SEO Arsenal vs AreaIQ Strategy

Visual plan review of where the current Arsenal was strong, where it was weak, and what we integrated to upgrade it for planning + execution.

Reviewed: 2026-02-20 • Scope: Skill graph structure, execution flow, quality controls
Arsenal strengths retained
6
Strategic gaps found
10
New assets added
6
Core files updated
3

Verdict

AreaIQ strategy was not a replacement for SEO Arsenal — it was a missing strategic layer. We merged its planning rigor (decisions, quality gates, KPIs, risk, phased link roadmap) into Arsenal’s execution engine.

What Arsenal already did well

  • Strong script automation (50+ scripts)
  • Robust GEO/LLM indexing playbook
  • Full monitoring + recovery stack
  • White/gray/black risk tiers clearly separated
  • Portfolio-scale operations model

What was missing (AreaIQ solved)

  • Pre-launch planning gate before scripts
  • Programmatic page quality tiering
  • Day 30/60/90 KPI target framework
  • Project-level risk matrix
  • More realistic phased link-building timeline

Gap-to-Upgrade Map

Gap Found Upgrade Implemented File(s) Status
No planning phase before execution Added Pre-Launch planning layer + 5 foundational decisions checklists/pre-launch-decisions.md DONE
No strategy scaffold template Added reusable launch strategy template templates/launch-strategy.md DONE
Weak programmatic quality controls Added Gold/Silver/Hold content quality gates + scoring logic tactics/content-quality-gates.md
tactics/programmatic-seo.md		 DONE
No target-based performance system Added KPI framework with Day 30/60/90 targets checklists/kpi-targets.md DONE
No project-level risk matrix Added risk assessment template and escalation rules checklists/risk-assessment.md DONE
Link building too compressed in one phase Refactored into 5-phase roadmap (network → dirs → social → outreach → partnerships) moc-phase2-linkbuilding.md DONE
No explicit parallel track model Added execution track checklist (SEO/Build/Data/Human) checklists/parallel-execution.md DONE
Index didn’t route planning-first users Updated quick decision + phase flow to include pre-launch as step 0 INDEX.md (v2.1) DONE

Current Architecture (After Upgrade)

Flow now

  • Step 0 Pre-launch planning
  • Step 1 Foundation + indexing setup
  • Step 2 Content + quality-gated programmatic expansion
  • Step 3 Link-building roadmap + GEO in parallel
  • Step 4 Monitoring + KPI management + recovery loops

Impact

  • Less wasted crawl budget from thin pages
  • Cleaner launch decisions, less rework
  • Higher operator clarity for sub-agents
  • Better decision quality with risk + KPI scaffolding
  • Same aggressive power still available where needed