Summarize this article with AI
Send it straight to your assistant and get the short version first. The link travels with the prompt, so the model reads the real page.
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The short answer
Seven checks, twenty minutes, no tools. Fail three or more and you have a foundation problem rather than a content problem, and foundation problems are the cheap ones.
1. Your robots.txt or sitemap returns 404
Type them after your domain. Two minutes. If either 404s, you are making machines work harder than they should before anything else you do can count.[1][2]
2. You have no structured data
View source, search for ld+json. Nothing there means nothing is helping a machine verify what your pages claim. For a contractor the minimum is a LocalBusiness or GeneralContractor block with your address, service area and services.[3][4]
3. Your homepage does not name your trade in the first screen
Read the first thing a visitor sees. If it is a slogan over a hero video, a machine has nothing concrete to summarize and neither does a homeowner in a hurry.
4. Your website and Google profile disagree
Open both side by side. Compare hours, services, categories, service area and the description. Any difference is a contradiction, and contradiction costs you more than silence.[5]
5. Your LinkedIn describes a different company
Common, and expensive, because that profile is frequently cited more than your website. If it still says the trade you left five years ago, that is what gets repeated about you.
6. Asking an AI about your trade never surfaces you
The only check on this list that measures reality rather than readiness. Ask three engines who they would recommend for your trade in your city, five times each, and write down who appears.
7. Nobody has ever measured any of this
If you cannot state a citation rate with a denominator and a date, there is no baseline, and no future claim of improvement can be checked. Including a claim from us.
Questions builders actually ask
What if I fail all seven?
Then you have the cheapest possible starting position, because the fixes are mechanical rather than strategic. Work down the list in order.
Do I need a developer?
For one, two and five, usually not. For structured data, usually yes, unless your platform generates it.
Which one matters most?
Number four. A contradiction between your site and your Google profile undermines everything else you do.
Sources
Every claim above that could be checked links to the primary documentation rather than to another agency blog. That is the standard we hold client content to as well.
Share this article with AI
Finished it? Hand the whole thing to a model and ask what it means for your business specifically, including anything in it you think is wrong.
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