Editorial planning
Sizing an SEO editorial calendar to your plan limits
An SEO editorial calendar with approval only works if each month is sized to the tighter of two numbers: monthly capacity and the plan's remaining total. Here is how to run that calculation before you schedule a single row.
If you run an SEO editorial calendar with approval, you have to decide how many rows go into this month before anyone writes them. The rule is simple: the number of articles you schedule for a month cannot exceed the lower of two figures, your monthly capacity and what is left of the plan's total. If capacity is 2 articles a month and 1 article remains before the total cap, you schedule 1, not 2. If capacity is 3 and 2 remain, you schedule 2. The calendar is sized to the tighter constraint, not to what you would like to publish.
In our technical trial the limits are 3 articles per month and 3 in total. With capacity 3 and 3 remaining, month one schedules 3 rows. From there, on the reading that approved rows are what draw down the total, the total cap becomes the binding constraint. That last step is our inference, not something the trial states, and the rest of this article keeps it in that status.
Run the calculation before you fill the calendar
Do the math first, not after the rows exist. Take the plan's monthly capacity, take the remaining total (the total minus articles already used), compare the two, and schedule the lower number. This avoids two opposite mistakes: a calendar that is too full for the total cap, which forces you to cut rows you already approved, and a calendar that is too empty for your capacity, which leaves capacity unused for no reason.
Worked example: capacity 2, 1 remaining
Monthly capacity: 2. Remaining total: 1. The lower number is 1, so one row goes into the calendar. The second row is not scheduled even though monthly capacity would allow it, because the total cap would block it.
Worked example: capacity 3, 2 remaining
Monthly capacity: 3. Remaining total: 2. The lower number is 2, so two rows go into the calendar. The third stays out of the month, not because capacity is missing but because the total cap is the tighter constraint.
Worked example: capacity 3, 3 remaining
Monthly capacity: 3. Remaining total: 3. The lower number is 3, so month one schedules 3 rows. If approved rows are what consume the total, month two starts with 0 remaining and schedules 0 rows. Treat that as a working assumption to check against your own plan, not as a stated fact.
A RankAI working proposal, not a universal standard: before you fill the calendar, write two numbers next to each month, capacity and remaining total, and put the lower one in a "schedulable rows" column. Then add rows only up to that number. If a row is already in draft and the lower number drops below the rows you planned, move the extra row to the following month instead of forcing the cap. Keep the remaining total updated after each approval so the next month starts from a correct number. This makes the constraint visible before it turns into a cut.
Match the calendar to effective capacity
Effective capacity is not just the monthly number. It is the monthly number set against what is left of the plan. A calendar that ignores the remaining total produces rows that cannot be published. A calendar that ignores monthly capacity produces a load the month cannot carry. The right size sits at the lower of the two.
Sizing checklist, proposed by RankAI
- Put the plan's monthly capacity in a fixed cell you do not overwrite.
- Put the remaining total in the next cell, as the total minus articles already used.
- Add a third cell that returns the lower of the two, and treat it as the month's row limit.
- Before approval, check that the number of rows in the month does not exceed that limit.
- After each approval, recalculate the remaining total so the next month is not sized on a stale figure.
- If the lower number is zero, the month has no schedulable rows: flag it rather than working around it.
A limit you can check
This rule applies to the plan limits as we know them from the technical trial: 3 articles per month and 3 in total. We have no data on other plans or other limits, so redo the calculation with your own numbers. The default remains human approval of a version. Automatic publishing is switched on per site and still goes through the checks. For the full picture, see the editorial plan page.
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