Technical SEO Mastery

Conducts comprehensive technical SEO audits including crawlability, indexability, sitemap, robots.txt, Core Web Vitals, redirect chains, and international SE...

1kalin@1kalin

Install

openclaw skills install @1kalin/afrexai-technical-seo

Technical SEO Mastery

Complete technical SEO audit, fix, and monitoring system. From crawlability to Core Web Vitals to international SEO — everything search engines need to find, crawl, index, and rank your site.

When to Use

"Technical SEO audit for my site"
"Why isn't Google indexing my pages?"
"Fix Core Web Vitals issues"
"Pre-migration SEO checklist"
"My site is slow / rankings dropped"
"Check robots.txt / sitemap / schema markup"
"International SEO / hreflang setup"

Phase 1: Quick Health Check (5-Minute Triage)

Before a full audit, run a rapid assessment. Fetch the site and check:

yaml

quick_health:
  url: "[domain]"
  checks:
    robots_txt: "[accessible / blocked / missing]"
    sitemap_xml: "[found / missing / errors]"
    https: "[yes / mixed content / no]"
    mobile_viewport: "[set / missing]"
    page_load: "[fast <2s / moderate 2-4s / slow >4s]"
    h1_present: "[yes / missing / multiple]"
    canonical: "[set / missing / self-referencing]"
    structured_data: "[present / missing / errors]"
  
  severity: "[healthy / needs work / critical]"
  priority_fix: "[top issue to address first]"

Severity guide:

🟢 Healthy: 0-1 issues — minor optimizations only
🟡 Needs work: 2-4 issues — schedule fixes this week
🔴 Critical: 5+ issues or any blocking issue — fix immediately

Phase 2: Crawlability Audit

2.1 Robots.txt Analysis

Fetch [domain]/robots.txt and evaluate:

yaml

robots_txt_audit:
  exists: true/false
  valid_syntax: true/false
  issues:
    - type: "[blocked_important_page / missing_sitemap / wildcard_block / syntax_error]"
      detail: "[specific line or pattern]"
      severity: "critical/warning/info"
      fix: "[exact fix]"
  
  checks:
    - "Sitemap directive present"
    - "No accidental blocking of CSS/JS/images"
    - "No blocking of important page directories"
    - "Correct user-agent targeting (Googlebot, Bingbot, etc.)"
    - "No conflicting rules (allow + disallow same path)"
    - "Crawl-delay only if needed (slows indexing)"

Common mistakes:

Mistake	Impact	Fix
`Disallow: /` blocking everything	No pages indexed	Remove or narrow scope
Blocking CSS/JS	Poor rendering = ranking drop	`Allow: /assets/`
No sitemap reference	Slower discovery	Add `Sitemap:` directive
Multiple sitemaps not declared	Partial crawling	Declare all sitemaps
Blocking search/filter pages poorly	Crawl waste	Use `Disallow: /*?` patterns

Recommended template:

text

User-agent: *
Allow: /
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /*?sort=
Disallow: /*?filter=

Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap-images.xml

2.2 XML Sitemap Audit

Fetch sitemap(s) and evaluate:

yaml

sitemap_audit:
  url: "[sitemap URL]"
  type: "[index / single / none]"
  url_count: 0
  issues:
    - type: "[missing / too_large / includes_noindex / stale_lastmod / broken_urls]"
      severity: "critical/warning/info"
      fix: "[specific action]"
  
  quality_checks:
    - "All URLs return 200 (no 404s, 301s, or 5xx)"
    - "No noindex pages included"
    - "lastmod dates are accurate (not all same date)"
    - "Under 50,000 URLs per sitemap file"
    - "Under 50MB uncompressed per file"
    - "Sitemap index if >50K URLs"
    - "Matches canonical URLs (not alternate versions)"
    - "Images/video sitemaps if applicable"

Sitemap best practices:

One URL per <url> entry — canonical version only
lastmod should reflect actual content change date
Priority and changefreq are largely ignored by Google — optional
Compress with gzip for large sitemaps
Submit in Google Search Console AND robots.txt

2.3 Crawl Budget Optimization

yaml

crawl_budget_analysis:
  total_pages: 0
  indexable_pages: 0
  crawl_waste_ratio: "[indexable / total — target >80%]"
  
  waste_sources:
    - source: "[faceted navigation / pagination / parameters / duplicate content / thin pages]"
      page_count: 0
      action: "[noindex / canonical / robots block / parameter handling / consolidate]"
  
  optimization_priority:
    1: "Remove/noindex thin and duplicate pages"
    2: "Consolidate parameter variations with canonicals"
    3: "Implement pagination best practices (rel=next or load-more)"
    4: "Fix redirect chains (max 1 hop)"
    5: "Eliminate orphan pages or link them into site structure"

Crawl budget matters when: Site has >10K pages OR crawl rate is notably low in Search Console.

