Imported from whawkinsiv/solo-founder-skills (skills/technical-seo/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add whawkinsiv/solo-founder-skills --skill technical-seo. Copyright stays with the author.

Technical SEO Implementation

This skill is the implementation reference for technical SEO. Use it when you need to add, fix, or optimize SEO elements in code — meta tags, schema markup, Core Web Vitals, crawlability, and GEO.

This skill covers how to implement in code. For the other SEO concerns:

seo — Strategy and planning (keyword research, content architecture, what to build)
seo-content — Writing content (briefs, humanized prose, SERP feature targeting)
seo-audit — Auditing an existing codebase (scan, diagnose, produce action plan)

Metadata

Every indexable page needs these elements correct:

Title tag: 50-60 chars, primary keyword front-loaded
Meta description: 120-155 chars, includes CTA
Canonical: self-referencing or correct target
Robots: no accidental noindex
Open Graph: og:title, og:description, og:image for social sharing

For detailed specs and code examples, see ON-PAGE-SEO.md.

HTML Structure

Exactly one H1 per page, contains primary keyword
No skipped header levels (H1 → H2 → H3)
Semantic HTML: <header>, <nav>, <main>, <article>, <section>

Crawlability

robots.txt exists, not blocking important paths
XML sitemap exists, all important URLs included
Canonical tags on every page
No orphan pages, proper internal linking

For detailed crawlability checklist, see TECHNICAL-AUDIT.md.

Core Web Vitals

Target metrics (2026 thresholds):

Metric	Good	Needs Improvement	Poor
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)	≤ 2.5s	2.5s - 4s	> 4s
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)	≤ 200ms	200ms - 500ms	> 500ms
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)	≤ 0.1	0.1 - 0.25	> 0.25

Note: INP replaced FID as a Core Web Vital in March 2024.

For optimization techniques (LCP, INP, CLS), see TECHNICAL-AUDIT.md.

E-E-A-T & Schema

Signal	Implementation
Experience	First-hand testing, case studies, original photos
Expertise	Author credentials, certifications
Authoritativeness	Quality backlinks, industry mentions
Trustworthiness	HTTPS, contact info, privacy policy, citations

Required JSON-LD schema: Organization, WebSite, Article/BlogPosting, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList, Person (author).

For schema code examples and author bio templates, see EEAT-AND-SCHEMA.md.

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

Optimize for AI-powered search engines:

Aspect	Traditional SEO	GEO
Goal	Rank in search results	Be cited in AI answers
Success Metric	Click-through rate	Citation frequency
Approach	Keywords, backlinks	Entity clarity, authority signals
Optimization	Pages and snippets	Citable facts and answers

For GEO techniques, llms.txt implementation, and AI crawler management, see GEO.md.

Fix Priorities

When issues are identified, fix in this order:

Priority 1: Critical (Fix Immediately)

404 errors and broken links
Missing or duplicate title tags
Broken canonical tags
noindex on important pages
HTTPS/security issues
Blocked by robots.txt

Priority 2: High (Fix Within 1 Week)

Core Web Vitals failures
Missing meta descriptions
Multiple H1 tags
Missing alt text on key images
Orphan pages (no internal links)
Missing schema markup

Priority 3: Medium (Fix Within 1 Month)

Thin content pages
Header hierarchy issues
Internal link optimization
Image optimization (format, compression)
Anchor text improvements
Content freshness updates

Priority 4: Low (Ongoing Optimization)

A/B testing improvements
Advanced schema types
International SEO expansion
New content for topic clusters
Competitive gap analysis

Post-Fix Validation

After applying fixes:

Re-crawl the affected pages
Verify DOM changes are live
Check robots.txt isn't blocking new paths
Validate schema with Google's Rich Results Test
Test Core Web Vitals with Lighthouse
Monitor Search Console for indexing issues

Monitoring Cadence

Daily: Check Search Console for crawl errors. Monitor site uptime. Review security alerts.

Weekly: Review Core Web Vitals trends. Check for new 404s. Monitor AI referral traffic. Review ranking changes.

Monthly: Full technical audit. Content freshness review. Backlink profile analysis. Schema validation.

Quarterly: Full SEO strategy review. GEO performance analysis. Content gap analysis.

Quick Reference

SEO Specifications

Element	Specification
Title Tag	50-60 chars, keyword front-loaded
Meta Description	120-155 chars, includes CTA
H1	Exactly 1 per page, contains keyword
URL	Lowercase, hyphens, descriptive
Images	WebP/AVIF, <200KB, alt text, dimensions
Canonical	Self-referencing on every page
robots.txt	Allow important paths, block admin
Sitemap	All indexable URLs, lastmod dates

GEO Checklist

Element	Required
FAQPage Schema	Yes
Answer-first content	Yes
Statistics with sources	Yes
Expert quotes	Recommended
TL;DR blocks	Recommended
llms.txt	Recommended
Fresh content (<90 days)	Yes

Supporting Files

TECHNICAL-AUDIT.md — Core Web Vitals optimization, crawlability, mobile-first, HTTPS
ON-PAGE-SEO.md — Title tags, meta descriptions, headers, images, internal linking
EEAT-AND-SCHEMA.md — E-E-A-T implementation, schema markup library (JSON-LD)
GEO.md — Generative Engine Optimization, llms.txt, AI crawlers, framework-specific SEO

Version History

v3.0 (March 2026): Reframed as implementation reference (auditing moved to seo-audit skill), added cross-references to seo-content and seo skills, standardized meta description spec to 120-155 chars
v2.0 (December 2025): Added GEO section, AI crawler management, llms.txt, GA4 AI tracking, updated Core Web Vitals (INP), expanded schema library, framework-specific guides
v1.0 (December 2024): Initial version with technical audit, on-page SEO, basic schema

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