SEO Playbook · UAE — Built in Claude Code

01Why Claude Code, not a checklist

Gulf SEO shops still sell one-off audits and monthly PDFs. EatCookJoy needed something built for a marketplace with chef profiles in seven emirates, recipe pages, and a launch window that couldn't wait. Claude Code became the SEO co-pilot — auditing, writing, generating schema, reporting from one terminal, supervised, with the brand brief living in a single CLAUDE.md file.

↻

Repeatable

One folder per client. Same workflow every time. Compounding instead of restarting from zero each month.

⚡

10× Output

23 issues audited, 142 keywords mapped, 12 blog briefs drafted — in week one. Then iterated weekly.

✦

GEO & AEO

Optimised for ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Gemini — not just Google. Where high-intent expats actually search.

⚐

Bilingual

EN + AR content engine with hreflang and locale-aware schema. Native, not translated.

02Setup, screen by screen

Exactly how the EatCookJoy SEO project was set up. No developer required, no IDE, no SaaS subscriptions — a Mac, a Claude Max plan, twenty minutes. By screen eight, the first audit was running on www.eatcookjoy-uae.com.

Open the Terminal

Mac: ⌘ + Space → type Terminal → Enter.
Windows: install WSL Ubuntu from Microsoft Store.

# this is the terminal — Claude does the typing
aziz@dubai:~$ _

Check Node.js (v18+)

Claude Code is shipped through npm. Check Node first — don't blindly install.

$ node -v
v22.11.0 # ✓ good

$ node -v
command not found # install from nodejs.org

Install Claude Code

One line. The official Anthropic npm package.

$ npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

added 1 package in 18s

$ claude --version
claude-code 2.x.x

⚠ Never use sudoIt breaks npm permissions. If you see EACCES, fix npm — don't escalate with sudo.

Login (Pro / Max / API)

First claude command opens the browser for OAuth. Sign in with Claude Max — best value for a multi-client SEO operation.

$ claude
Welcome to Claude Code.
Opening browser to authenticate...
✓ Logged in as aziz@azizsaif.com
✓ Plan: Max

Make the project folder

One folder per client. Sub-folders mirror the service pillars.

$ cd ~/projects
$ mkdir eatcookjoy-seo && cd $_
$ mkdir audits keywords content schema reports outreach
$ touch CLAUDE.md README.md
$ ls
audits content keywords outreach reports schema

Write CLAUDE.md (the brief)

The most important file in the repo. Brand voice, locale, do-and-don't, KPIs — all in one place. Claude reads it at every session start.

# CLAUDE.md — EatCookJoy UAE
client: EatCookJoy UAE
domain: www.eatcookjoy-uae.com
market: UAE, 7 emirates
audience: resident families, professionals
tone: warm, joyful, never hype
locales: en-AE (primary), ar-AE
never: say "cloud kitchen"

Aziz's rule: if it's not in CLAUDE.md, it gets forgotten.

Connect MCP servers

MCP = Model Context Protocol. Lets Claude Code reach beyond the folder. For ECJ we wired in:

web_fetch — pulls live pages from www.eatcookjoy-uae.com
web_search — SERP & competitor recon
Google Drive — final reports drop into client folder
Gmail — sends the monthly digest to stakeholders
Zoho Books — invoices the retainer in AED

First SEO run

Inside the folder, type claude. Then talk to it like a junior staffer who reads everything.

aziz:~/eatcookjoy-seo$ claude

▶ Audit www.eatcookjoy-uae.com for SEO,
GEO and AEO. Save to audits/day1.md

✓ Fetched 14 pages
✓ Issues found: 23
✓ Wrote audits/day1.md (4,210 words)

That is the first billable deliverable. Four minutes.

03CLAUDE.md is the brand brain

The single file Claude reads at every session start. For EatCookJoy it carries the voice, the locales, the schema preferences, the do-and-don't list. Below — the actual brief, side-by-side with the reasoning.

Why this file matters

Voice locked in. "Warm, joyful, never hype" stops the model from sliding into marketing-speak. Every blog Claude writes inherits the tone.

Locale fences. Telling Claude the primary locale is en-AE and secondary ar-AE changes spelling (favourite vs favorite), currency (AED), and date format.

Forbidden words. We bar "cloud kitchen" because ECJ is the opposite — real homes, real chefs. The brief enforces it.

Schema preferences. Default templates for LocalBusiness, Person (chef), Recipe, FAQPage — Claude picks the right one automatically.

KPIs in writing. Top-10 ranking for "home chefs Dubai" in 90 days, 25 chef profiles indexed in 60 days. Targets visible every session.

