DIY SEO Workbook: The Sheet I Use With Clients, Free to Copy

Most small business owners do SEO in bursts. A panic after traffic drops, a weekend of changes, then nothing for three months. I wrote this workbook to replace that with a steady routine: three one-hour sessions a week, a scoreboard and a log of what you changed.

It is the same structure I use when I run SEO for clients, rewritten from scratch for an owner doing it alone. It is free, it needs only Google's free tools, and you can use all of it without paying me anything. Download the workbook (.xlsx), open it in Excel or import it into Google Sheets, and delete the grey example rows when you add your own.

What Is in the Workbook

The workbook has nine tabs. Each opens with a plain-English explainer, frozen header rows and dropdowns for statuses.

Start Here

Start Here explains the weekly rhythm and the monthly extras, and holds the only next-step line in the file.

Scoreboard

The Scoreboard tracks clicks, impressions, qualified enquiries and AI referral sessions, each with a baseline, a target, monthly figures, a last-checked date and the place the number comes from. If you are not counting enquiries anywhere, fix that first.

Action Plan

The Action Plan gives every action an ID, owner, due date, done-check, status and evidence link. Five grey rows show a fictional bakery, Crumb and Co, so you can see a good row.

Page and Query Map

The Page and Query Map gives each group of related searches one owner page. If a second page of yours also ranks, the flag switches from OK to CHECK, which is how you catch cannibalisation.

Technical Issues

Technical Issues is a ten-line checklist covering indexing, sitemap, robots.txt, redirects, broken links, titles, speed, HTTPS, mobile and schema. Work through it once, then each quarter.

AI Search Panel

The AI Search Panel holds 10 fixed buyer questions you ask an AI assistant monthly, scored 0 to 3: not mentioned, named, listed, or recommended first with a link. Under 30 checks is not enough data, so the sheet warns you off quoting a percentage change.

Facts to Confirm

Facts to Confirm holds one true version of your name, address, phone, hours and prices, and records whether your website, Google Business Profile and five directories match.

Work Log

The Work Log records, month by month, every piece of work with its date, type, output, evidence and status. It carries a line such as "live-site changes this month: none", so you can match any ranking move to a change.

Weekly Sessions

Weekly Sessions is the three sessions below as a checklist with minutes, clicks, tools and done-checks.

The Three Weekly Sessions

Do one session on each of three days. Work in order and use the done-check to decide when to move on. Google renames menu items now and then. Look for the nearest match when a label has changed.

Every free tool named below sits on my free SEO tools page.

Session 1: Search Console triage

• Minutes 0 to 5, Set up the comparison view. Open search.google.com/search-console and pick your property. Click Performance, then Search results. Click the Date filter, choose Last 3 months, click the Compare tab, choose Compare last 3 months to the previous period, click Apply. Done-check: The Date line shows two date ranges and the chart draws two lines.
• Minutes 5 to 15, Find the pages losing clicks. Click the Pages tab under the chart. Make sure the Clicks box above the chart is switched on. In the table, click the Clicks Difference column heading until the biggest losses sit at the top. Copy the top 10 URLs and their click change. Done-check: You have a list of up to 10 pages with their click change.
• Minutes 15 to 25, See which queries caused the loss on your top 3. Click the first losing page, which adds it as a filter. Click the Queries tab and sort by Clicks Difference. If impressions fell, demand or ranking dropped. If only clicks fell, the snippet is weak. Remove the filter and repeat for pages 2 and 3. Done-check: Each of the 3 pages has a one-line cause: lost ranking, lost demand, or weak snippet.
• Minutes 25 to 30, Rule out a seasonal dip. Click Date, Custom, then set the same 3 months last year, tick Compare, add this year's dates and click Apply. If last year dipped the same way, mark the page 'seasonal' and leave it. Done-check: Each page is marked 'real drop' or 'seasonal'.
• Minutes 30 to 40, Export queries for the striking-distance list. Remove the compare setting. Click the Queries tab, then Export top right, then Google Sheets. In the new sheet click Data, Create a filter. Free tool: the GSC export coverage checker on my tools page. Done-check: A Google Sheet of your queries is open with filter arrows on the header row.
• Minutes 40 to 50, Filter to positions 5 to 15. Filter the Position column to Is between 5 and 15, and Impressions to at least 30. Sort Impressions Z to A. Copy the top 5 queries to the Page and Query Map tab. Done-check: 5 queries sit in the Query group column of the Page and Query Map tab.
• Minutes 50 to 55, Name the owner page for each query. In Search Console click a query row, then the Pages tab. If 2 or more of your pages show, put the weaker URL in Other pages that also rank and the flag turns to CHECK. Free tool: keyword-cannibalisation-checker. Done-check: Every one of the 5 queries has exactly one owner page, or a flag.
• Minutes 55 to 60, Pick next session's page and log it. Choose the page with the most impressions and the clearest fix. Update the Scoreboard clicks and impressions and add a Work Log row. Done-check: Scoreboard updated, Work Log row added, one page chosen for Session 2.

