Website Content Plan Template: Plan Every Page, Gather the Content and Launch

A website content plan template is a spreadsheet with one row for every page a website will have, listing each page's purpose, target search query, call to action, the content it needs (copy, images, forms), who provides it, who owns it and its status. It's what you fill in before a new site or a redesign, so that design, copy and SEO all work from the same list of pages instead of discovering missing content the week before launch.

Below: the template to copy with an example for a small service business, a sitemap you can adapt, a content gathering form to send to whoever holds the information, and a launch checklist.

#What is a website content plan?

A website content plan is the page-by-page list of what a website will contain and why: the sitemap, each page's goal and audience, the keyword it targets, the content it needs and who is responsible for it. It is different from an editorial calendar, which schedules ongoing posts over time. The content plan comes first; the calendar takes over once the site is live.

#The website content plan template (copy this)

Paste this row into cell A1 of a Google Sheet or Excel workbook and split it into columns (Data → Split text to columns in Sheets).

Page,URL,Parent page,Purpose (one sentence),Audience,Primary query,Secondary queries,Primary CTA,Copy needed,Images / video needed,Forms or tools,Content source (who provides),Owner,Status,Due,Word range,Notes

Use one status list for every row so you can filter: Not started → Gathering → Drafting → Review → Approved → Live. A conditional format on the status column (grey, amber, green) shows at a glance which pages are blocking launch.

Here's what the plan looks like filled in for an illustrative plumbing company in Leeds:

The purpose column is the one people skip and the one that matters most. If you can't write a page's purpose in one sentence, the page probably shouldn't exist, or it's two pages.

#Start with the sitemap

Decide the structure before writing a word. A small business site rarely needs more than three levels:

/                         Home
├── /services             Services hub
│   ├── /services/emergency-plumber
│   ├── /services/boiler-repair
│   └── /services/bathroom-installation
├── /areas                Areas covered
│   └── /areas/headingley ... (only if each area page has unique content)
├── /pricing
├── /reviews
├── /about
├── /blog                 Blog hub
│   └── /blog/how-to-bleed-a-radiator ...
└── /contact

Google's SEO starter guide recommends descriptive URLs and grouping topically similar pages in directories, which "can help Google learn how often the URLs in individual directories change". Practically: put services under /services/, articles under /blog/, and keep every important page linked from a hub page. Our guide on making a sitemap covers the XML file you'll submit at launch, and best CMS for SEO compares the platforms you might build it on.

#Planning a redesign? Inventory the old site first

A redesign plan starts from what already exists, not a blank sheet. Crawl the current site (or export Performance → Search results → Pages from Search Console for the last 12 months), list every URL with its clicks and backlinks, and give each one a fate in a Redesign action column:

• Keep and migrate pages that earn clicks or links. Keep the URL if you can; if it must change, plan a 301 redirect to the new URL.
• Rewrite pages whose topic still matters but whose content is thin or dated.
• Merge near-duplicates into one stronger page and redirect the others.
• Drop pages with no traffic, no links and no purpose, and make sure nothing important links to them.

Then add the new pages the old site never had. This is a lighter version of a full content audit, and it's the step that protects the traffic you already have: a redesign that changes URLs without redirects can lose rankings that took years to earn.

#Map one query to each page

Each page gets one primary query, and no two pages share one. That rule prevents keyword cannibalization before it starts.

• Home: your brand name and your broadest service term.
• Service pages: "service + location" for local businesses, "product category" for e-commerce, "use case + software" for SaaS.
• Pricing, reviews, about: usually brand queries ("[brand] pricing", "[brand] reviews"). Don't force a non-brand keyword onto them.
• Blog posts: the long-tail questions buyers ask before they're ready to buy.

If you're not sure what people search, Outrank's free blog keyword generator and keyword research tool give you ideas with volumes. Put the result in the primary and secondary query columns, then use them as headings when you write the website content.

#The website content gathering template

On most website projects, the slowest part isn't writing; it's getting the facts out of the people who know them. Send this form for each page to whoever owns the information (the client, the founder, the product team), and set a due date in the plan.

PAGE: [Page name]  ·  URL: [/url]  ·  Due back: [date]

1. What is the one thing a visitor should do on this page?
2. Who usually lands here, and what are they worried about?
3. What do we offer here? (list services/products, with prices or "from" prices)
4. What makes us different from the next result on Google? (facts, not adjectives)
5. Proof we can show: reviews, numbers, certifications, logos, awards (with links or files)
6. Questions customers ask before buying (the exact wording, from calls or emails)
7. Words or claims we must NOT use (legal, regulatory, brand)
8. Images or video we have, and anything we need to shoot
9. Who must approve this page before it goes live?

Question 6 doubles as your FAQ section and your blog backlog. Question 4 is the one stakeholders find hardest; if the answer is "great service", ask for a number or a story instead.

#After launch: turn the plan into a publishing plan

A website is finished at launch; its content isn't. Once the core pages are live, add a second tab for articles: one row per post with the query, the service page it supports, the publish date and the status. That's your editorial calendar (see what an editorial calendar is if you're setting one up for the first time).

How much you publish makes a difference. Outrank tracks the Google clicks of its customers' sites before and after they start publishing:

That's a correlation, not a promise: sites that publish more may also differ in other ways. The logic holds, though. A site with ten pages and no new content gives Google little reason to show it for anything beyond its brand name. If you don't have the time to keep publishing, Outrank picks the keywords, writes one SEO article a day and publishes it to your CMS, so the plan you made at launch keeps growing.

#Website launch checklist

Tick these off as you go; progress is saved in your browser.

Six months in, run a content audit on what you published and a content gap analysis against the sites that outrank you, then feed both back into this plan.

#FAQ

#What is a website content plan?

A website content plan is a page-by-page list of everything a website will contain: each page's purpose, audience, target keyword, call to action, the content it needs, who provides it and its status. It's used before building or redesigning a site so design, copy and SEO work from the same plan.

#What should a website content plan template include?

At minimum: page name, URL, parent page, purpose, primary query, primary CTA, content needed, content source, owner, status and due date. Add secondary queries, a word range and notes for bigger projects.

#How do you gather content for a website?

Send a short structured form for each page to whoever holds the information, with questions about the page's goal, audience, offer, proof, common customer questions and approval. Track every form in the content plan with a due date, because waiting for content is the most common reason website launches slip.

#What is the difference between a content plan and a content calendar?

A content plan defines what pages and pieces the site needs and why. A content calendar schedules when each piece is published and who works on it. For a new website you write the plan first, then switch to a calendar for ongoing posts after launch.

#What tool should I use for a website content plan?

A spreadsheet (Google Sheets or Excel) is enough for most sites and is easy to share with clients. Notion or Airtable work well if you want one record per page with attached files and comments. Use whatever the people who supply content will actually open.