Three brand directions, two site versions, the SEO package, mockups and the Lake Conroe guide, on one page, in the winning design system.
Direction C is the winning design system and the one this page is built in. Colours, type and spacing come from brand/C/final/tokens.json: ink #362414, ground #FEFDF4, Cormorant and Barlow.
Same content and structure, two themes. Site A is in direction C, Site B in direction E.
Site A design Released at v1 after two rounds with no replacement (r1 won 3 of 6, r2 won 1 of 6). References still preferred at all six pairs
Open Site Ahttps://site-a.sullivan-progress.pages.dev
Screenshots show the top of the home page, from site/rounds/a-refactor/.
Built and verified. Design: beats mcalpine on home at 1440 and 768; loses home 390 and every project-page width (shared layer with A, which is released)
Open Site Bhttps://site-b.sullivan-progress.pages.dev
Screenshots show the top of the home page, from site/rounds/b0/.
Drawn from seo/REPORT.md, keywords.json, rank-baseline.json and redirects.csv.
DataForSEO balance before: $49.252324. After: $49.016324. Spent: $0.236000 (cap $5.00). Records: raw/balance-before.json, raw/balance-after.json.
LOCAL Houston DMA: only Google Ads search_volume figures pulled with the Houston location.
NATIONAL: every Labs figure. Labs has no city granularity. A NATIONAL number is never presented as a local one, and the two are never added together.
null_unreported: the API returned null, meaning no volume reported. This is not zero. Most long-tail targets here (for example 'Paul Sullivan custom home builder', 'building on Lake Conroe') are null_unreported, so no volume is stated for them.
zero_below_floor: the API returned 0, below the reporting floor. Example: 'home remodeling Montgomery TX'.
reported: a number exists in the raw file. Nothing in the outputs is estimated. Many reported local values are 10, which is the lowest bucket Google Ads reports, so read them as 'very low', not precise.
Google Ads search volume with the Houston location. 12 reported, 13 null (not reported, which is not zero), 1 zero (below the floor). Many reported values are 10, the lowest bucket, so read them as very low.
| Keyword | Monthly volume |
|---|---|
| custom home builder Montgomery County | 10 |
| Paul Sullivan custom home builder | no volume reported (null) |
| custom home building process Texas | no volume reported (null) |
| custom home builder Magnolia TX | 10 |
| home remodeling Montgomery County | no volume reported (null) |
| custom home photos Lake Conroe | no volume reported (null) |
| Sullivan Signature Homes reviews | no volume reported (null) |
| building on Lake Conroe | no volume reported (null) |
| contact custom home builder Magnolia TX | no volume reported (null) |
| Lake Conroe custom home | no volume reported (null) |
| Lake Conroe lake houses | 1,300 |
| home remodeling Magnolia TX | 10 |
| custom home builder The Woodlands TX | 10 |
| home remodeling The Woodlands TX | 20 |
| custom home builder Conroe TX | 20 |
| home remodeling Conroe TX | 10 |
| custom home builder Tomball TX | 10 |
| home remodeling Tomball TX | 10 |
| custom home builder Montgomery TX | 10 |
| home remodeling Montgomery TX | 0 (below reporting floor) |
| custom home builder Cedars | no volume reported (null) |
| custom home builder Crown Ranch | no volume reported (null) |
| custom home builder Bluejack | no volume reported (null) |
| custom home builder High Meadow West | no volume reported (null) |
| custom home builder Lake Conroe | 10 |
| custom home builder Montgomery County TX | no volume reported (null) |
Labs figures for the whole country, top 15 of 150 by volume. Idea fodder, never added to the local numbers.
| Keyword | National monthly volume |
|---|---|
| the lake house | 90,500 |
| power home remodeling | 60,500 |
| lake house | 60,500 |
| home builders | 49,500 |
| custom home builders | 40,500 |
| tiny home builders | 27,100 |
| modular home builders | 27,100 |
| lake house for sale | 18,100 |
| the lake house on canandaigua | 14,800 |
| lake houses for sale in michigan | 8,100 |
| custom homes | 6,600 |
| lake house for sale near me | 6,600 |
| luxury home builders | 6,600 |
| single family home builders | 6,600 |
| evergreen lake house | 5,400 |
google organic desktop, Houston,Texas,United States, depth 20, domain sullivansignaturehomes.com.
