On-page discipline
Headings, Q&A format, internal + external linking, schema hierarchy — the other half of why 10 links work.
On this page
"I only care about referring-domain count when first publishing. After that it's on-page + schema, then 10 at a time." This is the on-page half. The Publish quickstart is the checklist; this is the why.
Heading-tag discipline
Every heading ties to the primary keyword or is a subheading of it. Google scans trillions of pages with minimal-viable-crawl heuristics — every heading is a signal about what the page is about. "About the Author," "Read Next," "100 Millisecond Verdict" are noise that confuses the read. Web devs add H2s for visual consistency; Google cares about the semantic outline, not the font.
Write headings like a research-paper outline: H1 main topic, H2 subtopics, H3 sub-subtopics, H4 conclusion.
For an existing page, run the heading-audit prompt sequence in Content buckets → identify wasted headings → rewrite or demote.
Bonus: hand an AI an outline (vs "write me an article about X") and the output is dramatically better. The outline IS the structure.
Q&A paragraph format
Three-sentence paragraph under each question heading:
- Sentence 1: directly answer the question (no stories).
- Sentence 2: provide a source / how you know.
- Sentence 3: an example of the answer applied.
Why: triggers People Also Asked + AI-overview citations. AI is an answer engine — it goes to sources, correlates, cites; this format makes you the citation. Credited to "Corey" (Clint calls him a con artist but this one tactic is real).
On AEO generally: this is the one durable lever. Clint tried every published AI-citation tactic and got inconsistent results; what worked was running standard SEO well and letting citations come naturally. llms.txt (Brian Winnham) is a low-priority test — likely more work than it's worth when citations already arrive. Don't build an AEO program.
External linking
Stop generic external linking — testing showed it does nothing.
- Never default to Wikipedia. An all-Wikipedia external profile reads as manipulation; Clint even pulled Wikipedia out of his schema.
- Link only to genuinely cited sources (a Phoenix weather article links the National Weather Service Phoenix page). If you wouldn't cite it in a research paper, don't link it.
Internal linking is a publish step
"If you don't link to your new content, why should Google index you?" On every publish:
- Publish the page.
- Link OUT from the new page to relevant existing pages.
- Link IN — update older content to link to the new page (the priority).
- Then everything else.
90 days live with no internal/external links is a deindex signal; enough deindexed pages drops your site score and you stop ranking for anything. For HTML/Eleventy sites, bake "link old → new" into the publish script — don't rely on a monthly pass.
Schema hierarchy (basics)
Single-location:
- Homepage: Organization (parent) + Website published-by Organization.
- WebPages: WebPage, part-of Website, published-by Organization.
- Service pages: Service attached to LocalBusiness.
Test in Rich Results — should validate as ONE connected graph. Multi-location detail in Strategy; the deep entity/About/Mention work is in Entities + schema.
Triage — when to apply all this
- Don't touch: pages already top-3, or with zero rankings (not even page 5).
- Do touch: pages ranking 11–25. They're close — fixing headings + Q&A usually pushes them up.
Workflow: GSC → filter 11–25 → heading audit → republish → RD100 or cloud at the URL (both only if hard).