplicate — mapped onto your existing URLs.
The order that gets early wins instead of a pillar nothing feeds.
Which nodes link to which, decided before anything is written.