/seo-content-collection-page

name: seo-content-collection-page
description: "Spec, audit, competitor benchmark and build for e-commerce collection, category and product listing pages (PLPs) on Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, PrestaShop or a custom store. Runs four phases: the collection spec (COL-01 to COL-24 plus the common rows), an audit of the live page with the bundled scripts, a benchmark against the stores and marketplaces ranking on the category term, and the build: Search Console demand mining, a 1-2 sentence top intro, a 400-800 word bottom block (buying guide, comparison table, definitions, FAQ of real questions), product cards with images, metadata, faceted-navigation and filter URL control, self-canonical pagination, thin or empty collection cleanup, internal links, CollectionPage, ItemList and BreadcrumbList JSON-LD, then the scripts re-run as the acceptance test. Use to create, write or audit a category page or PLP, or to handle filtered URLs, pagination, duplicate or empty categories and store crawl budget."
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: "Sorank (https://sorank.com)"
  version: "2.0.0"

Collection Page SEO and GEO

Collection and category pages (PLPs) win the category-level money queries, yet most stores ship them as a bare product grid with no editorial content (field observation from 115+ agency audits). They fail in three ways: no text to rank or quote, filter and pagination URLs that drown the crawl, and empty or duplicate collections that drag sitewide quality. This skill runs the four phases of the page standard (spec, audit, benchmark, build) with placement, faceting and pagination rules that protect both rankings and conversion.

Company knowledge first (Obsidian)

If the working environment contains an Obsidian vault or any local knowledge base (a folder of .md notes, often with a .obsidian directory), read the relevant notes before acting: brand and product facts, target keywords, competitors, and the SEO action log of what was already tried. Ground every recommendation in that context instead of asking the user for facts the vault already holds. At the end of the session, append the actions taken to the vault's SEO action log so the next session starts informed.

When to use

• Creating or rewriting a collection, category, shop or product archive page
• Asking where category text should go, how long it should be, or what it should contain
• Filter or parameter URLs flooding Google Search Console ("Discovered, currently not indexed", crawl spikes)
• Configuring pagination, canonicals or indexing rules for listing pages
• Cleaning up empty, thin or duplicate collections
• Wanting category pages cited in AI answers such as "best X" or "where to buy Y"
• Any storefront: Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, PrestaShop or custom

| Case | Skill | |---|---| | Individual product pages (PDPs) | seo-content-product-page | | Sitewide link architecture and anchors | seo-internal-linking | | JSON-LD implementation details | seo-schema-markup | | Rendering, robots.txt, crawl budget mechanics | seo-technical | | Validating search demand for a facet | seo-keyword-research | | Supporting buying guides on the blog | seo-content-blog | | Block-by-block gaps on other page types | seo-page-sections | | Whole-site audit | seo-geo-audit | | Passage-level citability writing | geo-visibility | | Measuring AI citations and referrals | geo-tracking |

Phase 1. The spec

Common requirements C-01 to C-27: skills/seo-geo-audit/references/common-page-spec.md. Every collection page must pass them too; the rows below only add or sharpen what is specific to a listing page. Evidence labels: "measured" (with source), "Google documentation", "standard practice", or "field heuristic from 115+ agency audits".

| ID | Requirement | Threshold | Verified by | Why | |---|---|---|---|---| | COL-01 | Target query is the category keyword, with commercial intent confirmed | Listing or category pages rank in the top 10 for it | manual (SERP check) | A collection cannot win a query whose SERP rewards guides or PDPs (standard practice) | | COL-02 | Secondary keywords come from the page's own Search Console demand | 90-180 day query export for the exact URL, three buckets placed (section 4.1) | manual (GSC) | The searchers' exact words are the proven match for intent; guessing misses them | | COL-03 | H1 names the category as buyers name it (sharpens C-03) | "Linen Dresses", never "Our Collection" | h1_missing, h1_multiple, manual | The head term of the page (standard practice) | | COL-04 | Title {Category} \| {Brand} or {Category} - {Qualifier} \| {Brand} (sharpens C-01) | about 60 characters, unique across all collections | title_short, title_long, manual uniqueness check | Templates mint near-identical titles and Google rewrites them unpredictably (Google documentation) | | COL-05 | Slug /collections/{category-keyword}, mirroring the motif the leaders use (sharpens C-23) | descriptive words, hyphens, no internal IDs | url_hygiene, manual | 89.78% of ChatGPT-cited pages had descriptive slugs vs 81.11% (measured, Ahrefs, correlational) | | COL-06 | Meta description: what the range covers + one differentiator + one offer fact (sharpens C-02) | about 150-160 characters, handwritten | meta_missing, meta_short, meta_long | The snippet sells the click (field heuristic from 115+ agency audits) | | COL-07 | Top intro under the H1, opening with the category keyword as its first word, bolded | 1-2 sentences maximum | kw_not_in_intro, kw_not_bold, manual | More text on top pushes products below the fold and costs sales (field heuristic from 115+ agency audits) | | COL-08 | Bottom SEO block below the product grid, in the served HTML | 400-800 words; accordion allowed, hidden from users never | thin_content, page_benchmark.py "words", manual position | Feeds Google and AI assistants at no conversion cost (field heuristic from 115+ agency audits; cloaking boundary per Google spam policies) | | COL-09 | Buying-g