seo-technical

Files (4)

• SKILL.md
• _claude-frontmatter-extras.yaml · references/
• audit-template.md · references/
• migration-checklist.md · references/

SKILL.md (first lines)

# Technical SEO

Audit and fix the layer beneath the content: how search engines crawl, render, index, and trust a site. Stack-agnostic.

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## When to use

- Site-wide audit before or after a migration
- Investigating indexing or ranking drops
- Setting up SEO foundations on a new site
- Auditing Core Web Vitals or page experience signals
- Fixing crawl waste, redirect chains, or canonical issues
- Setting up multilingual or multi-regional sites

## When NOT to use

- Single-page on-page optimization (use `seo-onpage`)
- Keyword strategy or content planning (use `seo-keyword`)
- Competitor backlink or SERP analysis (use `seo-competitor`)
- Pure performance optimization without SEO context (use `performance-optimization`)

---

## Required inputs

- The site URL or staging URL
- Access to (at minimum) view the rendered HTML, robots.txt, and sitemap
- Ideally: search console access, server logs, and a crawler

If the site is large (10K+ URLs), confirm whether the audit is a full crawl or a sample.

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## The framework: 6 layers

Technical SEO has six layers, stacked. A failure in a lower layer breaks everything above it.

### 1. Crawlability
Can search engines access the URLs?

- robots.txt does not block important paths
- No accidental `noindex` on indexable pages
- No accidental `disallow` patterns blocking CSS or JS (rendering breaks)
- Sitemap is present, returns 200, and lists canonical URLs only
- Sitemap is referenced in robots.txt
- No infinite spaces (faceted nav generating endless URLs)
- Crawl budget is not wasted on low-value URLs

### 2. Indexability
Of crawlable URLs, which should be indexed?

- One canonical URL per piece of content (no duplicates)
- Canonical tags self-reference on canonical pages
- `noindex` on staging, search results, filter pages, thank-you pages, internal admin
- No mixed signals (canonical pointing one way, sitemap another, internal links a third)
- Pagination handled correctly (rel=next/prev is deprecated, but consistent canonicals matter)
- Parameter handling deliberate (UTM, session IDs, sort orders)

### 3. Rendering
Does the rendered HTML match what crawlers see?

- Critical content visible without JavaScript (or properly server-rendered)
- For SPAs: confirm Googlebot sees the rendered content (test with the URL Inspection tool)
- No cloaking (showing different content to bots vs users)
- Lazy-loaded content has proper loading attributes
- Hydration errors do not strip content from the rendered DOM

### 4. Site architecture
Is the site structured for both users and crawlers?

- Clear URL hierarchy that mirrors site structure
- Important pages reachable in 3 clicks or fewer from the homepage
- Internal linking distributes authority logically
- Breadcrumb navigation present and marked up with schema
- No orphan pages (pages with no internal links)
- No redirect chains (one redirect max)
- No 4xx errors on internally-linked URLs

### 5. Structured data and signals
Does the site speak crawler language?

- Schema.org markup on appropriate page types
- JSON-LD format (preferred over microdata)
- Validates in the Rich Results Test
- Organization or LocalBusiness schema on the homepage or about page
- BreadcrumbList schema on nested pages
- Author and publisher schema linked correctly on content pages
- llms.txt present at the root (for AI crawlers, see `seo-aeo-geo`)

### 6. Page experience and security
Does the site meet the page experience baseline?

- HTTPS on all pages, no mixed content
- HSTS header set
- Core Web Vitals pass (LCP, INP, CLS within thresholds)
- Mobile-friendly (responsive, no horizontal scroll, tap targets sized correctly)
- No intrusive interstitials on mobile
- Stable URL structure (no random URL changes between deploys)
- 404 pages return 404, not 200 with "page not found" content (soft 404)

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## Workflow

1. **Define scope.** Whole site, a subfolder, a migration check, or a specific issue.
2. **Confirm access.** What can you actually see (HTML, robots, sitemap, search console, server logs, staging)?
3. **Crawl.** Use a crawler to enumerate URLs and statuses. Sample if the site is huge.
4. **Run the 6-layer framework.** Score each, note specific issues with example URLs.
5. **Cross-reference.** Search console for what's actually indexed. Compare to sitemap and crawl output.
6. **Prioritize.** Critical (blocks indexing or causes traffic loss), Important (suboptimal), Nice-to-have (polish).
7. **Write the report.** Use the template in [`references/audit-template.md`](references/audit-template.md).

---

## Failure patterns

- **Optimizing rankings on a page that is `noindex`.** Always check indexability before content work.
- **Adding sitemaps without fixing canonical issues.** A sitemap of duplicate URLs is worse than no sitemap.

From rampstackco/claude-skills, MIT.

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