Your Horse Business
Roadmap
A strategic action plan for 4theloveof-horses.com — covering SEO recovery, Pinterest growth, art commissions, and your horse management software vision.
0 of 25 tasks completed across all strategic pillars
Analytics Snapshot
A summary of your performance across Pinterest, Bing, and Google — revealing where your strengths lie and where recovery is needed.
Impressions (Last 7 Days)
1,531
Strong recovery from Feb 21 onwards after recalibration. Up from ~10/day mid-Feb to 250+/day.
Top Board Engagement
184 clicks
"Horse Training Tips" (52 clicks, 12 outbound) and "Health & Nutrition" (77 clicks, 37 outbound) lead.
Daily Impressions
~1,300 avg
Consistent 700-1,800 daily impressions. Stable CTR averaging 0.35%. Bing clearly favours your content.
Daily Clicks
4.2 avg
Steady click volume. February showed slight uptick with several 6-8 click days.
Daily Impressions
~110 avg
Dropped from ~140/day in Dec to ~90/day in Feb. Significant decline vs. Bing's 1,300/day.
Top Page Clicks
6 clicks
"/can-your-horse-feel-jealousy/" leads with 6 clicks from 957 impressions. High impression, low click pattern.
Key Insights
Google Needs Urgent Attention
Google impressions (~110/day) are 12x lower than Bing (~1,300/day) for the same content. This points to a Google-specific issue, not a content problem. Check for manual actions first.
Pinterest Recovery is Real
Impressions jumped from 7-25/day in mid-February to 250+/day by month end. Your 1-pin/day strategy is working. The algorithm is trusting your account again.
Health & Training Content Converts
Your Health & Nutrition board drives 37 outbound clicks — the highest of any board. Training Tips follows with 12. These topics move people from Pinterest to your website.
20+ Downloads is Too Many
With over 20 lead magnets, visitors face decision paralysis. Identify your top 3-5 converters and retire the rest. One great freebie beats twenty mediocre ones.
Start Here
These are your highest-impact tasks sorted by effort. Begin with the quick wins to build momentum, then tackle the moderate-effort items.
Quick Wins
Do these first!Check Google Search Console for Manual Actions
Chapter 1: Reinvigorate Google Organic
Review Coverage Report for Indexing Issues
Chapter 1: Reinvigorate Google Organic
Document Your Commission Process
Chapter 3: Launch Art Commissions
Announce Commissions to Your Email List
Chapter 3: Launch Art Commissions
Survey Your Email List for Validation
Chapter 4: Horse Management Software
High Impact
Worth the effortAudit Site Speed & Core Web Vitals
Chapter 1: Reinvigorate Google Organic
Optimize High-Impression, Zero-Click Pages
Chapter 1: Reinvigorate Google Organic
Create 5 Lead Magnet Pins for Top Boards
Chapter 2: Capitalize on Pinterest
Streamline Downloads to 3-5 Best Performers
Chapter 2: Capitalize on Pinterest
Define 3 Pricing Tiers
Chapter 3: Launch Art Commissions
Define MVP Feature Set
Chapter 4: Horse Management Software
Build a Landing Page for Early Signups
Chapter 4: Horse Management Software
Website Audit: 4theloveof-horses.com
A page-by-page analysis of your website covering design, content, SEO, and conversion optimisation. Your art quality is exceptional and your content is authoritative — the focus here is on connecting that strength to your commission business.
Housekeeping Items
Good news: your main navigation and CTAs all work correctly!
Verified: ENQUIRE button → /commission-enquiry/ ✓ | Contact Us → /contact/ ✓ | Commission a Portrait → /commissions/ ✓
Orphan URL /enquire/ Returns 404
mediumYour nav ENQUIRE button correctly links to /commission-enquiry/ which works perfectly. However, the old URL /enquire/ still returns a 404. If this URL appears in any old links, emails, or search engine indexes, those visitors will hit a dead end. Consider adding a redirect from /enquire/ → /commission-enquiry/.
Orphan URL /contact-us/ Returns 404
mediumYour footer Contact Us link correctly goes to /contact/ which works. However, /contact-us/ returns a 404. Add a redirect from /contact-us/ → /contact/ to catch any stale links.
"Try the Free Dashboard" Link Goes Nowhere
lowIn blog post sidebars, the "Try the Free Dashboard →" link points to # (the current page). This creates a confusing dead end for readers. Either remove it or connect it to an actual dashboard tool.
