BlueForest Studios
SYS-2026-032 · Requirements & definition of done · 12 Oct 2026

BlueBoost: SEO + AEO System

Know, every week, how BlueForest and every site we build show up when buyers search Google and when they ask an AI, and know exactly what to fix next.

Owner · OnyxSponsor · AmmonPhase · ArchitectureTrack · SYS-2026-032
Requirements3522 Must for v1; client reporting moved to V2
Answer engines5ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews
Budget cap$250Per month for tools and APIs; build first where feasible
Proof run4 wksUnattended, with a weekly digest each week

Why this exists

Buyers now find a video partner two ways. They search Google and Bing, and they ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google's AI Overviews. Today we track neither.

SEO is ranking and getting clicked in search results. AEO, Answer Engine Optimization, is being named, cited, and recommended when someone asks an AI assistant.

BlueBoost should tell us every week how we show up in both, for our own site and every site we build, and what to fix next.

BlueForest camera operator shooting aerials from a helicopter over the coastThe view from above
This is the what, not the how.

Everything below is outcomes and constraints. The architecture, tools, and build plan are Onyx's call, and the first deliverable is that plan.

Two front doors

Door 1 · Search engine · SEO
corporate video production raleigh
Studio A · Video ProductionAd · studio-a.example
Top 10 Raleigh Video Companiesdirectory.example
BlueForest Studios · Raleigh Video Productionblueforeststudios.com · position ?
Studio B Filmsstudio-b.example

Where do we rank, and are we getting the click?

Door 2 · AI assistant · AEO
Who should make our company's brand film in the Triangle?
Here are a few well-regarded options:
  1. Studio A, for broadcast commercials
  2. BlueForest Studios, for story-driven brand films
  3. Studio B, for event coverage
[1] reddit.com[2] blueforeststudios.com[3] youtube.com

Are we named? Cited? Ahead of whom? Which sources did it trust?

The loop it has to run

Sites

Registry of every site we track

Track

Search data, audits, AI prompt runs

Blair

Every result stored, keyed by site and date

Report

Dashboard and weekly digest

Boost

Ranked fix list, shipped to the sites

Fixes ship to the sites, and next week's run measures whether they worked.

Requirements

Must v1 Should v1 if it fits Could later V2 decided: not v1

1 · Sites

2 Must
  • 1.1A site registry of every site we track. v1 tracks blueforeststudios.com only.Must
  • 1.2Adding a site later (client, product, or pitch site) is a config or row change, not code.Must
  • 1.3Each site records its owner (us or client) and its Project ID where one exists.Should

2 · SEO: Track

4 Must
  • 2.1Search Console per site: impressions, clicks, CTR, position, top queries and pages.Must
  • 2.2A target keyword list per site with rankings over time.Must
  • 2.3Organic traffic and conversions from GA4 or the site's analytics.Must
  • 2.4Technical audit: indexing, sitemap, robots.txt, broken links, meta, schema, Core Web Vitals.Must
  • 2.5Backlinks and referring domains trend.Should
  • 2.6Competitor comparison on shared keywords.Could

3 · SEO: Boost

2 Must
  • 3.1A ranked "fix this next" list per site, built from audit and ranking data.Must
  • 3.2Structured data on our site: Organization, LocalBusiness, VideoObject, FAQ.Must
  • 3.3Keyword and content-gap ideas: what to write or film next.Should
  • 3.4Google Business Profile health and reviews tracked.Should

4 · AEO: Track

4 Must
  • 4.1A versioned prompt library of the real questions buyers ask an AI.Must
  • 4.2Scheduled runs against ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and AI Overviews.Must
  • 4.3Per answer: mentioned, cited, position, sentiment, competitors named, sources cited.Must
  • 4.4Share of voice per engine against the 10 competitors below, over time.Must
  • 4.5AI referral traffic (chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and others) from analytics.Should
  • 4.6AI crawler access per site: GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended.Should

5 · AEO: Boost

2 Must
  • 5.1Ranked AEO actions tied to gaps, e.g. "Perplexity cites a directory we're not listed in."Must
  • 5.2Machine-readable basics: llms.txt, clean schema, answer-shaped FAQ content.Must
  • 5.3Name, address, phone, and description match everywhere we're listed.Should
  • 5.4Track which third-party sources the engines lean on, so we earn citations there.Should
  • 5.5Long-form YouTube videos that answer buyer questions, with chapters, transcripts, and links back.Should
  • 5.6A small, separate YouTube Ads budget to promote them, run as a measured experiment.Should
  • 5.7Reddit: authentic, value-first answers in relevant subreddits, posted openly as BlueForest.Should

6 · Reporting & data

3 Must
  • 6.1All results land in Blair (Supabase), keyed by site, date, and Project ID.Must
  • 6.2One dashboard: per-site SEO and AEO scores, trends, top 5 actions this week.Must
  • 6.3A weekly digest to Ammon by email or Slack: what moved, what to do.Must
  • 6.4A client-ready per-site report, for a possible future service.V2
YouTube and Reddit are where answer engines read.

