Start with index coverage
Confirm that canonical public pages are indexed and thin admin, test, and confirmation pages are excluded. Track sitemap status and important crawl errors.
Measure query quality
Review impressions, clicks, click-through rate, and average position by query and landing page. Separate informational research from high-intent service searches.
Connect to qualified outcomes
Track meaningful form starts, completed applications, calls, and CRM-qualified leads with privacy-appropriate identifiers. Do not optimize only for easy page views.
Watch technical experience
Monitor Core Web Vitals, mobile usability, accessibility, broken links, structured data, and security. A strong lab score does not replace real-user data.
Use AI recommendations as drafts
AI can summarize patterns and propose tests, but a human should verify facts, compliance, brand claims, and business priority before publishing changes.