Why Building a Transition Matrix Matters in an SEO Audit
Most SEO audits focus on technical fixes, broken links, and that long list of “issues” tools love to generate. Useful, yes — but they miss something crucial: how your pages actually move when you optimise them.
Search performance isn’t static. A page doesn’t stay “weak,” “average,” or “strong” forever. It shifts over time based on improvements, competition, and Google’s changing interpretation of the content. This is where a transition matrix becomes a powerful tool.
A transition matrix tracks how your pages evolve from one optimisation state to another—whether they’re improving, slipping, or stuck. Instead of guessing what’s working, you get measurable proof. You can see, for example, how many pages moved from “under-optimised” to “fully optimised,” how many stayed the same, and which ones drifted into the danger zone.
This matters because every SEO action has a probability of success. Adding internal links, refreshing content, tightening metadata, or improving Core Web Vitals… each one influences your site’s trajectory. A transition matrix turns those actions into predictable patterns, giving you a model of what’s likely to happen next.
The real value is clarity.
With a transition matrix, you stop treating SEO as a chaotic list of tasks and start treating it as a system with measurable movement. You can see which changes consistently push pages upwards and which ones barely move the needle. You also see where your site naturally “settles” if you keep working the way you currently do.
In short: a transition matrix transforms an audit from a static snapshot into a dynamic map. It shows momentum, direction, and the underlying probabilities that drive your rankings. For anyone serious about making long-term SEO gains, this is the closest you get to x-ray vision for your site’s future.
What This Chart Shows
This bar chart visualises how Google perceives the relative internal authority of each page on Brayleys.co.uk.
A page’s PageRank is determined by:
-
How many internal links point to it
-
How authoritative those linking pages are
-
How the site’s navigation distributes link equity
-
How much “wasted authority” is sent to pages that should not rank
This graph tells us exactly where the site is over-investing and under-investing authority.
Key Insights From our Chart
1. Privacy Policy is the #1 most authoritative page
(about 0.051 PageRank)
This is a major problem:
-
It receives too much internal link weight
-
It siphons PageRank away from commercial pages
-
It cannot rank for anything valuable
This signals structural waste.
2. The Homepage is strong, but not leveraged correctly
The homepage sits at 0.0488, which is normal — but the issue is:
-
It is not sending enough authority to Honda pages
-
Too much is leaking into legal pages and utility pages
-
Commercial pages get only secondary flow
This weakens rankings for high-value automotive queries.
3. Contact Us and Used Cars are healthy authority hubs
These pages have meaningful PageRank:
-
Contact Us ≈ 0.029
-
Used Cars ≈ 0.024
Used Cars especially is a strong internal-link lever — perfect for sending PageRank to:
-
Honda used stock
-
Honda new models
-
Honda servicing
-
Honda dealer location pages
But currently, it isn’t doing that.
4. Careers is absorbing too much authority
Careers has nearly the same authority as Used Cars.
This is a structural SEO error:
-
Careers does not produce revenue
-
It should not be in primary navigation
-
It should not absorb PageRank from the homepage
It should be footer-only.
5. Honda Pages Are Missing From the Top 12
This is the largest SEO issue.
None of these appear:
-
Honda hub
-
Honda used models
-
Honda new models
-
Honda servicing
-
Honda dealer location pages
This tells us:
The pages that must rank for “Honda dealers near me” have almost no internal authority.
Top 5 Pages Transition Matrix:
| FROM → TO | / | /careers | /contact-us | /privacy-policy | /used-cars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| / | 0.100000 | 0.022222 | 0.000000 | 0.022222 | 0.022222 |
| /careers | 0.068493 | 0.041096 | 0.000000 | 0.095890 | 0.027397 |
| /contact-us | 0.029412 | 0.011765 | 0.000000 | 0.041176 | 0.011765 |
| /privacy-policy | 0.068493 | 0.027397 | 0.000000 | 0.109589 | 0.027397 |
| /used-cars | 0.017167 | 0.008584 | 0.000000 | 0.008584 | 0.025751 |



PageRank Authority Chart (Top Pages for Website)