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home / skills / phrazzld / claude-config / seo-baseline

seo-baseline skill

/skills/seo-baseline

This skill performs a quick SEO baseline check for a URL, ensuring title, description, OG image, sitemap, and robots.txt basics.

npx playbooks add skill phrazzld/claude-config --skill seo-baseline

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

Files (2)
SKILL.md
5.5 KB
---
name: seo-baseline
description: |
  Quick SEO checklist for any URL. Essential basics in 15 minutes.
  Lighter than full /seo-audit - just the must-haves.

  Auto-invoke when: shipping new product, reviewing landing page,
  or user mentions SEO basics.
argument-hint: "[url]"
effort: medium
---

# /seo-baseline

Essential SEO in 15 minutes. No fluff.

## What This Does

Checks the absolute basics that every page needs:
1. Title tag (exists, good length, keyword)
2. Meta description (exists, compelling, right length)
3. OG image (exists, right size)
4. Sitemap (exists, accessible)
5. robots.txt (allows indexing)

That's it. Not a full audit. Just the table stakes.

## Process

### 1. Fetch Page & Check Meta Tags

Use browser automation or curl to fetch the page:

```bash
curl -s "$URL" | head -200
```

Or with browser tools:
```
mcp__claude-in-chrome__navigate to URL
mcp__claude-in-chrome__javascript_tool to extract meta tags
```

**Check Title Tag:**
```javascript
document.querySelector('title')?.textContent
```
- [ ] Exists
- [ ] 50-60 characters
- [ ] Contains primary keyword
- [ ] Unique (not generic like "Home")

**Check Meta Description:**
```javascript
document.querySelector('meta[name="description"]')?.content
```
- [ ] Exists
- [ ] 150-160 characters
- [ ] Compelling (would you click?)
- [ ] Contains primary keyword

**Check OG Tags:**
```javascript
({
  title: document.querySelector('meta[property="og:title"]')?.content,
  description: document.querySelector('meta[property="og:description"]')?.content,
  image: document.querySelector('meta[property="og:image"]')?.content,
})
```
- [ ] og:title exists
- [ ] og:description exists
- [ ] og:image exists (1200x630px recommended)

### 2. Check Sitemap

```bash
curl -s "${DOMAIN}/sitemap.xml" | head -20
```

- [ ] Sitemap exists at /sitemap.xml
- [ ] Returns valid XML
- [ ] Contains page URLs

If missing, note: "Add sitemap generation to build process"

### 3. Check robots.txt

```bash
curl -s "${DOMAIN}/robots.txt"
```

- [ ] robots.txt exists
- [ ] Does NOT block important pages
- [ ] Points to sitemap

Good robots.txt:
```
User-agent: *
Allow: /

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

Bad robots.txt:
```
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
```

### 4. Check Google Search Console

Prompt user:
```
Is this site added to Google Search Console?

If not:
1. Go to https://search.google.com/search-console
2. Add property: [domain]
3. Verify ownership (DNS or HTML file)
4. Submit sitemap

This enables Google to find and index your pages.
```

## Output Format

```
SEO BASELINE CHECK: volume.app
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════

TITLE TAG                                    ✅ PASS
  "Volume - Track Your Lifts"
  52 characters (good)
  Contains keyword "track lifts"

META DESCRIPTION                             ✅ PASS
  "Simple strength training tracker..."
  156 characters (good)
  Compelling and keyword-rich

OG IMAGE                                     ⚠️ FIX
  Missing og:image tag
  → Add: <meta property="og:image" content="https://volume.app/og.png"/>
  → Create 1200x630px image

SITEMAP                                      ✅ PASS
  Found at /sitemap.xml
  Contains 12 URLs

ROBOTS.TXT                                   ✅ PASS
  Allows all crawlers
  References sitemap

GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE                        ❓ CHECK
  Verify site is added and sitemap submitted

