Checklist: check a topical map an AI drafted, before anyone writes a page
From frameworkseo.com/learn/claude-for-seo/build-a-topical-map-with-claude (13 November 2026)
Each line is a mistake seen in a real Claude run. Tick it only when you have checked it yourself.

Words used below:
- Page that sells: a page for something the business sells (a service, the prices, the main page).
- Guide: a page that answers a buyer's question and sends readers to one page that sells. That page is the one it "feeds".
- Shared results: search two terms in a private window and count the same addresses on both first pages. 3 or more shared is a strong sign of one need and one page; fewer is only a hint, so read the results twice and check what kind of page ranks.
- Later list: pages you will build once you have what they need (your own photos, a video, a policy).

The inputs
[ ] 1. The three sentences (how the site earns, what it is about, what visitors come to do) were decided by you, not accepted as drafted.
[ ] 2. Every volume on the map comes from your export, with a source and a date. Any number the AI added is marked or deleted.
[ ] 3. No search on the map is "near me" or a broad head term that Google answers with map listings or shops.

The pages that sell
[ ] 4. Every page that sells is something the business sells today. No extra services filled in from a typical business.
[ ] 5. One address means no pages for neighborhoods or nearby cities with only the name changed.
[ ] 6. The main page holds the city searches. No service page answers the same search as the main page.

The guides
[ ] 7. Every guide names the one page it feeds, and its link reason agrees with that page.
[ ] 8. Guides for people who try it at home are kept when their readers are likely buyers. Check what the AI threw out, not only what it kept.
[ ] 9. Every search that Google answers with a local business first sits on a page that sells, not in a guide.

Page or section
[ ] 10. Every merged group was checked by shared first-page results. 3 or more shared is a strong sign they belong on one page; fewer is only a hint, so those pairs were read twice and the kind of page that ranks was checked before any got its own page.
[ ] 11. Every split was checked for one reader in two wordings. Those go back on one page.
[ ] 12. Every search with more than one meaning on its first page is a section, not a page.
[ ] 13. The demand line is one number, applied to every row the same way.

Types, links and order
[ ] 14. Every page type matches what Google ranks for its main search: a gallery where Google shows photos, a video guide where it shows videos.
[ ] 15. Every page that needs something you do not have yet (photos, a video, a policy) waits in a Later list.
[ ] 16. Every page has at least one link in. Every link has a one-line reason, and links without one are gone.
[ ] 17. The words on a link are the target page's name, the same every time.
[ ] 18. The order comes from your own count of the results, not from volume. No guide goes live before the page it feeds.
[ ] 19. Every old address has a decision: rebuilt, kept, or merged with a redirect. None is simply dropped.