| name | article-rewriter |
| description | Rewrites existing articles with fresh angles, updated data, and improved SEO while preserving core message. Use when refreshing outdated content or adapting articles for new audiences. |
| allowed-tools | Read Write Glob |
| metadata | {"author":"matthewhitcham","version":"1.0"} |
Article Rewriter
When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when you need to:
- Refresh an outdated blog post with current data and improved structure
- Rewrite an article with a new angle for a different audience
- Improve SEO performance of existing content that has lost rankings
- Update a competitor-style article into original, higher-quality content
DO NOT use this skill for spinning or plagiarizing content. This skill produces genuinely rewritten content that adds new value.
Core Principle
A REWRITE MUST MAKE THE CONTENT MEANINGFULLY BETTER — NOT JUST DIFFERENT. IF THE REWRITE ADDS NO NEW VALUE, IT IS A WASTE OF TIME.
Phase 1: Brief
Required Inputs
| Input | What to Ask | Default |
|---|
| Original article | "Paste the article or provide the URL." | No default — must be provided |
| Rewrite goal | "Why are you rewriting? SEO refresh, new audience, updated info, better quality?" | SEO refresh |
| Target keyword | "What keyword should the rewritten version target?" | Same as original |
| Audience | "Same audience or different?" | Same audience |
| What to keep | "Any sections, examples, or data that must stay?" | Preserve core message and structure |
| What to change | "What specifically needs improvement?" | User's discretion — will audit |
| Word count | "Target length for the rewrite?" | Match original +/- 20% |
GATE: Confirm brief and review original article before proceeding.
Phase 2: Audit and Plan
Content Audit
Before rewriting, analyze the original article on these dimensions:
## Content Audit
**Strengths (keep these):**
- [What works well — strong sections, good examples, solid structure]
**Weaknesses (fix these):**
- [Outdated data, weak intro, poor formatting, missing sections]
**SEO Issues:**
- [Keyword placement, meta description, heading structure, density]
**Structural Issues:**
- [Flow problems, missing transitions, wall-of-text sections]
**Missing Elements:**
- [Examples, data, internal links, CTA, visuals]
Rewrite Plan
## Rewrite Plan
**New angle/hook:** [How the rewrite will open differently]
**Sections to keep (with updates):** [List]
**Sections to rewrite completely:** [List]
**Sections to add:** [List]
**Sections to cut:** [List]
**New data or examples to include:** [List]
GATE: Present audit and plan for approval before rewriting.
Phase 3: Write
Rewriting Rules
| Rule | Detail |
|---|
| Never copy-paste paragraphs | Every paragraph must be rewritten, not rearranged |
| New intro required | The opening paragraph must be completely original |
| Add new value | Include at least 2 new examples, data points, or insights not in the original |
| Improve structure | Fix heading hierarchy, add lists where text is dense |
| Update data | Replace outdated statistics with current ones (note sources) |
| Better formatting | Short paragraphs, bold key phrases, bullet points for lists of 3+ |
| SEO optimization | Apply keyword placement rules (H1, first 100 words, H2s, meta description) |
Rewrite Checklist (per section)
For each section of the rewrite:
- Is this meaningfully different from the original (not just synonym swaps)?
- Does it add new value (examples, data, perspective)?
- Is it better structured and more readable?
- Does it serve the target keyword better?
Deliverables
- Full rewritten article with proper heading structure
- Meta description (150-160 characters)
- Change summary — what was kept, changed, added, and removed
## Change Summary
| Section | Action | Detail |
|---------|--------|--------|
| Intro | Completely rewritten | New hook using [approach] |
| Section 2 | Updated | New data from [source], added example |
| Section 4 | Added | New section on [topic] not in original |
| Section 6 | Removed | Redundant with Section 3 |
Phase 4: Polish
1. Before/After Comparison
Highlight 2-3 key improvements:
## Key Improvements
**1. Intro**
Before: "In today's digital world, content marketing is important..."
After: "We published 47 blog posts last year. Three of them drove 80% of our traffic. Here's what made them different."
**2. [Section name]**
Before: [Brief excerpt]
After: [Brief excerpt]
2. SEO Improvement Checklist
## SEO Checklist
- [ ] Target keyword appears in the H1
- [ ] Keyword in first 100 words
- [ ] Keyword in at least one H2
- [ ] Keyword density between 0.5-1.5%
- [ ] New meta description written (150-160 chars)
- [ ] Heading hierarchy is correct (H1 > H2 > H3)
- [ ] Internal links added or updated
- [ ] Alt text suggestions for any images
- [ ] Word count meets target
3. Readability Assessment
Compare readability metrics before and after: reading level, average sentence length, passive voice percentage.
Example: Rewriting "10 Email Marketing Tips" from 2022
Audit findings:
- Outdated stats (2021 data)
- Generic tips with no examples
- No keyword optimization
- 800 words (too thin for ranking)
Rewrite plan:
- New angle: "10 Email Marketing Tactics That Work in 2025"
- Add specific examples for each tip
- Include 2024-2025 email marketing data
- Expand to 1,800 words with deeper coverage
- Target keyword: "email marketing tactics 2025"
Anti-Patterns
- Synonym swapping — replacing words with synonyms is not rewriting. It is spinning, and readers and search engines can tell.
- Keeping the same intro — the intro is the most important paragraph. If it does not change, the rewrite feels stale.
- No new value added — if the rewrite has the same examples, same data, and same structure, it is not worth publishing.
- Ignoring outdated data — rewriting around old statistics undermines credibility. Update or remove.
- Making it longer without making it better — adding 500 words of fluff to hit a word count hurts quality.
Recovery
- Original is good but outdated: Focus the rewrite on data updates, new examples, and SEO fixes. Preserve the structure.
- Original is poorly written: Rewrite from scratch using the original as a topic brief, not a template.
- No new data available: Substitute with qualitative improvements — better examples, clearer explanations, stronger structure.
- User wants minimal changes: Create a "light refresh" — new intro, updated data, improved meta description, better formatting. Flag that light refreshes have limited SEO impact.
- Rewrite is too similar to original: Compare paragraphs side-by-side. Any paragraph that is more than 50% similar needs another pass.
