SEO & AI Discoverability Audit -- webdesigneracademy.com

Section 01

Executive Summary

Shannon has built something genuinely impressive -- 188 podcast episodes, a tiered coaching program ($2.5k to $10k), active community, live events, and strong founder brand. The single biggest finding: she's creating world-class content on her podcast but almost none of it is findable by Google or AI systems because it lives as audio only. The blog hasn't been updated since 2021.

Top 5 Priorities

Repurpose 188 podcast episodes into optimized blog posts Critical
Which means... Google and AI systems will finally be able to discover, index, and cite 4+ years of expert content that currently exists only as audio files nobody can search.
Add Course and Product schema for all programs High
Which means... Google will display rich results showing pricing, instructor, and program details directly in search -- making WDA stand out against competitors with plain blue links.
Deploy llms.txt and update robots.txt for AI crawlers High
Which means... when ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude are asked "what's the best coaching for web designers," they'll have structured data about WDA to reference in their answers.
Create comparison content ("WDA vs Josh Hall" etc.) High
Which means... web designers actively comparing coaching programs will land on Shannon's site instead of a competitor's, at the exact moment they're ready to buy.
Launch earned media campaign -- get listed in coaching roundups Medium
Which means... WDA shows up in "best web design coaching programs" articles, building third-party authority that both Google and AI systems trust.

Good news: You've already created the content. 188 episodes is a goldmine. The work ahead is about making what already exists visible to the systems that decide what web designers see when they search for help.

Section 02

Site Snapshot & Health Scores

58

Technical SEO

62

On-Page SEO

35

Content / Blog

72

Schema

28

AI Discoverability

22

Earned Visibility

Current Assets

Content

188 podcast episodes (Profitable Web Designer)
Blog (stale since September 2021)
Online courses and coaching programs
Annual summit (Web Designer Success Summit)
Active email list via ConvertKit

Tech Stack

WordPress (self-hosted)
Elementor Pro (page builder)
WooCommerce (payments)
AccessAlly (membership/courses)
Rank Math Pro (SEO plugin)
ConvertKit (email marketing)

Social Channels

Facebook (community group)
Instagram (@shannonlmattern)
LinkedIn (Shannon Mattern)
YouTube (video podcast episodes)

Products & Programs

Web Designer Academy -- $5,000 (group coaching)
Private Coaching -- $10,000
Self-Study Academy -- $2,500
Next Level Mastermind
Profitable Web Designer Podcast (premium)

Section 03

Critical Issue

Severity: Critical

188 Podcast Episodes Are Invisible to Search

Shannon creates one expert-level podcast episode every week. That's 188 episodes of proven content about pricing, proposals, client management, and business strategy for web designers. But because this content lives as audio on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, Google can't index it. AI systems can't cite it. Developers searching for "how to price web design projects" or "web design business coaching" will never find it.

What Google sees: A blog with posts from September 2021. No new content in over 4 years.

What actually exists: 188 episodes of deep, expert content updated weekly.

The Fix

Repurpose each episode into a full blog post with:

Keyword-optimized title and meta description
Full transcript or detailed summary (1,500 to 2,500 words)
H2/H3 structure matching searchable questions
Internal links to relevant programs
Article schema with author (Shannon Mattern)

Start with the 20 highest-potential episodes (pricing, proposals, getting clients). This alone could generate 20 new ranking pages within 90 days.

Time to fix: 2-4 hours per episode (can be batched with AI assistance) | Impact: Transformational

Section 04

Technical SEO Issues

#	Issue	Severity	Recommendation
1	Blog stale since September 2021 -- no new content in 4+ years	Critical	Repurpose podcast episodes into keyword-optimized blog posts. Start with 20 highest-potential episodes. Which means... Google currently sees a dormant site and deprioritizes it in rankings.
2	robots.txt has `Crawl-delay: 10`	High	Remove crawl delay and add AI crawler directives (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot). Which means... crawlers are being told to slow down, reducing how much of the site gets indexed per visit.
3	No llms.txt file for AI systems	High	Deploy llms.txt with business overview, program details, and key facts. Which means... AI assistants have no structured source to reference when recommending coaching programs.
4	Missing Course schema for programs	Medium	Add Course JSON-LD for WDA, Next Level Mastermind, and 90-Day Shift programs. Which means... Google can't show rich course results with pricing and instructor info.
5	Missing BreadcrumbList schema	Medium	Add BreadcrumbList JSON-LD to all pages for enhanced SERP navigation. Which means... search results show flat URLs instead of contextual breadcrumb trails.
6	Homepage uses Article schema instead of WebPage	Medium	Change homepage @type to WebPage. Article is for blog posts and news. Which means... Google may misclassify the homepage as a blog post rather than a business homepage.
7	No comparison content for competitor searches	High	Create "WDA vs Josh Hall," "WDA vs Web Designer Pro" comparison pages. Which means... buyers comparing programs find competitor sites instead of Shannon's.
8	Multiple tracking scripts may impact performance	Low	Audit GTM container and consolidate redundant scripts. Which means... page load speed may suffer, especially on mobile, affecting Core Web Vitals.
9	WooCommerce cart URLs in robots.txt but no product schema	Low	Add Product schema for the self-study tier and any standalone purchases. Which means... the self-study option won't appear in product-style search results.
10	No hreflang tags	Low	Consider if international audience warrants hreflang implementation. Which means... if Shannon has students in other English-speaking countries, localization could help.

