SEO Receipts

SEO RECEIPTS ACADEMY

The free SEO + AI search academy

10 chapters on ranking in Google and getting cited by AI, built from documented sources and verified with your own data. No email required.

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The curriculum

CHAPTER 01

Get the basics

How Google decides what ranks, and where a beginner should actually start.

  1. 01SEO Basics: Where a Beginner Should Actually StartA beginner's SEO starting order: how Google ranks pages, what to fix first, the mistakes that waste months, and how to measure progress.
  2. 02Keyword Research Without Paid ToolsA free keyword research method for beginners: autocomplete, communities, and Search Console, plus how to judge competition by reading the results.
  3. 03On-Page SEO Basics That Still MatterThe on-page SEO elements Google documents as meaningful: titles, headings, snippets, internal links, and the obsolete tactics to skip.
  4. 04Technical SEO Basics for Non-DevelopersThe technical SEO layer explained for beginners: indexing, sitemaps, robots.txt, page experience, and the Search Console reports that catch problems.
  5. 05How to Write SEO Content People Actually ReadA practical method for writing SEO content: one query per page, answer-first structure, first-hand evidence, and when to update instead of publish.

CHAPTER 02

AI search & GEO

Get named and cited by ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews.

  1. 01What Is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?GEO is the practice of structuring content so AI systems like ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI Overviews can extract, summarize, and cite it accurately.
  2. 02How Do You Get Cited by ChatGPT?ChatGPT cites sources when browsing is active. Getting cited depends on being crawlable, clearly written, and already trusted by the sites it draws on.
  3. 03How Does Google Choose Sources for AI Overviews?AI Overviews draw from Google's regular search index and ranking systems. Google has not published a separate ranking algorithm just for the feature.
  4. 04What Is llms.txt and Do You Need One?llms.txt is a proposed file that summarizes a site for AI systems. As of publication, no major AI provider has confirmed it reads or ranks by these files.
  5. 05Which Structured Data Helps AI Search Engines Understand Your Site?FAQPage, HowTo, Article, and DefinedTerm schema give AI systems a machine-readable version of your content that's easier to extract and cite correctly.
  6. 06How Do You Measure Traffic From ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews?AI referral traffic shows up unevenly across analytics tools. GA4 channel grouping, referrer strings, and manual UTM tagging are the current best options.

CHAPTER 03

Prove your results

Verify traffic claims with source data instead of a screenshot.

  1. 01What Is Verified SEO Traffic?A practical definition of verified SEO traffic, what a verification badge proves, and the important claims it cannot support.
  2. 02Why SEO Traffic Screenshots Can Be MisleadingLearn which details disappear in an SEO screenshot, how honest charts become misleading, and what evidence to request instead.
  3. 03Can Website Traffic Be Faked? What to CheckUnderstand how website traffic claims can be fabricated or distorted, which warning signs matter, and how to verify the underlying source.
  4. 04How to Prove SEO Results to Clients or BuyersA source-backed framework for proving SEO results with clear baselines, verified traffic, transparent scope, and business outcomes.
  5. 05How to Verify Traffic Before Buying a WebsiteA due-diligence checklist for verifying organic traffic, traffic quality, durability, and transfer risk before acquiring a website.
  6. 06How to Build an SEO Case Study People Can TrustTurn an SEO win into a credible case study with a baseline, source-backed evidence, a clear timeline, limitations, and reproducible results.
  7. 07How to Share SEO Results Without Exposing Sensitive DataShare credible SEO wins while protecting private queries, pages, revenue, account access, and customer information.
  8. 08How to Build a Verified SEO PortfolioCreate an SEO portfolio that proves access, documents the work, shows source-backed results, and respects client confidentiality.
  9. 09Selling a Website? How to Present Traffic ProofHow sellers prepare verifiable traffic evidence for a website sale: source access, honest anomaly disclosure, and the exports buyers trust.
  10. 10How to Verify an SEO Agency's Traffic Claims Before You SignThe specific access and evidence to request from an SEO agency before believing their traffic claims, and the red flags that suggest they cannot show it.

CHAPTER 04

Read Search Console correctly

What every metric, filter, and property type in Search Console actually means.

