DanielPodolsky SEO Fundamentals Review
"Good SEO is good UX. If search engines can't understand your page, users might not find it."
When to Apply
Activate this skill when:
- Reviewing HTML
<head>sections - Seeing meta tags in code
- Next.js/Remix page components
- HTML structure with headings
- Any page that should be indexed
The SEO Checklist
Must Have (Every Page)
- Title tag — 50-60 characters, unique per page
- Meta description — 150-160 characters, compelling
- Single H1 — One per page, describes main content
- Logical heading hierarchy — H1 → H2 → H3 (no skipping)
- Semantic HTML —
<header>,<main>,<nav>,<article>,<footer> - Image alt text — Descriptive, not "image1.jpg"
Should Have (Marketing Pages)
- Open Graph tags — og:title, og:description, og:image
- Twitter Card — twitter:card, twitter:title
- Canonical URL — Prevent duplicate content issues
- Structured data — JSON-LD for rich snippets
Performance (Affects SEO)
- Core Web Vitals awareness
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) < 2.5s
- FID (First Input Delay) < 100ms
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) < 0.1
Common Mistakes (Anti-Patterns)
1. Multiple H1 Tags
<!-- ❌ BAD: Multiple H1s confuse search engines -->
<h1>Welcome</h1>
<h1>Our Products</h1>
<h1>Contact Us</h1>
<!-- ✅ GOOD: One H1, logical hierarchy -->
<h1>Welcome to Our Store</h1>
<h2>Our Products</h2>
<h2>Contact Us</h2>
2. Missing Alt Text
<!-- ❌ BAD: Empty or useless alt -->
<img src="hero.jpg" alt="">
<img src="team.jpg" alt="image">
<!-- ✅ GOOD: Descriptive alt text -->
<img src="hero.jpg" alt="Software engineer working at laptop">
<img src="team.jpg" alt="Our founding team of 5 engineers">
3. Div Soup (No Semantic HTML)
<!-- ❌ BAD: No semantic meaning -->
<div class="header">
<div class="nav">...</div>
</div>
<div class="content">...</div>
<div class="footer">...</div>
<!-- ✅ GOOD: Semantic HTML -->
<header>
<nav>...</nav>
</header>
<main>...</main>
<footer>...</footer>
4. Skipping Heading Levels
<!-- ❌ BAD: Jumps from H1 to H4 -->
<h1>Page Title</h1>
<h4>Some Section</h4>
<!-- ✅ GOOD: Sequential hierarchy -->
<h1>Page Title</h1>
<h2>Main Section</h2>
<h3>Subsection</h3>
5. Generic Title Tags
<!-- ❌ BAD: Not descriptive -->
<title>Home</title>
<title>Page</title>
<!-- ✅ GOOD: Descriptive with keywords -->
<title>Daniel Lamb - Full Stack Developer Portfolio</title>
<title>Contact Us | Acme Software Solutions</title>
Socratic Questions
Ask these instead of giving answers:
- Title: "If someone sees this title in Google results, would they click it?"
- H1: "How many H1 tags does this page have? What happens if there are multiple?"
- Alt Text: "If the image doesn't load, what information is lost?"
- Semantic HTML: "Can a screen reader understand the structure of this page?"
- Meta Description: "Does this description make you want to click?"
Stack-Specific Guidance
Next.js (App Router)
// Pattern: Metadata export
export const metadata = {
title: 'Page Title',
description: 'Page description',
// Your implementation will differ
};
Next.js (Pages Router)
// Pattern: Next Head
import Head from 'next/head';
<Head>
<title>Your title here</title>
<meta name="description" content="Your description" />
</Head>
Plain HTML/React
<!-- In index.html or via react-helmet -->
<head>
<title>Title here</title>
<meta name="description" content="Description here">
</head>
Red Flags to Call Out
| Flag | Question |
|---|---|
| Missing title tag | "What will this page show in search results?" |
| Multiple H1s | "Which heading is the main topic? Search engines are confused." |
| No meta description | "How will Google summarize this page?" |
| Empty alt text | "What if the image doesn't load? What info is lost?" |
| All divs, no semantics | "Can a screen reader navigate this page?" |
| Title over 60 chars | "This will be cut off in search results. Can you shorten it?" |
Open Graph Template
<!-- Minimum viable Open Graph -->
<meta property="og:title" content="Your Page Title">
<meta property="og:description" content="Your page description">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://yoursite.com/og-image.jpg">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://yoursite.com/page">
<meta property="og:type" content="website">
Interview Connection
"I implemented SEO best practices including semantic HTML, proper heading hierarchy, and meta tags, improving our page's discoverability."
When reviewing their code:
- "What's your SEO strategy for this page?"
- "How would Google understand what this page is about?"
- "Show me your heading structure"
MCP Usage
Context7 - Framework Docs
Fetch: Next.js metadata documentation
Fetch: Semantic HTML best practices
Octocode - Real Examples
Search: "metadata" + "title" + "description" in Next.js repos
Search: Open Graph implementation patterns