optbrew 0.0.0-stage → 0.1.1

package/skills/optbrew/modules/magnus-seo/references/onpage-seo.md

@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+# On-Page SEO Reference
+
+On-page optimization ensures each piece of content is structured and written to communicate relevance to search engines while serving the reader.
+
+## Title Tags
+
+The title tag is the single most important on-page SEO element. It appears in SERPs as the clickable headline.
+
+### Best Practices
+- **Length:** 50-60 characters (Google typically displays the first 50-60 chars; titles longer than ~580px get truncated)
+- **Keyword placement:** Primary keyword near the beginning (front-loaded)
+- **Uniqueness:** Every page has a unique title tag — no duplicates
+- **Branding:** Include site/brand name at the end (separated by `—` or `|` in SERPs, but per the publication style rule, NO emdashes in prose — for title tags, use `|` as separator)
+  - Example: `"SEO Audit for Ghost CMS Sites | Groktopus"`
+  - Example: `"The Artifact Pyramid: Progressive Disclosure for Agent Outputs | Example Author"`
+- **Compelling:** Includes a value proposition or hook that earns the click
+- **No keyword stuffing:** Sounds natural, not like a list of keywords
+
+### Platform-specific implementation notes — Patterns
+
+**example.com (Hugo, PaperMod theme):**
+- Title set in frontmatter: `title: "..."`
+- Hugo auto-generates `<title>` from the title field
+- Verify: `title` in frontmatter is 50-60 chars
+- Site name appended automatically by PaperMod: `"Title | Example Author"`
+
+**example.com (Ghost Pro):**
+- Meta title set in Ghost post settings → Meta Data → Custom Meta Title
+- Default: Post title (which may be too long — always set a custom meta title)
+- Ghost appends site name automatically in the `<title>` tag
+- Verify: custom meta title under 60 chars
+
+**example.org / example.net (Ghost, self-hosted):**
+- Same as example.com — custom meta title in Ghost post settings
+
+## Meta Descriptions
+
+Not a direct ranking factor, but the second most important element for click-through rate from SERPs.
+
+### Best Practices
+- **Length:** 150-160 characters (longer descriptions may be truncated)
+- **Includes primary keyword + secondary keyword naturally**
+- **Includes a call to action** ("Learn how...", "Discover why...", "Read the analysis")
+- **Unique per page** — no duplicate or auto-generated descriptions
+- **Matches search intent** — if someone searches for "progressive disclosure for agents," the description should signal that the page delivers on that query
+- **Contractions and natural language** — reads like a person wrote it
+
+### Platform-specific implementation notes — Patterns
+
+**example.com (Hugo, PaperMod):**
+- Hugo auto-generates meta description from page summary/content if not specified
+- Always set a `description:` field in frontmatter that's 150-160 chars
+- This is the meta description and also used in card previews
+
+**example.com (Ghost Pro):**
+- Custom Meta Description in post settings → Meta Data
+- Ghost also uses this for Open Graph description
+- If not set, Ghost uses the post excerpt (which may be longer or shorter than ideal)
+
+## Heading Structure
+
+Headings communicate content hierarchy to search engines and provide scanability for readers.
+
+### Hierarchy Rules
+- **H1:** Exactly one per page. Should match the title tag (or be a slightly more readable version). Contains the primary keyword.
+- **H2:** Major sections of the content. Each H2 should contain a related keyword or subtopic. Used as navigation anchors.
+- **H3-H6:** Subsections under H2s. Deeper hierarchy for complex content.
+- **No skipping levels:** Don't jump from H1 to H3. Hierarchically nested.
+
+### Checklist
+- [ ] Exactly one H1 per page
+- [ ] H1 matches or closely relates to the title tag
+- [ ] H1 contains primary keyword
+- [ ] Headings form a logical outline of the page when read alone
+- [ ] No empty headings or headings used purely for styling
+- [ ] Keywords appear naturally in headings (not stuffed)
+- [ ] H2s and H3s are descriptive, not generic ("Introduction" is weak; "Why Progressive Disclosure Matters for AI Agents" is strong)
+
+## Content Quality
+
+### Keyword Usage
+- **Primary keyword appears in:** H1, first paragraph, at least one H2, URL slug
+- **Keyword density:** Natural usage — don't target specific percentages. If the keyword appears naturally 3-5 times in a 1500-word article, that's fine.
