Initial commit — SEO Guidelines & SmartCrawl reference
SmartCrawl plugin reference (11 docs): - Overview, configuration, titles & meta, schema, sitemaps, social/OG, redirects, breadcrumbs, content analysis, hooks/filters, known issues SEO strategy playbook (6 docs): - Keyword research, per-page-type selection, on-page optimization, local SEO, technical SEO, content strategy Reusable templates (3): - Site audit checklist, keyword research worksheet, page optimization checklist Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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# On-Page Optimization
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Current best practices (2025-2026) for optimizing individual pages. These apply regardless of the SEO plugin used.
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## Title Tags
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### Rules
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- **Length:** 50-60 characters (Google truncates at ~580px pixel width)
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- **Primary keyword:** As close to the beginning as possible
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- **Unique:** Every page must have a unique title
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- **Brand name:** At the end (builds recognition)
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- **Don't stuff:** One primary keyword is enough
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### CTR Optimization
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Include value propositions, numbers, or power words:
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| Weak | Strong |
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|------|--------|
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| `Home - My Website` | `Motorcycle Safety Courses Anchorage, AK \| Alaska Safe Riders` |
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| `Services` | `Basic Rider Course (MSF Certified) \| Alaska Safe Riders` |
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| `Blog Post Title` | `What to Expect at a Basic Rider Course (2026 Guide)` |
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## Meta Descriptions
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### Rules
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- **Length:** 150-160 characters
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- **Include primary keyword** naturally (Google bolds matching terms)
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- **Include a CTA:** "Register today", "Learn more", "Contact us"
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- **Include differentiators:** Price, location, certifications
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- **Hand-craft** for important pages — auto-generated descriptions rarely perform well
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### Example
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> Learn to ride with Alaska's most experienced MSF-certified instructors. Weekend and weekday courses in Anchorage. Register online — classes fill fast.
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**Note:** Google rewrites ~60% of meta descriptions, but well-written ones are kept and significantly improve CTR.
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## Header Tags
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### Hierarchy
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- **H1:** Exactly one per page. Contains primary keyword. Closely matches the title tag.
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- **H2:** Major sections (3-8 per page). Use secondary keywords and related topics.
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- **H3:** Subsections under H2s. Use long-tail variations and questions.
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- **Never skip levels** (no H1 directly to H3)
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### Headers are semantic, not visual
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Using `<b>` or large font size is NOT the same as a proper `<h2>`. Headers tell search engines about content hierarchy.
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## Content Optimization
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### Keyword Density is Dead
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Google's algorithms (BERT, MUM, Helpful Content System) understand topics, not word frequency. What replaces it:
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**Topical coverage:** Cover the topic comprehensively. If writing about motorcycle safety courses, naturally mention gear requirements, licensing, MSF certification, course duration, prerequisites, etc.
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**E-E-A-T signals:**
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- **Experience:** First-person accounts, original photos, real examples
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- **Expertise:** Deep knowledge, cite specifics, avoid filler
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- **Authoritativeness:** Author bios, credentials, industry affiliations
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- **Trustworthiness:** Accurate information, transparent business info
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**Google's Helpful Content guidelines:**
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- Written for humans first, not search engines?
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- Demonstrates first-hand experience?
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- Reader will feel they learned enough to achieve their goal?
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### Practical Rules
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- Put the most important information first (inverted pyramid)
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- Short paragraphs (2-4 sentences)
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- Answer the searcher's question within the first 100-200 words
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- Use lists, tables, and structured formatting
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- Content should be as long as it needs to be — a focused 500-word service page can outrank a padded 3,000-word one
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## Image Optimization
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### Alt Text
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- **Describe what the image shows** in plain language
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- **Include keywords naturally** where they genuinely describe the image
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- **Keep under 125 characters** (screen readers truncate longer)
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- **Decorative images** get empty alt (`alt=""`)
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### File Names
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`basic-rider-course-anchorage.jpg` beats `DSC00451.jpg`
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### Technical
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- Use WebP or AVIF format for smaller file sizes
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- Set explicit width and height attributes (prevents CLS)
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- Lazy load below-the-fold images
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- Compress to reasonable quality (80-85% is usually sufficient)
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## Internal Linking
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One of the most underused and highest-ROI SEO tactics.
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### Rules
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- **Every page should link to and be linked from 2-3+ other pages**
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- **Descriptive anchor text** — "our basic rider course" not "click here"
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- **Blog posts → service pages** (primary purpose of blog content for SEO)
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- **Service pages → related services** (keeps users on site)
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- **Fix orphan pages** — any page with zero internal links is nearly invisible to Google
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### Site Structure
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```
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Homepage
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├── Service Page 1
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│ ├── Blog Post A (links back to Service 1)
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│ └── Blog Post B (links back to Service 1)
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├── Service Page 2
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│ ├── Blog Post C
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│ └── Blog Post D
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├── About
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└── Contact
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```
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This pyramid distributes authority downward from the homepage.
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## URL Slugs
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### Rules
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- **Short and descriptive:** `/basic-rider-course/`
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- **Include primary keyword:** `/motorcycle-safety-course-anchorage/`
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- **Hyphens, not underscores:** Google treats hyphens as word separators
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- **Lowercase only**
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- **No dates in URLs** unless truly time-bound content
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- **Never change URLs without 301 redirects**
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### Bad vs Good
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| Bad | Good |
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|-----|------|
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| `/2026/04/09/blog-post/` | `/how-to-prepare-for-motorcycle-course/` |
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| `/services/` | `/motorcycle-safety-courses-anchorage/` |
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| `/page_about_us/` | `/about/` |
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## Quick Optimization Checklist
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For any page:
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- [ ] Title tag: 50-60 chars, primary keyword near start, unique
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- [ ] Meta description: 150-160 chars, keyword included, CTA, hand-crafted
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- [ ] H1: Exactly one, contains primary keyword
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- [ ] H2/H3: Use secondary keywords in subheadings
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- [ ] Content: Answers the searcher's question in the first 200 words
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- [ ] Images: Descriptive alt text, optimized file size, descriptive file names
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- [ ] Internal links: 2-3+ links to/from related pages, descriptive anchors
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- [ ] URL: Short, keyword-included, lowercase, hyphens
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- [ ] Focus keyword set in SmartCrawl (up to 3)
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- [ ] SmartCrawl SEO analysis: all green or justified yellow
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- [ ] Readability: Flesch-Kincaid 60-70 target
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