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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# Keyword Research Worksheet
Use this template to research and organize keywords for a specific site. Copy this file per site.
## Site Information
- **Site:**
- **URL:**
- **Business type:**
- **Primary location(s):**
- **Target audience:**
- **Date:**
---
## 1. Seed Keywords
List everything the target audience might search for:
### Services / Products
| Service/Product | Seed Keywords |
|----------------|---------------|
| | |
| | |
| | |
### Problems / Questions
| Problem/Question | Seed Keywords |
|-----------------|---------------|
| | |
| | |
### Location Variations
| Location | Format |
|----------|--------|
| City | `[service] [city]` |
| State | `[service] [state]` |
| Neighborhood | `[service] [neighborhood]` |
| Region | `[service] [region]` |
---
## 2. Keyword Matrix (Local)
Fill in with Target / Assess / Skip for each intersection:
| Service ↓ \ Location → | [City 1] | [City 2] | [City 3] | [State] |
|------------------------|----------|----------|----------|---------|
| [Service 1] | | | | |
| [Service 2] | | | | |
| [Service 3] | | | | |
---
## 3. Expanded Keywords
After running seed keywords through tools (Google Autocomplete, PAA, Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest):
### Informational Keywords (Blog Content)
| Keyword | Est. Volume | Difficulty | Intent | Notes |
|---------|------------|------------|--------|-------|
| | | | Informational | |
| | | | Informational | |
| | | | Informational | |
| | | | Informational | |
| | | | Informational | |
### Commercial Keywords (Service/Comparison Pages)
| Keyword | Est. Volume | Difficulty | Intent | Notes |
|---------|------------|------------|--------|-------|
| | | | Commercial | |
| | | | Commercial | |
| | | | Commercial | |
### Transactional Keywords (Registration/Contact/Buy)
| Keyword | Est. Volume | Difficulty | Intent | Notes |
|---------|------------|------------|--------|-------|
| | | | Transactional | |
| | | | Transactional | |
| | | | Transactional | |
---
## 4. People Also Ask (PAA) Questions
From Google PAA results for your primary keywords:
| Question | Target Page | Priority |
|----------|-------------|----------|
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
---
## 5. Competitor Keywords
From reviewing competitor sites and sitemaps:
| Competitor | URL | Keywords They Target | Gap (We Don't Cover) |
|-----------|-----|---------------------|---------------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
---
## 6. Search Console Data (Existing Sites Only)
### High-Impression Keywords (What Google Shows Us For)
| Query | Impressions | Clicks | CTR | Position | Page |
|-------|------------|--------|-----|----------|------|
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
### Striking Distance (Position 8-20)
| Query | Position | Page | Action |
|-------|----------|------|--------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
### High Impressions / Low CTR (Title/Description Fix)
| Query | Impressions | CTR | Page | Fix Needed |
|-------|------------|-----|------|-----------|
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
---
## 7. Keyword-to-Page Mapping
Assign one primary keyword per page:
| Page | Primary Keyword | Secondary Keywords (2-3) | Intent | Status |
|------|----------------|-------------------------|--------|--------|
| Homepage | | | Nav/Commercial | |
| About | | | Navigational | |
| Contact | | | Nav/Transactional | |
| [Service 1] | | | Commercial | |
| [Service 2] | | | Commercial | |
| [Blog Post 1] | | | Informational | |
| [Blog Post 2] | | | Informational | |
Status: Not Started / In Progress / Optimized / Monitoring
---
## 8. Content Gap — New Pages Needed
Keywords that don't have a natural home on existing pages:
| Keyword | Intent | Proposed Page | Priority |
|---------|--------|--------------|----------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
---
## 9. Seasonal Opportunities
| Season/Event | Keywords | Content Needed | Publish By |
|-------------|----------|---------------|-----------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
---
## Notes
_Research observations, tool screenshots, or additional context:_
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# Page Optimization Checklist
Use this template when optimizing an individual page. Copy per page.
