Seo

SEO — Master Orchestrator (24 Sub-Skills)

[PROTOCOL]: Update this header on changes

Comprehensive SEO analysis across all industries (SaaS, local services, e-commerce, publishers, agencies). Orchestrates 24 specialized sub-skills organized in 9 categories, plus 6 parallel subagents for audits.

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Quick Reference

1. Audit

2. Technical SEO

3. Links

4. Content

5. Planning

6. Programmatic SEO

7. Monitoring

8. Local SEO

9. Data

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Command → Skill Routing

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Orchestration Logic

MANDATORY: /seo audit Execution Order

CRITICAL: When user says "audit", "full audit", "SEO audit", or `/seo audit`, you MUST follow this exact sequence. Do NOT skip Step 1. Do NOT jump directly to sub-skills.

Step 1 — Squirrelscan (BLOCKING — run this BEFORE anything else):

which squirrelscan && squirrelscan audit <url> --format llm

• If installed: run it FIRST, wait for results, then proceed to Step 2
• If NOT installed: tell user npm i -g squirrelscan to get 230+ rule full-site scan, then proceed to Step 2
• This step provides the global health score (0-100) that frames the entire audit

Step 2 — Industry Detection: Detect business type from homepage (SaaS, local, ecommerce, publisher, agency, other)

Step 3 — Local Business Check: If local business detected → also trigger 30x-seo-local for GBP/Maps/Ask Maps audit

Step 4 — Spawn Sub-Skill Agents (parallel): technical, content, schema, sitemap, performance, visual

Step 5 — Unified Report: Combine squirrelscan score + sub-skill results into SEO Health Score (0-100)

Step 6 — Action Plan: Prioritized: Critical → High → Medium → Low

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Industry Detection

Detect business type from homepage signals:

• SaaS: pricing page, /features, /integrations, /docs, "free trial", "sign up"
• Local Service: phone number, address, service area, "serving [city]", Google Maps embed
• E-commerce: /products, /collections, /cart, "add to cart", product schema
• Publisher: /blog, /articles, /topics, article schema, author pages, publication dates
• Agency: /case-studies, /portfolio, /industries, "our work", client logos

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Quality Gates

Hard rules:

• WARNING at 30+ location pages (enforce 60%+ unique content)
• HARD STOP at 50+ location pages (require user justification)
• Never recommend HowTo schema (deprecated Sept 2023)
• FAQ schema only for government and healthcare sites
• All Core Web Vitals references use INP, never FID

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Scoring Methodology

SEO Health Score (0-100)

Priority Levels

• Critical: Blocks indexing or causes penalties (immediate fix)
• High: Significantly impacts rankings (fix within 1 week)
• Medium: Optimization opportunity (fix within 1 month)
• Low: Nice to have (backlog)

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Sub-Skills (24 Total, 9 Categories)

1. Audit (1 skill + CLI)

2. Technical SEO (5 skills)

3. Links (3 skills)

4. Content (6 skills)

5. Planning (2 skills)

6. Programmatic SEO (2 skills)

7. Monitoring (3 skills)

8. Local SEO (1 skill)

9. Data (1 skill)

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Dependencies

19 skills work without any API. 4 skills require DataForSEO. 1 skill requires Google Search Console.

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Subagents

For parallel analysis during audits:

• seo-technical — Crawlability, indexability, security, CWV
• seo-content — E-E-A-T, readability, thin content
• seo-schema — Detection, validation, generation
• seo-sitemap — Structure, coverage, quality gates
• seo-performance — Core Web Vitals measurement
• seo-visual — Screenshots, mobile testing, above-fold

<!-- Updated: 2026-02-07 -->

Core Web Vitals Thresholds (February 2026)

Current Metrics

Key Facts

• INP replaced FID (First Input Delay) on March 12, 2024. FID was fully removed from all Chrome tools (CrUX API, PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse) on September 9, 2024. INP is the sole interactivity metric.
• Evaluation uses the 75th percentile of real user data (field data from CrUX).
• Google assesses at the page level and the origin level.
• Core Web Vitals are a tiebreaker ranking signal — they matter most when content quality is similar between competitors.
• Thresholds unchanged since original definitions — ignore claims of "tightened thresholds" from SEO blogs.
• December 2025 core update appeared to weight mobile CWV more heavily.
• As of October 2025: 57.1% desktop sites and 49.7% mobile sites pass all three CWV.