  1. 01Google Search Console Clicks vs. ImpressionsUnderstand the difference between Search Console clicks and impressions, why they move differently, and how to use both in SEO reporting.
  2. 02What Is a Good CTR in Google Search Console?Why there is no universal good Search Console CTR, how position and intent change the benchmark, and where to find meaningful opportunities.
  3. 03What Does Average Position Mean in Search Console?A plain-English explanation of Search Console average position, how Google calculates it, and why it should not be treated as one fixed ranking.
  4. 04Google Search Console vs. Google AnalyticsLearn what Search Console and Google Analytics measure, why their numbers differ, and which source to use for each SEO question.
  5. 05Why Is Google Search Console Data Delayed?Learn how fresh Search Console performance data is, why recent numbers can change, and how to report data-through dates accurately.
  6. 06Why Search Console Numbers Do Not MatchThe practical reasons Search Console totals differ from query rows, exports, APIs, analytics, and third-party SEO tools.
  7. 07Domain Property vs. URL-Prefix Property in Search ConsoleChoose the right Search Console property type and understand how scope, verification, and reporting differ between Domain and URL-prefix properties.
  8. 08Google Search Console Data Limitations ExplainedThe privacy omissions, row limits, canonicalization, freshness, time-zone, and aggregation constraints every Search Console report should disclose.
  9. 09Google Discover Traffic in Search Console, ExplainedWhat Google Discover is, how Search Console reports it separately from Search, why the traffic is volatile, and how to report spikes honestly.
  10. 10Keyword Cannibalization: Find It With Search ConsoleHow to detect keyword cannibalization using Search Console query and page filters, when it actually hurts, and how to verify your fix worked.
  11. 11Can You Use Google Search Console as a Free Rank Tracker?Whether Search Console's average position can replace a paid rank tracker, its real limitations, and a weekly method for tracking rankings for free.
  12. 12How Far Back Does Google Search Console Data Go?Search Console's Performance report history window, why older data disappears, and how to preserve long-term trends before they roll off.
  13. 13How Do You Filter Search Console Data by Country or Device?How to apply country and device filters in the Search Console Performance report, and how to read the segmented results correctly.

CHAPTER 05

Report honestly

Build SEO reports clients and stakeholders can trust and verify themselves.

  1. 01The SEO Reporting Checklist for Honest, Useful ReportsA complete SEO reporting checklist covering source, scope, metrics, comparisons, explanations, limitations, and decisions.
  2. 02How Accurate Are Organic Traffic Checkers?Learn what third-party organic traffic checkers estimate, why tools disagree, and when first-party Search Console verification is necessary.
  3. 03How to Report SEO Results to ClientsA client SEO reporting structure that leads with outcomes, keeps source data inspectable, and handles bad months without spin.
  4. 04Branded vs Non-Branded Traffic: Why the Split MattersHow to separate branded and non-branded queries in Search Console, what each segment proves, and why the split is always approximate.
  5. 05Leading vs. Lagging SEO Metrics: What to Report FirstThe difference between leading and lagging SEO metrics, why reporting only clicks hides progress or trouble, and which order to present both in.
  6. 06How Often Should You Send an SEO Report?The right SEO reporting cadence for different audiences and site sizes, and why reporting too often can make normal noise look like a trend.

CHAPTER 06

Grow and recover traffic

Diagnose traffic drops, recover from core updates, and compound organic growth.

  1. 01How to Measure SEO Growth Without Cherry-PickingA practical framework for measuring SEO growth with comparable periods, verified sources, page and query context, and business outcomes.
  2. 02SEO Traffic Benchmarks Without Bad ComparisonsLearn how to compare SEO traffic across sites using verified periods, categories, scale, growth, concentration, and transparent limitations.
  3. 03Why Did My Organic Traffic Drop? A Diagnosis OrderA step-by-step order for diagnosing an organic traffic drop: confirm it is real, read the drop shape, isolate the cause in Search Console.
  4. 04How Long Does SEO Take to Work?Realistic SEO timelines by site type, why results take months, and the early Search Console signals that show progress before traffic arrives.
  5. 05How to Get Your First 1,000 Visitors From GoogleA long-tail playbook for a new site's first 1,000 organic visitors: winnable queries, intent-matched pages, and impression mining in Search Console.
  6. 06Zero-Click Searches: What They Mean for Your TrafficWhat zero-click searches are, how they appear in Search Console, which query types still send clicks, and how to report the shift honestly.
  7. 07AI Overviews and SEO Traffic: What to MeasureHow AI Overviews change search results, how they are counted in Search Console, and how to measure their effect on your organic clicks.
  8. 08How to Recover Organic Traffic After a Google Core UpdateA realistic recovery plan after a confirmed core update: what to change, what to leave alone, and how long recovery actually takes.
  9. 09Content Decay: Why Old Blog Posts Lose TrafficWhy previously ranking blog posts slowly lose organic traffic, how to identify decaying content in Search Console, and when to update versus retire it.

