Awareness, consideration, decision: why one article cannot do all three jobs

By Thomas Lovas Lokoy · Published 16 October 2026 · 5 min read

The phrase "content funnel" has been worn smooth by marketing decks, but underneath it is a simple and useful observation: a reader who does not yet know what their problem is called needs a different article from a reader who has chosen a solution and wants to set it up. Most underperforming articles fail because they were written for a reader who does not exist, one who is simultaneously new to the subject and ready to buy. This guide sets out what each stage actually asks of a piece, how to tell them apart, and what to do when the journey needs more than one article.

The three readers

The awareness reader has a symptom and no vocabulary. They searched "why is my energy bill so high", not "time-of-use tariff". They cannot evaluate options because they do not yet know there are options. What they need is to have the problem named, to understand why it happens, and to see the two or three broad approaches laid out fairly. What they do not need is a recommendation, because they have no way to judge it, and a pitch at this stage reads as exactly what it is.

The consideration reader knows the options and is weighing them. They searched "heat pump vs gas boiler" or "best accounting software for sole traders". They need criteria, three to five things that actually decide the choice, and an honest working of each option against them, including where each is worse. A single universal winner is the wrong ending for this reader, because their situation decides the answer; "choose X if…, choose Y if…" is the right one.

The decision reader has decided in principle and wants to get it right. They searched "how to switch to a time-of-use tariff" or "setting up VAT in" a named product. They need confirmation that the decision is sound, the steps in order with what each costs in time or money, the objections a sceptic would raise, including when not to proceed, and the specific first action to take today. Background at this stage is an obstacle.

How to tell which reader you have

The words they searched tell you. Questions beginning "what is" or "why does" are awareness. Phrases with "vs", "best", "compare" or "alternatives" are consideration. Phrases with "how to", "set up", "checklist" or a specific product name are decision. The research step in AI Orbit returns the questions searchers actually ask for a topic, in their own words, and the stage is usually legible from those questions alone. If the questions span all three, you do not have one article; you have a series.

Why one article cannot do all three

An article that tries to carry a reader from "what is this" to "which one" to "how do I start" fails each reader in turn. The awareness reader is sold to before they understand the problem and leaves. The consideration reader has to scroll past an explanation they did not need to reach criteria that are then rushed. The decision reader finds the steps buried under a comparison they have already made. The piece ranks for none of the three intents well, because it serves none of them well, and the length that was supposed to make it comprehensive is what makes it unusable.

There is a second cost. The three stages want different closes. Awareness closes on a next read; consideration closes on a split; decision closes on an action. A piece that tries to do all three ends with a compromise close that does nothing for anyone.

How AI Orbit builds for one stage

On Starter and above, you choose the funnel position when you brief an article, and the writer receives a four-part structure for that stage: the opening, the body shape, the kind of ending, and in each case an instruction that the reader must never see the words "awareness", "consideration" or "decision" in the text. Consideration is the default, because it is the stage most commercial articles are actually written for. The optional call-to-action field tells the writer what the close should point at; on an awareness piece that should be a next read, and the structure will not let the piece sell even if you ask it to.

The same setting is used for internal linking. The writer is given your recently published pages as the only internal URLs that exist, and told to link to the ones a reader at this stage would genuinely want next. An awareness piece that links forward to your consideration piece is doing the funnel's work without the jargon. The briefing guide covers how to choose the stage; the pipeline tutorial shows how the structure reaches the writer.

When the journey needs a series

If the research questions span the stages, the honest answer is three to five articles, one per reader, that link forward. On Pro and above, AI Orbit's series mode does this from one seed topic: a planner proposes a title, a one-sentence angle and a stage for each part, with the rules that no two parts may answer the same question, that stages run from awareness early to decision late, and that at least one part is a decision piece. Each part is then written to stand alone for a reader arriving from search while referring to at most two of its siblings. The series tutorial describes how it is planned and charged part by part.

The alternative, which costs nothing but discipline, is to write the pieces one at a time with the stage set deliberately, publish each, and let the internal-link list carry the reader forward.

A test for any article you have already written

Read the first paragraph and the last paragraph. Which reader is the opening for, and which reader is the close for? If they are different readers, the article is trying to do two jobs. Split it, or cut the half that belongs to the other reader and link to a piece that serves them properly. Most articles get shorter and better under this test, which is a reasonable description of what a funnel is for.

The funnel setting is on Starter and above; the pricing page lists it alongside the rest, and the Free tier lets you see the neutral structure before you pay for the staged one.