+- **LSI / related keywords:** Include semantically related terms that help establish topical relevance (e.g., for an article about "artifact pyramids," include terms like "progressive disclosure," "multi-agent pipelines," "agent collaboration")
+- **No keyword stuffing:** Don't repeat the same phrase unnaturally
+
+### Content Length
+- **Blog posts:** 1500-2500 words is typical for long-form content. long-form articles often run longer because they're deep analytical pieces. Longer is fine if every word earns its place.
+- **Minimum to rank:** 300 words for very simple queries; 1000+ for competitive terms
+- **Quality over quantity:** A tight 800-word post that answers the query completely beats a padded 2000-word post that repeats itself
+
+### Readability
+- Short paragraphs (2-4 sentences for web reading)
+- Bullet points and numbered lists for scannable information
+- Bold key terms for emphasis (sparingly)
+- Clear section breaks with descriptive headings
+
+### Freshness
+- Update dates on evergreen content when significantly revised
+- Add "Last updated" or "Updated" notation for major content refreshes
+- Google favors freshness for certain query types (news, recent events, technology)
+
+## Internal Linking
+
+Internal links distribute page authority throughout the site and help crawlers discover content.
+
+### Best Practices
+- **Link to related content:** Every post should link to 2-5 other posts/pages on the same site
+- **Descriptive anchor text:** Use the target topic's keyword as the link text (not "click here" or "read more")
+- **Link to cornerstone content:** Important pillar pages should receive more internal links
+- **Natural placement:** Links should serve the reader — if it genuinely helps to read more about X, link it
+- **Avoid:** Links in navigation that aren't needed, links to the same target with different anchor text, links on every instance of a term
+
+### Platform-specific implementation notes — Patterns
+
+**example.com:** Magnus uses [[wikilinks]] in draft which Hugo converts to hyperlinks. Check that wikilinks are rendering as live HTML links and pointing to existing pages.
+
+**example.com (Ghost):** Manual internal links in the editor. Verify that linked posts exist and are published.
+
+## Image Optimization
+
+### Alt Text
+- **Purpose:** Accessibility for screen readers + context for search engines (Google Images)
+- **Every image** must have a descriptive alt attribute
+- **Descriptive:** "Close-up of a Portia labiata spider's principal eyes showing the characteristic three-lens system" — not "Portia spider" or "image001.jpg"
+- **Keyword-optimized:** Include relevant keywords naturally when they describe the image
+- **No keyword stuffing:** Alt text is first for accessibility, second for SEO
+- **Decorative images:** alt="" (empty alt) for purely decorative images so screen readers skip them
+
+### File Names
+- Descriptive, hyphenated: `portia-spider-eyes-closeup.jpg` not `IMG_4732.jpg`
+- Include target keyword when appropriate
+- Use hyphens, not underscores
+
+### File Size
+- Compress images before upload (target < 100KB for standard inline images)
+- Use next-gen formats: WebP (with JPEG fallback for older browsers)
+- Hugo: Use `.WebP` processing or serve via CDN that auto-converts
+- Ghost: Compress before uploading — Ghost does minimal image optimization
+
+## URL Structure
+
+### Best Practices
+- **Short, descriptive:** `/seo-audit-ghost-cms/` not `/post/12345/`
+- **Include primary keyword:** When natural
+- **Hyphens, not underscores:** Google treats hyphens as word separators
+- **Lowercase:** /seo-audit not /SEO-Audit
+- **Stop words:** Remove unnecessary "and", "the", "of", "for" where they don't add meaning
+- **Stable:** Once published, never change a URL (breaks all inbound links)
+
+### Platform-specific implementation notes — Patterns
+- **example.com:** Hugo uses the post slug from frontmatter or filename. Verify slug is short and contains primary keyword.
