Evidence-first outlines
SERP modules, internal cannibalization flags, and brief shells that travel cleanly to legal review.
Signal board
Numbers we revisit every Monday stand-up
No miracle claims—just operational counts we track to keep mentor ratios honest and templates maintained.
6
Seasons hosting Tokyo studios
since 2019 pilot
9.1 / 10
Cohort satisfaction pulse
internal feedback, last 4 intakes
38
Templates in active rotation
brief + cluster kits
17
Partner desks across APAC
agencies + in-house pods
420+
Documented mentor hours
live critiques logged
Inside the studio
What lands in your backlog after week one
Merge Core trains editorial teams to treat search as a research partner, not a scoreboard. Every cohort mixes strategists, editors, and analytics partners so briefs survive the next product pivot.
Live rewrite floors
Mentors narrate decisions aloud so your team steals facilitation moves—not just slide decks.
JP-aware examples
Tokyo publishing realities, bilingual tone pitfalls, and respectful night-shift async windows.
Operational kindness
Templates sized for real allocation rhythms, with explicit “not included” callouts before you enroll.
Merge Core trains editorial cohorts for search-structured publishing in Japan
Marketing specialists, founders, and in-house growth managers join studios when they need topic clusters, search-led briefs, and refresh programs that survive real publishing pressure—not slide decks divorced from SERPs.
We trade abstract SEO theater for annotated SERPs, mentor-marked templates, and quiet accountability between sessions. Browse the current program stack or keep reading for how mentors pace feedback.
Programs
Three studios open for enrollment checks
Tuition stays visible in JPY for planning—even though enrollment itself happens through our team, not a checkout cart.
Cohort + async critiques
Topic Cluster Architecture for Newsroom Calendars
Build defensible cluster maps that connect pillar pages, spokes, and internal links without over-stuffing keywords.
¥89,000
Details
Hybrid studio
Search-Led Briefs: From Query Fan to Writer-Ready Outline
Turn messy SERP signals into outlines writers actually use, with acceptance checks that respect tone and product truth.
¥72,000
Details
Intensive sprint
Content Refresh Signals: When to Rewrite, Merge, or Retire
Operational playbooks for decaying URLs, seasonal pages, and legacy blogs that drag crawl budget without delivering clicks.
¥54,000
Details
01 — Flow
The five beats between kickoff and ship-ready briefs
01
SERP intake
Bring live queries; we annotate modules and risks before any outline draft.
02
Template fit
Match brief shells and QA rubrics to your CMS and approval reality.
03
Live critique
Mentors mark up cohort work in shared viewings with narrated reasoning.
04
Async drills
Notebook sprints and short exercises between studios keep muscle memory warm.
05
Handoff memo
Measurement and stakeholder language you can paste into internal wikis.
From our cohorts
Voices that mention the actual module names
Featured pulse
“Topic Cluster Architecture forced us to retire duplicate briefs before writers even opened Docs. Haruna’s redlines on our map hurt—in a useful way.”
“Search-Led Briefs finally gave our agency a shared SERP annotation vocabulary; clients stopped asking for “more H2s.””
“Notebook Sprints is short, but Mari’s async prompts kept my capture habit honest. Still messy on Fridays—human discipline.”
“Intent Labs made our designer care about snippet posture. Unexpected cross-team win.”
Signal drops
Request the syllabus packet—no cart, just context
We email PDF outlines, sample brief shells, and cohort dates when you share a work address. Optional: mention your publishing cadence so we route you to the right mentor group.