INTERNAL · noindex,nofollow · strategic roadmap · not for public distribution · last revised 2026-05-11
/expanse :: roadmap

Expansion Roadmap

The flagship criticism site — deeper, wider, and louder. Concrete ideas to expand scope, sharpen the design, fill content gaps, and surface to the audiences we haven't reached yet.

01 · Scope expansion

Where the site grows next

High-leverage scope expansions ordered by impact-to-effort ratio. Each comes with a one-line "why" rationale — the underlying audience, distribution, or content-moat hypothesis.

Idea 01

Global prestige TV

Cover British (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky), Korean (tvN, JTBC, Netflix Korea), Japanese (NHK, WOWOW), Spanish-language (Movistar+, RTVE, Globoplay), and Nordic prestige. Currently 95%% US-streaming-centric.

Why: Capture an underserved high-CPM audience
Idea 02

Showrunner profile series

Weekly long-form profile of a working showrunner. Lorene Scafaria, Issa Lopez, Sterlin Harjo, Kelly Marcel, Adam Brooks, Lulu Wang, Joy Gorman Wettels. Cite craft, room culture, throughline.

Why: Differentiator vs. trade outlets that only chase the news
Idea 03

Mid-season check-in format

For every series we cover at premiere, a 6-week check-in post. Did the show hold? Where did it lose us? Is it still in awards contention? Creates two posts per show, more SEO surface.

Why: Doubles content yield per show; serves return-readers
Idea 04

Reunion-coverage vertical

Reunions are ATX's signature and a content goldmine year-round. Build a permanent /reunions/ vertical — every reunion screening or panel, indexed by series.

Why: Captures a niche search-term cluster ("X show reunion")
Idea 05

Below-the-line craft pages

Cinematographer, editor, production designer, costume, sound, casting, music profiles for prestige TV. Crew page structure already exists on tvawardshows.com — mirror to the flagship.

Why: Underserved on the editorial side; high engagement from craft community
Idea 06

Audio-companion podcast

A weekly 20-minute podcast that re-cuts the week's flagship reviews into spoken form. Same content, different format, new audience.

Why: Audio-first listeners are a separate market

Visual & UX polish targets

Specific design improvements that compound. Each is implementable in a single session of focused work — not full rebuilds.

UX 01

Hero image rotation

Hero currently static. Rotate among 4-6 current-season prestige stills (with attribution) per visit; gives the home page evolving texture without breaking the editorial frame.

UX 02

Mobile masthead

Mobile nav drops to 4 visible items + a "more" toggle. Add a sticky "now reading" thin bar with the current article title on long-scroll.

UX 03

Light-mode polish

Light theme exists but is undertuned. Cream background instead of pure white, gold-leaf accent instead of pure orange, body in deep navy instead of black.

UX 04

Reading-time + share row

On every review/article: estimated reading time, a permalink-anchor row, and an X/Bluesky/Mastodon share trio. Currently absent on most pages.

UX 05

Search visibility

search-data.js is loaded but the search input is buried. Promote search to a top-nav slot — the 5,480-entry index is the site's strongest asset.

03 · Content gaps

Articles & pages worth filling

Content the site is missing, ordered by ease-of-implementation. Each item is a defined article or page format — not a vague "make more content" directive.

Gap 01

"Renewed/canceled" tracker

Single page, sortable table, updated weekly. Massive long-tail SEO target ("is X renewed").

Gap 02

Mid-year retrospective

June 30: 6-month best-of from the editorial team. Year-end version published December 15.

Gap 03

Streaming platform deep-dives

One long-form piece per streamer per year: state of Netflix originals, state of Apple TV+, state of HBO/Max post-merger, etc.

Gap 04

"Going on now" weekend roundup

Friday 5pm CT post: every prestige show airing/dropping this weekend. Cross-publishes to tvnight.com nightly picks.

Gap 05

Awards-season decoded

A monthly Sept-March piece explaining what the latest precursor means for the final ballots. Bridges flagship to TVAwardShow/TVAwardShows.

Where to cite from

External sources to cite, follow, and benchmark against. Click any to open in a new tab.

05 · SEO prompts

Ready-to-paste SEO prompts

Copy any prompt below into Claude (or any LLM) to generate SEO-optimized content for this site. Each prompt follows the Opus 4.7 framework — tagged context, instructions, constraints, output format. Replace the bracketed placeholders before running.