+- **example.com:** Ghost auto-generates slug from title. Set a custom slug in post settings if the auto-generated one is too long or doesn't contain the keyword.
+- **Never change published slugs** without explicit approval from the site owner.

package/skills/optbrew/modules/magnus-seo/references/platform-guidance.md

@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# AEO platform guidance
+
+## Google Search AI features
+
+Google Search Central says AI Overviews and AI Mode use existing Search systems. Pages need to be indexed and snippet-eligible; there are no additional technical requirements or special AI markup. Continue people-first content, crawlable internal links, textual content, accurate structured data, and Search Console measurement. Google explicitly says `llms.txt`, mandatory chunking, exact long-tail rewrites, and inauthentic mentions are not required for Google Search AI features.
+
+## Bing and Copilot
+
+Bing documents AI Performance in Webmaster Tools: total citations, average cited pages, grounding queries, page-level activity, and trends. These are visibility observations, not ranking, authority, placement, or correctness measures. Bing also documents sitemaps, truthful `lastmod`, and IndexNow as discovery/freshness support. Use provider-native definitions and do not generalize dashboard data to all engines.
+
+## OpenAI
+
+OpenAI documents separate robots controls for OAI-SearchBot (search), GPTBot (training), and ChatGPT-User (user-triggered actions). Allowing one does not imply allowing the others. Treat published bot names, IP ranges, and propagation timing as version-sensitive.
+
+## Perplexity and other answer providers
+
+Use the provider's current crawler and publisher documentation when available. Do not infer search, training, user-fetch, or citation semantics from a user-agent string alone. If documentation is inaccessible or ambiguous, record the gap and avoid a policy change based on guesswork.
+
+## Provider comparison table
+
+| Question | Google | Bing | OpenAI | Other providers |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| What enables search visibility? | Search indexing and snippet eligibility | Bing indexing/crawl | OAI-SearchBot policy plus provider systems | Provider-specific |
+| Is special AEO markup required? | No current special requirement | No universal requirement established | No universal requirement established | Unknown unless documented |
+| Is `llms.txt` authoritative? | Google says it is ignored for Search | No universal requirement | Provider-specific/undocumented unless stated | Proposal-dependent |
+| What can be measured? | Search Console AI reporting where available | AI Performance | Usually external observation unless provider publishes data | Provider-native or manual |
+
+## Refresh triggers
+
+Re-read official pages when a provider changes crawler names, AI surfaces, reporting definitions, robots controls, indexing guidance, or content policies. Record access date and exact scope in `references/source-index.md`.

package/skills/optbrew/modules/magnus-seo/references/schema-markup.md

@@ -0,0 +1,244 @@
+# Schema Markup / Structured Data Reference
+
+Structured data helps search engines understand the content of a page and enables rich results in SERPs (FAQ snippets, HowTo steps, breadcrumbs, article previews).
+
+## JSON-LD Format
+
+Google's preferred format. Structured data is typically JSON-LD injected through the CMS, application templates, or a supported code-injection mechanism.
+
+### Basic Structure
+
+```json
+{
+  "@context": "https://schema.org",
+  "@type": "Article",
+  "headline": "Title of the Article",
+  "description": "150-160 char meta description",
+  "author": {
+    "@type": "Person",
+    "name": "Example Author"
+  },
+  "datePublished": "2026-05-01",
+  "dateModified": "2026-05-15",
+  "image": "https://example.com/image.jpg",
+  "publisher": {
+    "@type": "Organization",
+    "name": "Groktopus",
+    "logo": {
+      "@type": "ImageObject",
+      "url": "https://www.example.com/favicon.png"
+    }
+  }
+}
+```
+
+## Schema Types for Platform-specific implementation notes
+
+### TechArticle (example.com)
+Use for technical/analytical content about AI, enterprise technology, and engineering.
+
+```json
+{
+  "@context": "https://schema.org",
+  "@type": "TechArticle",
+  "headline": "Article Title",
+  "description": "Description",
+  "author": {
+    "@type": "Person",
+    "name": "Example Author"
+  },
+  "datePublished": "2026-05-01",
+  "dateModified": "2026-05-15",
+  "proficiencyLevel": "Advanced",
+  "about": {
+    "@type": "Thing",
+    "name": "Topic area"
+  }
+}
+```
+
+### Article / BlogPosting (example.com)
+Use for personal blog and analytical long-form content.