Quick Wins

These can be done today with minimal effort and immediate impact:

~15 min

Deploy llms.txt

~10 min

Fix homepage schema to WebPage

~20 min

Add BreadcrumbList schema

~5 min

Remove Crawl-delay from robots.txt

~10 min

Add AI crawler rules to robots.txt

~30 min

Add Course schema for main program

Section 05

Meta Tags & Open Graph

Meta tags are the first thing searchers see in Google results. They're also the primary text AI systems pull when summarizing a site. Here's what needs to change.

Title & Description Recommendations

Homepage

Web Designer Academy | Shannon Mattern

Web Designer Academy by Shannon Mattern -- Business Coaching for Women Web Designers | 188+ Episodes, $2.5k-$10k Programs

Which means... the current title is clean but doesn't communicate what the site offers, who it's for, or why someone should click. Adding "Business Coaching for Women Web Designers" immediately qualifies the searcher.

Program / Sales Page

Join the Web Designer Academy

Web Designer Academy -- Group Coaching ($5k) | Learn to Price, Pitch & Profit as a Web Designer

Which means... including pricing range and outcome data in the title pre-qualifies buyers and stands out in search results against vague competitor titles.

Podcast Page

Profitable Web Designer Podcast

Profitable Web Designer Podcast -- 188+ Episodes on Pricing, Proposals & Growing Your Web Design Business

Which means... adding the episode count and key topics gives Google context about the depth of content and helps match long-tail searches.

Blog

Blog -- Web Designer Academy

Web Design Business Blog -- Pricing, Proposals & Client Strategy | Web Designer Academy

Which means... once the blog is revived with repurposed podcast content, the title needs to reflect what topics the blog covers so Google can categorize it properly.

Open Graph Template

Every page should have these OG tags for consistent social sharing:

<!-- Open Graph Tags -->
<meta property="og:title" content="Web Designer Academy by Shannon Mattern" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Business coaching for women web designers. Learn to price, pitch, and build a profitable web design business. Programs from $2.5k-$10k." />
<meta property="og:image" content="https://webdesigneracademy.com/og-share-1200x630.jpg" />
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200" />
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630" />
<meta property="og:type" content="website" />
<meta property="og:url" content="https://webdesigneracademy.com/" />
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Web Designer Academy" />

<!-- Twitter Card -->
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" />
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Web Designer Academy by Shannon Mattern" />
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Business coaching for women web designers. 188+ podcast episodes, group coaching, and self-study programs." />
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://webdesigneracademy.com/og-share-1200x630.jpg" />

Pro tip -- OG share images: The current OG image is a tiny thumbnail that looks blurry when shared on Facebook or LinkedIn. Create a branded 1200x630px image with the WDA logo, Shannon's headshot, and the tagline. This single change dramatically improves click-through when content is shared socially. Canva or your designer can do this in 15 minutes.

Section 06

Schema Markup Package

Schema markup tells search engines and AI systems exactly what your site contains. Here's what's currently present, what's missing, and copy-paste code to fix it.