# ── CLAUDE.md ─────────────────────────
# EatCookJoy UAE · SEO Brief · v2.1
# ──────────────────────────────────────

client: EatCookJoy UAE
domain: www.eatcookjoy-uae.com
brand:
  voice: warm, joyful, never hype
  palette: saffron · coral · sage · cream
  font: Playfair + Inter

locales:
  primary: en-AE
  also: ar-AE
  currency: AED

audience:
  - UAE resident families
  - busy professionals (25–45)
  - expat communities seeking home flavours

never:
  - say "cloud kitchen"
  - promise specific Google rankings
  - use US spellings

schema:
  - LocalBusiness on /about, /contact
  - Person on each /chef/*
  - Recipe on each /dish/*
  - FAQPage on /how-it-works

kpi_90d:
  - top-10 rank: "home chefs Dubai"
  - 25 chef profiles indexed
  - ChatGPT Search citation × 3

04The audit — 23 issues, sorted

Claude Code fetched every page on www.eatcookjoy-uae.com, parsed meta + headings + schema + Core Web Vitals, and produced a markdown report. Here is the top of that list — what we shipped first.

Issue	Where	Impact	Status	% lift est.
Meta titles missing on chef pages	/chef/*	Lose CTR on "Indian home chef Dubai" queries	SHIP D1	+18%
No LocalBusiness schema	/about, /contact	No Knowledge Graph entry, no Maps surface	SHIP D1	+12%
No Recipe schema on dish pages	/dish/*	Miss recipe-rich-results card in SERP	SHIP D2	+22%
Arabic hreflang missing	Site-wide	Arabic searchers can't find AR version	D3	+9%
LCP 4.2s (hero image)	Homepage	Fails Core Web Vitals — ranking penalty	SHIP D2	+7%
H1 duplicated across chef pages	/chef/*	Cannibalises rankings across profiles	SHIP D3	+6%
No FAQ schema	/how-it-works	Miss People Also Ask placements	D4	+5%
Image alt text generic	72 of 84 images	Lose Google Images traffic + accessibility	W2	+4%
Internal linking shallow	Site-wide	Chef profiles orphaned from cuisine pages	W2	+8%
Sitemap not submitted to Search Console	/sitemap.xml	Discovery delayed by 14+ days	DONE	+11%

"By day three, ten of the twenty-three issues were already shipped — including every red-tag fix. The audit didn't sit in a PDF. It moved."

05From Karama to Khalifa City

Cook-at-home is a hyper-local search behaviour. Claude Code built the keyword universe across 7 emirates × 12 cuisines × 4 intent types, then sorted by opportunity (volume / difficulty / commercial intent).

Geo + Cuisine

"Pakistani home chef Sharjah" · "Filipino home cook Karama" · "Indian tiffin Al Nahda" — high commercial intent, low competition.

Recipe Long-tail

"Homemade biryani delivery Dubai" · "Authentic kabsa UAE" · "Karachi nihari home cook" — capture intent before order.

Service + City

"Private chef Dubai" · "Home cook Abu Dhabi" · "Personal chef Sharjah" — head terms with monthly volume.

Question / AEO

"How to hire a home chef in UAE?" · "Is it legal to order food from home in Dubai?" — ChatGPT & Perplexity goldmine.

Arabic Native

"طباخ منزلي دبي" · "شيف بيتي الإمارات" — under-served, Claude wrote the Arabic content in-house.

Money Pages

Cuisine landing pages with chef carousels — the conversion pages where rankings turn into orders.

0612 briefs in one afternoon

Claude Code didn't write the final blogs by itself — Aziz reviewed every one. But it produced research, outline, draft, meta, schema and internal links for each in a single pass. Twelve commercially-intentioned pieces, ready for editorial polish.

Working Title	Primary Keyword	Cuisine × City	Words	AEO Hook
The Real Cost of Hiring a Home Chef in Dubai (2026 Guide)	private chef Dubai cost	All · Dubai	2,100	"How much does a home chef cost in Dubai?"
7 Best Pakistani Home Chefs in Sharjah (Reviewed by Locals)	Pakistani home chef Sharjah	Pakistani · Sharjah	1,800	"Who is the best Pakistani cook near me?"
What Makes a Real Hyderabadi Biryani — by a Karama Home Chef	authentic Hyderabadi biryani Dubai	Indian · Karama	1,650	"What is the difference between Hyderabadi and Dum biryani?"
Filipino Adobo in Abu Dhabi: 5 Home Cooks Worth Booking	Filipino home cook Abu Dhabi	Filipino · AUH	1,500	"Where can I find authentic Filipino food in AUH?"
Is It Legal to Order Food from Home Cooks in the UAE?	home cook regulations UAE	Compliance	1,400	"Is home cooking food sale legal in Dubai?"
Mum's Kabsa, Reimagined: 4 Saudi Home Chefs in Dubai	authentic kabsa home delivery Dubai	Saudi · Dubai	1,550	"Where to get real Saudi kabsa in Dubai?"
Why Home-Cooked Beats Cloud Kitchen (Without Saying It)	home cooked vs cloud kitchen	Brand · UAE	1,900	"What is the difference between home cook and cloud kitchen?"
How to Become a Home Chef on EatCookJoy (Onboarding 101)	become home chef Dubai	Onboarding	2,000	"How do I sell food from my home in UAE?"

