A new product site with technical SEO foundations correct
A new product site with technical SEO foundations correct, structured data validated, a keyword map of 30+ target queries, and the first 30 pages indexed with rising rankings.
Build12 steps2-3 weeks for foundations + first 30 pages
Set up SEO foundations for a new product
A new product site with technical SEO foundations correct, structured data validated, a keyword map of 30+ target queries, and the first 30 pages indexed with rising rankings.
Steps
Keyword map
SEO foundations plan
Indexing log
+1 moreTitleStatusOwner
Pick a domain that won't sabotage you in 5 yearsshippedYou
Set up DNS, hosting, SSL, and CDN before you write any codeactiveAgent
Define the URL architecture before writing the first pagequeuedYou
Build sitemap.xml and robots.txtdraftedAgent
…
Public preview of the cloned workspace. Same chrome you'll see after Open in Dock.
Spin up an agent for the heavy lifting
Reads competitor sites, surfaces the keyword clusters that already rank, builds the keyword map.
12 steps, 14 official links, 5 agent prompts
Every external doc the agent needs to cite is pre-loaded into the workspace's Pointers table. No hunting for the right URL mid-draft.
What's inside
Pre-loaded so day one is execution.
5Surfaces
12Steps
5Agent prompts
14Official links
6Tools mapped
Surfaces
- tableSteps
- tableKeyword map
- docSEO foundations plan
- tableIndexing log
- docStatus
How the loop works
Your agent works. Dock shows you what happened.
Open this template and you get a workspace seeded with an agent prompt. Connect your agent — Claude via our MCP, Cursor, your own setup — and it reads, drafts, and posts updates as it goes. You watch Dock for the latest.
- 01
Connect your agent
Claim an agent invite at trydock.ai/agent-invites — your agent gets an API key scoped to this workspace. Paste the key into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP client.
- 02
Your agent reads the workspace
The agent prompt at the top of the workspace tells your agent its role, the cadence to follow, and the surfaces to update. No extra setup — open Dock and your agent already knows what to do.
- 03
Watch Dock for the latest
Your agent posts to the Status surface after every meaningful action — newest at top. Wire the workspace's webhooks to Slack or email to get pinged in real time.
Wire it up · Claude Desktop
Add Dock as an MCP server in 30 seconds.
{
"mcpServers": {
"dock": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@trydock/mcp"],
"env": {
"DOCK_API_KEY": "<paste from /agent-invites>"
}
}
}
}Drop into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or the equivalent on Windows / Linux. Restart Claude Desktop. Ask Claude:“Read trydock.ai/<org>/set-up-seo-foundations-for-a-new-product and follow the agent prompt.”
FAQ
Common questions on this template.
How long until SEO actually drives traffic for a new site?
3-6 months for early signal (first rankings appear, hundreds of impressions/day). 6-12 months for meaningful traffic (1000+ clicks/month from organic). 12-24 months for compounding traffic (5000+ clicks/month). New domains are sandboxed by Google for 3-6 months: pages get indexed but rank low, regardless of content quality. Patience is the rate-limiter; abandoning at month 4 is the most common failure mode.
Do I need backlinks, or is content enough?
Both, but content first. For low-difficulty long-tail keywords, content alone gets you to page 1 in 6-12 months. For competitive head terms, backlinks are required. The pattern: ship 30+ pages of high-quality content, drive natural references through launch + content marketing, then strategically pursue backlinks for the highest-value clusters via guest posts, podcasts, and PR.
Should I use a CMS like WordPress or build the site myself?
For a product site that needs SEO foundations, build it yourself or use a static-site generator (Next.js, Astro, Hugo). WordPress' SEO is fine but its performance + security overhead are an ongoing tax. The bigger question is who controls the templates: if engineering does, build it custom; if marketing does, WordPress + a fast theme is reasonable.
Should I use AI agents to generate the content?
Yes for drafts and structure, no for the final voice. Agents are excellent at: building the keyword map, drafting page metadata (title, meta, schema), drafting outlines, generating first-draft copy. They're worse at: founder voice, real opinions, novel insights, accurate examples. The pattern that ranks: agent drafts, human owns voice + facts + examples. Pure AI-generated content increasingly fails Google's helpful-content evaluation.
What does the SEO foundations stack cost?
Free path: Google Search Console (free) + Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs) + manual keyword research = $0. Paid path: Ahrefs ($99/mo) + Screaming Frog (£199/year) + occasional contractor for content (variable) = roughly $150-300/mo for a small product. The biggest cost is the founder-time: writing 30 pages of substantive content takes 60-100 hours.
How do I prioritise: technical foundations, keyword research, or content?
In strict order: technical foundations (1-2 days, get them right), keyword research (1-2 days, build the map), then content (the next 6-12 months). Skipping foundations means every page underperforms. Skipping keyword research means writing content that doesn't match what people search. Content without the first two is content that ranks for nothing.
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Used by these teams · 2
Teams that run this template, with their full setup.
Content & marketingUse case
More words. Fewer drafts in flight.
Calendar, drafts, distribution: three surfaces, one workspace. Writer agent drafts the long form, runner schedules cross-posts, indexer reports what's resonating.
Open the use case
MarketingUse case
Campaigns that ship + the metrics next to them.
Campaigns table, briefs per campaign, performance data on the same row. Agents draft briefs, pull performance numbers, surface what's resonating so the calendar can adjust.
Open the use case
Open it. Hand it to your agent. Ship.
One click mints a fresh workspace in your org with the template body seeded. Your agents, your team, your edits from there.
About this template
Curated by the Dock team at Vector Apps Inc. Every template is a real shared workspace we run with our own agents before publishing.
Reviewed regularly by the Dock team. Each playbook step links to the upstream tool's official docs so we can re-verify the rules as platforms change.