CHAPTER 07

Backlinks

Earn, evaluate, and clean up the links pointing at your site.

  1. 01What Are Backlinks and How Much Do They Matter?What backlinks are, how Google actually uses links, what nofollow and sponsored mean, and where to see your own links for free.
  2. 02How to Get Backlinks for a SaaS StartupLink-building tactics that work for SaaS startups: integrations, free tools, original data, founder stories, and outreach without the spam.
  3. 03Linkable Assets: What SaaS Sites Build to Earn LinksThe asset types that earn SaaS backlinks passively: free tools, original data, benchmarks, and templates, plus how to launch them so anyone sees them.
  4. 04Should You Buy Backlinks? The Actual Risk MathWhat Google's link spam policies prohibit, what really happens to purchased links, and where the same budget outperforms buying.
  5. 05How to Check Your Backlinks Free in Search ConsoleHow to read Search Console's Links report: what it includes, its sampling limits, when paid backlink tools earn their price, and when to disavow.
  6. 06Nofollow vs. Dofollow Links: Does the Difference Still Matter?What rel=nofollow, sponsored, and ugc actually mean today, whether nofollow links still carry SEO value, and how to use each attribute correctly.
  7. 07Toxic Backlinks and the Disavow Tool: What Actually HelpsWhen a backlink is actually worth worrying about, why most sites never need the disavow tool, and how to use it correctly if you genuinely do.

CHAPTER 08

Comparisons

Honest X vs Y breakdowns of overlapping SEO concepts.

  1. 01SEO vs. GEO: What's the Difference?SEO optimizes for ranking in a list of search results. GEO optimizes for being quoted directly in an AI-generated answer.
  2. 02AEO vs. SEO: Are They the Same Thing?AEO is a narrower discipline focused on direct-answer features like featured snippets. SEO covers the full range of ranking factors.
  3. 03Organic vs. Paid Search: When Does Each Make Sense?Organic search compounds slowly and keeps working after you stop investing. Paid search delivers immediate but rented visibility.

CHAPTER 09

Checklists & templates

Copy-paste checklists and templates to run the work yourself.

  1. 01SEO Content Brief TemplateA copy-paste content brief covering target query, search intent, competing pages, and required structure before a writer starts drafting.
  2. 02Technical SEO Audit ChecklistA checklist covering indexability, site speed, mobile usability, structured data, and crawl errors for a technical SEO review.
  3. 03SEO Client Onboarding ChecklistThe access, baseline data, and expectations a consultant needs to confirm before starting SEO work for a new client.
  4. 04Monthly SEO Report TemplateA monthly reporting structure covering leading indicators, ranking movement, and content shipped, sourced directly from Search Console.

CHAPTER 10

Glossary

Plain-English definitions of the SEO and AI-search terms that matter.

  1. 01What Is CTR (Click-Through Rate)?CTR is the percentage of people who click a result after seeing it, calculated as clicks divided by impressions.
  2. 02What Is a SERP?A SERP (Search Engine Results Page) is the page a search engine shows after someone runs a query.
  3. 03What Is Domain Authority (DA)?Domain Authority is a third-party metric from Moz that estimates ranking potential. It is not a Google ranking factor.
  4. 04What Is Crawl Budget?Crawl budget is the number of pages a search engine's crawler will visit on your site within a given timeframe.
  5. 05What Is a Canonical Tag?A canonical tag tells search engines which URL is the authoritative version when the same or similar content exists at multiple addresses.
  6. 06What Is E-E-A-T?E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, a framework from Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines.
  7. 07What Is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)?AEO is the practice of structuring content to win featured snippets, direct-answer boxes, and voice search results.
YOUR TURN AT THE PROOF DESK

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