Phase 3: Indexability Audit

3.1 Index Status Check

For each important page type, verify:

yaml

indexability_check:
  page_type: "[homepage / product / blog / category / landing]"
  sample_url: "[URL]"
  
  signals:
    meta_robots: "[index,follow / noindex / nofollow / none]"
    x_robots_tag: "[present / absent — check HTTP headers]"
    canonical: "[self / points to other URL / missing]"
    http_status: "[200 / 301 / 302 / 404 / 410 / 5xx]"
    in_sitemap: true/false
    internal_links_to: "[count of internal links pointing here]"
    robots_txt_allowed: true/false
  
  verdict: "[indexable / blocked / conflicting signals]"
  fix: "[action if not indexable]"

3.2 Common Indexing Blockers

Blocker	Detection	Fix	Priority
`noindex` meta tag	Check `<meta name="robots">`	Remove tag or move to correct pages	P0
`X-Robots-Tag: noindex` header	Check HTTP response headers	Remove header from server config	P0
Canonical pointing elsewhere	Check `<link rel="canonical">`	Fix to self-reference or correct target	P0
Blocked in robots.txt	Cross-reference robots.txt	Update robots.txt rules	P0
Not in sitemap	Check sitemap inclusion	Add to sitemap	P1
No internal links (orphan)	Crawl internal link graph	Add contextual internal links	P1
Soft 404 (200 with no content)	Check page content	Return proper 404 or add content	P1
Duplicate content	Compare page similarity	Canonical or consolidate	P2
Thin content (<200 words, no value)	Word count + quality check	Expand or merge with related page	P2

3.3 Redirect Audit

yaml

redirect_audit:
  chains_found: 0  # A→B→C (should be A→C)
  loops_found: 0   # A→B→A (broken)
  temporary_redirects: 0  # 302s that should be 301s
  
  rules:
    - "Max 1 redirect hop (no chains)"
    - "Use 301 for permanent moves, 308 for POST-preserving"
    - "302 only for genuinely temporary redirects"
    - "Update internal links to point to final destination"
    - "Redirect HTTP → HTTPS at server level"
    - "Redirect www ↔ non-www consistently"

Phase 4: Core Web Vitals & Performance

4.1 Core Web Vitals Targets

Metric	Good	Needs Improvement	Poor
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)	≤2.5s	2.5-4.0s	>4.0s
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)	≤200ms	200-500ms	>500ms
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)	≤0.1	0.1-0.25	>0.25

4.2 LCP Fix Playbook

yaml

lcp_diagnosis:
  current_lcp: "[Xs]"
  lcp_element: "[identify the largest element — usually hero image or heading]"
  
  fix_priority:
    1:
      issue: "Slow server response (TTFB >800ms)"
      fixes:
        - "Enable server-side caching (Redis, Varnish)"
        - "Use CDN for static assets"
        - "Optimize database queries"
        - "Upgrade hosting if shared"
    2:
      issue: "Render-blocking resources"
      fixes:
        - "Defer non-critical CSS: `<link rel='preload' as='style'>`"
        - "Async/defer JavaScript: `<script defer>`"
        - "Inline critical CSS (above-the-fold)"
        - "Remove unused CSS/JS"
    3:
      issue: "Slow resource load (images, fonts)"
      fixes:
        - "Preload LCP image: `<link rel='preload' as='image' href='...'>`"
        - "Use WebP/AVIF format (30-50% smaller)"
        - "Responsive images with srcset"
        - "Font-display: swap for web fonts"
        - "Preconnect to CDN: `<link rel='preconnect' href='...'>`"
    4:
      issue: "Client-side rendering delay"
      fixes:
        - "Server-side render (SSR) or static generate (SSG) above-fold content"
        - "Avoid lazy-loading the LCP element"
        - "Reduce JavaScript execution before paint"