+
+```json
+{
+  "@context": "https://schema.org",
+  "@type": "BlogPosting",
+  "headline": "Title",
+  "description": "Description",
+  "author": {
+    "@type": "Person",
+    "name": "Example Author"
+  },
+  "datePublished": "2026-05-01",
+  "dateModified": "2026-05-15"
+}
+```
+
+For articles authored by Jasper:
+
+```json
+{
+  "@context": "https://schema.org",
+  "@type": "BlogPosting",
+  "headline": "Title",
+  "description": "Description",
+  "author": {
+    "@type": "Person",
+    "name": "Jasper"
+  },
+  "datePublished": "2026-05-01",
+  "dateModified": "2026-05-15"
+}
+```
+
+### FAQPage (All Sites)
+Use when the article answers multiple distinct questions. Enables FAQ rich results in SERPs.
+
+```json
+{
+  "@context": "https://schema.org",
+  "@type": "FAQPage",
+  "mainEntity": [
+    {
+      "@type": "Question",
+      "name": "Question 1?",
+      "acceptedAnswer": {
+        "@type": "Answer",
+        "text": "Answer text here."
+      }
+    },
+    {
+      "@type": "Question",
+      "name": "Question 2?",
+      "acceptedAnswer": {
+        "@type": "Answer",
+        "text": "Answer text here."
+      }
+    }
+  ]
+}
+```
+
+**Requirements for Google rich result eligibility:**
+- Minimum 2 questions
+- Questions must be visible text on the page (not hidden)
+- Each Question must match visible content
+- Answers must be clearly visible to the user (not just in schema)
+- Google may show up to 4 FAQ entries in the SERP
+
+### HowTo (Tutorials, Technical Guides)
+Use for step-by-step guides and tutorials on any site.
+
+```json
+{
+  "@context": "https://schema.org",
+  "@type": "HowTo",
+  "name": "How to Title",
+  "description": "Description of the tutorial",
+  "step": [
+    {
+      "@type": "HowToStep",
+      "position": 1,
+      "name": "Step 1",
+      "text": "Description of step 1."
+    },
+    {
+      "@type": "HowToStep",
+      "position": 2,
+      "name": "Step 2",
+      "text": "Description of step 2."
+    }
+  ]
+}
+```
+
+### BreadcrumbList (Site Navigation)
+Use on all sites to enable breadcrumb rich results in SERPs.
+
+```json
+{
+  "@context": "https://schema.org",
+  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
+  "itemListElement": [
+    {
+      "@type": "ListItem",
+      "position": 1,
+      "name": "Home",
+      "item": "https://www.example.com/"
+    },
+    {
+      "@type": "ListItem",
+      "position": 2,
+      "name": "Category",
+      "item": "https://www.example.com/category/"
+    },
+    {
+      "@type": "ListItem",
+      "position": 3,
+      "name": "Article Title",
+      "item": "https://www.example.com/article-slug/"
+    }
+  ]
+}
+```
+
+### Organization (Site-level)
+Use on all sites for site-level schema (injected globally, not per-page).