LCP Subparts (February 2025 CrUX Addition)

LCP can now be broken into diagnostic subparts:

Total LCP = TTFB + Resource Load Delay + Resource Load Time + Element Render Delay

Use this breakdown to identify which phase is causing LCP issues.

Soft Navigations API (Experimental)

Chrome 139+ Origin Trial (July 2025) — First step toward measuring CWV in SPAs.

• Addresses the long-standing SPA measurement blind spot
• Currently experimental, no ranking impact yet
• Detects "soft navigations" (URL changes without full page load)
• May affect future SPA CWV measurement

Detection: Check for SPA frameworks (React, Vue, Angular, Svelte) and warn about current CWV measurement limitations.

Measurement Sources

Field Data (Real Users)

• Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX)
• PageSpeed Insights (uses CrUX data)
• Search Console Core Web Vitals report

Lab Data (Simulated)

• Lighthouse
• WebPageTest
• Chrome DevTools

Field data is what Google uses for ranking. Lab data is useful for debugging.

Common Bottlenecks

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)

• Unoptimized hero images (compress, use WebP/AVIF, add preload)
• Render-blocking CSS/JS (defer, async, critical CSS inlining)
• Slow server response (TTFB >200ms — use edge CDN, caching)
• Third-party script blocking (defer analytics, chat widgets)
• Web font loading delay (use font-display: swap + preload)

INP (Interaction to Next Paint)

• Long JavaScript tasks on main thread (break into smaller tasks <50ms)
• Heavy event handlers (debounce, use requestAnimationFrame)
• Excessive DOM size (>1,500 elements is concerning)
• Third-party scripts hijacking main thread
• Synchronous XHR or localStorage operations
• Layout thrashing (multiple forced reflows)

CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)

• Images/iframes without width/height dimensions
• Dynamically injected content above existing content
• Web fonts causing layout shift (use font-display: swap + preload)
• Ads/embeds without reserved space
• Late-loading content pushing down the page

Optimization Priority

1. LCP — Most impactful for perceived performance 2. CLS — Most common issue affecting user experience 3. INP — Matters most for interactive applications

Tools

# PageSpeed Insights API
curl "https://www.googleapis.com/pagespeedonline/v5/runPagespeed?url=URL&key=API_KEY"

# Lighthouse CLI
npx lighthouse URL --output json --output-path report.json

Performance Tooling Updates (2025)

• Lighthouse 13.0 (October 2025): Major audit restructuring with reorganized performance categories and updated scoring weights. Lighthouse is a lab tool (simulated conditions) — always cross-reference with CrUX field data for real-world performance.
• CrUX Vis replaced the CrUX Dashboard (November 2025). The old Looker Studio dashboard was deprecated. Use CrUX Vis or the CrUX API directly.
• LCP subparts added to CrUX (February 2025): Time to First Byte (TTFB), resource load delay, resource load time, and element render delay are now available as sub-components of LCP in CrUX data.
• Google Search Console 2025 features (December 2025): AI-powered configuration for automated analysis. Branded vs. non-branded queries filter. Hourly data available in API. Custom chart annotations. Social channels tracking.

Mobile-first indexing is 100% complete as of July 5, 2024. Google now crawls and indexes ALL websites exclusively with the mobile Googlebot user-agent. Ensure your mobile version contains all critical content, structured data, and meta tags.

E-E-A-T Evaluation Framework

Updated per Google Quality Rater Guidelines — September 11, 2025

Plus December 2025 Core Update Implications

Overview

E-E-A-T = Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness

Trustworthiness is the most important factor. It is assessed based on the other three signals plus direct trust indicators.

CRITICAL: December 2025 Core Update

E-E-A-T now applies to ALL competitive queries, not just YMYL.

The December 2025 core update was described as a "watershed moment" that:

• Extended E-E-A-T evaluation to virtually all competitive queries
• Made author attribution standards tighter across all categories
• Penalized anonymous or generic authorship even for non-YMYL content
• Significantly improved AI content quality detection

Impact by industry:

Key takeaway: Even entertainment and lifestyle content now requires demonstrated expertise. Generic content no longer ranks.