4.3 INP Fix Playbook

yaml

inp_diagnosis:
  current_inp: "[Xms]"
  
  fix_priority:
    1: "Break long tasks (>50ms) into smaller chunks using `requestIdleCallback` or `setTimeout`"
    2: "Reduce main thread JavaScript — defer non-essential scripts"
    3: "Use `content-visibility: auto` for off-screen content"
    4: "Debounce/throttle event handlers (scroll, resize, input)"
    5: "Move heavy computation to Web Workers"
    6: "Optimize event delegation — avoid attaching listeners to every element"
    7: "Reduce DOM size (target <1,500 elements)"

4.4 CLS Fix Playbook

yaml

cls_diagnosis:
  current_cls: "[X.XX]"
  
  common_causes:
    - cause: "Images without dimensions"
      fix: "Always set width/height attributes OR use aspect-ratio CSS"
    - cause: "Ads/embeds without reserved space"
      fix: "Use min-height on ad containers"
    - cause: "Web fonts causing FOIT/FOUT"
      fix: "`font-display: swap` + `<link rel='preload' as='font'>`"
    - cause: "Dynamically injected content above viewport"
      fix: "Reserve space or inject below the fold"
    - cause: "Late-loading CSS changing layout"
      fix: "Inline critical CSS, load rest async"

4.5 Performance Budget

yaml

performance_budget:
  total_page_weight: "< 1.5MB (ideal < 1MB)"
  html: "< 100KB"
  css: "< 100KB (ideally < 50KB)"
  javascript: "< 300KB (compressed)"
  images: "< 500KB total above fold"
  fonts: "< 100KB (max 2 families)"
  third_party: "< 200KB total"
  
  requests:
    total: "< 50 HTTP requests"
    third_party: "< 10 external domains"
  
  timing:
    ttfb: "< 800ms"
    fcp: "< 1.8s"
    lcp: "< 2.5s"
    tti: "< 3.8s"

Phase 5: Mobile Optimization

yaml

mobile_audit:
  viewport_meta: "[present with correct values / missing / malformed]"
  # Correct: <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  
  checklist:
    - check: "Viewport meta tag set correctly"
      pass: true/false
    - check: "No horizontal scroll on mobile"
      pass: true/false
    - check: "Touch targets ≥48x48px with ≥8px spacing"
      pass: true/false
    - check: "Font size ≥16px base (no zoom on iOS input)"
      pass: true/false
    - check: "No fixed-width elements wider than viewport"
      pass: true/false
    - check: "Images responsive (max-width: 100%)"
      pass: true/false
    - check: "No intrusive interstitials / popups"
      pass: true/false
    - check: "Readable without zooming"
      pass: true/false
    - check: "Mobile page speed < 3s on 4G"
      pass: true/false
    - check: "No Flash or unsupported plugins"
      pass: true/false
  
  mobile_score: "[X/10]"

Phase 6: HTTPS & Security

yaml

security_audit:
  https:
    enabled: true/false
    certificate_valid: true/false
    certificate_expiry: "[date]"
    mixed_content: "[none / warnings / errors]"
    http_to_https_redirect: "[301 / 302 / none]"
    hsts_header: "[present with max-age / missing]"
  
  security_headers:
    - header: "Strict-Transport-Security"
      present: true/false
      recommended: "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"
    - header: "Content-Security-Policy"
      present: true/false
      recommended: "[appropriate policy for site]"
    - header: "X-Content-Type-Options"
      present: true/false
      recommended: "nosniff"
    - header: "X-Frame-Options"
      present: true/false
      recommended: "SAMEORIGIN"
    - header: "Referrer-Policy"
      present: true/false
      recommended: "strict-origin-when-cross-origin"
    - header: "Permissions-Policy"
      present: true/false
      recommended: "camera=(), microphone=(), geolocation=()"
  
  security_score: "[X/10]"

HTTPS migration checklist (if not yet on HTTPS):

Obtain SSL certificate (Let's Encrypt = free)
Install on server / CDN
Update all internal links to HTTPS
301 redirect all HTTP URLs to HTTPS
Update canonical tags to HTTPS
Update sitemap URLs to HTTPS
Update Google Search Console property
Update robots.txt Sitemap directive
Check for mixed content (HTTP resources on HTTPS pages)
Enable HSTS header after confirming everything works

