Content Planner Overview
The Content Planner helps you create content specifically designed to improve your AI visibility. It combines insights from your gap analysis with AI-powered content generation to produce articles that are structured for AI citation and optimized for search.
The 5-Step Content Wizard
The Content Wizard at /content-wizard guides you through a structured creation process. Each brief tracks its status through a pipeline: draft, analyzing, briefing, generating, scoring, and completed.
Step 1: Topic and Configuration
Enter your topic and configure the article settings:
- Topic - choose from three sources: manual entry, your Ideas Queue (pre-populated from gap analysis), or your Tracked Prompts dropdown
- Content Type - guide, how-to, listicle, comparison, review, or case study
- Content Format - choose Full Article (complete prose), Content Outline (headings and bullet points only, costs 1 credit regardless of model), or Content Brief (research and outline without full generation)
- Target Word Count - approximately 800 (Short), 1,500 (Medium, default), 2,500 (Long), or 4,000 (Comprehensive)
- AI Model - select which model generates the content (see credit costs below)
- Additional Context - optional notes such as statistics, customer stories, or product features to guide the AI
- Linked Keyword - optionally link to a tracked keyword for targeted optimization
Step 2: AI Research and Analysis
Surva.ai researches your topic by gathering data from multiple sources:
- Competitor ad data from your existing tracking
- Top 10 organic search results for the topic
- AI citations from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini responses
- Keyword trends and CPC data
This research is stored as JSON and used to inform the content brief and final article.
Step 3: Brief Generation (Outline and Talking Points)
Based on the research, Surva.ai generates:
- Outline - sections with headings, subheadings, and key points
- Talking Points - 5-8 main messages the article should convey
- Citation Strategy - how to incorporate sources for AI visibility
- SEO Recommendations - keyword placement strategy
You can select which citation sources and organic results to use before generating the brief. Choose to optimize for AI, SEO, or both.
Step 4: Article Generation
This step has two paths:
- Generate Full Article - produces a complete article using your selected template (comprehensive, FAQ-focused, or pillar). Includes a table of contents, FAQ section, and JSON-LD schema markup. You can configure internal link count (default 3) and external source count (default 2).
- Generate Outline Only - produces markdown headings and bullet points for manual writing. Uses only 1 credit regardless of model.
The generation pipeline builds your brand context (mission, value props, writing style), applies content rules, and constructs a detailed prompt that emphasizes problem-focused hooks, bold lead-in sentences, 5-10 inline statistics, FAQ sections, and AI citation optimization. After generation, articles go through post-processing: CTA placeholders (formatted as [CTA: text]) are replaced with styled calls-to-action, [INTERNAL: topic] markers are mapped to real URLs, and AI generation markers are cleaned.
Step 5: Citation Scoring and Optimization
The generated article is scored for AI citability across five categories:
- Structure Score (25 points) - heading count, bullet lists, numbered lists, intro/conclusion sections, table of contents, and FAQ sections
- Depth Score (25 points) - word count thresholds (2,500+ words earns full marks, scaling down to 1,000+)
- Factual Content Score (20 points) - statistics, data points, and citations found in the text
- Readability Score (15 points) - sentence structure and clarity
- E-E-A-T Signals Score (15 points) - expertise, experience, authority, and trust indicators
A separate AI Citability Analysis also runs, checking for FAQ questions, definitions (phrases like "is a" or "refers to"), TLDR sections, key takeaways, and quotable sentences between 20-150 characters. Surva.ai provides 3-5 specific optimization suggestions. You can accept the article, manually edit in the rich text editor, or regenerate with the suggestions applied automatically.
AI Models and Credit Costs
| Tier | Model | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Economy | GPT-4o Mini | 1 |
| Economy | Gemini 1.5 Flash | 1 |
| Standard | GPT-4o | 2 |
| Standard | Gemini 1.5 Pro | 2 |
| Premium | Claude Sonnet | 3 |
| Premium | Perplexity Sonar | 3 |
Monthly credit allowances by plan: Starter gets 20 credits, Growth gets 50, and Business gets 150. Claude and Perplexity models require a Growth or Business plan. Set a default model in your Content Planner Settings so the wizard pre-selects your preferred option.
Writing Style and Brand Voice
Surva.ai extracts your writing style automatically. In Content Planner Settings, provide up to 3 URLs of content with your preferred writing voice. The AI analyzes these pages and stores the extracted style characteristics. During article generation, this style guide is injected into the prompt so the output matches your tone, vocabulary, and sentence patterns.
Content Rules
Content rules prevent AI-sounding patterns in generated articles. Surva.ai includes default rules that flag em-dashes, overused opener phrases (like "In today's fast-paced world"), buzzwords (like "game-changer" or "seamlessly"), and other cliches. Each rule has a type (grammar, style, formatting, terminology), a severity level (error, warning, suggestion), and a regular expression pattern for detection.
Rules are applied in two ways: they are included in the AI prompt during generation, and they are checked post-generation to catch any violations that slipped through. You can add custom rules, edit existing ones, or remove rules from the Content Planner Settings page. Default rules cannot be deleted.
Content Enhancements
Toggle optional enhancements in your Content Planner Settings:
- YouTube Videos - embed relevant videos in the article
- Call-to-Action - include a CTA with custom URL, button text, and content
- Internal Links - auto-link to related pages on your site
- Featured Images - generate a title-based header image in your chosen style
Auto-Publishing Pipeline
If you have connected a CMS integration (WordPress or Webflow), the Content Planner supports an automated publishing pipeline. Available on Growth and Business plans.
- Set a publishing cadence: daily, every other day, twice weekly, weekly, biweekly, or monthly
- Configure a review delay of 1-2 days (default 2) for manual editing before auto-publish
- Choose the number of articles per batch and your preferred publishing time
The pipeline runs on a 15-minute cycle for both article generation queues and publishing queues. If your credit quota runs out, auto-publishing pauses and you receive an alert. When no CMS is connected, articles are saved as drafts by default.
Image Generation
Articles can include AI-generated header images via DALL-E 3 or stock photos via Pexels. Choose from five image styles: brand text, watercolor, cinematic, illustration, or sketch. You can configure a brand color (hex value) that the AI incorporates into generated images.