| Keyword | Result | Ranking URLs |
|---|---|---|
| custom home builder Montgomery County | not in top 20 | |
| Paul Sullivan custom home builder | Position 1 | /contact-us/ at 1, /reviews/ at 4 |
| custom home building process Texas | not in top 20 | |
| custom home builder Magnolia TX | not in top 20 | |
| home remodeling Montgomery County | not in top 20 | |
| custom home photos Lake Conroe | not in top 20 | |
| Sullivan Signature Homes reviews | not in top 20 | |
| building on Lake Conroe | not in top 20 | |
| contact custom home builder Magnolia TX | not in top 20 | |
| Lake Conroe custom home | not in top 20 |
| Old URL | New URL | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
/ | / | keep | Unchanged URL. Stays a live page, no rule (a rule would loop). |
/about-us/ | /about/ | 301 | Renamed. |
/building-process/ | /process/ | 301 | Renamed. |
/contact-us/ | /contact/ | 301 | Renamed. |
/project-gallery/ | /projects/ | 301 | Renamed. |
/services/ | /custom-homes/ | 301 | Split decision: /services/ held Custom Homes and Remodeling on one URL. Custom Homes is the primary offer and the Lake Conroe differentiator, so the old URL's equity goes to /custom-homes/. /remodeling/ is a new page linked from /custom-homes/ and the nav, not a redirect target. Swimming Pools stays an external link to sullivanpools.net, no redirect. |
/reviews/ | /reviews/ | keep | Unchanged URL. Stays a live page, now populated, no rule. |
Fourteen renders from mockups/r3/, directions C and E.
These are PRESENTATION mockups. They are image-to-image composites in which the brand mark is re-rendered into each material (paper, vinyl, thread, screen glass, printed board). Letterforms are redrawn by the model and can differ slightly from the artwork.
The SVG in brand/<dir>/ remains the production source of truth for anything printed, cut, or embroidered. Never take artwork from these JPGs.
Done: lead-magnet/v5/guide.pdf (10 pages, print-ready, every regulatory claim traced to an official source)
Newest build: v5, 10 page images rendered, PDF 5.8 MB.
Open the guide PDF (v5)Our own critics preferred our directions in some rounds. The final independent pass preferred the reference site (mcalpine) in every pair listed below. This is the unvarnished record from status/rounds.jsonl.
| Round | Item | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Final head-to-head 2 | C LIGHT (best v9, released) | reference preferred |
| Final head-to-head 2 | E BOLD (best v5, released) | reference preferred |
| Final head-to-head 2 | D BOLD (best v8) | reference preferred (Sonnet had preferred ours in round 8) |
| Codex final (first screen) | C at 1440px | reference preferred |
| Codex final (first screen) | C at 390px | reference preferred |
| Codex final (first screen) | D at 1440px | reference preferred |
| Codex final (first screen) | D at 390px | reference preferred |
| Codex final (first screen) | E at 1440px | reference preferred |
| Codex final (first screen) | E at 390px | reference preferred |
| Codex final (run 2) | D BOLD hero v4 at 1440 | reference preferred |
| Codex final (run 2) | D BOLD hero v4 at 390 | reference preferred |
| Piece | Round | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Site A design | Round 1 | incumbent kept (candidate won 3 of 6); vs references: home 1440 ref, home 768 ref, home 390 ref, project 1440 ref, project 768 ref, project 390 ref |
| 6. Site A design | Round 2 | incumbent kept (candidate won 1 of 6); vs references: home 1440 ref, home 768 ref, home 390 ref, project 1440 ref, project 768 ref, project 390 ref; RELEASED after two rounds with no replacement |
| 6. Site B | Design round 1 (recorded) | home 1440 ours, home 768 ours, home 390 ref, project 1440 n/j, project 768 n/j, project 390 n/j |