Phase 7: Structured Data / Schema Markup

7.1 Schema Audit

yaml

schema_audit:
  implementation_method: "[JSON-LD / Microdata / RDFa]"  # JSON-LD recommended
  
  pages_with_schema: "[X / total pages]"
  
  schemas_found:
    - type: "[Organization / LocalBusiness / Product / Article / FAQ / etc.]"
      url: "[sample URL]"
      valid: true/false
      errors: ["[list of validation errors]"]
      warnings: ["[list of warnings]"]
  
  missing_opportunities:
    - page_type: "[product / article / recipe / event / FAQ / how-to / local]"
      recommended_schema: "[schema type]"
      rich_result_eligible: "[yes — which type]"
      priority: "high/medium/low"

7.2 Schema Templates (JSON-LD)

Organization:

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "[Company Name]",
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "logo": "https://example.com/logo.png",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://twitter.com/example",
    "https://linkedin.com/company/example"
  ],
  "contactPoint": {
    "@type": "ContactPoint",
    "telephone": "+1-XXX-XXX-XXXX",
    "contactType": "customer service"
  }
}

Article:

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "[Title]",
  "author": {"@type": "Person", "name": "[Author]"},
  "datePublished": "2026-01-15",
  "dateModified": "2026-02-18",
  "image": "https://example.com/image.jpg",
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "[Publisher]",
    "logo": {"@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://example.com/logo.png"}
  }
}

Product:

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "[Product Name]",
  "image": "https://example.com/product.jpg",
  "description": "[Description]",
  "brand": {"@type": "Brand", "name": "[Brand]"},
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "29.99",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
    "url": "https://example.com/product"
  },
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.5",
    "reviewCount": "127"
  }
}

FAQ:

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "[Question 1]",
      "acceptedAnswer": {"@type": "Answer", "text": "[Answer 1]"}
    }
  ]
}

Rich result eligibility by schema type:

Schema	Rich Result	Impact
Product	Price, rating stars, availability	High CTR boost
FAQ	Expandable questions in SERP	More SERP real estate
HowTo	Step-by-step in SERP	Featured snippet potential
Article	Author, date, image	News/Discover eligibility
LocalBusiness	Knowledge panel, maps	Local pack ranking
Event	Date, location, ticket info	Event carousel
Recipe	Cook time, rating, calories	Recipe carousel
Video	Thumbnail, duration	Video carousel
BreadcrumbList	Breadcrumb trail in SERP	Better navigation display
Review	Star rating	Trust + CTR

Phase 8: URL Structure & Architecture

yaml

url_audit:
  structure_pattern: "[clean / parameter-heavy / mixed]"
  
  checklist:
    - rule: "Lowercase only (no mixed case)"
      pass: true/false
    - rule: "Hyphens as separators (not underscores)"
      pass: true/false
    - rule: "No special characters or spaces"
      pass: true/false
    - rule: "Descriptive and keyword-rich"
      pass: true/false
    - rule: "Short (< 75 characters ideal)"
      pass: true/false
    - rule: "Logical hierarchy (/category/subcategory/page)"
      pass: true/false
    - rule: "No session IDs or tracking parameters in indexed URLs"
      pass: true/false
    - rule: "Trailing slash consistent (pick one, redirect the other)"
      pass: true/false
    - rule: "No .html/.php extensions (clean URLs)"
      pass: true/false
  
  # Bad: /p?id=12345&cat=3&ref=home
  # Good: /shoes/running/nike-air-max
  
  internal_linking:
    orphan_pages: 0  # Pages with 0 internal links
    deep_pages: 0    # Pages >4 clicks from homepage
    broken_links: 0  # Internal 404s
    
    fix_priority:
      1: "Fix all broken internal links (404s)"
      2: "Link orphan pages from relevant content"
      3: "Flatten deep pages — add to navigation or hub pages"
      4: "Add contextual cross-links between related content"

Site architecture best practices:

Flat structure: every page reachable within 3 clicks from homepage
Hub & spoke: category pages link to all children; children link back
Breadcrumbs: implement on every page (with BreadcrumbList schema)
Pagination: use rel="next" / rel="prev" or infinite scroll with progressive enhancement
Faceted navigation: canonicalize or noindex filter combinations