111,034
Bing Impressions
89 days · 1,248/day avg
10,994
Google Impressions
92 days · 120/day avg
219/day
Pinterest Recovery
Last 7 days vs 96/day first week
1,839
Biggest Missed Click
Wellington page: 0 clicks
Traffic Comparison Across Platforms
Page-by-Page Assessment
Click each page to see detailed strengths and areas for improvement.
Prioritised Action Items
Check off each item as you complete it. Your progress is saved automatically.
Add Redirect from /enquire/ to /commission-enquiry/
Your ENQUIRE nav button works correctly (links to /commission-enquiry/). However, the old URL /enquire/ returns a 404. Anyone who bookmarked or shared this old URL will hit a dead end.
Add Redirect from /contact-us/ to /contact/
Your footer Contact Us link works correctly (links to /contact/). However, the old URL /contact-us/ returns a 404.
Add 2-3 Client Testimonials to Commissions Page
For a service costing R3,000-R6,000, potential clients need social proof. There are currently zero testimonials anywhere on the site.
Add Photo-to-Portrait Comparisons on Commissions Page
The gallery has brilliant before/after comparisons, but the commissions page has none. Visitors must navigate away to see examples.
Add Commission CTA to Gallery Page
A visitor who browses the gallery and decides they want a commission has no obvious next step. The page ends with just a footer.
Optimise Copenhagen/Wellington Page Title & Meta
This page receives 1,839 Google impressions with 0 clicks. At position 11.7, a better title could push it to page 1 and generate real traffic.
Expand Gallery with Dog & Cat Examples
The gallery shows only 4 horse portraits. The commissions page advertises dogs and cats, but no examples exist in the gallery.
Add Commission Banner to Blog Sidebar
The blog sidebar promotes free resources but never mentions commissions. Every blog reader is a potential commission client.
Identify Top 3 Downloads & Deprioritise the Rest
With 17+ downloads, visitors face decision paralysis. Not all are converting equally.
Fix or Remove "Try the Free Dashboard" Link
This link in blog post sidebars points to # (the current page with a hash). Clicking it does nothing, which creates a confusing experience for readers.
Audit All Image Alt Text for SEO
Google is indexing raw image URLs (wp-content/uploads) in search results. Many appear to lack descriptive alt text.
Google Deep Dive: Why Traffic Fell Off a Cliff
Your Google impressions dropped 84% — from ~500/day to ~80/day over six months. The good news: there's no manual penalty, and the causes are identifiable and fixable. Here's exactly what happened and what to do about it.
No Manual Penalty Detected
Google Search Console confirms "No issues detected" under Manual Actions. Your site hasn't been penalised — the decline is algorithmic and structural, which means it's recoverable.
84%
Impression Decline
~500/day → ~80/day
176
Pages Not Indexed
vs 139 indexed (56%)
71
Crawled, Not Indexed
Google choosing to skip
42.9
Desktop Avg Position
vs 14.8 mobile
The Decline Timeline
Six months of Google Search Console data with algorithm update markers.
Index Coverage: Google Is Removing Pages
Your indexed page count is actively declining while non-indexed pages grow — Google is de-indexing your content.
Month-by-Month Breakdown
Algorithm Update Timeline
How Google's 2025 algorithm changes correlate with your traffic decline.
Initial impression decline begins (~500→300/day)
Automated bot impressions removed from counts — some 'decline' is just cleaner data
Impressions stabilise at ~150-200/day as updates settle
Informational sites hit hard; eCommerce boosted
Health content publishers lose 7-46% visibility
Indexed pages begin declining: 145→143
Indexed drops 154→139; impressions bottom at ~80/day
Root Cause Diagnosis
Six interconnected factors are driving the decline. The top two are the most impactful.
71 Pages Crawled But Not Indexed
criticalGoogle is visiting 71 of your pages but actively choosing NOT to include them in search results. This is the single biggest factor in your traffic decline. Google considers these pages to have insufficient unique value — likely your download landing pages, thin category pages, and author pagination pages.
57 Pages Stuck in Redirect Chains
highFifty-seven URLs are flagged as redirects. This suggests significant URL restructuring over time. While redirects themselves aren't harmful, this volume signals to Google that your site structure is unstable, and it dilutes the link equity (ranking power) that those old URLs had built up.
Content Dilution from 20+ Downloads
highYour 20+ download landing pages each have very little unique text content — typically just a title, a brief description, and a form. Google sees these as 'thin content' pages. Having this many thin pages drags down your site's overall quality score, making Google less likely to rank even your strong articles.
