Why plugin “SEO scores” are nonsense
Most plugin or SaaS “SEO scores” are just glorified checklists:
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They test whether your keyword is in the slug, title, H1, intro, headings, body, alt text, and whether you wrote enough words.
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They might add a bit of sentiment (“positive term in title”) and then pretend this 100‑point system predicts rankings.
That kind of scorecard only measures how loudly you’re screaming “this page is about X,” not whether you can actually rank for X. It ignores two realities: Google cares about relevance and authority, and you cannot brute‑force your way into a competitive SERP with perfect on‑page rituals on a weak site.
The only scorecard that matters
A Weblinkr‑style scorecard has two main columns: Relevance and Authority.
Relevance (per page / query group)
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Query and intent defined: exactly which search and what user job this page is for.
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On‑page focus: URL, title, H1, and intro clearly aligned to that query, not 5 queries at once.
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Internal context: logical internal links in and out, with anchor text that reinforces the topic.
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SERP fit: your format and depth actually match what’s currently ranking (guides vs tools vs product pages).
If you can’t write a one‑line description of “this page wins for [query] because…”, your relevance score is low no matter what any plugin says.
Authority (site and page level)
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Domain‑level strength: real links from real sites in your niche, not junk metrics.
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Page‑level links: any actual links to this specific URL or closely related URLs.
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Brand footprint: mentions, reviews, or community presence that show you exist outside your own site.
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Behavioral proof: the page retains traffic and earns links over time instead of bouncing and dying.
On a real scorecard, a page with weak authority gets a low “can realistically rank” flag, even if every on‑page box is checked.
How to build a practical scorecard
Set this up in a spreadsheet or Notion, not in a plugin. For each important page, give simple scores like 0/1/2 (bad/ok/strong) instead of pretend‑precise numbers.
Columns to include:
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Target query & intent
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URL / title / H1 alignment
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Internal links in (count + quality)
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SERP match (format, depth, angle)
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Page‑level links
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Domain authority in this topic (low/medium/high, based on reality, not DA)
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Business priority (low/medium/high)
Your “SEO grade” for a page is not a single number; it’s the combination of can we be relevant here? and do we have enough authority to matter? Every strategy decision flows from those two answers.
How to use the scorecard with clients or bosses
The scorecard is not there to impress anyone with 95/100; it’s there to make trade‑offs obvious:
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“We are fully relevant for this query but have zero authority, so no, your rankings won’t move without links.”
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“We have plenty of authority but no focused page for this cluster, so we need to build one and wire it in internally.”
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“This keyword is mathematically unwinnable right now; we should prioritize easier topics where our authority is enough.”
Pair the scorecard with a plain‑language summary: 3–5 bullets on where you are blocked by relevance, where you are blocked by authority, and what you will do about each. That’s the only SEO “report card” that’s actually worth anything.
