What is the Marketing Field Manual?

The Marketing Field Manual is a set of decision guides for people who have to choose what to do in marketing. Each page starts from a real situation, such as choosing a first channel or deciding between a rebrand and a message fix. It gives a named rule, an ordered list of moves, a decision table, evidence and a worked example. It is written to help you decide and act, not to explain a concept.

Who writes the Field Manual?

Adnan Gourija, Head of Search Marketing at Webtec, writes and maintains it, in his own voice and with his own judgment. Where a page states an opinion, it says so and separates it from sourced evidence. Webtec publishes it, which is why the pages mention what we do at Webtec only briefly and factually. The point of the work is to be useful to a reader first, whether or not they ever work with us.

How is the Field Manual different from Learn and the Open Index?

Learn explains what a concept is. The Open Index collects data and shows what published studies say. The Field Manual helps you decide what to do in a specific situation, in what order and why. A Field Manual page links to Learn when you need a definition and to the Open Index when you need the numbers, rather than repeating either. If you want a decision, start here. If you want a definition or a statistic, use the others.

Can I cite or share the Field Manual?

Yes. You are welcome to link to any page, and we encourage it. If you quote or adapt one of the named rules, ordered priorities or decision tables, credit Adnan Gourija and link to the page you took it from. Short quotes with credit are fine. Please do not republish a whole page as your own. If you spot an error while using it, tell us and we will correct it publicly.

How are sources chosen?

We go to primary sources first: official documentation from search engines and platforms, standards bodies, government and academic work, and published studies that show their method. Every non-obvious claim carries a citation, and each source shows its own date, not the date we checked it. If we cannot verify a number, we leave it out. Opinions are labeled as judgment, and illustrative examples are labeled as illustrative. The method page sets out the full standard.

Do you update the Field Manual?

Yes. Each page shows the date it was last reviewed against its sources. When a source changes, a platform alters its guidance, or we find a mistake, we revise the page and update that date. If a correction changes a conclusion, we say so on the page rather than editing quietly. The review date tells you how current a page is, and the source dates tell you how old the evidence behind it is.

The Marketing Field Manual

What to do first, and why. Pick a topic.

By Adnan GourijaHead of Search Marketing at Webtec · Reviewed 2026-10-17

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Decide what you stand for before you decide how it looks.

About this topic

1Decision · 6 movesPositioning or messaging: which problem do you actually have?Open
2Self-check · 6 fixesBrand clarity check: how clear is your brand to a stranger?Open
3Decision · 7 movesDo you need a rebrand, or just a better message and website?Open

Choose channels, order and partners so effort compounds instead of scatters.

About this topic

START HERE

What is going wrong? Pick the closest one.

What is going on?

Start by finding where the floor is cracked, then decide where money goes.

BY TOPIC

Five areas, one way of working.

THE LIBRARY

Every decision, in one place.

Each page gives you the rule, the moves in order, a way to find your own situation and the evidence behind it.

SELF-CHECKS

Check yourself in a few minutes. Nothing is stored.

HOW A PAGE IS BUILT

Six parts, the same every time.

So you always know where the answer, the order and the evidence are.

1The short answerThe whole answer in under 75 words, so you can stop here if that is enough.
2The ruleThe one principle behind the order, named so you can repeat it.
3The movesNumbered steps. You are here when, why now, what to do, done when.
4The decision finderPick your situation, read your first move.
5The evidenceChapters that show the sources behind the order, and where we are guessing.
6Sources and a checkEvery claim cited with its own date, and a fresh-evidence chart.

Written by

By Adnan GourijaHead of Search Marketing at Webtec

The decisions in here are the ones we make with clients every week, written down in the order we make them, with the evidence and the doubts shown.

Search marketing
SEO
AEO

pages: 11; pages
sources cited: 95; sources cited
self-checks: 3; self-checks

How we write and source it

How it fits

Concepts, data and decisions.

QUESTIONS

About the Field Manual.

01
What is the Marketing Field Manual?
The Marketing Field Manual is a set of decision guides for people who have to choose what to do in marketing. Each page starts from a real situation, such as choosing a first channel or deciding between a rebrand and a message fix. It gives a named rule, an ordered list of moves, a decision table, evidence and a worked example. It is written to help you decide and act, not to explain a concept.
02
Who writes the Field Manual?
Adnan Gourija, Head of Search Marketing at Webtec, writes and maintains it, in his own voice and with his own judgment. Where a page states an opinion, it says so and separates it from sourced evidence. Webtec publishes it, which is why the pages mention what we do at Webtec only briefly and factually. The point of the work is to be useful to a reader first, whether or not they ever work with us.
03
How is the Field Manual different from Learn and the Open Index?
Learn explains what a concept is. The Open Index collects data and shows what published studies say. The Field Manual helps you decide what to do in a specific situation, in what order and why. A Field Manual page links to Learn when you need a definition and to the Open Index when you need the numbers, rather than repeating either. If you want a decision, start here. If you want a definition or a statistic, use the others.
04
Can I cite or share the Field Manual?
Yes. You are welcome to link to any page, and we encourage it. If you quote or adapt one of the named rules, ordered priorities or decision tables, credit Adnan Gourija and link to the page you took it from. Short quotes with credit are fine. Please do not republish a whole page as your own. If you spot an error while using it, tell us and we will correct it publicly.
05
How are sources chosen?
We go to primary sources first: official documentation from search engines and platforms, standards bodies, government and academic work, and published studies that show their method. Every non-obvious claim carries a citation, and each source shows its own date, not the date we checked it. If we cannot verify a number, we leave it out. Opinions are labeled as judgment, and illustrative examples are labeled as illustrative. The method page sets out the full standard.
06
Do you update the Field Manual?
Yes. Each page shows the date it was last reviewed against its sources. When a source changes, a platform alters its guidance, or we find a mistake, we revise the page and update that date. If a correction changes a conclusion, we say so on the page rather than editing quietly. The review date tells you how current a page is, and the source dates tell you how old the evidence behind it is.