What's Working
- Per-route schema is correct for every page type: LodgingBusiness+LocalBusiness on homepage, Accommodation on each apartment page, AboutPage + 2 Person nodes on /about, FAQPage on /faq, BlogPosting + BreadcrumbList on each blog post, CollectionPage on /accommodations.
- All 11 top-level page lastmods refreshed to 2026-06-13 (yesterday) — ends the multi-week sitemap-staleness flag.
- E-E-A-T payload is dense: Steve & Rika Dew named with bios, "skiing Tomamu every season since 1999", founded 2023, bilingual (English/Japanese), 4.9/5 across 47 reviews.
- Question-format blog titles ("How long is the ski season at Tomamu?", "Is Tomamu good for beginners?", "Cost of a week ski trip Tomamu") — exactly the citation surface ChatGPT/Perplexity reward.
Critical Issues
- None — pre-rendering remains live, schema is intact across every audited page.
Schema Inventory
| Page | Blocks | Types found |
|---|
| / | 2 | LodgingBusiness, LocalBusiness, WebSite (with aggregateRating) |
| /about | 4 | AboutPage, Organization, Person ×2 |
| /accommodations | 2 | Apartment, CollectionPage |
| /accommodations/tomamu-powder-apartment-a5020 | 2 | Accommodation, BreadcrumbList |
| /faq | 1 | FAQPage |
| /blog/cost-of-week-ski-trip-tomamu | 2 | BlogPosting, BreadcrumbList |
Audit by Category
1. Technical Crawlability — 15/20
- Pre-rendering still working — every page returns substantive HTML.
- robots.txt allows /, blocks /admin and /booking/success only. Sitemap fresh as of 2026-06-13.
- No explicit GPTBot / ClaudeBot / PerplexityBot allow stanzas — implicit only.
2. Content Structure — 13/20
- Clear single H1 per page. /about has a proper H2 ladder ("Our story", "What makes us different", "Meet the owners", "Why Alpha Ski Tomamu?").
- Homepage is still a 137-word stub with one H2 — same shape as last 3 weeks. Apartment pages have just 2 H2s (Amenities, Location).
3. Schema Markup — 17/20
- LodgingBusiness + LocalBusiness on homepage with aggregateRating (4.9 / 47), Apartment + Accommodation on apartment pages, FAQPage scoped to /faq, BlogPosting on every post.
- No individual Review nodes (only AggregateRating). No HowTo schema on the guide-style blog posts.
4. E-E-A-T & Authority — 14/20
- Two named owners with Person schema and rendered bios (Steve Dew + Rika Dew). "Every season since 1999", founded 2023, bilingual support, 4.9/47 review aggregate.
- No external press / industry citations surfaced. No video tour. No verification badges from Hoshino Resorts.
5. Blog & Content Freshness — 12/20
- 11 question-format posts indexed, BlogPosting on every one.
- Latest blog lastmod still 2026-04-27 — ~7 weeks stale. Top-level pages refreshed, but no new editorial content this week.
- Internal linking from blog to /accommodations pages is light.
6. Entity Clarity — 15/20
- Brand "Alpha Ski Tomamu" consistent. Niche unambiguous (ski-in/ski-out apartments at Hoshino Resorts Tomamu, Hokkaido).
- Australian operators (Gold Coast) + Japanese partner stated. info@alphaskitomamu.com surfaced.
- No visible phone number anywhere — the entity is identified by email only.
Top 10 Action Items (Priority Order)
| # | Action | Impact | Effort |
|---|
| 1 | Publish a new blog post — last one 2026-04-27 (7 weeks ago). Winter 2026/27 season previews are the obvious topic right now. | +2 Blog | M |
| 2 | Expand homepage body copy from 137 → 600+ words, adding 3 more question-format H2s (Where is Tomamu? When to go? Direct vs platform booking?). | +2 Structure | M |
| 3 | Add 3–5 individual Review nodes (Steve already has 47 reviews aggregated — pick 3 strong ones with attributed reviewer names). | +1 Schema | S |
| 4 | Add explicit GPTBot/ClaudeBot/PerplexityBot Allow: / stanzas to robots.txt. | +1 Crawl | S |
| 5 | Add a visible phone number (or +81 / +61 number) on the homepage + /contact. | +1 Entity | S |
| 6 | Add Amenity + Location detail H2s on each apartment page (currently just 2 H2s). | +1 Structure | M |
| 7 | Add HowTo schema to the practical posts: New Chitose Airport to Tomamu, Cost of a week ski trip, Buying property at Tomamu. | +1 Schema | S |
| 8 | Cross-link each blog post to the matching /accommodations/* apartment page. | +1 Blog | M |
| 9 | Add an "as featured in" / Hoshino Resorts partner mention on /about. | +1 E-E-A-T | M |
| 10 | Add a video tour or Hoshino Resorts gondola walk-through on homepage and apartment pages. | +1 Structure | L |
Summary
Alpha Ski Tomamu lifts 1 to 86 on the back of a full sitemap refresh (every top-level page lastmod = 2026-06-13). Pre-rendering remains intact and the per-route schema choices (LodgingBusiness, Accommodation, AboutPage with 2 Person nodes, BlogPosting) are model-citizen quality. The cap is now editorial: homepage still 137 words, latest blog post 7 weeks old. One new blog post and a meatier homepage push this to 90.