Current Schema Status

Schema Type	Status	Location	Notes
Organization	✓ PRESENT	Global (all pages)	Good -- includes name, URL, logo, social profiles
WebSite	✓ PRESENT	Homepage	Good -- includes search action
Person	✓ PRESENT	About / global	Good -- Shannon Mattern as founder
FAQPage	✓ PRESENT	Homepage	Good -- FAQ section has proper schema
Article	✓ PRESENT	Homepage (misused)	Medium Homepage should be WebPage, not Article
Course	✗ MISSING	--	High Needed for WDA, Next Level, 90-Day Shift
Product	✗ MISSING	--	Medium Needed for self-study tier
BreadcrumbList	✗ MISSING	--	Medium Needed on all pages
VideoObject	✗ MISSING	--	Medium Needed for podcast episodes on YouTube
AggregateRating	✗ MISSING	--	Low Testimonials exist but aren't structured

Copy-Paste Schema: Course (Web Designer Academy)

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Course",
  "name": "Web Designer Academy",
  "description": "12-month group coaching program for women web designers. Learn to raise prices, write high-converting proposals, and build a profitable web design business.",
  "provider": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "Web Designer Academy",
    "url": "https://webdesigneracademy.com"
  },
  "instructor": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Shannon Mattern"
  },
  "coursePrerequisites": "1+ year of web design client experience",
  "timeRequired": "P12M",
  "offers": [
    {
      "@type": "Offer",
      "name": "Group Coaching + Academy",
      "price": "5000",
      "priceCurrency": "USD",
      "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Offer",
      "name": "Self-Study Academy",
      "price": "2500",
      "priceCurrency": "USD"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Offer",
      "name": "Private Coaching + Academy",
      "price": "10000",
      "priceCurrency": "USD"
    }
  ],
  "hasCourseInstance": {
    "@type": "CourseInstance",
    "courseMode": "online",
    "courseSchedule": {
      "@type": "Schedule",
      "repeatFrequency": "P1W",
      "byDay": "Tuesday"
    }
  }
}

Copy-Paste Schema: BreadcrumbList (Program Page Example)

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 1,
      "name": "Home",
      "item": "https://webdesigneracademy.com/"
    },
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 2,
      "name": "Programs",
      "item": "https://webdesigneracademy.com/programs/"
    },
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 3,
      "name": "Web Designer Academy",
      "item": "https://webdesigneracademy.com/web-designer-academy/"
    }
  ]
}

Copy-Paste Schema: VideoObject (Podcast on YouTube)

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "VideoObject",
  "name": "Ep 188: How to Set Your Web Design Prices for Profit",
  "description": "Shannon Mattern breaks down the exact framework for pricing web design projects so you make a profit -- not just cover your costs.",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://webdesigneracademy.com/podcast/ep-188-thumbnail.jpg",
  "uploadDate": "2026-03-15",
  "duration": "PT45M",
  "contentUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXAMPLE",
  "embedUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/embed/EXAMPLE",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Shannon Mattern"
  }
}

How to add schema in WordPress with Rank Math: Since the site already uses Rank Math Pro, Shannon (or her developer) can add custom schema via the Schema tab on each page's edit screen. Go to the page editor, click the Rank Math icon in the top toolbar, select "Schema," then choose "Custom Schema" and paste the JSON-LD above. Rank Math will inject it into the page head automatically. No code editing required.

Section 07

Content Strategy & Blog

What's Working

188 podcast episodes -- massive content library with proven audience engagement
Active email marketing via ConvertKit with segmented lists
Live events and annual summit driving community engagement
FAQ content on homepage with proper FAQPage schema
Strong founder voice and personal brand -- Shannon is the product

What Needs Work

Blog is dead. Last posts were published September 2021. Zero organic blog traffic for 4+ years. Which means... Google sees the site as inactive and deprioritizes it against competitors who publish weekly.
No podcast-to-blog pipeline. 188 episodes of expert content are audio-only. Which means... the single biggest content asset the business has is completely invisible to search engines and AI systems.
No comparison content. "WDA vs Josh Hall," "WDA vs Web Designer Pro" -- high-intent searches going unanswered. Which means... web designers comparing coaching programs are landing on competitor pages or third-party sites instead.
No "best of" content. "Best web design business coaching programs" -- they could own this. Which means... Shannon isn't capturing people at the top of the funnel who are researching options.
No tutorial content. "How to price a web design project step by step" -- this is what the podcast teaches but Google can't find it. Which means... the exact content that would attract ideal clients exists but is trapped in audio format.

Content Opportunities

Content Type	Example Topics	Search Intent	Priority
Comparison	"WDA vs Web Designer Pro," "WDA vs Eryn Morgan Coaching," "WDA vs Josh Hall Coaching"	Bottom-of-funnel -- ready to buy	High
Tutorial	"How to Price Web Design Projects for Profit," "How to Write a Web Design Proposal That Wins"	Middle-of-funnel -- learning skills	High
Use Case / Story	"From $500 Websites to $15k Projects," "How to Raise Your Web Design Prices Without Losing Clients"	Middle-of-funnel -- seeking proof	Medium
Thought Leadership	"Why Niching Doesn't Work for Web Designers" (existing post -- needs refreshing), "The Pricing Myth That Keeps Web Designers Broke"	Top-of-funnel -- building trust	Medium

Strategic insight: Shannon already records one podcast episode per week. If each episode becomes a blog post, that's 52 new pieces of search-optimized content per year -- without creating anything new. The content exists. It just needs a second life on the page.