+
+```json
+{
+  "@context": "https://schema.org",
+  "@type": "Organization",
+  "name": "Site Name",
+  "url": "https://www.example.com/",
+  "logo": "https://www.example.com/favicon.png",
+  "sameAs": [
+    "https://twitter.com/username",
+    "https://github.com/username"
+  ]
+}
+```
+
+## Platform-Specific Implementation
+
+### Ghost CMS (example.com, example.org, example.net)
+
+**Per-page schema:**
+- Ghost injects basic JSON-LD automatically (Article type with headline, dates, author)
+- Custom schema (FAQPage, HowTo, TechArticle) goes in:
+  - Post-level: Settings → Code Injection → Post Header (`<script type="application/ld+json">...</script>`)
+  - Site-level: Settings → Code Injection → Site Header (BreadcrumbList, Organization)
+
+**Verification:**
+- View source → search for `application/ld+json`
+- Test with Google Rich Results Test: https://search.google.com/test/rich-results
+- Test with Schema.org Validator: https://validator.schema.org/
+
+**Ghost auto-generated schema limitations:**
+- Ghost only generates Article/BlogPosting schema by default
+- FAQPage, HowTo, TechArticle, BreadcrumbList, Product all require custom injection
+- Author info in Ghost's default schema may need enrichment (add author URL, sameAs)
+
+### Hugo (example.com)
+
+**Per-page schema:**
+- Add JSON-LD via Hugo template in `layouts/partials/head.html` or `layouts/_default/single.html`
+- Use Hugo's `.Params` to inject article-specific values
+- Conditional schema: `{{ if .Params.faq }}` for FAQPage, `{{ if .Params.howto }}` for HowTo
+
+**Site-level schema:**
+- Organization and BreadcrumbList in the base template (`baseof.html`)
+
+## Validation Checklist
+
+- [ ] JSON is valid (no trailing commas, properly closed braces)
+- [ ] Required fields present for each @type
+- [ ] URLs are absolute (including https://)
+- [ ] Dates are in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ)
+- [ ] Author names match the byline
+- [ ] @context is set to "https://schema.org"
+- [ ] No conflicting or duplicate schema on the page
+- [ ] FAQPage content matches visible page content (no hidden answers)
+- [ ] Google Rich Results Test passes without errors
+- [ ] Schema content is visible to users where required (FAQPage, HowTo)

package/skills/optbrew/modules/magnus-seo/references/source-index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# SEO, AEO, and GEO source index
+
+This source map supports the skill. Re-check provider documentation before relying on version-sensitive crawler names, dashboards, policies, or controls. Initial research pass: 2026-08-26.
+
+## Primary and standards sources
+
+- [Aggarwal et al.: GEO: Generative Engine Optimization](https://arxiv.org/html/2311.09735v3) — KDD 2024 controlled benchmark and generative visibility metrics.
+- [Liu et al.: Evaluating Verifiability in Generative Search Engines](https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.09848) — citation support and sentence support evaluation.
+- [Google: AI features and your website](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features) — existing SEO fundamentals, no additional technical requirements or special AI markup, query fan-out, preview controls, and Search Console measurement.
+- [Google: optimizing for generative AI features](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide) — RAG, query fan-out, people-first content, technical structure, and mythbusting for `llms.txt`, chunking, exact rewrites, and inauthentic mentions.
+- [OpenAI: crawler overview](https://platform.openai.com/docs/bots) — OAI-SearchBot for search, GPTBot for training, ChatGPT-User for user-triggered access, independent robots controls, and propagation caveats.
+- [Bing: AI Performance](https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/February-2026/Introducing-AI-Performance-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Public-Preview) — citation counts, cited pages, grounding queries, page activity, trends, and metric limits.
+- [Bing: sitemaps in AI search](https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/July-2025/Keeping-Content-Discoverable-with-Sitemaps-in-AI-Powered-Search) — sitemap coverage, truthful `lastmod`, and IndexNow as discovery/freshness aids without an inclusion guarantee.
+- [Perplexity: crawlers](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/perplexity-crawlers) — provider crawler and robots guidance; verify directly when implementation depends on details.
+- [Schema.org FAQPage](https://schema.org/FAQPage), [HowTo](https://schema.org/HowTo), and [FAQ](https://schema.org/docs/faq.html) — vocabulary semantics, not a citation guarantee.
+- [IETF RFC 9309](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc9309) — Robots Exclusion Protocol.
+- [Sitemaps protocol](https://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.html) — XML sitemap format.
+- [llms.txt proposal](https://llmstxt.org/) and [repository](https://github.com/AnswerDotAI/llms-txt) — optional community proposal; Google says it does not use it for Google Search visibility.
+
+## Secondary methodology sources
+
+- [Graphite / Ethan Smith](https://graphite.io/five-percent/aeo-is-the-new-seo) — hypothesis generation and test/reproduce framing.