Phase 9: International SEO

9.1 Hreflang Implementation

yaml

international_seo:
  approach: "[subdirectories /en/ / subdomains en. / ccTLDs .co.uk]"
  # Recommended: subdirectories (easiest to manage, inherits domain authority)
  
  hreflang_audit:
    implemented: true/false
    method: "[HTML link tags / HTTP headers / sitemap]"
    issues:
      - "Missing return links (A→B exists but B→A missing)"
      - "Wrong language/region codes"
      - "Missing x-default tag"
      - "Self-referencing hreflang missing"

Hreflang template:

html

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="https://example.com/en-us/page" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="https://example.com/en-gb/page" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="es" href="https://example.com/es/page" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/page" />

Rules:

Every page must reference ALL language versions including itself
Always include x-default (fallback for unmatched languages)
Use ISO 639-1 for language, ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 for region
Hreflang must be bidirectional (if A references B, B must reference A)
Canonical and hreflang should align — canonical should point to same-language version

9.2 International Targeting Checklist

Correct hreflang on all pages (bidirectional)
x-default specified
Content genuinely translated (not just auto-translated)
Local currency, date format, phone numbers
Geo-targeting set in Search Console (for ccTLDs/subdirectories)
Local server / CDN node in target country
Local backlinks from target region
Language-specific sitemap or sitemap section

Phase 10: Site Migration SEO Checklist

Use when changing domains, restructuring URLs, or redesigning:

yaml

migration_checklist:
  pre_migration:
    - "Crawl current site — full URL inventory"
    - "Export all current rankings and traffic data"
    - "Map every old URL to new URL (1:1 redirect map)"
    - "Backup robots.txt, sitemaps, .htaccess"
    - "Document all existing 301 redirects"
    - "Note top 100 pages by traffic — verify redirects"
    - "Test staging site (is it blocked from indexing?)"
    - "Verify new site has all schema markup"
    - "Check canonical tags on new site"
    - "Prepare new sitemap"
  
  migration_day:
    - "Implement all 301 redirects"
    - "Update robots.txt (unblock new site)"
    - "Submit new sitemap to Search Console"
    - "Update Google Search Console property if domain changed"
    - "Verify HTTPS redirect chain is clean"
    - "Test 50 random old URLs — confirm redirects work"
    - "Check for redirect chains or loops"
    - "Monitor server errors / 5xx in real-time"
  
  post_migration:
    week_1:
      - "Monitor Search Console for crawl errors daily"
      - "Check index coverage report"
      - "Verify organic traffic hasn't cratered"
      - "Fix any 404s appearing in crawl reports"
    month_1:
      - "Compare rankings: pre vs post migration"
      - "Check all structured data still validates"
      - "Verify internal links updated (no redirect-through links)"
      - "Monitor Core Web Vitals on new infrastructure"
    month_3:
      - "Full ranking comparison"
      - "Traffic recovery assessment (expect 80-100% recovery)"
      - "Clean up any remaining redirect chains"
  
  expected_traffic_impact:
    best_case: "2-4 weeks dip, full recovery"
    typical: "1-3 months for full recovery"
    worst_case: "6+ months if redirects missed — audit immediately"

Phase 11: Technical SEO Scoring System

Overall Technical Health Score (0-100)

yaml

scoring:
  crawlability:          # Weight: 20%
    robots_txt: "/5"
    sitemap: "/5"
    crawl_budget: "/5"
    internal_linking: "/5"
  
  indexability:           # Weight: 20%
    meta_robots: "/5"
    canonicals: "/5"
    redirects: "/5"
    duplicate_content: "/5"
  
  performance:            # Weight: 25%
    lcp: "/5"
    inp: "/5"
    cls: "/5"
    ttfb: "/5"
    page_weight: "/5"
  
  mobile:                 # Weight: 10%
    viewport: "/5"
    touch_targets: "/5"
    responsive: "/5"
    speed: "/5"
  
  security:               # Weight: 10%
    https: "/5"
    headers: "/5"
    certificate: "/5"
    mixed_content: "/5"
  
  structured_data:        # Weight: 10%
    implementation: "/5"
    validation: "/5"
    coverage: "/5"
    rich_results: "/5"
  
  url_architecture:       # Weight: 5%
    structure: "/5"
    depth: "/5"
    broken_links: "/5"

  total: "/100"
  grade: "[A (90+) / B (75-89) / C (60-74) / D (40-59) / F (<40)]"