## Page Information
- **Site:**
- **Page URL:**
- **Page type:** Homepage / Service / Blog / Portfolio / Contact / About / Landing
- **Primary keyword:**
- **Secondary keywords (2-3):**
- **Search intent:** Informational / Navigational / Commercial / Transactional
- **Date optimized:**
---
## SmartCrawl Setup
- [ ] Focus keyword set in SmartCrawl (primary)
- [ ] Secondary keywords added (up to 3 total)
- [ ] SEO analysis tab reviewed
- [ ] Readability analysis tab reviewed
- [ ] No keyword cannibalization (checked against other posts)
---
## Title Tag
- [ ] Contains primary keyword
- [ ] Keyword near the beginning
- [ ] Length: 50-60 characters
- [ ] Unique (not used on any other page)
- [ ] Includes brand name
- [ ] Compelling for CTR (value prop, numbers, power words)
**Title tag:** `________________________________________`
**Character count:** ____
---
## Meta Description
- [ ] Hand-crafted (not auto-generated)
- [ ] Contains primary keyword
- [ ] Length: 150-160 characters
- [ ] Includes call to action
- [ ] Includes differentiator (price, location, certification, etc.)
- [ ] Compelling for CTR
**Meta description:** `________________________________________`
**Character count:** ____
---
## Headings
- [ ] Exactly one H1 on the page
- [ ] H1 contains primary keyword
- [ ] H2s cover major sections (3-8 total)
- [ ] At least one H2 contains a secondary keyword
- [ ] H3s used for subsections where needed
- [ ] No skipped levels (H1 → H2 → H3, not H1 → H3)
**H1:** `________________________________________`
**H2s:**
1.
2.
3.
4.
---
## Content
- [ ] Primary keyword in first 100-200 words
- [ ] Topic covered comprehensively (no obvious gaps vs top competitors)
- [ ] Written for humans first, search engines second
- [ ] Short paragraphs (2-4 sentences)
- [ ] Uses lists, tables, or structured formatting where appropriate
- [ ] Readability score: ____ (target 60-70 Flesch-Kincaid)
- [ ] No keyword stuffing
- [ ] Answers the searcher's question/need clearly
**Word count:** ____
---
## Images
- [ ] At least one image on the page
- [ ] Primary image has alt text with keyword (where natural)
- [ ] All images have descriptive alt text
- [ ] Image file names are descriptive (not `IMG_4532.jpg`)
- [ ] Images are optimized (WebP/compressed, explicit dimensions)
- [ ] Below-fold images use lazy loading
**Images on page:** ____
---
## Internal Links
- [ ] Page links to 2-3+ other relevant pages on the site
- [ ] 2-3+ other pages link to this page
- [ ] Anchor text is descriptive (not "click here")
- [ ] Links are contextually relevant
**Outgoing internal links:**
1. `[anchor text]``[destination URL]`
2. `[anchor text]``[destination URL]`
3. `[anchor text]``[destination URL]`
**Incoming internal links from:**
1.
2.
3.
---
## URL
- [ ] Short and descriptive
- [ ] Contains primary keyword
- [ ] Uses hyphens (not underscores)
- [ ] Lowercase
- [ ] No dates (unless truly time-bound)
- [ ] No unnecessary parameters or IDs
**URL slug:** `/________________________________/`
---
## Open Graph / Social
- [ ] OG title set (or using SEO title as default)
- [ ] OG description set
- [ ] OG image set (1200x630px)
- [ ] Twitter Card configured
- [ ] Tested with Facebook Sharing Debugger
---
## Schema Markup
- [ ] Appropriate schema type applied
- [ ] Schema validated at Google Rich Results Test
- [ ] No errors or warnings
**Schema type:** ____
---
## Technical
- [ ] Page loads over HTTPS
- [ ] Canonical tag present and correct
- [ ] Not accidentally noindexed
- [ ] Included in XML sitemap
- [ ] Mobile-friendly
- [ ] Page load time acceptable
---
## SmartCrawl Analysis Results
### SEO Checks
| Check | Status |
|-------|--------|
| Keyphrase in title | |
| Keyphrase in URL | |
| Keyphrase in meta description | |
| Keyphrase in H1 | |
| Keyphrase in subheadings | |
| Keyphrase in content | |
| Keyphrase in image alt | |
| External links present | |
| Internal links present | |
| Meta description quality | |
### Readability
| Check | Status |
|-------|--------|
| Flesch-Kincaid score | |
| Sentence length | |
| Passive voice | |
| Paragraph length | |
| Subheading distribution | |
---
## Post-Optimization
- [ ] Cleared Nginx cache: `rm -rf /var/cache/ea-nginx/proxy/<account>/*`
- [ ] Verified changes render correctly on frontend
- [ ] Facebook Sharing Debugger: scraped updated OG tags
- [ ] Google Rich Results Test: validated schema
- [ ] Search Console: requested re-indexing (optional, for urgent changes)
---
## Notes
_Observations, decisions made, things to revisit:_
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# Site SEO Audit Checklist
Use this template before starting SEO work on any site. Copy this file and fill it in for the specific site.