+- [AirOps AEO guide](https://www.airops.com/blog/aeo-answer-engine-optimization) — practitioner tactics and vendor-reported study claims.
+- [Frase AEO guide](https://www.frase.io/blog/what-is-answer-engine-optimization-the-complete-guide-to-getting-cited-by-ai) — practical prompt baselines and citation tracking ideas.
+- [CXL AEO guide](https://cxl.com/blog/answer-engine-optimization-aeo-the-comprehensive-guide/) — secondary taxonomy and implementation discussion.
+
+## Rejected or bounded claims
+
+- There is one universal AEO algorithm.
+- FAQPage has a fixed citation multiplier.
+- `llms.txt` improves Google AI visibility.
+- Allowing every crawler guarantees citations.
+- More short pages, exact-match questions, or web mentions always win.
+- Citation count equals authority, ranking, correctness, traffic, or conversions.
+
+These are unsupported, provider-specific, vendor-reported without portable evidence, or contradicted by current primary guidance.

package/skills/optbrew/modules/magnus-seo/references/structured-data.md

@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+# AEO structured data
+
+## Principle
+
+Schema.org describes content; it does not guarantee inclusion, ranking, or citation. Add JSON-LD only when the page visibly and materially satisfies the chosen type. Visible content is the source of truth. Provider rich-result support changes over time, so do not treat older FAQ-focused guidance or a schema type's existence as evidence of current Google eligibility.
+
+## Type selection
+
+- **Article/BlogPosting/TechArticle:** an authored article; include accurate headline, author, dates, publisher, and about fields.
+- **FAQPage:** a page presenting real frequently asked questions and answers. Do not use it for implied answers or every heading.
+- **HowTo:** a procedure with ordered steps, tools/supplies, and conditions. Do not use it for explanatory prose.
+- **QAPage:** a user question with user-submitted answers, not a publisher FAQ.
+- **Organization/Person:** identity and authorship only when the page and site can substantiate it.
+- **BreadcrumbList:** navigational hierarchy, not a substitute for internal links.
+
+Use the Schema.org type definition and the target provider's feature documentation. Schema.org's vocabulary is broader than any one search feature's eligibility rules.
+
+## Parity checklist
+
+For each JSON-LD block:
+
+- every material name, answer, step, date, author, URL, and relationship appears visibly or is a faithful machine-readable equivalent;
+- FAQ answers are complete enough to stand alone and match their visible wording;
+- HowTo steps are ordered, actionable, and visible;
+- dates describe publication or real modification, not deployment time;
+- URLs are canonical and fetchable;
+- no hidden or contradictory markup is added to influence systems;
+- the JSON parses and the rendered page remains correct without JavaScript when feasible.
+
+## Validation pattern
+
+1. Parse JSON-LD as JSON.
+2. Validate required shape for the selected type.
+3. Extract visible headings, questions, answers, steps, names, and dates.
+4. Compare material fields, allowing only documented normalization such as whitespace.
+5. Run the provider's own rich-result or structured-data test where applicable.
+6. Inspect the rendered page and record what the validator does not prove.
+
+A valid JSON document proves syntax. It does not prove truth, visible parity, eligibility, retrieval, or citation.
+
+## Common mistakes
+
+- FAQ schema on a page without visible Q&A;
+- HowTo schema on a conceptual article;
+- multiple conflicting author or date values;
+- `sameAs` links chosen from ambiguous search results;
+- using schema to encode a vendor claim as an objective fact;
+- assuming rich-result eligibility is an AEO performance metric;
+- adding every plausible schema type instead of the smallest accurate set.
+
+## Primary references
+
+- [Schema.org FAQPage](https://schema.org/FAQPage)
+- [Schema.org HowTo](https://schema.org/HowTo)
+- [Schema.org FAQ](https://schema.org/docs/faq.html)
+- [Google structured data policies](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/sd-policies)

package/skills/optbrew/modules/magnus-seo/references/technical-seo.md

@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+# Technical SEO Reference
+
+Technical SEO ensures search engines can find, crawl, interpret, and index your content. If the technical foundation is broken, nothing else matters.
