› TomHow / How it works

Four steps for ongoing search work.

Retainer work follows a baseline, a repair plan, content delivery and a monthly review. Exact platform coverage, access, outputs and timing are agreed for your site. The standalone audit and local starter have their own published scopes.

› In plain English first

Ongoing work starts by agreeing the buyer questions, platform coverage and usable evidence. Brand mentions, owned-domain citations and unavailable captures are kept separate. Search Console and GA4 are reviewed where access or exports exist, alongside crawl access, page relevance and internal links. The next stage repairs confirmed defects. Structured data must fit visible facts; llms.txt is optional documentation, not a Google visibility requirement. From month two the agreed content engine runs, publishing between four and sixteen long-form pieces a month depending on tier, each one reviewed and signed off by Thomas Howcroft. Then the loop repeats: on the 1st of every month a signed PDF report shows the citation index, organic movement, what shipped, and what is planned next. The tooling speeds the work up. The judgement calls stay human.

Baseline

Week 1

We measure where you stand before we touch anything.

First agree the buyer questions, named platforms, answer modes and capture method covered by the retainer. Thomas checks whether a reader can immediately tell what each priority page is about and what service it offers, then compares that answer with buyer intent and relevant search data. A provider is checked only where the agreed route and usable access exist; unavailable observations stay visible. An official API answer is not interchangeable with the consumer assistant. Google AI Overviews is excluded from this API workflow. Review usable Search Console and GA4 evidence alongside the live site, then separate confirmed defects from explanations that still need testing.

› What ships

Dated answer baseline with platform coverage and unavailable rows
Technical audit of access, indexing and relevant page facts
Mentions and owned-domain source citations recorded separately
Priority list ranked by evidence, impact, and effort

Foundation

Weeks 2 to 4

We repair confirmed access and page defects.

Prioritise crawl access, indexing evidence, readable content, useful internal links and accurate business facts. Give each priority page one main question to answer quickly, then cover closely related questions in depth. Expand an existing page when the topic belongs there; create another page only for a distinct buyer need. Check headings and performance without treating a Lighthouse score as a citation predictor. Add or correct structured data where it fits visible content and a supported feature; Google requires no special AI schema. If maintained, llms.txt is optional documentation: Google ignores it for Search visibility and rankings, and other services may ignore it too. Verify each repaired condition without presenting it as a guaranteed citation gain.

› What ships

Priority access and indexing findings resolved or handed over
Relevant structured data checked against visible content
Optional llms.txt checked for accurate public links
Sitemap and internal links checked against intended pages
Repair evidence and unresolved limits recorded

Engine

Month 2 onwards

We ship useful long-form pieces every month.

Four pieces a month at Citation Engine tier, eight at AEO Stack, sixteen at Search Lab. Each one starts from your search data, citation checks, and competitor coverage. Topic clusters follow the questions buyers actually ask. When a claim needs proof, the page should show the kind that fits the service: a verifiable result, an independent review, a consented case study or relevant external coverage. The draft is written in your voice, then checked for schema, entities, internal links, and plain usefulness before Thomas Howcroft signs it off. The target queries are watched for the next ninety days.

› What ships

4 to 16 long-form pieces per month
Each piece: schema-ready, entity-led, and written in the brand voice
Internal links updated with every publish
Citation tracking starts the day each piece goes live

Loop

Monthly, ongoing

We measure, report, and rebuild the next month from the data.

On the first of every month a signed PDF report lands in your inbox. It covers the citation index, organic movement, what shipped, and what is next. Relevant buyer questions can be checked weekly during an active improvement run, with the named platform, date, answer, brand mention and cited URL kept together. Repeated observations are useful, but they do not guarantee a citation or prove that one page edit caused it. Thomas reviews the evidence, adjusts the priorities, and locks the next month. The tooling speeds the work up, but the calls are still human.

› What ships

Signed monthly PDF report on the 1st of every month
Citation index updated when official-API checks run
Next month's plan locked in writing
Quarterly or monthly strategy review (depending on tier)

› Operating principles

Six operating principles that do not bend.

› Async-led

No bloated discovery process. No standing meetings. Written reports and screen recordings do most of the work. If a call sharpens the decision or the strategy, you speak directly with Thomas.

› Engineer-led

No account managers. No project coordinators. You email Thomas Howcroft. He replies. Nothing passes through three layers.

› AI-assisted, human-reviewed

Six AI-assisted workflows under one human operator. Atlas tracks. Forge drafts. Compass plans. Scribe reports. Hawk watches competitors. Anvil keeps the technical surface healthy.

› Transparent

Every shipped piece, every citation gained or lost, every technical change is in the monthly report. No black boxes. No mystery deliverables.

› Capped roster

A premium roster means the operator has time to think about each client. No portfolio dilution.

› Cancellable

6-month minimum, then cancel any month with 30 days written notice. If the work is not landing, the right move is to leave.

› Next

See a sample monthly report

Fabricated sample data demonstrates the report format. It is not a client result.

Open the sample →

› Next

Use the free technical tools

Rule-based builders for llms.txt and JSON-LD schema.

Open the builder -> Open schema generator ->

› When ready

Test fit with the paid audit

GBP 2,250. A signed diagnostic with linked evidence rows, ten prioritised fixes and a 90-day action plan. Credits back in full against any 6-month retainer signed within 30 days.

Buy the audit →