Agency implementer playbook

For agencies, consultants, and multisite operators who manage multiple client sites and need a workflow that is repeatable, reviewable, and still sensitive to client-specific realities.

More than a preset picker — a structured approach to rollout decisions.

Your main decision

The real agency question is not "which strong preset should we deploy everywhere?"

It is "how do we classify sites quickly enough to standardize the workflow without flattening real differences in risk, visibility needs, and AI posture?"

Best starting posture

Start from Custom only if the agency already has a review workflow, a site classification model, and a handoff process.

Otherwise, build a short approved stack:

• Essential for low-risk discovery-first sites
• AI-First for publishers and content-led properties
• Fortress only for clearly sensitive or archive-averse profiles

Read in this order

• Agency multisite rollout
• Custom Rollout for Agencies
• Decision matrix
• Source precedence
• Examples
• Review & Save

Standard workflow

1. classify the site by business model and main risk
2. choose the preset and supporting modules
3. document why exceptions exist
4. generate and preview the output
5. hand off with caveats and rollback instructions

Review modules in this order

1. Search Engine Visibility and Global Settings
2. AI and LLM Governance and Archive & Wayback Control
3. SEO Tool Protection or Bad Bots Protection when crawl cost justifies them
4. E-commerce Optimization only on actual stores
5. Review & Save before client handoff

What to document for each client

• the recommended preset
• the enabled modules and the reason for each one
• what was intentionally left off
• what is a published signal versus what would require runtime enforcement elsewhere

Common mistakes

• choosing the preset before the client profile is clear
• treating one validated stack as a universal default
• hiding real trade-offs from clients because "the file looks technical"
• failing to keep a rollback path or a pre-publish preview discipline

Escalate only when

Move to a stricter or more customized workflow when:

• the client has a regulated, sensitive, or archive-averse profile
• the site mixes ecommerce, editorial, and multilingual complexity
• multiple stakeholders need a formally documented policy boundary
• the live environment introduces edge cases such as physical robots.txt conflicts or infrastructure constraints

Related pages

• Agency implementer governance playbook
• AI Usage Policy
• Best Practices