SEO

SEO optimization

Search engine optimization based on Lighthouse SEO audits and Google Search guidelines. Focus on technical SEO, on-page optimization, and structured data.

Evidence-led audit workflow

When a rendered page is available:

1. Run live Lighthouse SEO and Agentic Browsing checks when that capability is available; with Chrome DevTools MCP, use lighthouse_audit. Use the results to localize rendered-page failures.
2. Inspect signals Lighthouse cannot establish on its own: response headers, redirects, robots.txt, sitemap coverage, canonical consistency across page templates, structured-data eligibility, and Search Console evidence when the user provides access.
3. Separate technical crawl/index findings from content quality and authority. Do not invent ranking-factor weights or promise ranking changes.
4. Fix the source and re-run the same checks. For indexation or ranking outcomes, report that search-engine validation remains pending.

If live tools are unavailable, use category-specific Lighthouse CLI output plus direct source and HTTP inspection. A Lighthouse SEO score covers a useful subset of technical checks; it is not a prediction of rankings.

Technical SEO

Crawlability

robots.txt:

# /robots.txt
User-agent: *
Allow: /

# Block admin/private areas
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /private/

# Don't block resources needed for rendering
# ❌ Disallow: /static/

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

Meta robots:

<!-- Default: indexable, followable -->
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow">

<!-- Noindex specific pages -->
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">

<!-- Indexable but don't follow links -->
<meta name="robots" content="index, nofollow">

<!-- Control snippets -->
<meta name="robots" content="max-snippet:150, max-image-preview:large">

Canonical URLs:

<!-- Prevent duplicate content issues -->
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/page">

<!-- Self-referencing canonical (recommended) -->
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/current-page">

<!-- For paginated content -->
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/products">
<!-- Or use rel="prev" / rel="next" for explicit pagination -->

XML sitemap

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-15</lastmod>
    <changefreq>daily</changefreq>
    <priority>1.0</priority>
  </url>
  <url>
    <loc>https://example.com/products</loc>
    <lastmod>2024-01-14</lastmod>
    <changefreq>weekly</changefreq>
    <priority>0.8</priority>
  </url>
</urlset>

Sitemap best practices:

• Maximum 50,000 URLs or 50MB per sitemap
• Use sitemap index for larger sites
• Include only canonical, indexable URLs
• Update lastmod when content changes
• Submit to Google Search Console

URL structure

✅ Good URLs:
https://example.com/products/blue-widget
https://example.com/blog/how-to-use-widgets

❌ Poor URLs:
https://example.com/p?id=12345
https://example.com/products/item/category/subcategory/blue-widget-2024-sale-discount

URL guidelines:

• Use hyphens, not underscores
• Lowercase only
• Keep short (< 75 characters)
• Include target keywords naturally
• Avoid parameters when possible
• Use HTTPS always

HTTPS & security

<!-- Ensure all resources use HTTPS -->
<img src="https://example.com/image.jpg">

<!-- Not: -->
<img src="http://example.com/image.jpg">

Security headers for SEO trust signals:

Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
X-Frame-Options: DENY

On-page SEO

Title tags

<!-- ❌ Missing or generic -->
<title>Page</title>
<title>Home</title>

<!-- ✅ Descriptive with primary keyword -->
<title>Blue Widgets for Sale | Premium Quality | Example Store</title>

Title tag guidelines:

• Use 50–60 characters only as a rough linting proxy, not a pass/fail limit. Google truncates title links to fit the rendered device width, so preview width when tooling supports it.
• Describe the page topic naturally near the beginning
• Unique for every page
• Add the brand when it helps users distinguish the result
• Action-oriented when appropriate

Treat title-link rewriting separately from truncation. Google may build a different title link from the visible page title, headings, anchor text, and other sources even when the <title> is short; investigate accuracy and consistency rather than shortening it automatically. See Google's title-link guidance.

Meta descriptions

<!-- ❌ Missing or duplicate -->
<meta name="description" content="">

<!-- ✅ Compelling and unique -->
<meta name="description" content="Shop premium blue widgets with free shipping. 30-day returns. Rated 4.9/5 by 10,000+ customers. Order today and save 20%.">

Meta description guidelines:

• Use roughly 150–160 characters only as a linting proxy. Snippets are query- and device-dependent, and Google may select page content instead of the meta description.
• Use the page topic naturally
• Compelling call-to-action
• Unique for every page
• Matches page content

Heading structure

<!-- ❌ Poor structure -->
<h2>Welcome to Our Store</h2>
<h4>Products</h4>
<h1>Contact Us</h1>

<!-- ✅ Proper hierarchy -->
<h1>Blue Widgets - Premium Quality</h1>
  <h2>Product Features</h2>
    <h3>Durability</h3>
    <h3>Design</h3>
  <h2>Customer Reviews</h2>
  <h2>Pricing</h2>

Heading guidelines:

• Make the primary page heading descriptive and the hierarchy unambiguous; do not fail a page solely because valid HTML contains more than one <h1>
• Logical hierarchy (don't skip levels)
• Include keywords naturally
• Descriptive, not generic

Image SEO

<!-- ❌ Poor image SEO -->
<img src="IMG_12345.jpg">

<!-- ✅ Optimized image -->
<img src="blue-widget-product-photo.webp"
     alt="Blue widget with chrome finish, side view showing control panel"
     width="800"
     height="600"
     loading="lazy">

Image guidelines:

• Descriptive filenames with keywords
• Alt text describes the image content
• Compressed and properly sized
• WebP/AVIF with fallbacks
• Lazy load below-fold images

Internal linking

<!-- ❌ Non-descriptive -->
<a href="/products">Click here</a>
<a href="/widgets">Read more</a>

<!-- ✅ Descriptive anchor text -->
<a href="/products/blue-widgets">Browse our blue widget collection</a>
<a href="/guides/widget-maintenance">Learn how to maintain your widgets</a>

Linking guidelines:

• Descriptive anchor text with keywords
• Link to relevant internal pages
• Reasonable number of links per page
• Fix broken links promptly
• Use breadcrumbs for hierarchy

Structured data (JSON-LD)

Read the structured data reference when the user requests schema markup or an audit surfaces a structured-data issue. It contains Organization, Article, Product, FAQ, and Breadcrumb examples plus validation links.

• Describe visible, accurate content. Do not add a type or claim solely to obtain a rich result.
• Use the most specific applicable type. Keep identifiers and absolute URLs stable across renders.