Indexed Pages Actively Declining
criticalYour indexed page count dropped from 154 (early February) to 139 (late February) — that's 15 pages removed from Google's index in just two weeks. Google is actively de-indexing your content, not just failing to add new pages. This is a clear signal that Google's quality assessment of your site has shifted negatively.
December 2025 Core Update Impact
mediumGoogle's December 2025 Core Update (Dec 11-29) hit informational content sites hard while boosting eCommerce. Major health publishers lost 7-46% visibility. Your horse health and care content likely got caught in this broader shift. Notably, Bing didn't make similar changes, which explains why your Bing traffic remained stable.
Desktop Rankings Averaging Position 43
mediumWhile your mobile average position is 14.8 (page 2), your desktop average is 42.9 — essentially invisible. This massive gap suggests potential Core Web Vitals issues on desktop, or that Google's desktop algorithm is evaluating your content differently. Desktop accounts for 58% of your total impressions but only 34% of clicks.
Recovery Action Plan
Prioritised steps to recover your Google visibility. Start with the urgent items — they address the root causes. Check off each as you complete it.
Consolidate or Noindex Download Pages
Your 20+ individual download landing pages are creating thin content that drags down your entire site's quality score. Google is crawling them but refusing to index most of them anyway.
Audit and Clean Up the 57 Redirects
Fifty-seven redirect pages are consuming crawl budget and signalling site instability. Many may be from URL changes during site restructuring.
Fix the 12 Actual 404 Pages
Google has found 12 URLs returning 404 errors. These are wasting crawl budget and creating dead ends for any backlinks pointing to them.
Strengthen Your Top 10 Articles with E-E-A-T Signals
Your best-performing articles (Bucephalus, Jealousy, Gringolet, Copenhagen) have strong impressions but very low CTR. Adding personal experience, credentials, and unique insights will help Google see them as more authoritative.
Review the 22 Noindex Pages
Twenty-two pages have noindex tags, meaning you've told Google not to index them. Some may be intentional (admin pages, thank-you pages), but others might be accidentally blocking valuable content.
Improve Desktop Core Web Vitals
Your desktop average position (42.9) is dramatically worse than mobile (14.8). This gap often indicates Core Web Vitals issues on desktop — large images, render-blocking scripts, or layout shift problems.
Submit Key Pages for Re-Indexing
After making the above improvements, manually request re-indexing for your most important pages to speed up Google's re-evaluation.
Add Internal Links from Strong Pages to Weak Ones
Your homepage gets 910 sessions but most of that authority isn't flowing to your deeper content. Strategic internal linking can distribute ranking power.
Deep Dive: Every URL Google Is Skipping
The 71 Crawled-Not-Indexed Pages
Google visited all 71 of these pages but chose not to include them in search results. Here's every URL, categorised by type with specific actions for each. The trend is worsening — up from 55 in late December to 71 today.
38
URLs fixable with robots.txt & noindex
30
URLs needing content strengthening
3
Archive pages to review
The robots.txt fix alone will remove 38 URLs (29 feeds + 2 checkout + 1 PDF + 1 search template + 5 pagination via noindex) from the crawled-not-indexed list. That's 54% of the problem solved with a single file edit and one Yoast setting change. The remaining 33 URLs need individual content work.
Quick Wins — Fix Today
Strategic Work — This Month
Medium Priority — When Time Allows
Your robots.txt Quick Fix
Copy and add these lines to your robots.txt file. This single change addresses 30+ URLs:
# Block feed URLs from crawling Disallow: */feed/ Disallow: */feed/rss2/ Disallow: *?feed=* # Block checkout and transaction pages Disallow: /checkout/ # Block direct PDF files Disallow: /wp-content/uploads/*.pdf # Block search results pages Disallow: /search/
Note: Keep your existing Sitemap and User-agent lines. Add these Disallow rules below them.
Potential Duplicate Content Issue Spotted
Two of your content articles cover very similar topics: "Assess and Treat Horse Wounds Effectively" and "Treat Your Horse's Wounds" (both crawled on the same day). Google may be confused about which to index. Consider merging these into one comprehensive wound care guide and 301 redirecting the weaker URL to the stronger one.
Reinvigorate Google Organic
Google organic traffic has dropped significantly while Bing remains strong. This suggests a Google-specific issue rather than a content quality problem. A systematic audit and recovery plan is the highest priority.
Check Google Search Console for Manual Actions
Navigate to Security & Manual Actions in GSC. Any manual action would explain the traffic cliff. This is the single most important diagnostic step.
Review Coverage Report for Indexing Issues
Check the Pages report (formerly Coverage) for excluded pages, crawl errors, or 'Discovered but not indexed' issues that could be suppressing visibility.