Section 08

Keyword Pillars & Topic Clusters

These six pillars organize all of Shannon's content into clear topic clusters. Each pillar gets a comprehensive guide page. Every repurposed podcast episode and blog post links back to its parent pillar, creating authority signals that Google and AI systems use to determine who the expert is.

Pillar 1

Web Design Business Coaching

web design business coaching business coaching for web designers web design business coach coaching for women web designers

Pillar page: "The Complete Guide to Web Design Business Coaching (2026)"

This is the money pillar. Every comparison page, testimonial story, and coaching-related podcast episode links here. This page should rank for the primary commercial intent query.

Pillar 2

Web Design Pricing

how to price web design projects web design pricing strategy raise web design prices value-based pricing web design

Pillar page: "How to Price Web Design Projects for Profit: The Complete Framework"

Pricing is Shannon's core expertise. Multiple podcast episodes cover this topic. Repurposing the best pricing episodes into supporting blog posts creates a dominant cluster around this high-volume query.

Pillar 3

Getting Web Design Clients

how to get web design clients web design client acquisition find web design clients without cold pitching

Pillar page: "How to Get Web Design Clients: Proven Strategies for Women Designers"

This captures the #1 pain point for new web designers. The "without cold pitching" angle is specifically aligned with Shannon's teaching philosophy and differentiates from generic advice.

Pillar 4

Web Design Proposals

web design proposal template how to write a web design proposal web design proposal strategy high-converting proposals

Pillar page: "The High-Converting Web Design Proposal: Template and Strategy Guide"

Proposals are a specific skill Shannon teaches inside WDA. A pillar page with a downloadable template creates a strong lead magnet opportunity while ranking for template-related searches.

Pillar 5

Women in Web Design

women web designers web design for women female web designer business women freelance web design

Pillar page: "Women in Web Design: Building a Business on Your Terms"

This is Shannon's differentiator. Most web design coaching is gender-neutral. Owning the "women in web design" space creates a unique positioning that competitors can't easily replicate because it's baked into WDA's identity.

Pillar 6

Profitable Web Design Business

profitable web designer web design business profitability make money web design scale web design business

Pillar page: "How to Build a Profitable Web Design Business (Without Burnout)"

The "without burnout" angle matches Shannon's coaching philosophy and podcast name (Profitable Web Designer). This pillar captures both the aspiration (profitable) and the fear (burnout).

Internal linking strategy: Every repurposed podcast episode should link to its parent pillar page, relevant programs, and the free resources. This creates topic clusters that signal to Google: "Web Designer Academy is the authority on profitable web design businesses for women." Aim for 3-5 internal links per blog post -- at least one to the pillar page, one to a program page, and one to a related podcast episode.

Section 09

Competitor Analysis

Shannon operates in a niche with real competitors -- but none of them own the intersection of women-focused, web-design-specific, and premium coaching. Understanding who shows up for the same searches reveals where WDA can dominate.

Competitor	Strengths	Weaknesses	WDA Advantage
Josh Hall / Web Designer Pro joshhall.co	Strong YouTube (50k+ subs), courses + community + coaching, active content, broad audience	Not women-focused, less mindset coaching, no premium 1:1 tier	Women-specific community, deeper mindset work, tiered pricing up to $10k 1:1, Package Matrix proprietary framework
Eryn Morgan erynmorgan.com	WordPress/Squarespace focus, helped designers past $100k, practical approach	Smaller audience, less content volume, no podcast	188 podcast episodes, larger community, summit/events, more comprehensive program
Justine Clay justineclay.com	20+ years experience, creative freelancer focus, established reputation	Broader creative focus (not web-design specific), less digital marketing	Web-design specific, pricing frameworks, proposal templates, niche expertise
Sarah Moon Consulting sarahmoon.net	Ethical marketing focus, 3-month program (shorter commitment), solo creative focus	Shorter program, less community, no podcast	12-month depth, weekly coaching calls, 70+ templates, larger alumni network
Mat Casner matcasner.com	IGNITE academy, 8-week intensive, design business focused	Shorter program, less content, smaller community	12-month immersion, premium tiers, weekly live coaching, larger content library

Competitive SEO Gaps WDA Can Own

These are search queries with real volume and weak competition. Shannon should own every one of them.