═══════════════════════════════════════════════════
SCORE: 4/5 checks passed

ACTION ITEMS:
1. Create OG image (1200x630px) with product screenshot
2. Add og:image meta tag to layout
3. Verify Google Search Console setup

Time to fix: ~10 minutes
```

## Quick Fixes

### Missing OG Image

Generate with Gemini image generation or screenshot:
```bash
# Option 1: Use existing screenshot
cp screenshot.png public/og.png

# Option 2: Generate with skill
~/.claude/skills/gemini-imagegen/scripts/generate_image.py \
  "Product screenshot showing [app name] dashboard, clean modern design" \
  public/og.png --size 1200x630
```

Add to `<head>`:
```html
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/og.png" />
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200" />
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630" />
```

### Missing/Bad Title

Good title formula:
```
[Primary Keyword] - [Brand] | [Benefit]
```

Examples:
- "Strength Training Tracker - Volume | See Your Gains"
- "Word Puzzle Game - Crondle | Daily Brain Training"

### Missing Meta Description

Good description formula:
```
[What it does] + [Key benefit] + [Call to action or differentiator]
```

Example:
"Track your lifts and see your strength progress over time. Simple, focused, no-nonsense. Start your free workout log today."

### Missing Sitemap

For Next.js, add to `next.config.js`:
```javascript
// next-sitemap.config.js
module.exports = {
  siteUrl: 'https://example.com',
  generateRobotsTxt: true,
}
```

Then: `pnpm add next-sitemap && pnpm next-sitemap`

## vs /seo-audit

| | /seo-baseline | /seo-audit |
|---|---|---|
| Time | 15 min | 1+ hour |
| Scope | 5 essentials | Full technical SEO |
| When | New product launch | Established site optimization |
| Depth | Surface check | Deep crawl analysis |

Use `/seo-baseline` for new MVPs.
Use `/seo-audit` when you're ready to optimize.

## Related Skills

- `/seo-audit` - Full SEO audit
- `/programmatic-seo` - Pages at scale
- `/announce` - Uses good SEO for launch posts

Overview

This skill provides a focused, 15-minute SEO checklist for any URL, covering only the absolute essentials every page needs. It’s lighter than a full audit and designed to surface high-impact issues you can fix quickly before launch or after major changes. Use it to ensure your pages are indexable, shareable, and click-ready.

How this skill works

The skill fetches the page and inspects core meta elements: title tag, meta description, and Open Graph tags (including og:image). It then checks the site-level signals: sitemap.xml and robots.txt, and prompts you to confirm Google Search Console setup. Results are summarized as pass/warn/fail with concrete action items and an estimated fix time.

When to use it

  • Before shipping a new product or landing page
  • When reviewing a marketing or launch page for basic SEO readiness
  • During quick pre-launch checklists to avoid basic indexability issues
  • When you need a fast baseline before ordering a full SEO audit
  • After site migrations or build changes that might affect meta tags

Best practices

  • Keep title tags ~50–60 characters and include the primary keyword near the front
  • Write meta descriptions ~150–160 characters that explain benefit and include a call-to-action
  • Provide an og:image sized 1200x630px for reliable social previews
  • Host a valid sitemap.xml at /sitemap.xml and reference it in robots.txt and Search Console
  • Ensure robots.txt does not disallow important pages and points to your sitemap

Example use cases

  • Validate a product landing page before an email campaign or paid launch
  • Quickly triage pages after a CMS or build change that may have stripped meta tags
  • Onboard an MVP to ensure it’s indexable and shareable on social platforms
  • Confirm basic SEO signals for a single page before delegating to a full audit
  • Provide a short checklist for content writers or designers to follow

FAQ

How long does the baseline check take?

The check is designed to run in about 10–15 minutes and focuses only on the five essentials.

Will this fix technical SEO issues like site speed or crawl errors?

No. This skill covers surface-level, high-impact items. Use a full SEO audit for technical performance, crawl depth, and large-scale issues.