SEO Roadmap

The site is crawlable and visually complete enough to support a stronger search foundation. The next work is to make each page distinct, connect the company to a verified local entity, and build pages around the services buyers actually search for.

This roadmap does not claim a ranking, traffic level, backlink count, Core Web Vitals score, or exact indexed-page count. Those baselines require access to Search Console, GBP, analytics, and performance tools.

Observed Baseline — August 28, 2026

What is working

• agradecontracting.com serves prerendered Next.js pages over HTTPS.
• The core copy is present in the initial HTML.
• The five public routes return 200: /, /services, /about, /team, and /contact.
• Trailing-slash routes redirect to the slashless version.
• Invalid routes return a real 404 with noindex.
• Images sampled in the review have alt text.
• The NAP is consistent across the site's footer and Contact page.

What we will improve

• All five pages currently use the title A-Grade Contracting and the same generic description.
• The pages do not publish self-canonicals, og:url, or JSON-LD.
• sitemap.xml returns 404, and robots.txt has no operative sitemap line.
• The www HTTPS host returns a Cloudflare 525 instead of redirecting to the apex domain.
• The homepage does not name Chicago, property managers, punch-list work, or unit turnovers in its main copy.
• Six services share one short /services page; there are no service, property-manager, project, or location pages.
• The homepage hero video is approximately 8.9 MB and has no poster; performance scores remain unknown.
• The public HTML did not show GA4, GTM, call tracking, or other conversion measurement.
• The form's final delivery path and failure behavior were not verified.

Now: Establish the Entity and Crawl Foundation

Metadata direction

Use titles only after the corresponding page copy and service area are confirmed. Initial patterns:

• Home: A-Grade Contracting | Tile, Cabinet Refacing & Unit Turnovers | Long Grove & Chicago
• Services: Kitchen, Bath & Multifamily Turnover Services | A-Grade Contracting
• Contact: Contact A-Grade Contracting | Long Grove, IL (630) 203-7409

About and Team should also receive page-specific titles and descriptions. Each page needs one clear H1 that matches its purpose; the title, H1, and visible copy should reinforce one another without repeating mechanically.

Schema guardrails

• Use the same verified name, phone, address policy, website, and service areas as GBP.
• Use sameAs only for profiles A-Grade owns.
• Add Person nodes for Gina Linze and Gary Jon Linze only with approved bios and roles.
• Add FAQPage only when genuine, visible FAQs exist.
• Do not add AggregateRating until A-Grade has eligible, visible reviews for this entity.
• Do not publish licenses, coordinates, hours, or services that have not been confirmed.

Next: Build the Pages Buyers Need

The current /services page can remain the overview. Dedicated routes should each answer one intent and link back to related services.

/unit-turnover and /property-managers must not duplicate each other. The first explains the service; the second explains how A-Grade works with the buyer across one or more properties.

Each substantive service page should include:

• A unique title, description, H1, canonical, and social URL.
• Who the service is for and when it is a good fit.
• Scope, exclusions, materials, sequence, and realistic timeline.
• Permit or occupied-unit considerations where they apply.
• Confirmed towns served.
• A related-service module and links back to /services.
• A buyer-appropriate CTA and working form with phone.
• Real project proof when available; otherwise no project module.

Later: Add Local Depth and Proof

Location pages come after the core service and property-manager pages convert. Candidate areas are Inverness, Palatine, Barrington, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows, South Barrington, Deer Park, Elk Grove Village, and a Chicago multifamily page if A-Grade accepts city work.

We will publish only where there is something locally useful to say:

• A real A-Grade project in the town.
• Applicable permit, village, building-access, or HOA details.
• A genuine service or scheduling difference.
• A confirmed service radius and call to action.

We will not generate a thin page for every suburb. Five useful local pages are better than a large directory of repeated copy.

Real project routes can follow /work/{project}. Each one needs a verified town, property type, scope, dates, A-Grade photography, and an accurate outcome. A resources section can later support topics such as permit planning, a turnover checklist, or refacing versus replacement. It should not begin until the service, PM, and first local pages are complete.

Internal Linking Plan

• Homepage service cards link to the dedicated service routes.
• /services links to every service detail page and each detail page links back.
• /property-managers links to turnover, punch-list, deep-clean, cabinet, and tile pages.
• Evidence-backed location pages link to the service and project that support them.
• Project pages link to their service and location context.
• The footer adds a concise service and confirmed-area list.
• Breadcrumbs and related-service links give every new page more than one path into the site.

Performance and Technical Follow-Through

We will measure before assigning a score. The first performance pass should:

• Add a compressed poster to the hero and defer video loading.
• Test a much smaller loop or a still image where motion does not improve conversion.
• Stop preloading oversized carousel images and size variants to their display area.
• Run mobile PageSpeed Insights on /, /services, and /contact after the changes.
• Monitor the homepage LCP element in Search Console when field data becomes available.
• Purge the Cloudflare HTML cache after metadata, schema, or route changes.

Additional hygiene includes a working /favicon.ico, secure response headers appropriate to the deployment, a visible plain-text email path, and a server-side form handler with a privacy notice and thank-you state.

Search Console and Measurement

1. Verify the Domain property and the https://agradecontracting.com URL-prefix property.
2. Fix the www host, then confirm it redirects instead of creating a second erroring property.
3. Submit sitemap.xml and compare discovered with indexed pages.
4. Inspect /, /services, /property-managers, and each new service route after launch.
5. Track brand queries such as a-grade contracting, agrade contracting, and a grade contracting inverness.
6. Monitor a grade construction chicago as a confusion signal, not a query to target.
7. Track service queries for cabinet refacing, apartment turnover, tile, punch-list, and property-manager contracting without assuming a starting position.
8. Compare click-through rate before and after unique titles using an equal date range.
9. Review mobile Core Web Vitals after the hero change.
10. Connect calls and completed forms to the page, service, and buyer type that produced them.

GBP measurement begins only after the correct profile is verified. Track discovery terms, website clicks, calls, photo activity, and real review growth. Details of the entity and citation work are in Local Presence & Brand.

What We Will Not Do Yet

• Publish guessed ranking, traffic, authority, or performance numbers.
• Create mass-produced location pages.
• Start a general blog before the money pages exist.
• Add review schema without eligible reviews.
• Buy broad citation packages.
• Bid on the unrelated roofer's name.
• Name property-management software unless A-Grade actually uses it.
• Run paid search before GBP, proof, landing pages, forms, and measurement are ready.

The content and proof requirements for these pages are defined in Proof & Creative.