SEO Fundamentals Review
"Good SEO is good UX. If search engines can't understand your page, users might not find it."
When to Apply
Activate this skill when:
- •Reviewing HTML
<head>sections - •Seeing meta tags in code
- •Next.js/Remix page components
- •HTML structure with headings
- •Any page that should be indexed
The SEO Checklist
Must Have (Every Page)
- • Title tag — 50-60 characters, unique per page
- • Meta description — 150-160 characters, compelling
- • Single H1 — One per page, describes main content
- • Logical heading hierarchy — H1 → H2 → H3 (no skipping)
- • Semantic HTML —
<header>,<main>,<nav>,<article>,<footer> - • Image alt text — Descriptive, not "image1.jpg"
Should Have (Marketing Pages)
- • Open Graph tags — og:title, og:description, og:image
- • Twitter Card — twitter:card, twitter:title
- • Canonical URL — Prevent duplicate content issues
- • Structured data — JSON-LD for rich snippets
Performance (Affects SEO)
- • Core Web Vitals awareness
- •LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) < 2.5s
- •FID (First Input Delay) < 100ms
- •CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) < 0.1
Common Mistakes (Anti-Patterns)
1. Multiple H1 Tags
html
<!-- ❌ BAD: Multiple H1s confuse search engines --> <h1>Welcome</h1> <h1>Our Products</h1> <h1>Contact Us</h1> <!-- ✅ GOOD: One H1, logical hierarchy --> <h1>Welcome to Our Store</h1> <h2>Our Products</h2> <h2>Contact Us</h2>
2. Missing Alt Text
html
<!-- ❌ BAD: Empty or useless alt --> <img src="hero.jpg" alt=""> <img src="team.jpg" alt="image"> <!-- ✅ GOOD: Descriptive alt text --> <img src="hero.jpg" alt="Software engineer working at laptop"> <img src="team.jpg" alt="Our founding team of 5 engineers">
3. Div Soup (No Semantic HTML)
html
<!-- ❌ BAD: No semantic meaning --> <div class="header"> <div class="nav">...</div> </div> <div class="content">...</div> <div class="footer">...</div> <!-- ✅ GOOD: Semantic HTML --> <header> <nav>...</nav> </header> <main>...</main> <footer>...</footer>
4. Skipping Heading Levels
html
<!-- ❌ BAD: Jumps from H1 to H4 --> <h1>Page Title</h1> <h4>Some Section</h4> <!-- ✅ GOOD: Sequential hierarchy --> <h1>Page Title</h1> <h2>Main Section</h2> <h3>Subsection</h3>
5. Generic Title Tags
html
<!-- ❌ BAD: Not descriptive --> <title>Home</title> <title>Page</title> <!-- ✅ GOOD: Descriptive with keywords --> <title>Daniel Lamb - Full Stack Developer Portfolio</title> <title>Contact Us | Acme Software Solutions</title>
Socratic Questions
Ask these instead of giving answers:
- •Title: "If someone sees this title in Google results, would they click it?"
- •H1: "How many H1 tags does this page have? What happens if there are multiple?"
- •Alt Text: "If the image doesn't load, what information is lost?"
- •Semantic HTML: "Can a screen reader understand the structure of this page?"
- •Meta Description: "Does this description make you want to click?"
Stack-Specific Guidance
Next.js (App Router)
tsx
// Pattern: Metadata export
export const metadata = {
title: 'Page Title',
description: 'Page description',
// Your implementation will differ
};
Next.js (Pages Router)
tsx
// Pattern: Next Head import Head from 'next/head'; <Head> <title>Your title here</title> <meta name="description" content="Your description" /> </Head>
Plain HTML/React
html
<!-- In index.html or via react-helmet --> <head> <title>Title here</title> <meta name="description" content="Description here"> </head>
Red Flags to Call Out
| Flag | Question |
|---|---|
| Missing title tag | "What will this page show in search results?" |
| Multiple H1s | "Which heading is the main topic? Search engines are confused." |
| No meta description | "How will Google summarize this page?" |
| Empty alt text | "What if the image doesn't load? What info is lost?" |
| All divs, no semantics | "Can a screen reader navigate this page?" |
| Title over 60 chars | "This will be cut off in search results. Can you shorten it?" |
Open Graph Template
html
<!-- Minimum viable Open Graph --> <meta property="og:title" content="Your Page Title"> <meta property="og:description" content="Your page description"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://yoursite.com/og-image.jpg"> <meta property="og:url" content="https://yoursite.com/page"> <meta property="og:type" content="website">
Interview Connection
"I implemented SEO best practices including semantic HTML, proper heading hierarchy, and meta tags, improving our page's discoverability."
When reviewing their code:
- •"What's your SEO strategy for this page?"
- •"How would Google understand what this page is about?"
- •"Show me your heading structure"
MCP Usage
Context7 - Framework Docs
code
Fetch: Next.js metadata documentation Fetch: Semantic HTML best practices
Octocode - Real Examples
code
Search: "metadata" + "title" + "description" in Next.js repos Search: Open Graph implementation patterns