## Site Information
- **Site URL:**
- **cPanel Account:**
- **Cache path:** `/var/cache/ea-nginx/proxy/<account>/`
- **CMS:** WordPress / Static HTML / Other
- **SEO Plugin:** SmartCrawl Free / SmartCrawl Pro / Other / None
- **Date of Audit:**
- **Auditor:**
---
## 1. Current State Assessment
### Indexing
- [ ] Site is indexed in Google (`site:example.com` returns results)
- [ ] Approximate number of indexed pages: ____
- [ ] Google Search Console connected and verified
- [ ] Any manual actions or security issues in Search Console? ____
### Existing SEO Setup
- [ ] SEO plugin installed? Which one? ____
- [ ] Title tags customized or default? ____
- [ ] Meta descriptions set? How many pages? ____
- [ ] Schema markup present? Type(s)? ____
- [ ] XML sitemap exists? URL: ____
- [ ] Sitemap submitted to Search Console?
- [ ] Robots.txt exists and is correct?
- [ ] Open Graph tags present?
- [ ] Any existing redirects?
---
## 2. Technical SEO
### Performance
- [ ] Page load time (GTmetrix or PageSpeed Insights): ____ seconds
- [ ] LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): ____
- [ ] INP (Interaction to Next Paint): ____
- [ ] CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): ____
- [ ] Mobile-friendly test: Pass / Fail
### Security & Protocol
- [ ] HTTPS enabled (no mixed content)
- [ ] HTTP → HTTPS redirect working
- [ ] www / non-www preference set with redirect
- [ ] Trailing slash consistency
### Crawlability
- [ ] Robots.txt reviewed (not blocking CSS/JS/important content)
- [ ] No accidental `noindex` on important pages
- [ ] No orphan pages (pages with zero internal links)
- [ ] No broken internal links (404s)
- [ ] Canonical tags present and correct
---
## 3. On-Page SEO
### Title Tags
- [ ] Homepage has custom title tag
- [ ] Service pages have custom title tags
- [ ] Blog posts have title tags (template or custom)
- [ ] Any duplicate title tags? List: ____
- [ ] Title tag length (50-60 chars)? ____
### Meta Descriptions
- [ ] Homepage has hand-crafted meta description
- [ ] Service pages have meta descriptions
- [ ] Any pages missing descriptions? Count: ____
- [ ] Description length (150-160 chars)? ____
### Content
- [ ] Every page has exactly one H1
- [ ] Header hierarchy is correct (no skipped levels)
- [ ] Images have alt text
- [ ] Internal linking structure exists
- [ ] Content quality assessment (thin pages? duplicate content?)
### URLs
- [ ] URLs are clean (no ?p=123 or parameter junk)
- [ ] URLs include keywords where appropriate
- [ ] Hyphens used (not underscores)
- [ ] Reasonable length
---
## 4. Local SEO (If Applicable)
- [ ] Google Business Profile exists and is verified
- [ ] GBP information is complete and accurate
- [ ] NAP is consistent across website, GBP, and directories
- [ ] LocalBusiness schema on website
- [ ] Google Map embedded on contact page
- [ ] Reviews: count ____, average rating ____
- [ ] Listed in relevant local directories
---
## 5. Content Inventory
List the key pages and their current SEO status:
| Page | URL | Title Tag | Meta Desc | H1 | Focus KW | Status |
|------|-----|-----------|-----------|-----|----------|--------|
| Homepage | / | | | | | |
| About | /about/ | | | | | |
| Contact | /contact/ | | | | | |
| Service 1 | | | | | | |
| Service 2 | | | | | | |
| Blog (if any) | /blog/ | | | | | |
Status options: Good / Needs Work / Missing / N/A
---
## 6. Search Console Quick Wins
After connecting Search Console, check:
- [ ] Top queries by impressions (what Google shows the site for)
- [ ] Striking distance keywords (positions 8-20)
- [ ] Pages with high impressions but low CTR (title/description issue)
- [ ] Any crawl errors or indexing issues
### Striking Distance Keywords Found
| Keyword | Current Position | Page | Action Needed |
|---------|-----------------|------|---------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
---
## 7. Priority Actions
Based on the audit, list the top actions in priority order:
### Immediate (Do First)
1.
2.
3.
### Soon (This Week)
1.
2.
3.
### Ongoing (Monthly)
1.
2.
3.
---
## Notes
_Additional observations, competitor insights, or client-specific considerations:_