/seo-technical

name: seo-technical
description: 10-dimension technical SEO audit with a fix per finding and a deterministic lab score — crawlability (RFC 9309 AI-crawler policy, redirects), indexability (noindex / X-Robots-Tag, canonical conflicts, the 2 MB Googlebot index limit), security (true mixed content, headers), URL structure, mobile, Core Web Vitals lab risks (lazy LCP image, render-blocking scripts, CLS), structured data, JavaScript rendering (client-rendered shells), and SERP presentation. Trigger when the user says "technical seo", "crawl issues", "robots.txt", "core web vitals", "site speed", "security headers", "indexability", "javascript seo", or "indexnow".

seo-technical

**Family:** seo **Status:** Stable

Purpose

The technical spine of SEO. Runs scriptable technical checks on a URL (or local HTML) across 10 dimensions, attaches a concrete fix to every finding, and computes a deterministic 0-100 **lab score** the audit orchestrator can weight — deferring real field metrics to `seo-google` and deep structured-data work to `seo-schema`. The full check catalog, severity rationale and score formula are in `references/seo-technical/check-catalog.md`.

Current standards it encodes: **Core Web Vitals targets LCP < 2.5s, CLS < 0.1, INP < 200ms** (INP, not FID, is the metric — and the most-failed one); the 2026 robots.txt nuance of **blocking AI *training* crawlers (GPTBot, Google-Extended, ClaudeBot) while allowing AI *search* bots (OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot) and user-triggered fetchers** so content stays citable — judged by the shared RFC 9309 evaluator `scripts/seo/ai_crawlers.py`, which also flags a blocked Googlebot/Bingbot as critical (that removes AI Overviews / AI Mode visibility too); and **IndexNow** for instant change notification to participating engines (Bing, Yandex, Seznam, Naver — not Google). Dated facts (2 MB index limit, rich-result retirements, crawler classes) come from `references/shared/search-landscape-2026.md`.

Triggers

• "technical seo" / "technical audit"
• "crawl issues" / "robots.txt"
• "core web vitals" / "site speed"
• "security headers" / "indexability"
• "javascript seo" / "indexnow"

Inputs

• A URL (fetched) or a local HTML file (offline)
• Optional: a Google connection via `seo-google` for real CWV field data

Steps

1. **Run the audit script:**

   python3 "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/seo/tech_audit.py" --url <URL> --human     # or --file page.html

Pass `--url` alongside `--file` to add URL-structure checks without fetching. Every finding is a `{dimension, severity, finding, fix}` record; the JSON also carries `score` (lab), per-dimension counts, and `needs_tier1`. 2. **Interpret across the 10 dimensions** (catalog: `references/seo-technical/check-catalog.md`): crawlability (AI-crawler policy via the shared `scripts/seo/ai_crawlers.py`, Sitemap directive, redirect hops), indexability (noindex incl. the `X-Robots-Tag` header, nosnippet, canonical missing / conflicting / relative / cross-host / noindex-conflict, 2 MB index limit, doctype, charset, lang, hreflang), security (HTTPS, true mixed content, headers), URL structure, mobile (viewport, zoom), CWV lab risks, structured data (presence, parse errors, retired types), JS rendering (client-rendered shell, JS-only links), SERP presentation (title, description, h1, Open Graph, alt), plus IndexNow guidance. Lead with criticals: a noindex, a blocked Googlebot, or a shell page outranks every medium. 3. **Core Web Vitals:** the script emits the targets and flags that synthetic tools can't measure field CWV — if the user has Google access, pull real CrUX/PSI data via `seo-google`; otherwise report observable risks only. 4. **Structured data:** if missing/weak, hand to `seo-schema`. 5. **Render** per-dimension findings grouped Critical / High / Medium / Info, each with a specific fix.

Capability routing

This skill follows the plugin's capability-tier cascade (`references/CAPABILITY-TIERS.md`) and always returns a usable audit:

1. **Tier 1 — Google PSI / CrUX (free key, via `seo-google`).** When a Google key is set, pull real *field* Core Web Vitals (LCP/CLS/INP) to harden the CWV dimension; a connected Firecrawl MCP can additionally JS-render shells for the "visible without JS?" check. 2. **Tier 2 — built-in (the default).** Otherwise `tech_audit.py` runs the full 10-dimension lab audit offline (`--file` / `--no-network`) and emits the CWV targets — a complete, prioritized technical report on its own, no key, no network. This is the product. 3. **Tier 4 — guided.** If nothing is connected, deliver the lab audit and name the field-CWV gap, pointing to a free Google PSI/CrUX key via `seo-google`.

capability:   cwv-field
tier1:        Google PSI / CrUX (free key) via seo-google
tier1_signal: CRUX_API_KEY | GOOGLE_API_KEY
tier2:        tech_audit.py (10-dimension lab audit + lab score + LCP<2.5 / CLS<0.1 / INP<200 targets, no key)
tier2_yields: prioritized per-dimension technical findings with concrete fixes, zero spend
tier3:        none
tier3_signal: none
tier4:        manual technical-SEO checklist; add a free Google PSI/CrUX key via seo-google for field CWV
needs_tier1:  field CWV (LCP/CLS/INP from CrUX), real Lighthouse performance score

Always end by stating which tier ran and what field data a higher tier would add.

Outputs

• Per-dimension findings, each with a fix (script JSON or `--human` text)
• A deterministic lab score (0-100) with its basis stated, never a field-CWV number
• Cross-references to `seo-google` (field CWV) and `seo-schema` (structured data)
• An explicit AI-crawler policy recommendation for robots.txt

Dependencies

• `scripts/seo/tech_audit.py` (required) — Python 3.10+, standard library only
• `scripts/seo/ai_crawlers.py` (required, imported) — shared RFC 9309 AI-crawler evaluator
• `references/seo-technical/check-catalog.m