Programmatic SEO Analysis & Planning
Selective Reading Rule
Start with:
references/senior-master-standard.mdreferences/usage-routing.mdreferences/quality-checklist.md
Then load only the inherited docs, scripts, assets, or examples that match the user's actual task.
Build and audit SEO pages generated at scale from structured data sources.
Enforces quality gates to prevent thin content penalties and index bloat.
When to Use
- Use when the user wants programmatic SEO planning or review.
- Use when designing templates, data-driven pages, or scalable URL systems.
- Use when preventing thin content and index bloat across large page sets.
Data Source Assessment
Evaluate the data powering programmatic pages:
- CSV/JSON files: Row count, column uniqueness, missing values
- API endpoints: Response structure, data freshness, rate limits
- Database queries: Record count, field completeness, update frequency
- Data quality checks:
- Each record must have enough unique attributes to generate distinct content
- Flag duplicate or near-duplicate records (>80% field overlap)
- Verify data freshness; stale data produces stale pages
Template Engine Planning
Design templates that produce unique, valuable pages:
- Variable injection points: Title, H1, body sections, meta description, schema
- Content blocks: Static (shared across pages) vs dynamic (unique per page)
- Conditional logic: Show/hide sections based on data availability
- Supplementary content: Related items, contextual tips, user-generated content
- Template review checklist:
- Each page must read as a standalone, valuable resource
- No "mad-libs" patterns (just swapping city/product names in identical text)
- Dynamic sections must add genuine information, not just keyword variations
URL Pattern Strategy
Common Patterns
/tools/[tool-name]: Tool/product directory pages/[city]/[service]: Location + service pages/integrations/[platform]: Integration landing pages/glossary/[term]: Definition/reference pages/templates/[template-name]: Downloadable template pages
URL Rules
- Lowercase, hyphenated slugs derived from data
- Logical hierarchy reflecting site architecture
- No duplicate slugs; enforce uniqueness at generation time
- Keep URLs under 100 characters
- No query parameters for primary content URLs
- Consistent trailing slash usage (match existing site pattern)
Internal Linking Automation
- Hub/spoke model: Category hub pages linking to individual programmatic pages
- Related items: Auto-link to 3-5 related pages based on data attributes
- Breadcrumbs: Generate BreadcrumbList schema from URL hierarchy
- Cross-linking: Link between programmatic pages sharing attributes (same category, same city, same feature)
- Anchor text: Use descriptive, varied anchor text. Avoid exact-match keyword repetition
- Link density: 3-5 internal links per 1000 words (match seo-content guidelines)
Thin Content Safeguards
Quality Gates
| Metric |
Threshold |
Action |
| Pages without content review |
100+ |
⚠️ WARNING: require content audit before publishing |
| Pages without justification |
500+ |
🛑 HARD STOP: require explicit user approval and thin content audit |
| Unique content per page |
<40% |
❌ Flag as thin content (likely penalty risk) |
| Word count per page |
<300 |
⚠️ Flag for review (may lack sufficient value) |
Scaled Content Abuse: Enforcement Context (2025-2026)
Google's Scaled Content Abuse policy (introduced March 2024) saw major enforcement escalation in 2025:
- June 2025: Wave of manual actions targeting websites with AI-generated content at scale
- August 2025: SpamBrain spam update enhanced pattern detection for AI-generated link schemes and content farms
- Result: Google reported 45% reduction in low-quality, unoriginal content in search results post-March 2024 enforcement
Enhanced quality gates for programmatic pages:
- Content differentiation: ≥30-40% of content must be genuinely unique between any two programmatic pages (not just city/keyword string replacement)
- Human review: Minimum 5-10% sample review of generated pages before publishing
- Progressive rollout: Publish in batches of 50-100 pages. Monitor indexing and rankings for 2-4 weeks before expanding. Never publish 500+ programmatic pages simultaneously without explicit quality review.
- Standalone value test: Each page should pass: "Would this page be worth publishing even if no other similar pages existed?"
- Site reputation abuse: If publishing programmatic content under a high-authority domain (not your own), this may trigger site reputation abuse penalties. Google began enforcing this aggressively in November 2024.