SEO Prompt 01
Year-anchor SEO essay
<context>
I run TVReviewer.com, a TV criticism site. We rank for "best TV shows" terms but not for year-anchored variants ("best TV shows 2026", "best shows on Netflix 2026", etc.).
</context>
<instructions>
Write a 1,800-word "Best TV Shows of 2026 (So Far)" essay that ranks 15 series with one-paragraph craft-focused arguments for each. Order by editorial preference, not popularity. Cross-link to existing TVReviewer reviews of each show.
</instructions>
<constraints>
- Year-anchor the title and 4+ subheads with "2026".
- Each show paragraph stands alone for snippet harvesting.
- No preamble, no "in today's rapidly evolving TV landscape" opener.
- Cite at least one external source per show.
</constraints>
<output_format>
H1, lede, then 15 H2 sections (one per show), then a "what we left out" closing paragraph.
</output_format>
SEO Prompt 02
Long-tail entity-query target
<context>
A significant traffic opportunity for TVReviewer is the "is X renewed" / "when does X come back" query cluster. We have no page for this.
</context>
<instructions>
Design and write a /renewed-canceled/ hub page. Include a sortable table of every prestige series we cover with: status (renewed/canceled/limited/TBD), source link, last-updated date. Include 4-5 paragraphs of intro that targets the highest-volume long-tail terms.
</instructions>
<constraints>
- Plain prose intro, table below.
- Each table row links to our review of that show.
- Footer with "How we update this" methodology.
</constraints>
SEO Prompt 03
Internal-linking audit
<context>
TVReviewer has 5,480+ entries indexed in search-data.js. Internal linking between articles is sparse &mdash; most reviews don't reference our other coverage of the same showrunner, network, or genre.
</context>
<instructions>
Write a JavaScript snippet that, on any review page, parses showrunner / network / lead-actor mentions and surfaces a "Related from TVReviewer" sidebar with 3-5 internal links pulled from search-data.js. Keep the implementation pure-vanilla JS &mdash; no React, no build step.
</instructions>
<constraints>
- Must work as a single <script> include on the year pages.
- Match the existing .nom-links-inline aesthetic.
- Falls back gracefully if search-data.js fails to load.
</constraints>
SEO Prompt 04
Schema-markup pass
<context>
The site uses JSON-LD via the mythos:jsonld block but only at the WebSite level. Article-level Review schema would help with rich-result eligibility.
</context>
<instructions>
Generate a script that injects @type=Review JSON-LD onto every existing review page on TVReviewer.com. Pull ratingValue from existing review verdict markers, author from the byline, itemReviewed from the show title.
</instructions>

Ready-to-paste writing prompts

Editorial prompts — reviews, profiles, recaps, picks — each pre-structured in the framework so output drops into the site's existing voice.

Content Prompt 01
Premiere review template
<context>
I just attended the premiere of [SHOW NAME, episode 1, network/streamer] at [festival or screening]. I'll paste my notes below.
</context>
<instructions>
Write a 900-word premiere review in TVReviewer's editorial voice. Lead with the single most arresting craft observation from my notes, not a synopsis. Land an evaluation in paragraph 2. Spend the body on craft (writing, performance, direction, design), not plot. Close with an awards-trajectory paragraph.
</instructions>
<constraints>
- No "in this prestige era" preamble.
- No spoilers past episode 1.
- 1-2 specific shot/scene references with timecodes if I provide them.
- One pull-quote, italicized, set off in the body.
</constraints>
<notes>
[paste premiere notes here]
</notes>
Content Prompt 02
Showrunner profile
<context>
[Showrunner name] is the subject of this week's TVReviewer profile. They run [series 1, series 2, series 3] and have a [room style / signature theme / craft signature].
</context>
<instructions>
Write an 1,800-word profile structured as: cold open scene from their work, biographical arc, room culture, signature craft moves, the throughline argument, where they're going next. Cite three on-record interviews and one critical essay about their work &mdash; flag any I should swap out.
</instructions>
Content Prompt 03
Reunion screening report
<context>
I'm about to attend a reunion screening of [show] at [festival]. Cast attending: [names].
</context>
<instructions>
Draft an outline I can fill in live: 6 bullet questions to listen for, 3 framing observations about the show's legacy to lead with, and a recommended 800-word structure for the post-event report.
</instructions>
07 · Cross-linking

Strategic internal links

Specific cross-linking targets between this site and the rest of the network. The compound effect of consistent cross-linking is the single biggest under-leveraged SEO move on the network.

Ideas you haven’t thought of yet

Unconventional moves that don't fit the standard scope-expansion taxonomy. Most won't fit. The point is to surface the option, not to force the action.

Annual "Critics' Picks" anthology, in print

A short letterpress-printed annual collection of the year's 12 best reviews from the network. Sold via the network store, distributed to festivals and to TCA members. Establishes archival permanence and a physical artifact.

A "first reactions" embargoed-stream wing

Some platforms send embargo screeners to credentialed outlets. Build infrastructure to publish first-look reactions the instant the embargo lifts. Currently we're a few hours-to-days behind the trades on these.

Reader-funded interview series

A small paid-tier (or one-off Substack) for reader-funded showrunner interviews. Frees the conversation from the algorithmic-headline pressure trade outlets are under.

Cross-network "what we got wrong" annual

Year-end retrospective across all five sites of where each one's 2026 calls were off. Honesty as a brand asset.

Live festival liveblog

During ATX, SXSW, Tribeca, NY Comic-Con: a single fast-updating liveblog page per festival. Cheap to maintain, ranks well for festival names.