Both are among the sources AI assistants cite most, and long-form video is our craft. Reddit only works when it's authentic: real answers, posted openly as BlueForest, within each subreddit's rules. Spammy self-promotion gets removed and hurts the brand. Let the 5.4 source data confirm where to invest.

7 · Operating constraints

5 Must
  • 7.1Build first where feasible. Prefer building when it saves money; buy only where building costs more in hours than the tool. Check HubSpot's built-in AEO first, since we already pay for it.Must
  • 7.2Runs unattended. The only weekly human work is reading the digest and doing the fixes.Must
  • 7.3Monthly running cost, all tools and APIs, at or under $250. YouTube ad spend is a separate line.Must
  • 7.4No secrets in the repo; credentials live in env or a secret store.Must
  • 7.5Hours and expenses logged to SYS-2026-032 in Streamtime.Must
$250 a month, and build first where it's feasible.

Search Console, GA4, and direct model API runs cost little, so a system we build and own is usually the cheaper path. Spend the budget only on tools that would cost more in Onyx's hours to rebuild, and show the math in the build-vs-buy doc.

Competitors

The share-of-voice set, from the Raleigh Corporate Video Competitor Report. Ranks are a Google snapshot for "Raleigh video production" on 12 Oct 2026.

#CompanyBaseOrganicMap
1MyriadDowntown Raleigh#5#5
2Trailblazer StudiosRaleigh (Midtown)Not in top 28#17
3RemedyDurham#2 + adsNot in top 20
49miles MediaDowntown Raleigh#3#18
5Eagle Video ProductionsRaleighNot ranked#2
6The GridDowntown Raleigh#8#4
7Millbrook StudiosRaleigh#22#3
8Workshop MediaRaleighNot in top 28#7
9Burning Oak StudiosRaleigh#15#6
10Creative Illusions ProductionsCreedmoor / Raleigh#21#19
—BlueForest StudiosRaleigh#7#1
Where we start: #1 on the map, #7 organic.

Remedy and 9miles outrank us in organic results, and Remedy is also buying ads on the term. Millbrook (39) and Workshop Media (84) out-review us (19 Google reviews). These are the first baseline numbers BlueBoost should track.

Out of scope for v1

Not part of BlueBoost v1.

Paid search ads (promoting our own YouTube videos, 5.6, is the one exception), rewriting site content at scale, rebuilding any website, and buying links. If one of these turns out to be the real fix, flag it as a follow-up project rather than widening v1.

Definition of done

  • Architecture and build-vs-buy decision approvedWritten in this repo, signed off by Ammon before the build startsStandby
  • Our site tracked end to endblueforeststudios.com in the registry, with every v1 Must running against itStandby
  • SEO baseline capturedSearch Console and analytics connected, 20+ keywords ranked, first technical audit runStandby
  • AEO baseline captured25+ prompts across 4+ engines, with mention, citation, competitor, and source data storedStandby
  • Data in Blair, dashboard livePer-site trends and the top actions, read straight from BlairStandby
  • Four weeks unattendedRuns on schedule for 4 straight weeks, with the digest delivered each weekStandby
  • Boost loop provenFirst fixes shipped on blueforeststudios.com: schema, llms.txt, AI-crawler access, metadataStandby
  • Numeric targets setA 90-day target for organic clicks and AI share of voice, measured against the baselineStandby
  • New site in under 15 minutesSteps documented and dry-run tested (no second live site in v1)Standby
  • Costs known and loggedAt or under $250 a month for tools; hours and expenses on SYS-2026-032Standby
  • Handoff completeREADME, CLAUDE.md, and runbook in the repo, plus a walkthrough with AmmonStandby

What done could look like

AI share of voice · this week

blueforeststudios.com

ChatGPT34%
Claude28%
Perplexity41%
Gemini19%
AI Overviews22%
Organic clicks · 12 weeks

+38%

Dashed line = baseline
Top actions this week

Fix this next

  1. Add VideoObject schema to 6 work pages
  2. Get listed on the directory Perplexity cites most
  3. Answer "how much does a brand film cost" on the pricing page
  4. Allow ClaudeBot in robots.txt

Illustrative only. Sample numbers, not real data. Onyx owns the actual dashboard design.

Decided 12–13 Oct 2026

Decisions from Ammon

All answered. Next up is Onyx's architecture and build-vs-buy plan, including a scope for YouTube and Reddit.

Budget: $250 a month

Decided

The ceiling for subscriptions and API costs combined. Build first where it's feasible and saves money.

v1 site: ours only

Decided

blueforeststudios.com. Other sites come later, through the registry.

Competitors: 10 studios

Decided

The list above, from the competitor report.

Client reporting: V2

Decided

Not in v1. Revisit once our own site's loop is proven.

YouTube + Reddit for AEO

Onyx to scope

Long-form YouTube videos with a small, separate ad budget, plus Reddit posting. Onyx proposes the ad amount and how we'll measure it.