# SEO monitoring Human Guide

## What This Is For
Guides building a holistic SEO data analysis system. 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 monitoring 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 monitoring.
- 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 monitoring 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
- **Core metrics**: Indexing, traffic, keywords, backlinks
- **Benchmark**: Natural traffic baseline; trend comparison
- **Article database**: Per-article performance tracking
- **Tool selection**: GA4, GSC, SEO tools, analytics platforms
- **Traffic diversification**: Healthy source mix
- **Penalty recovery**: Algorithm impact, fix workflow
- **Work documents**: Monthly records, responsibility tracking
- Review organic traffic trend
- Record baseline (e.g., monthly total)
- Compare periodically to detect growth or decline
- **User ID**: Cross-device, cross-session identification; send to GA4
- **GSC API**: Index, clicks, impressions, coverage for automation, dashboards

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Scope, Four Core Metrics, Indexing, Traffic, Keywords, Backlinks, Natural Traffic Benchmark, Article Database, Tool Selection, Traffic Diversification.

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
- | Important links | Manual log | Track loss |

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the SEO monitoring 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 kostja94/marketing-skills skill entry for `seo-monitoring`.

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

# Analytics: SEO Monitoring

Guides building a holistic SEO data analysis system. Covers four core metrics (indexing, traffic, keywords, backlinks), benchmark setup, article database, tool selection, traffic diversification, penalty recovery, and work document management.

**When invoking**: On **first use**, if helpful, open with 1-2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On **subsequent use** or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.

## Scope

- **Core metrics**: Indexing, traffic, keywords, backlinks
- **Benchmark**: Natural traffic baseline; trend comparison
- **Article database**: Per-article performance tracking
- **Tool selection**: GA4, GSC, SEO tools, analytics platforms
- **Traffic diversification**: Healthy source mix
- **Penalty recovery**: Algorithm impact, fix workflow
- **Work documents**: Monthly records, responsibility tracking

## Four Core Metrics

### 1. Indexing

| Metric | Purpose | Data Source |
|--------|---------|-------------|
| **Pages indexed / not indexed** | Coverage; early focus: all target pages indexed | GSC, site: command, SEO tools |
| **Keyword count per page** | More keywords = more potential traffic | SEO tools |
| **Index coverage** | Target pages indexed; functional pages findable | GSC, site: command |

**Early priority**: Ensure all pages that need to rank are indexed.

### 2. Traffic

| Metric | Purpose | Data Source |
|--------|---------|-------------|
| **Total traffic** | Growth; keyword relevance (irrelevant traffic has little value) | GA4, SEO tools |
| **Subdirectory traffic** | Per-section performance; concentration vs dispersion | SEO tools, GA4 |
| **Competitive comparison** | Organic, keyword traffic, total clicks vs competitors | SEO tools |
| **Organic by page / country** | Granular breakdown | GA4, GSC |

### 3. Keywords

| Metric | Purpose | Data Source |
|--------|---------|-------------|
| **Rank changes** | Target keyword movement | GSC, SEO tools |
| **Keyword count** | New gains / losses per page | SEO tools, GSC |

### 4. Backlinks

| Metric | Purpose | Data Source |
|--------|---------|-------------|
| **Referring domains vs backlinks** | Ratio; directory links can be high volume but low value | SEO tools |
| **Backlink quality** | Do links drive traffic? Low ROI = deprioritize | SEO tools, GA4 (referral) |

## Natural Traffic Benchmark

**Location**: GA4 > Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition

1. Review organic traffic trend
2. Record baseline (e.g., monthly total)
3. Compare periodically to detect growth or decline

**Tip**: Add CTA events on key articles to track content ROI (see **analytics-tracking**).

## Article Database

Track per-article performance to find high/low patterns:

| Field | Use |
|-------|-----|
| **URL, publish date, target keywords** | Content metadata |
| **Index status, rank, traffic, backlinks** | Performance |
| **vs benchmark or competitors** | Context |

Use to guide topic selection, optimization, and resource allocation.

## Tool Selection

*Tool examples are illustrative; no endorsement implied.*

| Use | Tools |
|-----|-------|
| **Precise attribution** | GA4, GSC, Bing Webmaster, Yandex Webmaster |