Session 2: Fix one page

• Minutes 0 to 5, Open the page and copy its real queries. In Search Console click Performance, Pages tab, your chosen page, then the Queries tab. Copy the top 5 queries and the average position. Done-check: You can name the one main query this page should win.
• Minutes 5 to 15, Rewrite the title. Put the main query near the front, keep it under about 60 characters and say what the reader gets. Paste old and new into the checker. Free tool: title-checker. Done-check: New title is under 60 characters, has the main query, and differs from the old one.
• Minutes 15 to 25, Rewrite the meta description. Write about 150 characters: who it is for, what they get and the next step. Preview it next to the title. Free tool: the SERP preview on my tools page. Done-check: Preview shows no cut-off text on desktop or mobile.
• Minutes 25 to 40, Write the opening answer. Under the main heading write 40 to 60 words that answer the main query directly, with no link in that paragraph. Move any long intro below it. Done-check: A stranger reading only the first paragraph gets the answer.
• Minutes 40 to 50, Add one internal link. Paste the text of the page you are fixing and a strong related page into the tool. Pick one natural anchor and add a single link from the strong page. One link, not ten. Free tool: the internal links finder on my tools page. Done-check: The link is live, the anchor describes the target, and no other page now competes for the same query.
• Minutes 50 to 55, Publish and ask Google to recrawl. Save the change. In Search Console click the search bar at the top, paste the page URL, press Enter, then click Request indexing. If the URL changed, confirm a single 301. Free tool: the redirect checker on my tools page. Done-check: Inspection says URL is on Google, and you clicked Request indexing.
• Minutes 55 to 60, Log it with a before and after. Add a Work Log row with page, old title, new title and date live. Add an Action Plan row due in 28 days: 're-check clicks and position'. Done-check: Work Log row and 28-day check are both written down.

Session 3: Facts and listings check

• Minutes 0 to 10, Write down the one true set of facts. Open the Facts to Confirm tab and fill the True value column: name, address, phone, email, hours, bank holiday hours and main prices. Done-check: Every row in the True value column is filled.
• Minutes 10 to 20, Check your Google Business Profile against it. Search Google for your business name while signed in as the owner. Click Edit profile, then Business information. Compare each fact, fix differences and click Save. Do not add keywords to the business name. Done-check: GBP column on Facts to Confirm shows Yes or No for every row, and the No rows are fixed.
• Minutes 20 to 30, Check your own website. Check the header, footer and contact page on desktop and mobile, then run your home page through the audit. Fix any difference. Free tool: local-seo-audit. Done-check: Website column on Facts to Confirm is filled.
• Minutes 30 to 40, Check 5 directories. Search your business name plus postcode. Open Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Facebook, Yell and your main trade directory. Record match or mismatch and correct each mismatch. Done-check: Five directory columns filled and mismatches corrected or logged as Blocked.
• Minutes 40 to 50, Reply to reviews and ask for one. Search your business name, click the review count, then Reply under each unanswered review. Thank them and mention one detail. Then send your review link to one recent customer. Free tool: the review link generator on my tools page. Done-check: Every review has a reply and one review request is sent.
• Minutes 50 to 55, Read the profile numbers. On your Business Profile click Performance. Note calls, direction requests and website clicks for the last 28 days. Put the totals into the enquiries row on the Scoreboard. Done-check: Scoreboard enquiries row has this month's figure and the date checked.
• Minutes 55 to 60, Log it. Add a Work Log row for each fix, and state 'live-site changes this month: none' if you changed nothing on the website. Done-check: Work Log is up to date for the week.

How to Run the Month

Run the sessions weekly. In the first week of the month, add 10 minutes for the Scoreboard and 15 for the AI Search Panel. Change one page at a time, log it the same day, and wait about 28 days before judging it.

Next Step

The workbook and the sessions above are complete and free. A free call comes first. Paid help comes in two forms.