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)

Topics requiring highest E-E-A-T standards (but E-E-A-T now matters everywhere):

• Health and safety
• Financial advice and transactions
• Legal information
• News and current events
• Elections and civic trust (added Sept 2025)
• Democratic processes (added Sept 2025)
• Groups of people (potential for harm)

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Experience (Weight: 20%)

First-hand knowledge and personal involvement with the topic.

Signals to Check

• [ ] Author has demonstrable first-hand experience with the topic
• [ ] Content includes original photos, screenshots, or data
• [ ] Case studies or real-world examples with specific details
• [ ] Personal process documentation or methodology descriptions
• [ ] Before/after results or outcome data
• [ ] Specific anecdotes that couldn't be fabricated

Scoring

• Strong: Multiple first-hand experience signals, original content
• Moderate: Some personal experience evident
• Weak: Generic information, no personal touch
• None: Clearly AI-generated or scraped content

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Expertise (Weight: 25%)

Formal qualifications, training, and demonstrated knowledge.

Signals to Check

• [ ] Author credentials relevant to topic (bio, certifications)
• [ ] Technical accuracy and depth appropriate for audience
• [ ] Claims supported by evidence or sources
• [ ] Specialized vocabulary used correctly
• [ ] Up-to-date with current developments in the field
• [ ] Byline with author name and credentials visible

Scoring

• Strong: Verified credentials, deep technical accuracy
• Moderate: Demonstrable knowledge, some credentials
• Weak: Surface-level information, no credentials
• None: Factual errors, misinformation

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Authoritativeness (Weight: 25%)

Recognition by others as a go-to source.

Signals to Check

• [ ] Site recognized as authority in its niche
• [ ] Author recognized as expert (external citations, speaking, publications)
• [ ] Content cited by other authoritative sources
• [ ] Industry awards, certifications, or accreditations
• [ ] Consistent publication history in the topic area
• [ ] Featured in reputable media outlets
• [ ] Professional affiliations

Scoring

• Strong: Widely recognized authority, cited by others
• Moderate: Growing recognition, some external validation
• Weak: No external recognition
• None: Negative reputation, known for misinformation

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Trustworthiness (Weight: 30%)

The most important factor — overall reliability and transparency.

Signals to Check

• [ ] Clear contact information (physical address, phone, email)
• [ ] Privacy policy and terms of service
• [ ] HTTPS with valid certificate
• [ ] Transparent about who creates content and why
• [ ] Customer reviews and testimonials
• [ ] Corrections and update history visible
• [ ] No deceptive practices (hidden ads, clickbait)
• [ ] Secure payment processing (for e-commerce)
• [ ] Return/refund policy visible

Scoring

• Strong: Full transparency, verified business, positive reputation
• Moderate: Good trust signals, minor gaps
• Weak: Missing key trust signals
• None: Deceptive practices, scam indicators

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September 2025 QRG Updates

AI Content Assessment

Raters now formally evaluate whether content appears AI-generated:

• AI content is acceptable if it demonstrates genuine E-E-A-T
• Low-quality AI content (generic, no unique value) is penalized
• The presence of AI-generated content is not inherently penalizing
• What matters: does the content provide unique value regardless of creation method?

Markers of Low-Quality AI Content

• Generic phrasing without specificity
• Lack of original insight or unique perspective
• No first-hand experience signals
• Factual inaccuracies
• Repetitive structure across multiple pages
• No author attribution or expertise signals

New Spam Categories

• Expired domain abuse: Buying expired domains for their backlinks
• Site reputation abuse: Using reputable site to host low-quality content
• Scaled content abuse: Mass-producing content without value

AI Overview Evaluation

Raters assess quality of AI-generated summaries in search results.

RSL 1.0 (Really Simple Licensing)

New machine-readable content licensing standard (December 2025) for AI training:

• Backed by: Reddit, Yahoo, Medium, Quora, Cloudflare, Akamai, Creative Commons
• Allows publishers to specify AI licensing terms
• Augments robots.txt for AI-specific permissions

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Experience Signals Are Critical Differentiators

The December 2025 update elevated the "Experience" dimension as a key differentiator:

• First-person narrative ("I tested this...", "In my experience...")
• Original photos and screenshots (not stock images)
• Specific examples with verifiable details
• Process documentation showing actual work done

Why: AI can generate expertise-sounding content but cannot fabricate genuine experience.