Priority Fix Matrix

After scoring, generate a prioritized action plan:

yaml

action_plan:
  p0_critical:  # Fix this week — directly blocking ranking
    - issue: "[description]"
      impact: "high"
      effort: "[low/medium/high]"
      fix: "[specific steps]"
  
  p1_important:  # Fix this month — significant ranking impact
    - issue: "[description]"
      impact: "medium-high"
      effort: "[low/medium/high]"
      fix: "[specific steps]"
  
  p2_optimization:  # Fix this quarter — incremental improvement
    - issue: "[description]"
      impact: "medium"
      effort: "[low/medium/high]"
      fix: "[specific steps]"
  
  p3_nice_to_have:  # Backlog — minimal direct ranking impact
    - issue: "[description]"
      fix: "[specific steps]"

Priority rules:

Anything blocking indexing = P0 always
Core Web Vitals failing = P1 minimum
Security issues = P0 if no HTTPS, P1 for headers
Schema missing = P2 unless competitor has rich results (then P1)
URL structure issues = P2 unless causing duplicate content

Phase 12: Ongoing Monitoring

Weekly Technical SEO Checklist

yaml

weekly_check:
  search_console:
    - "Index coverage: any new errors?"
    - "Core Web Vitals: any regressions?"
    - "Manual actions: any penalties?"
    - "Security issues: any warnings?"
  
  site_health:
    - "Spot-check 5 random pages load correctly"
    - "Check for new 404 errors"
    - "Verify sitemap is current and accessible"
    - "Monitor HTTPS certificate expiry"
  
  tracking:
    - "Organic traffic trend (vs. last week, vs. last year)"
    - "Crawl stats in Search Console"
    - "Any new structured data errors"

Monthly Deep Dive

yaml

monthly_review:
  - "Full crawl of site — compare page count to last month"
  - "Core Web Vitals lab + field data comparison"
  - "New broken links check"
  - "Redirect chain audit"
  - "Schema markup validation"
  - "Competitor technical comparison (1 competitor)"
  - "Update sitemap if new pages added"
  - "Review Search Console performance for anomalies"

Phase 13: Advanced Technical SEO

13.1 JavaScript SEO

yaml

javascript_seo:
  rendering: "[CSR / SSR / SSG / ISR / hybrid]"
  
  checklist:
    - "Critical content visible in initial HTML (view-source test)"
    - "Googlebot can render JS — check with URL Inspection tool"
    - "No content behind user interaction (click to load)"
    - "Internal links are `<a href>` tags (not JS click handlers)"
    - "Lazy-loaded content uses Intersection Observer (not scroll events)"
    - "Dynamic rendering for critical pages if needed"
    - "Meta tags in initial HTML (not injected by JS)"
    - "Canonical tags in initial HTML"
  
  framework_specific:
    nextjs: "Use SSG/ISR for content pages, SSR for dynamic"
    react_spa: "Consider prerender.io or dynamic rendering"
    angular: "Angular Universal for SSR"
    vue: "Nuxt.js for SSR/SSG"

13.2 Log File Analysis

yaml

log_analysis:
  what_to_look_for:
    - "Googlebot crawl frequency and pattern"
    - "Pages crawled vs not crawled"
    - "Crawl of non-canonical or low-value pages (waste)"
    - "Server errors returned to Googlebot"
    - "Response time for bot requests vs users"
    - "Bot crawl of resources (CSS/JS/images)"
  
  healthy_signals:
    - "Googlebot visits important pages frequently"
    - "New content crawled within 24-48h"
    - "Low error rate (<1% of requests)"
    - "Response time <500ms for bot requests"
  
  warning_signals:
    - "Googlebot stuck on parameter URLs"
    - "High 5xx error rate for bot"
    - "Important pages not crawled in 30+ days"
    - "Crawl rate declining over time"

13.3 Edge SEO (CDN-Level Optimizations)

Optimization	Implementation	Impact
Inject hreflang at edge	Cloudflare Workers / Lambda@Edge	Faster international SEO
Add schema markup	Edge injection for legacy CMS	Schema without code changes
Redirect management	CDN rules	Faster redirects, less server load
A/B test SEO changes	Edge-based split testing	Test title tags, meta descriptions
Pre-render for bots	Detect UA, serve cached HTML	Fix JS rendering issues