Recommendation: The WARNING gate at <40% unique content remains appropriate. Consider a HARD STOP at <30% unique content to prevent scaled content abuse risk.
Safe Programmatic Pages (OK at scale)
✅ Integration pages (with real setup docs, API details, screenshots)
✅ Template/tool pages (with downloadable content, usage instructions)
✅ Glossary pages (200+ word definitions with examples, related terms)
✅ Product pages (unique specs, reviews, comparison data)
✅ Data-driven pages (unique statistics, charts, analysis per record)
Penalty Risk (avoid at scale)
❌ Location pages with only city name swapped in identical text
❌ "Best [tool] for [industry]" without industry-specific value
❌ "[Competitor] alternative" without real comparison data
❌ AI-generated pages without human review and unique value-add
❌ Pages where >60% of content is shared template boilerplate
Uniqueness Calculation
Unique content % = (words unique to this page) / (total words on page) × 100
Measure against all other pages in the programmatic set. Shared headers, footers, and navigation are excluded from the calculation. Template boilerplate text IS included.
Canonical Strategy
- Every programmatic page must have a self-referencing canonical tag
- Parameter variations (sort, filter, pagination) canonical to the base URL
- Paginated series: canonical to page 1 or use rel=next/prev
- If programmatic pages overlap with manual pages, the manual page is canonical
- No canonical to a different domain unless intentional cross-domain setup
Sitemap Integration
- Auto-generate sitemap entries for all programmatic pages
- Split at 50,000 URLs per sitemap file (protocol limit)
- Use sitemap index if multiple sitemap files needed
<lastmod> reflects actual data update timestamp (not generation time)- Exclude noindexed programmatic pages from sitemap
- Register sitemap in robots.txt
- Update sitemap dynamically as new records are added to data source
Index Bloat Prevention
- Noindex low-value pages: Pages that don't meet quality gates
- Pagination: Noindex paginated results beyond page 1 (or use rel=next/prev)
- Faceted navigation: Noindex filtered views, canonical to base category
- Crawl budget: For sites with >10k programmatic pages, monitor crawl stats in Search Console
- Thin page consolidation: Merge records with insufficient data into aggregated pages
- Regular audits: Monthly review of indexed page count vs intended count
Output
Programmatic SEO Score: XX/100
Assessment Summary
| Category |
Status |
Score |
| Data Quality |
✅/⚠️/❌ |
XX/100 |
| Template Uniqueness |
✅/⚠️/❌ |
XX/100 |
| URL Structure |
✅/⚠️/❌ |
XX/100 |
| Internal Linking |
✅/⚠️/❌ |
XX/100 |
| Thin Content Risk |
✅/⚠️/❌ |
XX/100 |
| Index Management |
✅/⚠️/❌ |
XX/100 |
Critical Issues (fix immediately)
High Priority (fix within 1 week)
Medium Priority (fix within 1 month)
Low Priority (backlog)
Recommendations
- Data source improvements
- Template modifications
- URL pattern adjustments
- Quality gate compliance actions
Error Handling
| Scenario |
Action |
| URL unreachable |
Report connection error with status code. Suggest verifying URL accessibility and checking for authentication requirements. |
| No programmatic pages detected |
Inform user that no template-generated or data-driven page patterns were found. Suggest checking if pages use client-side rendering or if the URL points to the correct section. |
| Thin content threshold exceeded |
Trigger quality gate warning. Report the unique content percentage and flag pages below 40% uniqueness. Require user acknowledgment before proceeding. |
| Quality gate violation |
Halt analysis at the HARD STOP threshold (500+ pages without justification or <30% unique content). Present findings and require explicit user approval to continue. |
Limitations
- Use this skill only when the task clearly matches the scope described above.
- Do not treat the output as a substitute for environment-specific validation, testing, or expert review.
- Stop and ask for clarification if required inputs, permissions, safety boundaries, or success criteria are missing.
