SEO Recovery — Sitemap & Technical Fixes
Overview
As of the week of 2026-02-18, Cordwainer's organic search performance has rebounded significantly following a round of critical technical SEO fixes. The site had been suppressed in Google's index due to the absence of a sitemap and a cluster of unresolved technical errors. After those issues were addressed, daily search impressions doubled — confirming the fixes are working and establishing a solid foundation for content marketing efforts.
This was discussed during the [1].
Problem
The Cordwainer site was missing a sitemap entirely and had numerous technical errors that were preventing Google from properly crawling and indexing its pages. Without a sitemap, Google had limited visibility into the site's structure, and the outstanding errors further suppressed indexation.
Additionally, a duplicate security header was identified on the site (noted by Mark Hope during the call). Resolving it was expected to bring the site's security score from an A to an A+.
Actions Taken
- Added a sitemap to the Cordwainer site
- Resolved all outstanding technical errors flagged in the site audit
- Identified a duplicate security header — assigned to Mark Hope to fix (see [2] for current task status)
Results
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Search Impressions | ~1,400 | ~2,800 |
| Change | — | +100% |
The doubling of impressions confirms that Google is now crawling and surfacing the site's pages at a meaningfully higher rate.
Next Steps & Context
With the technical foundation now in place, the team identified content marketing as the logical next phase. Specifically:
- Blogging aggressively was called out as the right move given the improved crawlability
- Domain rating improvement was flagged as a parallel priority — the team intends to work with a link-building agency to raise DR
- Keywords and organic traffic are beginning to move in the right direction
An internal Cordwainer strategy meeting was scheduled for 2026-02-19 (attendees: Sebastian Gant, Mark Hope) to plan next steps with the client (Bodo and Tamelyn).
Note: Tamelyn (Bodo's wife) independently modified Meta Ads campaigns without notifying the team — adding a lead form and new creative. This was flagged as an agenda item for the 2026-02-19 client meeting.
Key Contacts
- Bodo — client primary contact; responsive and eager to move quickly
- Tamelyn — Bodo's wife; also active on the account
- Sebastian Gant — account lead at Asymmetric
- Mark Hope — technical fixes (security header, site health)
Related
- [3]
- [4]