| 6. Site B | Design round 1 (recorded, re-judged) | home 1440 ours, home 768 ours (first critic call); home 390 ref, project 1440 ref, project 768 ref, project 390 ref (second call; the first call's 390 home verdict contradicted its own gap and its ... |
| Piece | Entry | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Brand directions | C final (one build plus automated verification): brand/C/final | PASS. The single failed check compared the reversed background rect with itself; the mark measures 14.49:1 on #362414. NAP with 185 is the approved exemption. |
| 1. Brand directions (first screen) | Codex final (run 2): D BOLD hero v4 at 390 | reference preferred |
| 2. Mockups | Codex final: mockups/r3 (14 renders, C and E) | 13 of 14 PASS read-back and realism. C-polo FAIL: subline SIGNATURE HOMES missing |
| 3. Brand copy | Mechanical fix: copy/final-deck (from v5) | The 3 Codex-flagged sentences removed (4 lines, one heading appeared twice). 0 em-dashes, 10 CLIENT-BLOCKED markers. Every remaining sentence was traced by the Codex audit. Released: no further rounds. |
| 4. SEO package | One build plus automated verification: seo/ | PASS. 176 keywords (26 LOCAL Houston, 150 NATIONAL Labs), every volume traced to raw JSON, null vs zero kept distinct, 14 pages with one H1 and meta, 14 JSON-LD files parse, rank baseline captured 2026-10-20 (#1 for Paul Sullivan custom home builder, not in top 20 for the rest). The one failed ... |
| 5. Lake Conroe lead magnet | Targeted correction v5 plus blind trace: lead-magnet/v5/guide.pdf | All 9 Codex items resolved (tracer quoted the new wording for each). 10 pages, bleed intact, 0 em-dashes, layout ok. Two further flags on page 8 (form inspection checks setbacks; 'Frame inspection' label) are supported by saved City of Conroe pages; quotes added to facts.json as F104 and F105. DONE |
| 6. Photo ingest | Alt audit: 423 alts | 85 alts corrected after viewing every image: mcdonald-rd 67, southshore 8, holly-hollow 6, champions-dr 2, lake-conroe 1, escondido 1. Originals kept as manifest.before-audit.json |
| 6. Site A | Build v1 plus mechanical verification: https://site-a.sullivan-progress.pages.dev | Mechanics PASS on 14 pages: one H1, 402/402 alts, JSON-LD parses, 1452 image URLs all under 200KB, real 404 with noindex, 10/10 redirects 301 to a 200, no house numbers, zero em-dashes, form returns 500 with a visible error (no fake success) |
| 6. Site A design | Round 2: candidate r2 (best v1) | incumbent kept (candidate won 1 of 6); vs references: home 1440 ref, home 768 ref, home 390 ref, project 1440 ref, project 768 ref, project 390 ref; RELEASED after two rounds with no replacement |
| 6. Site B | Design round 1 (recorded, re-judged): B vs references | home 1440 ours, home 768 ours (first critic call); home 390 ref, project 1440 ref, project 768 ref, project 390 ref (second call; the first call's 390 home verdict contradicted its own gap and its project pairs had no images) |
| 6. Site design | Reference recapture: bar/lakeflato.png | Original is a blank dark page with nav only. Recaptured lakeflato.com project pages Pecan Shore and High Meadow Residence at 1440, 768 and 390 (bar/lakeflato-*). Original kept. |
| 6. Site mechanics | Cleanup: verifier probe contact 9Snvj2I2D2EV7kv4KKUu | The verifier's failure-path probe created a real lead once secrets were live; lead deleted (DELETE 200, GET 400). Check 10 now probes only with SECRETLESS=1 |
| 7. Review microsite | Deploy: review/ to sullivan-progress (main) | Regenerated from status/ (python3 status/gen_review.py), noindex and mid-run banner kept and verified live at sullivan-progress.pages.dev |