1---2name: seo-programmatic3description: ALWAYS use this when the request matches SEO Programmatic: Plan and audit programmatic SEO pages generated at scale from structured data.4---56# Programmatic SEO Analysis & Planning78## Selective Reading Rule910Start with:1112- `references/senior-master-standard.md`13- `references/usage-routing.md`14- `references/quality-checklist.md`1516Then load only the inherited docs, scripts, assets, or examples that match the user's actual task.1718Build and audit SEO pages generated at scale from structured data sources.19Enforces quality gates to prevent thin content penalties and index bloat.2021## When to Use22- Use when the user wants programmatic SEO planning or review.23- Use when designing templates, data-driven pages, or scalable URL systems.24- Use when preventing thin content and index bloat across large page sets.2526## Data Source Assessment2728Evaluate the data powering programmatic pages:29- **CSV/JSON files**: Row count, column uniqueness, missing values30- **API endpoints**: Response structure, data freshness, rate limits31- **Database queries**: Record count, field completeness, update frequency32- Data quality checks:33 - Each record must have enough unique attributes to generate distinct content34 - Flag duplicate or near-duplicate records (>80% field overlap)35 - Verify data freshness; stale data produces stale pages3637## Template Engine Planning3839Design templates that produce unique, valuable pages:40- **Variable injection points**: Title, H1, body sections, meta description, schema41- **Content blocks**: Static (shared across pages) vs dynamic (unique per page)42- **Conditional logic**: Show/hide sections based on data availability43- **Supplementary content**: Related items, contextual tips, user-generated content44- Template review checklist:45 - Each page must read as a standalone, valuable resource46 - No "mad-libs" patterns (just swapping city/product names in identical text)47 - Dynamic sections must add genuine information, not just keyword variations4849## URL Pattern Strategy5051### Common Patterns52- `/tools/[tool-name]`: Tool/product directory pages53- `/[city]/[service]`: Location + service pages54- `/integrations/[platform]`: Integration landing pages55- `/glossary/[term]`: Definition/reference pages56- `/templates/[template-name]`: Downloadable template pages5758### URL Rules59- Lowercase, hyphenated slugs derived from data60- Logical hierarchy reflecting site architecture61- No duplicate slugs; enforce uniqueness at generation time62- Keep URLs under 100 characters63- No query parameters for primary content URLs64- Consistent trailing slash usage (match existing site pattern)6566## Internal Linking Automation6768- **Hub/spoke model**: Category hub pages linking to individual programmatic pages69- **Related items**: Auto-link to 3-5 related pages based on data attributes70- **Breadcrumbs**: Generate BreadcrumbList schema from URL hierarchy71- **Cross-linking**: Link between programmatic pages sharing attributes (same category, same city, same feature)72- **Anchor text**: Use descriptive, varied anchor text. Avoid exact-match keyword repetition73- Link density: 3-5 internal links per 1000 words (match seo-content guidelines)7475## Thin Content Safeguards7677### Quality Gates7879| Metric | Threshold | Action |80|--------|-----------|--------|81| Pages without content review | 100+ | ⚠️ WARNING: require content audit before publishing |82| Pages without justification | 500+ | 🛑 HARD STOP: require explicit user approval and thin content audit |83| Unique content per page | <40% | ❌ Flag as thin content (likely penalty risk) |84| Word count per page | <300 | ⚠️ Flag for review (may lack sufficient value) |8586### Scaled Content Abuse: Enforcement Context (2025-2026)8788Google's Scaled Content Abuse policy (introduced March 2024) saw major enforcement escalation in 2025:8990- **June 2025:** Wave of manual actions targeting websites with AI-generated content at scale91- **August 2025:** SpamBrain spam update enhanced pattern detection for AI-generated link schemes and content farms92- **Result:** Google reported 45% reduction in low-quality, unoriginal content in search results post-March 2024 enforcement9394**Enhanced quality gates for programmatic pages:**95- **Content differentiation:** ≥30-40% of content must be genuinely unique between any two programmatic pages (not just city/keyword string replacement)96- **Human review:** Minimum 5-10% sample review of generated pages before publishing97- **Progressive rollout:** Publish in batches of 50-100 pages. Monitor indexing and rankings for 2-4 weeks before expanding. Never publish 500+ programmatic pages simultaneously without explicit quality review.98- **Standalone value