Phase 14: Common Technical SEO Mistakes

#	Mistake	Why It Matters	Fix
1	Blocking staging site from indexing, forgetting to unblock at launch	Zero pages indexed	Check robots.txt + meta robots at launch
2	Using 302 instead of 301 for permanent redirects	Link equity not passed	Switch to 301
3	Multiple versions of homepage indexed (www/non-www, HTTP/HTTPS, trailing slash)	Diluted authority	Pick one canonical, redirect all others
4	Orphan pages with no internal links	Never found by crawlers	Add to navigation or contextual links
5	Sitemap includes noindex pages	Conflicting signals	Filter sitemap to indexable pages only
6	Missing alt text on images	Accessibility + image SEO loss	Add descriptive alt text to all images
7	Not monitoring Core Web Vitals after deploy	Performance regressions	Set up CrUX monitoring + alerts
8	Redirect chains (A→B→C→D)	Slow + link equity loss	Flatten to single hop
9	Large unoptimized images	Slow LCP, page weight	WebP/AVIF + responsive srcset
10	No HTTPS or mixed content	Trust signal lost, browser warnings	Full HTTPS migration

Edge Cases

E-commerce (1000s of product pages)

Faceted navigation: canonical to base category, noindex filter combos
Out-of-stock pages: keep page, show "out of stock" (don't 404)
Pagination: use rel=canonical to collection page or implement load-more

Single Page Applications (SPAs)

Pre-rendering or SSR is mandatory for SEO
Check that <a href> tags exist in HTML (not just JS routing)
Test with JavaScript disabled — is critical content visible?

Large sites (100K+ pages)

Sitemap index with multiple child sitemaps
Crawl budget optimization is critical
Consider dynamic XML sitemaps that auto-update
Log file analysis to understand actual crawl behavior

WordPress specific

Install Yoast/RankMath for technical SEO basics
Check theme isn't injecting bad schema
Minimize plugins (each adds JS/CSS weight)
Use object caching (Redis) + page caching (WP Super Cache/W3 Total Cache)

After a Google algorithm update

Don't panic — wait 2 weeks for volatility to settle
Compare affected pages vs unaffected — find the pattern
Check Search Console for manual actions
Focus on content quality and E-E-A-T, not just technical fixes

Natural Language Commands

text

"Run a technical SEO audit for [URL]"
"Check Core Web Vitals for [URL]"
"Audit my robots.txt and sitemap"
"Find indexing issues on my site"
"Check structured data / schema markup"
"Generate schema markup for [page type]"
"Pre-migration SEO checklist for [old] → [new]"
"Check security headers for [URL]"
"Find broken links and redirect chains"
"International SEO audit for [URL]"
"Score my site's technical SEO health"
"What's causing my slow page speed?"

Technical SEO Mastery

Install

Technical SEO Mastery

When to Use

Phase 1: Quick Health Check (5-Minute Triage)

Phase 2: Crawlability Audit

2.1 Robots.txt Analysis

2.2 XML Sitemap Audit

2.3 Crawl Budget Optimization

Phase 3: Indexability Audit

3.1 Index Status Check

3.2 Common Indexing Blockers

3.3 Redirect Audit

Phase 4: Core Web Vitals & Performance

4.1 Core Web Vitals Targets

4.2 LCP Fix Playbook

4.3 INP Fix Playbook

4.4 CLS Fix Playbook

4.5 Performance Budget

Phase 5: Mobile Optimization

Phase 6: HTTPS & Security

Phase 7: Structured Data / Schema Markup

7.1 Schema Audit

7.2 Schema Templates (JSON-LD)

Phase 8: URL Structure & Architecture

Phase 9: International SEO

9.1 Hreflang Implementation

9.2 International Targeting Checklist

Phase 10: Site Migration SEO Checklist

Phase 11: Technical SEO Scoring System

Overall Technical Health Score (0-100)

Priority Fix Matrix

Phase 12: Ongoing Monitoring

Weekly Technical SEO Checklist

Monthly Deep Dive

Phase 13: Advanced Technical SEO

13.1 JavaScript SEO

13.2 Log File Analysis

13.3 Edge SEO (CDN-Level Optimizations)

Phase 14: Common Technical SEO Mistakes

Edge Cases

E-commerce (1000s of product pages)

Single Page Applications (SPAs)

Large sites (100K+ pages)

WordPress specific

After a Google algorithm update

Natural Language Commands

Related skills