Technical SEO

Technical SEO

Use this skill to keep search-facing work canonical: one public URL, one copy source, one indexing inventory, and one proof path for each SEO claim.

Workflow

1. Name the SEO branch:
   • Metadata copy.
   • Canonical URL or redirect.
   • Sitemap or robots.
   • Structured data.
   • Public image alt text or generated HTML.
   • Dynamic public inventory.
   • Indexing submission or inspection.
   • Crawlability, SSR payload, or rendering performance.
   • Completion criterion: the affected public routes and SEO branch are explicit.
2. Inspect the current source of truth:
   • Search route files, copy constants, head helpers, sitemap, robots, redirects, footer/nav links, generated routes, and SEO tests.
   • If the task depends on search-engine behavior or indexing APIs, verify current official docs or webmaster tooling before acting.
   • Completion criterion: every assumption that affects SEO behavior is verified in current source or marked unknown.
3. Preserve copy authority:
   • Treat user-supplied SEO, legal, pricing, product, or landing copy as exact unless the user asks for a rewrite.
   • Prefer an existing shared copy object or route contract over route-local duplicate strings.
   • Check truncation rules before changing descriptions.
   • Completion criterion: the authoritative copy source and route consumer are named.
4. Make the route canonical:
   • Pick the canonical public URL.
   • Keep old URLs only as intentional redirects or compatibility aliases.
   • Sweep footer links, nav links, sitemap entries, internal rich-text links, runtime allowlists, and tests for stale paths.
   • Completion criterion: old-path and new-path searches have been reviewed, and every remaining old path has a reason.
5. Align metadata:
   • Emit title, description, canonical link, robots meta, Open Graph, Twitter card, and primary image consistently.
   • Use noindex for private, draft, unavailable, duplicate, admin, auth-only, or non-ready pages.
   • Add structured data only when the page content actually supports it.
   • Completion criterion: metadata matches the page's real public content and indexability state.
6. Align indexing inventory:
   • Ensure robots.txt allows intended crawlers and blocks private or non-public surfaces.
   • Ensure sitemap.xml contains only canonical, indexable public URLs.
   • Include lastmod only when the source timestamp is meaningful and formatted correctly.
   • Dynamic sitemap rows must be filtered by public visibility and readiness.
   • Completion criterion: sitemap and robots behavior match the canonical route policy.
7. Verify submission separately from indexing:
   • For IndexNow or similar push APIs, verify key-file reachability and request acceptance.
   • For Google, use sitemap submission or Search Console inspection according to the current supported workflow.
   • Never say a URL is indexed unless an inspection tool or search-engine source proves it.
   • Completion criterion: the report distinguishes submitted, accepted, crawled, and indexed.
8. Add guardrails:
   • Update focused tests for copy exactness, canonical paths, sitemap inventory, robots rules, redirects, structured data, and image alt text.
   • Regenerate route manifests after route-file changes.
   • Run the narrowest useful checks first, then broader checks when shared behavior changed.
   • Completion criterion: verification commands and residual risks are reported.

Output Rules

• Lead with what changed and what was verified.
• State stale assumptions explicitly.
• Report indexing claims precisely: submitted, accepted, inspected, or indexed.
• If verification is blocked, name the missing tool, credential, live URL, or external source.

Traps

• A route can be fixed while footer, sitemap, nav, generated routes, or tests still point to an old URL.
• Exact copy can be silently truncated by a shared metadata helper.
• A successful build does not prove crawler-visible HTML, canonical redirects, or indexing submission.
• Indexing submission acceptance is not indexing.
• Search-engine APIs and webmaster rules change, so verify current official behavior when it matters.