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Every 30 minutes

Write SEO content briefs for new keywords in a sheet

Add a keyword to your SEO sheet and a content brief based on the current top ten Google results appears in the next column.

Runs
Every 30 minutes
Apps
Google Sheets, SerpApi
AI
Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access
Sheets read+write; SerpApi key

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every 30 minutes, for each new keyword in my SEO sheet, pull the top 10 Google results and the People Also Ask questions, and write a content brief into the Brief column.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A content marketer at an online furniture shop plans articles from a keyword list in Google Sheets. Before briefing a writer, they look at what already ranks for each keyword: the angle, the headings, the questions people ask. Doing that well takes half an hour per keyword, so writers often get a one-line brief and the article misses what the top pages cover.

This automation writes the brief. Every 30 minutes it picks up new keywords, pulls the top ten Google results and the People Also Ask questions through SerpApi, and AI writes a brief with the search intent, a suggested title, the headings to cover and the questions to answer. The marketer reviews it and passes it to a writer.

What you get out of it

  • Briefs based on what ranks today

    The brief reflects the pages Google currently rewards for that keyword. Writers aim at a real target instead of guessing what searchers want.

  • Better first drafts

    Writers who get headings, angle and questions up front deliver drafts that need fewer rounds of edits. That saves time on both sides.

  • Answer the questions people ask

    People Also Ask questions show exactly what searchers wonder about. Building them into the article helps it match more searches.

  • Plan more content in less time

    Half an hour of research per keyword becomes a quick review. The same person can plan far more articles each month.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every 30 minutes, ClickRuntime reads your SEO sheet and finds keywords that do not have a brief yet.

  2. For each one, it pulls the top ten Google results and the questions people also ask, through SerpApi.

  3. AI writes a brief with the search intent, a suggested title, headings to cover and questions to answer.

  4. The brief is written into the Brief column next to the keyword, so each keyword is only handled once.

Before it runs live

  • Connect your Google Sheets account and pick the spreadsheets it may use
  • Connect SerpApi

What you get

RunsEvery 30 minutes
Write SEO content briefs for new keywords in a sheettoday, 9:00Succeeded
Google Sheets · SEO plansmall sofa for apartment | Intent: buying guide. Title: 12 Small Sofas That Fit Any Apartment. H2s: How to measure...

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
  • Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
  • Combine it with other Google Sheets and SerpApi steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
serp_analysis_and_seo_content_briefs_from_a_keyword_sheet.pyexample
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, http, ai, report_fetched

SHEET_ID = "your-spreadsheet-id"

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    sheets = build("sheets", "v4", credentials=Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work")), cache_discovery=False).spreadsheets()
    rows = sheets.values().get(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range="SEO!A2:B").execute().get("values", [])
    todo = [(i + 2, r[0]) for i, r in enumerate(rows) if r and r[0] and len(r) < 2][:5]
    report_fetched(len(todo))
    if not todo:
        return {"briefs": 0}
    for row, keyword in todo:
        res = http.get("https://serpapi.com/search", params={"engine": "google", "q": keyword, "num": 10, "gl": "us",
                                                             "api_key": credentials.secret("SERPAPI_API_KEY")}).json()
        top = "\n".join(f"{r['position']}. {r['title']} - {r.get('snippet', '')}" for r in res.get("organic_results", [])[:10])
        paa = "\n".join(q["question"] for q in res.get("related_questions", []))
        brief = ai.generate(f"Keyword: {keyword}\nTop results:\n{top}\nPeople also ask:\n{paa}",
                            system="Write a content brief: search intent, suggested title, H2 outline, questions to answer, what top pages share.", max_output_tokens=700).text
        sheets.values().update(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range=f"SEO!B{row}", valueInputOption="RAW", body={"values": [[brief]]}).execute()
    return {"briefs": len(todo)}

FAQ

Common questions

What does a brief include?
The search intent, a suggested title, an outline of headings, the questions to answer, and notes on what the top pages have in common. You can ask for a target word count too.
Can I search a specific country?
Yes. Set the country and language, such as the UK in English, and results match what searchers there see.
Does it write the article?
No, only the brief. Your writer, or another automation, turns it into the article.
What permissions does it need?
Sheets read+write; SerpApi key. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run each time it checks. Checks that find nothing new and stop right away aren't counted.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

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