Who is searching, and what do they need at that moment? That question comes before any keyword. Every page I build gets a named person instead of "the user", and where they arrive from decides what the page does first, because the page that answers the moment is the one a reader stops searching after.
A whole site built for one kind of fan, phone in hand
Work through a page brief: the evidence, the decision and what a reader still needs to test
“This page helps someone who searched [X] decide [Y].” If you can’t finish that sentence, the page needs work.
I wrote this guide to page shape in February 2026: one row per kind of search, with the page each one needs. The last column is where that shape shows up in my own work, from the site list read October 2026.
| The reader is | What to build | Where it shows up in my work |
|---|---|---|
| Learning | Comprehensive guides, explanations, how-tos. No sales pitch. Soft CTA at bottom only. | For people mid-task who need a number: WireRef, GageRef, RatingPlate. |
| Comparing | 5-7 options with pros, cons, pricing. Evaluation criteria. Decision framework. Multiple CTAs. | For people deciding what to buy or use: CheckMyTap, Hear Homer, SaltCellCheck, UpOrbit. |
| Navigating | Login form, download button, or portal above fold. No marketing. Get them to destination in 3 seconds. | This site's homepage, for people who searched my name. |
| Buying | Pricing, features, benefits above fold. Multiple CTAs. Social proof. Direct path to purchase. | No example in this portfolio. |
The middle column is quoted from 4 Types of Search Intent: Match Your Pages to How Users Actually Search (February 2026), now the search intent page.
At my full-time job the same question comes first, one industry at a time: customers in different industries search nothing alike, so the first move in each one is picked by how its customers search. Industries across my career, and the first move in each
The search
Who's hurt for the Ducks this week?
A fan deciding how worried to be before kickoff. They want the list of who's out, fast.
What I built
The Quack Report keeps the schedule, the roster, the depth chart and the injuries in one place, each page answering one question fans ask every week of the season. The injury report pages are the ones that question lands on.
Its injury report pages averaged position 4 on Bing for the weekly 'who's hurt' question, against 22.5 on Google, over the same four weeks of the season. Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console, search queries, through Oct 8, 2026.
The Quack Report story, built by one fan since March 2026Someone searching "what's in my tap water" is worried, and nowhere near shopping. On CheckMyTap the menu leads with Find My Fix ("What does my water need?") and Check Your Water, ahead of any product comparison, and every city page answers the local question in the same spot, right under the title, before any talk of treatment.
A city report is a starting point; it can't test anyone's own tap. The page explains that limit while helping a reader decide what to check next.
A useful page shape did not guarantee lasting visibility. The case study shows the later drop in Google indexed pages and what I can and cannot explain about it.
One template, two honest answers: hard water in Phoenix gets a softener on the table, and soft water in Seattle gets told to skip treatment, from the same spot on the same layout.
Phoenix
“A water softener is worth considering.”
Open full screenshotLive at 390px, captured
Seattle
“Most homes here don't need treatment.”
Open full screenshotLive at 390px, captured
Fans wanted a release date for the next book in a fiction series before one existed. A made-up date would have been easy to publish and wrong, so the page said what was confirmed, what wasn't, and when I last checked. The full story, including the correction
A fan of the series waiting on a forthcoming book
An independent fan reference A page built for a question that had no answer yet, with its dated result and the correction that followed.
An Oregon Ducks fan
The Quack Report A whole site built around one kind of fan, and why I build it.
A welder mid-task with gloves on
GageRef A reference built for someone who needs one number and nothing else.
Customers in industries that search nothing alike
Industries across my career The first move in each industry, picked by how its customers search.
Fans, people mid-task, people deciding
Every site, grouped by who it's for My own sites sorted by the person each one serves.
A marketer or student looking up a definition
Search intent My guide to the four kinds of search intent and the page each one needs.
Every reader of this site
The checks behind every site Every page here names who it's for and where they go next; one that can't doesn't go live.
The rule, applied to the page you're reading: a named reader, their question and the one step after it, written down before the page was built.
Every page on this site has an entry like this one before it is built. This is the entry for this page.
Each pillar of my system is an Eevee evolution, picked for its best stat. This page is pillar A, start from the person.
Its best stat is Sp. Atk, the one for reading a situation before acting on it. That is this page's job: the person behind the search, read before any keyword is chosen.
Base stats from PokeAPI, read October 14, 2026. Every Eevee evolution totals 525, so none is stronger, only built for a different job.
All six evolutions, and the pillar each one runsThe newest post on this, if you'd rather read than look
Why a ranking page still isn't picked A page can rank and still not get picked, so I go through what people check in the few seconds they give a result and a page, and what I change on the page so it gets picked.The thinking behind all five skills: how I think.
The Ducks fan from this page got a whole site.
A whole site built for one kind of fan, phone in handThis page was last updated