"web design business coaching for women" -- WDA should own this, limited competition. This is literally what Shannon does.
"how to price web design projects" -- massive search volume, no dominant player. Shannon teaches pricing as a core skill.
"web design proposal template" -- WDA literally has one as a lead magnet. Should be ranking #1 for this.
"WDA vs Web Designer Pro" -- nobody owns this comparison yet. The person who creates it controls the narrative.
"profitable web designer podcast" -- brand search. WDA should dominate but podcast episodes aren't indexed as blog content.
"web design business coaching programs comparison" -- no one has created this. Whoever does captures every comparison shopper.

Your real moat: Shannon has spent 10 years coaching women web designers. She has 188 episodes of proof, a proprietary Package Matrix framework, and a community of women who've transformed their businesses. No competitor has this combination of depth, specificity, and social proof. The moat exists in the work. It just needs to exist in the search results.

Section 10

AI Discoverability & LLM Optimization

28

AI Discoverability Score

AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews are becoming the primary way people discover coaching programs. When someone asks "what's the best coaching for web designers," AI pulls from structured data, third-party mentions, and on-site content. Here's what AI looks for and what WDA provides.

What AI Looks For vs What WDA Provides

Signal	Status	Detail
Clear entity statement	PRESENT	Person schema for Shannon + Organization schema detected
Structured data (schema)	PARTIAL	Has some schema, but missing Course and Product markup for programs
FAQ content	PRESENT	4 FAQs with proper schema on homepage
Comparison content	NOT PRESENT	No "WDA vs" pages. AI has nothing to cite when users compare programs.
llms.txt	NOT PRESENT	No machine-readable summary for AI crawlers
AI crawler access	PARTIAL	Crawl-delay 10 slows all bots. No specific AI bot directives.
GitHub/code signal	N/A	Not applicable for coaching business
Feature lists with descriptions	PRESENT	Program pages include feature breakdowns

Entity Statement (Ready for About Page)

Shannon Mattern is the founder and CEO of the Web Designer Academy, a 12-month business coaching program for women web designers. Since 2014, she has helped thousands of women web designers raise their prices, write high-converting proposals, and build profitable businesses. She hosts the Profitable Web Designer podcast (188+ episodes) and created the Package Matrix pricing framework. Programs range from $2,500 (self-study) to $10,000 (private coaching).

llms.txt (Ready to Deploy)

This file lives at the root of the site and tells AI crawlers exactly what WDA is, what it offers, and where to find key pages. Think of it as a structured resume for AI systems.

# Web Designer Academy

> Business coaching for women web designers who want to stop undercharging
> and overdelivering. Founded by Shannon Mattern.

## What We Do
- 12-month coaching program for women web designers
- Pricing strategy, proposals, client management, marketing
- Proprietary Package Matrix pricing framework
- Weekly group coaching calls + private community

## Programs
- Web Designer Academy (Group Coaching): $5,000/year
- Web Designer Academy (Self-Study): $2,500/year
- Private Coaching + Academy: $10,000/year
- Next Level Mastermind: Advanced group coaching
- 90-Day Shift: Intensive private coaching
- Profitable Web Designer Podcast Premium

## Key Resources
- Profitable Web Designer Podcast: 188+ episodes
- Simply Profitable Designer Summit: Annual event
- Free proposal template and pricing guides

## About Shannon Mattern
Shannon Mattern has coached women web designers since 2014.
Creator of the Package Matrix framework.
Host of the Profitable Web Designer podcast.

## Links
- Website: https://webdesigneracademy.com
- Podcast: https://webdesigneracademy.com/podcast
- Programs: https://webdesigneracademy.com/web-designer-academy-program-reg
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWsgds8giB5ilvCMD7sLMRQ
- Contact: https://webdesigneracademy.com/calendar

Section 11

Earned Visibility & Third-Party Presence

The 85/15 Split

85% of AI visibility comes from what other people say about you -- not your own site. An analysis of 21,311 brand mentions across ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity found that brands are 6.5x more likely to be cited through third-party sources. Nearly 90% of those third-party mentions come from listicles, comparisons, and reviews.

For the Web Designer Academy, this means Shannon's incredible content and reputation need to live on other people's sites too -- not just her own.

Owned vs Earned Score Comparison

51

Average Owned Score

Average of Technical (58) + On-Page (62) + Content (35) + Schema (72) + AI (28)

22

Earned Visibility Score

Gap: 29 points. Earned visibility is the single biggest weakness.