Audit Site Speed & Core Web Vitals
Run PageSpeed Insights on your top 5 pages. Google heavily weights Core Web Vitals. Fix any LCP, FID, or CLS issues flagged.
Consolidate Duplicate Content Pages
You have two similar ethical breeding pages. Merge or canonicalize duplicates to avoid keyword cannibalization.
Optimize High-Impression, Zero-Click Pages
Pages like '/copenhagen-and-the-duke-of-wellington/' have 1,839 impressions but 0 clicks. Rewrite titles and meta descriptions to improve CTR.
Build Backlinks from Equine Communities
Reach out to equine forums, horse blogs, and breed associations for guest posts or resource page links. Even 5-10 quality links can move the needle.
Submit Updated Sitemap to Google
Ensure your sitemap is current and submitted via GSC. Request re-indexing for your top-performing pages.
Capitalize on Pinterest
Pinterest is bouncing back strongly after the Zentangle recalibration. Your 'Horse Training Tips' and 'Health & Nutrition' boards drive the most outbound clicks. Double down on what works and connect it to your email list.
Create 5 Lead Magnet Pins for Top Boards
Design pins for 'Horse Training Tips' and 'Health & Nutrition' that link to downloadable guides or checklists on your site, gated behind email signup.
Streamline Downloads to 3-5 Best Performers
You mentioned 20+ downloads. Identify the 3-5 that convert best and retire the rest. Quality over quantity reduces confusion and improves conversion.
Maintain 1 Pin/Day Cadence
Your recalibration strategy is working. Continue at 1 pin/day, focusing on training and health content. Avoid bulk pinning of art downloads.
Add Art Illustrations to Informational Pins
Use your horse drawings to illustrate training tips or health guides. This subtly showcases your art talent while keeping content informational.
Set Up Pinterest Analytics Tracking
Track outbound click-to-email-signup conversion rate. This tells you which pins actually grow your list, not just get impressions.
Create a 'Famous Horses' Pin Series
Your Famous Horses board has 357 impressions with 17 engagements. Create a weekly series with illustrated facts — this bridges your art and content.
Launch Art Commissions
The pet portrait market is thriving, with custom horse portraits commanding $150-500+. 2026 is the Year of the Horse in Chinese zodiac, creating extra demand. Your existing audience is the perfect launchpad.
Build a Portfolio Page on Your Website
Create a dedicated '/commissions' page showcasing 8-12 of your best horse, dog, and cat pieces. Include pricing tiers, process timeline, and a contact form.
Define 3 Pricing Tiers
Set clear tiers: e.g., Mini portrait ($75-100), Standard portrait ($150-250), Premium/large ($300-500+). Research competitors on Etsy for your medium.
Document Your Commission Process
Write a clear step-by-step: inquiry → reference photos → sketch approval → final piece → delivery. Clients need to know what to expect.
Create 'Behind the Scenes' Content
Film or photograph your artistic process. Time-lapse videos of horse portraits perform well on Pinterest and Instagram. This builds trust and showcases skill.
List on Etsy as a Secondary Channel
Open an Etsy shop for commission listings. It provides built-in traffic and trust signals. Link back to your main site for the full experience.
Announce Commissions to Your Email List
Your existing subscribers are horse lovers — the perfect audience. Send a launch email with a special introductory offer for early commissions.
Horse Management Software
The horse management software market is projected to reach $308M by 2032 (9% CAGR). Current solutions target large stables. Individual owners want simple health tracking, appointment reminders, and shareable records — and nothing on the market nails this.
Define MVP Feature Set
Core features: Horse profile (breed, age, photo), vet/farrier/dentist appointment tracking with reminders, vaccination log, feed tracking, and basic notes/journal.
Survey Your Email List for Validation
Send a short survey to your subscribers asking what they'd want in a horse management app. This validates demand and shapes features with real user input.
Create Wireframes for Core Screens
Sketch or wireframe the 5 key screens: Dashboard, Horse Profile, Health Log, Appointments, and Settings. Focus on mobile-first, clean design.
Research Tech Stack Options
Consider React Native or Flutter for cross-platform mobile. For a web-first MVP, a progressive web app (PWA) could launch faster and still work on phones.
Plan Monetization Model
Freemium: 1 horse free, $5-10/month for unlimited horses + premium features (PDF export, vet sharing, photo gallery). This matches what individual owners expect.
Build a Landing Page for Early Signups
Create a simple landing page describing the app concept with an email signup for launch notifications. Promote through your existing channels.