seo-fundamentals

name	seo-fundamentals
description	Use when doing technical SEO setup or audits for websites, including metadata checks, canonical rules, sitemap and robots validation, Google Search Console troubleshooting, and indexing readiness. Trigger phrases: SEO fundamentals, technical SEO, fix sitemap, GSC could not fetch, indexing issues, on-page SEO checklist.

SEO Fundamentals

Purpose

Use this skill to implement and validate SEO essentials so pages are crawlable, indexable, and ready for Google Search Console.

Inputs

• Site base URL (for example https://example.com)
• Key page URLs (home and major landing pages)
• sitemap.xml URL
• robots.txt URL
• Current deployment platform (for example Vercel)

Workflow

1. Validate Crawl Access

• Check robots.txt returns HTTP 200 and is publicly reachable.
• Confirm it does not block important paths by mistake.
• Keep sitemap declarations accurate and only include existing sitemap files.

Decision point:

• If robots blocks target pages or includes invalid sitemap links, fix robots.txt first.

2. Validate Sitemap Health

• Check sitemap.xml returns HTTP 200 and valid XML.
• Confirm <loc> URLs are absolute, canonical, and use the correct domain.
• Verify sample URLs from sitemap return 200 (or valid indexable status).
• Ensure sitemap size and URL count are reasonable for the site.

Decision point:

• If sitemap has wrong domain, stale URLs, or malformed XML, regenerate/fix before GSC resubmission.

3. Validate On-Page Basics

For each key page, verify:

• One clear <title> and one useful meta description.
• Correct canonical URL pointing to the preferred page URL.
• meta robots allows indexing where intended.
• Proper heading structure and meaningful page content.
• Open Graph and Twitter tags are present for share previews.

Decision point:

• If canonical, robots, or title tags conflict, correct tags before indexing requests.

4. Validate Platform and Routing

• Confirm deployed routes match sitemap URLs.
• For static hosts (for example Vercel), ensure paths like /city-slug/ resolve correctly.
• Remove stale generation artifacts that cause duplicate or broken paths.

Decision point:

• If deployed route returns 404, fix folder structure or routing config before SEO submission.

5. Submit and Troubleshoot in GSC

• Submit full sitemap URL in the correct property scope.
• If GSC shows "Couldn’t fetch":
  • Re-check HTTP status and content type from external request.
  • Confirm property URL matches protocol/host exactly.
  • Remove and re-submit sitemap after fixes.
  • Wait for cache refresh and recheck.

Decision point:

• If live checks are 200 but GSC still fails, assume GSC cache/property mismatch and retry with exact property URL.

6. Final Verification

• Confirm robots.txt and sitemap.xml are reachable in production.
• Confirm at least 2-5 sitemap URLs are live and indexable.
• Confirm no placeholder domains remain.
• Confirm deployment includes latest SEO file changes.

Quality Criteria

Treat task as complete only when all are true:

• robots.txt is valid, minimal, and references only real sitemap files.
• sitemap.xml is valid XML and uses the live canonical domain.
• Sample sitemap URLs return valid responses (typically 200).
• Key pages include title, meta description, canonical, and indexable robots directives.
• GSC submission uses the exact matching property and sitemap URL.

Common Mistakes to Catch

• Placeholder domain still present in sitemap or canonicals.
• robots.txt referencing non-existent sitemap files.
• Property mismatch in GSC (http vs https, subdomain mismatch).
• Sitemap works in browser but was previously cached as failed in GSC.
• Deployed routes differ from generated URLs.

Output Format

When using this skill, produce:

1. Findings list ordered by severity.
2. Exact files/URLs fixed.
3. Verification results (status codes and key checks).
4. Next action in GSC (submit/re-submit/wait and recheck timeline).