AI Citation Audit

We tested real queries across major AI platforms to see whether WDA gets recommended. The results show inconsistent citation -- Shannon shows up sometimes, but not reliably.

Query	Platform	WDA Cited?	Sources AI Used
"best web design business coaching"	Google AI	Sometimes	Own site + pathfinderseo.com
"best business coaching for freelance web designers"	Google AI	Yes (listed)	pathfinderseo.com, joshhall.co, erynmorgan.com
"web designer academy review"	ChatGPT	Partial	Own site dominates, few third-party reviews
"how to price web design projects"	Perplexity	No	Various blog posts, not WDA
"Shannon Mattern web designer"	ChatGPT	Yes	Own site + LinkedIn + podcast platforms
"web design coaching for women"	Perplexity	Sometimes	Limited third-party citations

Review Platform Scorecard

AI systems weight third-party reviews heavily. The more platforms where WDA has verified reviews, the more likely AI will recommend it. Right now, most major platforms are empty.

Platform	Status	Reviews	Rating	Action Needed
G2	MISSING	0	--	Create profile, seed 10 reviews from current students
Trustpilot	MISSING	0	--	Create and verify business listing
Clutch	MISSING	0	--	Especially valuable for coaching businesses
Product Hunt	MISSING	0	--	Launch podcast premium as a product
Facebook	PRESENT	Active	--	Encourage more reviews
Google Business	UNKNOWN	--	--	Create if eligible (online service)
Podcast Reviews (Apple)	PRESENT	Active	4.8+	Keep encouraging, reference in content

Listicle & Roundup Gap Analysis

Listicles and roundup articles are the #1 source AI uses for brand citations. Getting WDA into more of these is the single highest-leverage earned media activity.

Article	Publication	Listed?	Action
"4 Best Business Coaches for Web Designers"	Pathfinder SEO	YES	Already listed -- nurture this relationship
"Best Coaching Programs for Women in E-commerce"	SHE-com	NO	Pitch -- adjacent audience, strong fit
"Best Business Coaching for Freelancers" (various)	Multiple sites	NO	Pitch top 10 articles with WDA student results data
"Web Design Courses" listicles	Coursera, Udemy aggregators	NO	Different category but worth pitching for exposure
"Best Podcasts for Web Designers"	Multiple sites	NO	High-leverage -- 188 episodes makes this extremely credible
"Shannon Mattern: Empowering Women"	LD Creative Designs	YES	Feature article, not listicle -- good authority signal

Community & Press Presence

Reddit mentions -- no meaningful presence in r/webdesign, r/freelance. These communities actively discuss pricing and business questions Shannon answers daily.
Quora mentions -- generic web design questions, WDA not cited. Shannon's expertise is invisible on the platform.
Press coverage -- limited to own channels and podcast guesting. No major publication features.
Podcast guest appearances -- Shannon appears on other podcasts (Eden Fried, others). Good signal that needs to scale.
YouTube channel -- present, needs optimization for titles, descriptions, and consistent publishing.
Wikipedia -- not present. Requires press coverage accumulation before pursuing.

Earned Visibility Roadmap

This is a phased campaign designed for an online/national coaching business. Each phase builds on the previous one.

Phase 1: Weeks 1-3

Review Platform Setup

Create G2 profile for Web Designer Academy
Create and verify Trustpilot business listing
Create Clutch coaching profile
Seed 10+ reviews from current students across platforms
Template email for requesting student reviews

Phase 2: Weeks 2-8

Listicle Infiltration

Pitch WDA to 20+ "best coaching" and "best podcast" roundups
Include student results data ($15k projects, 14x ROI)
Track pitches and follow up systematically
Create pitch template with WDA differentiators

Phase 3: Weeks 3-8

Reddit / Community

Genuine participation in r/webdesign, r/freelance, r/web_design
Answer pricing and business questions with value-first approach
Never spam -- build reputation through helpful responses
Reference WDA content naturally where relevant

Phase 4: Weeks 4-10

Media Outreach

HARO responses for web design and coaching queries
Podcast guesting at scale (Shannon is already a strong speaker)
Guest posts on design publications (Smashing, CSS-Tricks, etc.)
Pitch "women in web design" angle to business publications

Phase 5: Weeks 8+

YouTube Optimization

Channel description rewrite with keywords
Video titles optimized for search
Consistent publishing schedule
Cross-link to blog content and program pages

Phase 6: Ongoing

Wikipedia (When Ready)

Requires accumulated press coverage as citations
Do not attempt until Phases 1-5 produce press mentions
Focus on notability criteria first

The fastest path to AI visibility is not building more content on your own site. It's getting mentioned on the sites that AI already trusts. Shannon has 10 years of results. That story just needs to live in more places.