07Found by ChatGPT

Google is still where the volume is, but ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, and Gemini are where the high-intent expat queries increasingly start. Claude Code rewrote the content so the AI engines can cite us — not just crawl us.

GEO

For Generative Engines

Answer paragraphs in the first 80 words
FAQ blocks on every cuisine page
Author bylines with E-E-A-T credentials
Citable statistics (UAE F&B data)
Submitted to Perplexity Pages

AEO

For Answer Engines

HowTo schema on onboarding flow
FAQPage schema on /how-it-works
Q&A blocks on every blog
Bilingual EN/AR question variants
Featured-snippet-shaped intros

08Three phases. Twelve weeks.

This is the schedule Aziz ran on EatCookJoy — Foundation → Content + Authority → Scale + Sell. By Day 90 there are case studies, dashboards, and the operating system to run the same playbook on the next client.

Day 01—30

Foundation

Week 1

Install · arm the stack

Walk the 8 setup screens
Build the commands library
Lock CLAUDE.md v1
Submit sitemap to Search Console

Week 2

Technical audit shipped

23-issue audit produced & sorted
Top 10 fixes shipped in 72 hrs
Schema rollout (LocalBusiness, Person)
Core Web Vitals: LCP < 2.5s

Week 3

Keyword universe built

142 keywords mapped
Gap analysis vs 3 competitors
Search intent + SERP feature map
Money-page redesigns drafted

Week 4

On-page complete

Title + meta rewrite across site
Internal linking pass
Image alt rewrite (84 files)
Milestone: first ranking lifts

Day 31—60

Content + Authority

Week 5

Content factory live

4 blogs published (1,500+ words)
FAQ blocks added to each
Internal links to chef pages
Editorial calendar locked (60 days)

Week 6

GEO + AEO rollout

Rewrite intros for ChatGPT/Perplexity
HowTo + FAQPage schema
"Answer paragraphs" up top
Submit to Perplexity Pages

Week 7

Local SEO (UAE specific)

Google Business Profile optimisation
UAE directories: Connect, Bayut
Arabic + English NAP consistency
25 chef profiles indexed

Week 8

Outreach + back-links

50-target outreach list (UAE F&B)
Guest-post pitches sent (5)
Local press + influencer drops
Milestone: 3 case studies live

Day 61—90

Scale + Sell

Week 9

Automated reporting

Weekly rank + traffic digest
HTML → PDF → Drive → Gmail
One-click executive summary
Branded to ECJ identity

Week 10

Productise the service

Three pricing tiers locked
One-page service sheet
Onboarding form + welcome flow
SLA + scope document

Week 11

Pipeline + pitch

50 outreach DMs / week
5 discovery calls run
3 proposals out
WhatsApp infographic decks ready

Week 12

Close + retain

2 retainer contracts signed
3-month roadmap per client
Public case study published
Milestone: 12,000+ AED MRR

"Day 1 you install software. Day 90 you sign retainers. The 88 days in between are just discipline — and a very well-written CLAUDE.md file."

09Three tiers, QuickBooks thinking

The retainer model that turns the EatCookJoy playbook into a repeatable service. Pricing benchmarked at 0.3% – 1.0% of typical client revenue — sustainable for them, profitable for us.

Service Tier	What's Included	Cadence	Price (AED)	% of Client Revenue
Starter — Audit	SEO + GEO + AEO audit · 25-point fix list · 1-hr walkthrough	One-off	1,499	0.3%
Growth — Monthly	Audit + 4 blogs + on-page + monthly report	Per month	2,499	0.5%
Flagship — Retainer	Everything + GBP + outreach + GEO/AEO + bilingual content	Per month	4,999	1.0%
Year-one target (3 Flagship clients)	Two delivery days, four selling days per week	Annual	179,964	100%

Starter

^AED 1,499 / one-off

Full SEO + GEO + AEO audit
25-point fix list
Branded PDF report
One 60-min walkthrough

Growth

^AED 2,499 / month

Everything in Starter
4 SEO blogs / month
On-page optimisation
Monthly performance report
Bilingual EN + AR option

Flagship

^AED 4,999 / month

Everything in Growth
Google Business Profile mgmt
Outreach + back-link building
Schema + GEO/AEO engineering
Weekly Slack/WhatsApp updates

"Email aziz@azizsaif.com or WhatsApp +971 55 649 2370 — same Aziz, same fast reply."