Free Guides
In-depth SEO guides covering fundamentals, technical SEO, AI search, and content strategy. Written by the team behind 500+ client campaigns at StudioHawk.
Most SEO articles tell you what to do. Ours explain why it works - and when it doesn't. Every guide below is written by an SEO who has run the tactic on a real client site and watched what happened. No recycled advice, no link-building fluff, no "10 tips" listicles.
If you want to deeply understand how Google and AI search actually rank websites in 2026, start with the guides below. When you're ready to go deeper, enrol in Hawk Academy for the full course - it's free, forever.
Browse the full library of in-depth SEO guides. New guides added regularly.
Whether Claude names you or a competitor is testable in one minute. How Claude reads the web (no JavaScript, ever), the three-layer playbook to get recommended, and the free tools that track it.
Read GuideThe four-layer AI visibility funnel, crawl, retrieval, citation, traffic, and the free stack that measures every layer: Microsoft Clarity, Bing Citation Share, a prompt library and GA4. The SOURC-E Evaluation pillar, set up in an hour.
Read GuideThe practitioner playbook for entity SEO and the knowledge graph: entity home, schema and sameAs, Wikidata before Wikipedia, cross-web consistency and corroboration. The SOURC-E Offsite pillar, built for AI search.
Read GuideEvery official SEO guideline mapped in one place: Google, Bing, Schema.org, robots.txt, AI-crawler directives and IndexNow, what each governs, the rules that catch people out, and direct links to the canonical docs.
Read GuideStudioHawk's six-pillar framework for being the brand AI names: Structure, Offsite, Uniqueness, Relevance, Credibility, Evaluation. The formula, the order to run it, and the free tool for each pillar.
Read GuideInformation gain is the new knowledge your content adds beyond what Google already indexes. What it is, how Google measures it, and how to add it so your pages beat AI-written consensus.
Read GuideBing Webmaster Tools now shows your Citation Share: the percentage of AI answer citations that are yours. How to find it, read Intents, Topics and Compare, and grow it. Free.
Read GuideInstall Microsoft Clarity in 5 minutes and use the free AI Bot Activity dashboard to see exactly which AI bots crawl your site. Setup, dashboard tour, and the 3 fixes to make this week.
Read GuideEverything you need to know to start ranking in search engines, from keyword research to on-page optimisation and beyond.
Read GuideStep-by-step instructions to diagnose and fix LCP, CLS, and INP issues that are holding back your search performance.
Read GuideUnderstand how Google's AI-generated search results affect organic click-through rates and what you can do to adapt.
Read GuideThe cornerstone guide: what AI SEO actually is, how AI search works, the truth that it is still SEO, and the seven moves that get you cited. Links every tool and guide in the cluster.
Read GuideThe 8-step Claude audit workflow we run at StudioHawk, chaining the free Claude SEO skills for technical, content, trust and AI-visibility checks. Claude can do it all, but it cannot do it well on its own.
Read GuideOne advises, the other executes. A task-by-task breakdown of which AI to use for audits, content, data and automation, and why the honest answer is to use both.
Read GuideMCP connects Claude to your live SEO data: Search Console, analytics, rank tools, your files. What MCP is, the servers worth connecting, and how it turns Claude into an SEO operator.
Read GuideA step-by-step guide to building your own Claude skill: what a skill file is, the six-part anatomy, how to build and test one, and a complete worked example you can copy.
Read GuideTrack Claude referral traffic in GA4: the manual source/medium method, the new AI Assistant channel, why GA4 undercounts Claude, and how to isolate it from ChatGPT and Gemini.
Read GuideA decision guide that maps each SEO job to the one Claude SEO skill to run for it, ordered on-page content first. Triage, the full matrix, and how to chain skills into a workflow.
Read GuideHow an SEO agency runs Claude across many clients: a shared skill library plus custom workflows, the split between what Claude does and what a human must, and the cross-check that stops it going rogue.
Read GuideAI search breaks one question into a fan of sub-questions and merges the answers. What query fan-out is, a worked example, and how to become the source AI keeps citing.
Read GuideHow to structure pillar pages and supporting content to build topical authority and dominate search results in your niche.
Read GuideStep-by-step guide to running the free Topical Authority Map Claude skill on your own niche. Install, run, and turn the output into a 12-week publishing plan.
Read GuideA deep dive into Google's Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness framework.
Read GuideWhy your site's internal structure matters more than ever, and how to ensure search engines can efficiently discover your key pages.
Read GuideLearn how to earn high-quality editorial backlinks through data-driven digital PR campaigns and newsworthy content.
Read GuideThe emerging playbook for getting your brand cited by AI assistants and large language model search experiences.
Read GuideCut through the noise in Google Analytics 4. Learn which reports and metrics give you real insight into your organic search performance.
Read GuideThe definition page for the whole Claude SEO skills category. What a Claude skill is, how it differs from ChatGPT GPTs and Gemini Gems, how to install one in 60 seconds, and how to combine multiple in a single SEO workflow.
Read Guide17 free Claude skills you can add to a Claude Project. Audit your site, find gaps, and generate action plans in 60 seconds.
View Claude skills6 interactive browser-based SEO tools. No login, no API keys - enter your details and get instant results.
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