test:** Each page should pass: "Would this page be worth publishing even if no other similar pages existed?"99- **Site reputation abuse:** If publishing programmatic content under a high-authority domain (not your own), this may trigger site reputation abuse penalties. Google began enforcing this aggressively in November 2024.100101> **Recommendation:** The WARNING gate at `<40% unique content` remains appropriate. Consider a HARD STOP at `<30%` unique content to prevent scaled content abuse risk.102103### Safe Programmatic Pages (OK at scale)104✅ Integration pages (with real setup docs, API details, screenshots)105✅ Template/tool pages (with downloadable content, usage instructions)106✅ Glossary pages (200+ word definitions with examples, related terms)107✅ Product pages (unique specs, reviews, comparison data)108✅ Data-driven pages (unique statistics, charts, analysis per record)109110### Penalty Risk (avoid at scale)111❌ Location pages with only city name swapped in identical text112❌ "Best [tool] for [industry]" without industry-specific value113❌ "[Competitor] alternative" without real comparison data114❌ AI-generated pages without human review and unique value-add115❌ Pages where >60% of content is shared template boilerplate116117### Uniqueness Calculation118Unique content % = (words unique to this page) / (total words on page) × 100119120Measure against all other pages in the programmatic set. Shared headers, footers, and navigation are excluded from the calculation. Template boilerplate text IS included.121122## Canonical Strategy123124- Every programmatic page must have a self-referencing canonical tag125- Parameter variations (sort, filter, pagination) canonical to the base URL126- Paginated series: canonical to page 1 or use rel=next/prev127- If programmatic pages overlap with manual pages, the manual page is canonical128- No canonical to a different domain unless intentional cross-domain setup129130## Sitemap Integration131132- Auto-generate sitemap entries for all programmatic pages133- Split at 50,000 URLs per sitemap file (protocol limit)134- Use sitemap index if multiple sitemap files needed135- `<lastmod>` reflects actual data update timestamp (not generation time)136- Exclude noindexed programmatic pages from sitemap137- Register sitemap in robots.txt138- Update sitemap dynamically as new records are added to data source139140## Index Bloat Prevention141142- **Noindex low-value pages**: Pages that don't meet quality gates143- **Pagination**: Noindex paginated results beyond page 1 (or use rel=next/prev)144- **Faceted navigation**: Noindex filtered views, canonical to base category145- **Crawl budget**: For sites with >10k programmatic pages, monitor crawl stats in Search Console146- **Thin page consolidation**: Merge records with insufficient data into aggregated pages147- **Regular audits**: Monthly review of indexed page count vs intended count148149## Output150151### Programmatic SEO Score: XX/100152153### Assessment Summary154| Category | Status | Score |155|----------|--------|-------|156| Data Quality | ✅/⚠️/❌ | XX/100 |157| Template Uniqueness | ✅/⚠️/❌ | XX/100 |158| URL Structure | ✅/⚠️/❌ | XX/100 |159| Internal Linking | ✅/⚠️/❌ | XX/100 |160| Thin Content Risk | ✅/⚠️/❌ | XX/100 |161| Index Management | ✅/⚠️/❌ | XX/100 |162163### Critical Issues (fix immediately)164### High Priority (fix within 1 week)165### Medium Priority (fix within 1 month)166### Low Priority (backlog)167168### Recommendations169- Data source improvements170- Template modifications171- URL pattern adjustments172- Quality gate compliance actions173174## Error Handling175176| Scenario | Action |177|----------|--------|178| URL unreachable | Report connection error with status code. Suggest verifying URL accessibility and checking for authentication requirements. |179| No programmatic pages detected | Inform user that no template-generated or data-driven page patterns were found. Suggest checking if pages use client-side rendering or if the URL points to the correct section. |180| Thin content threshold exceeded | Trigger quality gate warning. Report the unique content percentage and flag pages below 40% uniqueness. Require user acknowledgment before proceeding. |181| Quality gate violation | Halt analysis at the HARD STOP threshold (500+ pages without justification or <30% unique content). Present findings and require explicit user approval to continue. |182183## Limitations184- Use this skill only when the task clearly matches the scope described above.185- Do not treat the output as a substitute for environment-specific validation, testing, or expert review.186- Stop and ask for clarification if required inputs, permissions, safety boundaries, or success criteria are missing.
anhvu1107