This documents the structured investigation process that emerged during the project. It evolved through experience rather than being designed in advance – each step was added because skipping it had previously led to a wrong conclusion.
Suggested sequence
- Confirm technical health.
- Review Search Console.
- Assess relevance.
- Assess authority.
- Assess trust signals.
- Decide whether changes are actually required.
Note the deliberate ordering: technical health is checked first (see “Technical health is a prerequisite for SEO”), and the final step is a genuine decision point – the process can conclude that no change is required at all, which is itself a valid outcome rather than a failure to find something to fix.