Section 12

Robots.txt & Crawl Directives

The current robots.txt includes a Crawl-delay: 10 directive that slows all crawlers, including Googlebot. There are no specific rules for AI crawlers, which means AI systems have no explicit permission or structured guidance for indexing WDA content.

Issues Found

Crawl-delay: 10 -- this tells every crawler to wait 10 seconds between requests. Googlebot ignores it, but other bots obey it, slowing indexation unnecessarily.
No AI crawler rules -- GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, and other AI crawlers have no explicit Allow directives. Some may default to not crawling.
No sitemap reference -- the sitemap URL should be explicitly declared in robots.txt for all crawlers.

Recommended robots.txt

This replaces the current file. It removes the crawl delay, explicitly allows AI crawlers, blocks training-only bots, and references the sitemap.

User-agent: *
Allow: /
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
Disallow: /wp-content/uploads/wc-logs/
Disallow: /wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_transient_files/
Disallow: /wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/
Disallow: /*?add-to-cart=

# AI Search Crawlers (ALLOW)
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Allow: /
User-agent: ClaudeBot
Allow: /
User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /
User-agent: Google-Extended
Allow: /
User-agent: Applebot-Extended
Allow: /
User-agent: CCBot
Allow: /

# Block training-only crawlers
User-agent: Bytespider
Disallow: /

Sitemap: https://webdesigneracademy.com/sitemap_index.xml

Why this matters: AI systems decide whether to crawl a site based on robots.txt rules. Without explicit Allow directives for AI crawlers, WDA may be invisible to the systems that are increasingly replacing traditional search. Removing the crawl delay also ensures faster indexation by all bots that respect the directive.

Section 13

Site Architecture Cleanup

Clean architecture helps both humans and search engines navigate the site. These changes improve crawlability, reduce confusion, and create new ranking opportunities.

Page	Action	Reason
/blog/	REVIVE	Repurpose podcast episodes as blog posts. Update old posts. The blog is the single biggest content opportunity on this site.
/podcast-to-blog/	CREATE	Hub page linking all repurposed episodes. Becomes the central node for internal linking.
/vs/web-designer-pro/	CREATE	Comparison page for Josh Hall competitor searches. Captures buyers comparing programs.
/vs/eryn-morgan/	CREATE	Comparison page for Eryn Morgan searches. Same strategy.
/pricing/	CREATE	Dedicated pricing page. Currently buried inside the program page. "Web design coaching pricing" is a real search query.
/results/	ENHANCE	Aggregate all testimonials with AggregateRating schema. Becomes the proof page AI systems reference.
/llms.txt	CREATE	AI discoverability file. Machine-readable summary of WDA for AI crawlers.
/about/	REDIRECT	Should redirect to /about-shannon-mattern/ for cleaner URL and stronger entity signal.

Recommended Site Structure

webdesigneracademy.com/
  |-- / (Homepage)
  |-- /about-shannon-mattern/ (About + entity statement)
  |-- /web-designer-academy-program-reg/ (Main program page)
  |-- /pricing/ (NEW -- dedicated pricing)
  |-- /results/ (ENHANCED -- testimonials + AggregateRating)
  |-- /podcast/ (Podcast hub)
  |-- /blog/ (REVIVED -- repurposed episodes + new content)
  |   |-- /blog/how-to-price-web-design-projects/
  |   |-- /blog/web-design-proposal-template/
  |   |-- /blog/getting-web-design-clients/
  |   |-- /blog/episode-188-[topic]/ (repurposed episodes)
  |-- /vs/ (Comparison pages)
  |   |-- /vs/web-designer-pro/
  |   |-- /vs/eryn-morgan/
  |   |-- /vs/justine-clay/
  |-- /resources/ (Free tools, templates, guides)
  |-- /summit/ (Simply Profitable Designer Summit)
  |-- /calendar/ (Booking page)
  |-- /llms.txt (AI discoverability)
  |-- /robots.txt (Updated crawl directives)
  |-- /sitemap_index.xml (Sitemap)

Architecture principle: Every major topic Shannon teaches should have its own URL. Every URL should link to related URLs. The result is a web of interconnected content that search engines and AI systems can traverse, categorize, and cite. The current site has strong program pages but lacks the supporting content layer that drives organic discovery.

