SEO & AEO Optimization — Process Manifest

⚙️ Process Manifest: SEO & AEO Optimization

BaC Principle

“Infrastructure as Code permanently eliminated manual server setup. Business as Code does the same thing — for everything else.”

This is the canonical machine-readable definition of the SEO and AEO optimization process. It is not a narrative description — it is the executable specification from which all agents operate. When this file changes, the process changes.

See Map of Content for full vault navigation.

---

📦 Manifest Header

process:
  name: seo-aeo-optimization
  version: 1.0.0
  owner: CMO
  last_updated: 2026-04-02
  review_cycle: monthly
  goal: Grow organic search traffic and establish AI citation presence for target topics
  kpi_primary: organic_sessions_per_week
  kpi_secondary: [ai_citation_rate, avg_serp_position, aeo_readiness_score]

---

🗂️ Process Stages

stages:
  - id: S1
    name: site-audit
    agent: SiteAuditAgent
    type: AUTO
    input: target_definition         # → see [[02-Target-Definition]]
    output: audit_report             # technical issues + content baseline
    sla_hours: 4
    human_gate: false
 
  - id: S2
    name: keyword-topic-research
    agent: KeywordResearchAgent
    type: AUTO
    input: [target_definition, audit_report]
    output: keyword_topic_map        # clusters, intent taxonomy, AEO query variants
    sla_hours: 6
    human_gate: false
 
  - id: S3
    name: strategy-review
    agent: HUMAN
    type: MANUAL
    input: keyword_topic_map
    output: approved_content_strategy   # prioritized content plan
    sla_hours: 48
    human_gate: true                    # → see [[09-Human-Review-Gates]]
    approval_threshold: 0.7             # approve ≥70% of clusters or revise target
 
  - id: S4
    name: content-optimization
    agent: ContentOptimizationEngine
    type: AUTO
    input: approved_content_strategy
    output: optimized_content_batch     # new + updated pages, ready for AEO pass
    sla_hours: 8
    human_gate: false
 
  - id: S5
    name: aeo-structuring
    agent: AEOStructuringAgent
    type: AUTO
    input: optimized_content_batch
    output: aeo_ready_content           # FAQ markup, schema, answer-first structure
    sla_hours: 4
    human_gate: false                   # → see [[06-AEO-Structuring-Agent]]
 
  - id: S6
    name: technical-seo
    agent: TechnicalSEOAgent
    type: AUTO
    input: [audit_report, aeo_ready_content]
    output: technical_fix_specs         # implementation specs + schema injections
    sla_hours: 4
    human_gate: false                   # → see [[07-Technical-SEO-Agent]]
    escalation: issues requiring code deploy → flagged for dev
 
  - id: S7
    name: content-review
    agent: HUMAN
    type: MANUAL
    input: [aeo_ready_content, technical_fix_specs]
    output: approved_publish_batch
    sla_hours: 24
    human_gate: true                    # → see [[09-Human-Review-Gates]]
    sample_size: 0.1                    # human reviews 10% sample
 
  - id: S8
    name: authority-citation-building
    agent: AuthorityBuildingAgent
    type: AUTO
    input: approved_publish_batch
    output: outreach_queue              # backlink targets + AI citation opportunities
    sla_hours: 4
    human_gate: false                   # → see [[08-Authority-Building-Agent]]
 
  - id: S9
    name: improvement-loop
    agent: MetricsAgent
    type: AUTO
    input: [rankings_log, ai_citation_tracker, content_inventory]
    output: improvement_proposals       # PRs against this manifest
    cadence: weekly
    human_gate: true                    # → see [[10-Metrics-and-Self-Improvement]]

---

🔀 Process Flow

flowchart LR
    subgraph AUTO["⚡ AI Agents — No human needed"]
        S1["S1: Site Audit"]
        S2["S2: Keyword Research"]
        S4["S4: Content Optimization"]
        S5["S5: AEO Structuring"]
        S6["S6: Technical SEO"]
        S8["S8: Authority Building"]
    end

    subgraph HUMAN["👤 Human Gates — Review, not execute"]
        S3["S3: Strategy Review"]
        S7["S7: Content Review"]
        S9["S9: Improvement PRs"]
    end

    S1 --> S2 --> S3 --> S4 --> S5 --> S6 --> S7 --> S8 --> S9
    S9 -->|"Updates manifest"| S2

---

📊 Human vs. Agent Split

Stage	Owner	Time Required
Site Audit	🤖 Agent	0 min
Keyword & Topic Research	🤖 Agent	0 min
Strategy Review	👤 Human	~20 min/month
Content Optimization	🤖 Agent	0 min
AEO Structuring	🤖 Agent	0 min
Technical SEO	🤖 Agent	0 min
Content Review	👤 Human	~30 min/week
Authority Building	🤖 Agent	0 min
Improvement PRs	👤 Human	~30 min/week

BaC Result

Total human time: ~60 min/week to run a full SEO + AEO optimization process that previously required a dedicated specialist or agency.

---

🧩 Dependencies

integrations:
  - name: Google Search Console API   # rankings + indexing data
    used_by: [S1, S9]
    type: read
 
  - name: Ahrefs / SEMrush API        # keyword research + backlink data
    used_by: [S1, S2, S8]
    type: read
 
  - name: Screaming Frog              # technical site crawl
    used_by: [S1, S6]
    type: read
 
  - name: PageSpeed Insights API      # Core Web Vitals
    used_by: [S1, S6]
    type: read
 
  - name: SurferSEO / Frase           # on-page content scoring
    used_by: [S4]
    type: read_write
 
  - name: Claude API                  # content drafting, AEO restructuring, schema gen
    used_by: [S4, S5, S6]
    type: write
 
  - name: Schema.org validator        # structured data validation
    used_by: [S5, S6]
    type: read
 
  - name: Google Rich Results Test    # schema QA
    used_by: [S5]
    type: read
 
data_stores:
  - keyword_database        # all researched keywords + clusters + intent
  - content_inventory       # all pages: URL, status, last_optimized, aeo_score
  - rankings_log            # weekly SERP position snapshots per keyword
  - ai_citation_tracker     # weekly LLM query results + citation log
  - technical_issues_log    # audit findings + remediation status

---

🔄 Versioning & Change Protocol

Manifest is the Source of Truth

Changes to the SEO/AEO process must be made here first, then deployed to agents. Never modify agent behavior directly without updating this manifest.

change_protocol:
  minor_change:   # e.g., adjust publishing cadence, add a keyword cluster
    approver: CMO
    review_required: false
    deploy_delay_hours: 0
 
  major_change:   # e.g., new target segment, new AEO platform, content pillar shift
    approver: CMO
    review_required: true
    a_b_test_required: true
    deploy_delay_hours: 48
    reference: [[10-Metrics-and-Self-Improvement]]
 
  rollback:
    trigger: organic_sessions drops >20% vs 4-week baseline
    action: revert_to_previous_target_definition
    notify: CMO

---

📎 Related Files

• 02-Target-Definition — What we optimize for (input to S1 + S2)
• 03-Site-Audit-Agent — S1 agent spec
• 04-Keyword-and-Topic-Research-Agent — S2 agent spec
• 05-Content-Optimization-Engine — S4 engine spec
• 06-AEO-Structuring-Agent — S5 agent spec
• 07-Technical-SEO-Agent — S6 agent spec
• 08-Authority-Building-Agent — S8 agent spec
• 09-Human-Review-Gates — S3, S7 human touchpoints
• 10-Metrics-and-Self-Improvement — S9 improvement loop