# SEO plan Human Guide

## What This Is For
Builds an SEO plan from business context, site status, competitors, goals, timelines, and measurable performance targets. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for search and SEO workflows: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the SEO plan agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for SEO plan.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the SEO plan guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Business type, target audience, competitors, goals
- Current site assessment (if exists)
- Budget and timeline constraints
- Key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Analyze their content strategy, schema usage, technical setup
- Identify keyword gaps and content opportunities
- Assess their E-E-A-T signals
- Estimate their domain authority
- Load industry template from `assets/` directory
- Design URL hierarchy and content pillars
- Plan internal linking strategy
- Sitemap structure with quality gates applied

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Process, Discovery, Competitive Analysis, Architecture Design, Content Strategy, Technical Foundation, Implementation Roadmap (4 phases), Phase 1: Foundation (weeks 1-4), Phase 2: Expansion (weeks 5-12), Phase 3: Scale (weeks 13-24).

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Case Studies Must Include
- This template applies to businesses that don't fit neatly into SaaS, local service, e-commerce, publisher, or agency categories. Customize based on your specific business model.
- ⚠️ **WARNING** at 30+ location pages
- Warning signs of [problem]
- Author Pages Must Include
- Consider dropping AMP (no longer required for Top Stories)
- Do NOT imply endorsement or affiliation
- Do NOT make false or unverifiable claims about competitor products

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the SEO plan human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the agricidaniel/claude-seo skill entry for `seo-plan`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Strategic SEO Planning

## Process

### 1. Discovery
- Business type, target audience, competitors, goals
- Current site assessment (if exists)
- Budget and timeline constraints
- Key performance indicators (KPIs)

### 2. Competitive Analysis
- Identify top 5 competitors
- Analyze their content strategy, schema usage, technical setup
- Identify keyword gaps and content opportunities
- Assess their E-E-A-T signals
- Estimate their domain authority

### 3. Architecture Design
- Load industry template from `assets/` directory
- Design URL hierarchy and content pillars
- Plan internal linking strategy
- Sitemap structure with quality gates applied
- Information architecture for user journeys

### 4. Content Strategy
- Content gaps vs competitors
- Page types and estimated counts
- Blog/resource topics and publishing cadence
- E-E-A-T building plan (author bios, credentials, experience signals)
- Content calendar with priorities

### 5. Technical Foundation
- Hosting and performance requirements
- Schema markup plan per page type
- Core Web Vitals baseline targets
- AI search readiness requirements
- Mobile-first considerations

### 6. Implementation Roadmap (4 phases)

#### Phase 1: Foundation (weeks 1-4)
- Technical setup and infrastructure
- Core pages (home, about, contact, main services)
- Essential schema implementation
- Analytics and tracking setup

#### Phase 2: Expansion (weeks 5-12)
- Content creation for primary pages
- Blog launch with initial posts
- Internal linking structure
- Local SEO setup (if applicable)

#### Phase 3: Scale (weeks 13-24)
- Advanced content development
- Link building and outreach
- GEO optimization
- Performance optimization

#### Phase 4: Authority (months 7-12)
- Thought leadership content
- PR and media mentions
- Advanced schema implementation
- Continuous optimization

## Industry Templates

Load from `assets/` directory:
- `saas.md`: SaaS/software companies
- `local-service.md`: Local service businesses
- `ecommerce.md`: E-commerce stores
- `publisher.md`: Content publishers/media
- `agency.md`: Agencies and consultancies
- `generic.md`: General business template

## Output

### Deliverables
- `SEO-STRATEGY.md`: Complete strategic plan
- `COMPETITOR-ANALYSIS.md`: Competitive insights
- `CONTENT-CALENDAR.md`: Content roadmap