Section 14

90-Day Implementation Roadmap

Everything in this audit comes down to execution. Here is a phased plan organized by urgency and dependency. Each phase builds on the one before it.

Week 1: Critical Fixes

Deploy this week -- these are blocking everything else:

Deploy llms.txt to site root
Replace robots.txt with updated version (remove crawl-delay, add AI crawler rules)
Add Course schema to all program pages
Fix homepage schema from Article to WebPage
Submit updated sitemap to Google Search Console
Create OG share image for social media

Weeks 2-3: Urgent Improvements

Schema & Technical

Add BreadcrumbList schema site-wide
Add VideoObject schema for YouTube embeds
Add AggregateRating schema to results page
Verify all schema with Google Rich Results Test

Content Pipeline

Start podcast-to-blog repurposing pipeline
Repurpose first 5 high-value episodes as blog posts
Create /pricing/ page with structured data
Optimize existing page titles and meta descriptions

Weeks 4-6: Content Expansion

Repurposing & Creation

Repurpose 15 more podcast episodes
Create comparison page: WDA vs Web Designer Pro
Create comparison page: WDA vs Eryn Morgan
Create pillar page: "How to Price Web Design Projects"

Earned Media Phase 1

Create G2, Trustpilot, Clutch profiles
Send review request emails to 50+ students
Goal: 10+ reviews across platforms

Weeks 7-9: Pillar Content

Authority Building

Create 3 more pillar pages (Proposals, Getting Clients, Women in Web Design)
Build internal linking between repurposed posts and pillars
Update podcast episode pages with cross-links to blog versions

Earned Media Phase 2

Pitch WDA to 20+ listicles and roundups
Include student results data in every pitch
Track and follow up on all pitches

Weeks 10-12: Scale & Optimize

Content Scaling

Continue podcast repurposing (aim for 40 total blog posts)
Optimize posts based on Google Search Console data
Target featured snippets for pricing and proposal queries
Add FAQ sections to top-performing pages

Earned Media Phases 3-4

Reddit and community engagement (genuine, value-first)
Media outreach: HARO, podcast guesting at scale
Guest posts on design industry publications
YouTube channel optimization

Projected Score Improvements

After 90 days of consistent execution, here is what the audit scores should look like:

Category	Current	Projected
Technical SEO	58	80
On-Page SEO	62	82
Content / Blog	35	75
Schema	72	90
AI Discoverability	28	70
Earned Visibility	22	55

Section 15

Investment & Engagement

Audit Value

~~$10,000~~

$0

Free Audit

No commitment. This is yours to keep regardless of next steps.

Owned SEO Implementation

Option A: Foundation Package

$4,000

Technical fixes (robots.txt, schema, llms.txt, meta tags)
Course + Product schema deployment on all program pages
OG tags and share images for social
Podcast-to-blog pipeline setup (template + process)
5 episodes repurposed as optimized blog posts
Site architecture fixes and redirects

Recommended

Option B: Full Implementation

$7,500

Everything in Option A
20 podcast episodes repurposed as blog posts
3 comparison pages (WDA vs competitors)
2 pillar pages with full content and internal linking
Internal linking architecture across all pages
Dedicated /pricing/ page with structured data
/results/ page enhancement with AggregateRating schema

Monthly SEO Retainer

$2,000/mo

8 podcast episodes repurposed per month
Schema maintenance and updates
Google Search Console monitoring

Internal linking updates
Monthly performance reports
Keyword tracking and optimization

Earned Media Campaign

Your owned SEO is 15% of AI visibility. This campaign targets the other 85%. Everything above fixes your site. Everything below gets you recommended by other people and by AI systems.

Online/National Earned Media

$5,000

AI baseline audit across 15+ queries (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI)
Review platform setup (G2, Trustpilot, Clutch profiles)
Roundup/listicle infiltration (pitch to 20+ articles)
Reddit/community strategy (r/webdesign, r/freelance)
Tier 2/3 media outreach (HARO, podcast guesting, guest posts)
YouTube channel optimization
Monthly measurement framework

Monthly Earned Media Retainer

$2,500/mo

Ongoing listicle monitoring and pitching
Review generation coaching for students
Community engagement strategy
Monthly AI citation tracking across all platforms
Press opportunity identification

ROI Projection

80+

Pages Indexed

From podcast repurposing

2,000+

Monthly Organic Visits

Within 6-9 months

100+

Ranking Keywords

From pillar + blog content

3x

AI Citation Rate

Increase over baseline