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Overall Scoring Guide

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Improvement Recommendations by Score

0-29 (Critical)

1. Add contact information and about page 2. Establish author identity with credentials 3. Implement HTTPS 4. Remove deceptive elements

30-49 (Major)

1. Add author bios with credentials 2. Include first-hand experience content 3. Get external citations/mentions 4. Add customer testimonials

50-69 (Moderate)

1. Deepen content with original research 2. Build topical authority through content clusters 3. Pursue industry recognition 4. Document processes and methodologies

70-89 (Minor)

1. Maintain freshness with regular updates 2. Expand author presence across platforms 3. Pursue speaking/publication opportunities 4. Add video/multimedia demonstrating expertise

90-100 (Maintenance)

1. Continue publishing high-quality content 2. Monitor and respond to reputation issues 3. Keep credentials and certifications current

Content Quality Gates

Minimum Word Counts by Page Type

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Location Page Thresholds

Warning Level (30+ pages)

• ⚠️ WARNING at 30+ location pages
• Enforce 60%+ unique content per page
• Content must include:
• Unique local information (landmarks, neighborhoods)
• Location-specific services or offerings
• Local team or staff information
• Genuine customer testimonials from that area

Hard Stop (50+ pages)

• 🛑 HARD STOP at 50+ location pages
• Require explicit user justification
• Must demonstrate:
• Legitimate business presence in each location
• Unique content strategy for each page
• Local signals (Google Business Profile, local reviews)

Why This Matters

Google's doorway page algorithm penalizes programmatic location pages with thin/duplicate content. Signs of doorway pages:

• Only city/state name changed between pages
• No unique local information
• No local business signals
• Keyword-stuffed URLs

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Safe vs. Risky Programmatic Pages

Safe at Scale ✅

Penalty Risk ❌

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Title Tag Requirements

Good Examples

• "Emergency Plumbing Services in Austin | ABC Plumbing"
• "How to Fix a Leaky Faucet: Step-by-Step Guide"
• "Enterprise SEO Software | Comprehensive Platform"

Bad Examples

• "Home" (too short, not descriptive)
• "Best Plumbing Services for All Your Plumbing Needs in Austin Texas and Surrounding Areas" (too long)
• "ABC Plumbing - Plumbing - Plumber - Plumbing Services" (keyword stuffing)

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Meta Description Requirements

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Image Alt Text Requirements

Good Examples

• "Professional plumber repairing kitchen sink faucet"
• "Red 2024 Toyota Camry sedan front view"
• "Team meeting in modern office conference room"

Bad Examples

• "image.jpg" (filename, not description)
• "plumber plumbing plumber services" (keyword stuffing)
• "Click here" (not descriptive)

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Internal Linking Guidelines

Anchor Text Rules

• Use descriptive anchor text (not "click here")
• Vary anchor text (don't always use exact match keywords)
• Link to relevant, related content
• Ensure no orphan pages (every page linked from at least one other page)

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Content Freshness Signals

Required Elements

• Publication date visible (for articles/blogs)
• Last updated date (if significantly revised)
• Changelog for major updates (optional but good)

<!-- Updated: 2026-02-07 -->

Schema.org Types — Status & Recommendations (February 2026)

Schema.org Version: 29.4 (December 8, 2025)

Format Preference

Always use JSON-LD (<script type="application/ld+json">). Google's documentation explicitly recommends JSON-LD over Microdata and RDFa.

AI Search Note: Content with proper schema has ~2.5× higher chance of appearing in AI-generated answers (confirmed by Google and Microsoft, March 2025).

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Active — Recommend freely

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Restricted — Only for specific site types

Google severely limited FAQ rich results. Only authoritative sources (government, health organizations) now receive FAQ rich results. Do NOT recommend FAQPage schema for commercial sites.

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Deprecated — Never recommend

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Recent Additions (2024-2026)

E-commerce Requirements (Updated)

Note: Content API for Shopping sunsets August 18, 2026. Migrate to Merchant API.

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Validation Checklist

For any schema block, verify:

1. ✅ @context is "https://schema.org" (not http) 2. ✅ @type is a valid, non-deprecated type 3. ✅ All required properties are present 4. ✅ Property values match expected data types 5. ✅ No placeholder text (e.g., "[Business Name]") 6. ✅ URLs are absolute, not relative 7. ✅ Dates are in ISO 8601 format 8. ✅ Images have valid URLs

Testing Tools

• Google Rich Results Test
• Schema.org Validator