Cloning the competitor's outline got us a clone's ranking

Cloning the competitor's outline got us a clone's ranking
Gave a writer the top result's H2s and said 'match this, but better'. We shipped a slightly-nicer version of a page that already existed. Google had no reason to rank a copy over the original. Dead on arrival.

Now the brief demands a reason to exist:
— List what the top pages all cover (table stakes — hit them fast)
— Then list what NONE of them cover — that's your headline angle
— The post leads with the gap, not the consensus

'Same but better' isn't a strategy, it's a tie. Find the gap or don't write it.