+
+## Crawlability & Indexability
+
+### Robots.txt
+- **Purpose:** Directs crawlers which URLs to avoid
+- **Check:** Does the site have a robots.txt at `/robots.txt`?
+- **Check:** Are important pages accidentally disallowed? `Disallow: /` blocks ALL crawlers
+- **Check:** Is the sitemap referenced? `Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml`
+- **Best practice:** Allow CSS/JS files (modern crawlers need them for rendering)
+- **Hosted CMS sites:** Ghost CMS auto-generates robots.txt; verify after any config change
+
+### XML Sitemaps
+- **Purpose:** Tells crawlers about all pages and their relative importance
+- **Check:** Does the sitemap exist and is it referenced in robots.txt?
+- **Check:** Are only canonical URLs included? (No pagination params, sort filters, etc.)
+- **Check:** Are noindex pages excluded from the sitemap?
+- **Check:** Lastmod dates are accurate (not all the same date)
+- **Ghost split sitemaps:** Ghost generates `sitemap-posts.xml`, `sitemap-pages.xml`, `sitemap-tags.xml`, `sitemap-authors.xml`. Verify each is present and valid.
+- **Hugo:** Verify sitemap.xml is generated with correct `changefreq` and `priority` settings
+
+### Canonical URLs
+- **Purpose:** Tells search engines which URL is the authoritative version of a page
+- **Check:** Every page has a self-referencing canonical or points to the canonical version
+- **Check:** No conflicting canonicals (page A canonicals to B, B canonicals to C)
+- **Common issues:** HTTP/HTTPS duplication (canonical must use HTTPS if site is HTTPS), www/non-www duplication, trailing slash inconsistency
+- **Ghost:** Canonical is auto-generated from the post/page slug. Verify no slug changes break inbound canonical signals.
+
+### Meta Robots / Noindex
+- **Purpose:** Prevents indexing of specific pages
+- **Check:** Pages that should be indexed don't have `<meta name="robots" content="noindex">`
+- **Check:** Thin pages (tag pages, author pages, pagination) have noindex if they shouldn't rank
+- **Check:** Login/admin pages have noindex
+
+## Page Speed
+
+### Core Web Vitals (Google's ranking signals)
+- **LCP (Largest Contentful Paint):** < 2.5s (good), 2.5-4.0s (needs improvement), > 4.0s (poor)
+- **FID (First Input Delay) / INP (Interaction to Next Paint):** < 100ms (good), 100-300ms (needs improvement), > 300ms (poor)
+- **CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift):** < 0.1 (good), 0.1-0.25 (needs improvement), > 0.25 (poor)
+
+### Common Fixes by Platform
+
+**Ghost CMS:**
+- Enable lazy loading for images (Ghost 5+ has built-in)
+- Use a CDN for image delivery (Ghost Pro includes; self-hosted needs Cloudflare or similar)
+- Limit the number of visible posts on home/tag pages (paginate aggressively)
+- Disable unused Ghost integrations and background tasks
+- Verify the theme isn't loading unused CSS/JS (many Ghost themes are bloated)
+
+**Hugo (example.com):**
+- Hugo generates static HTML — inherently fast
+- Image processing: use Hugo's built-in image processing to serve appropriately sized images (`.Resize`, `.Fill`, `.Fit`)
+- Minify HTML output: `minify: true` in config
+- Avoid excessive JavaScript (Hugo sites shouldn't need much JS)
+- Verify CSS is not render-blocking (inline critical CSS if needed)
+
+### Tools for Measurement
+- Google PageSpeed Insights (lab + field data)
+- Lighthouse (Chrome DevTools)
+- Web Vitals library (RUM data)
+- GTmetrix / Pingdom (third-party)
+
+## Mobile-Friendliness
+
+- **Check:** Responsive design — does the site render correctly at all viewport widths?
+- **Check:** Viewport meta tag present: `<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">`
+- **Check:** Font sizes are readable on mobile (min 16px body text recommended)
+- **Check:** Tap targets are adequately sized (min 48x48px recommended)
+- **Check:** Content not hidden behind unplayable media or unsupported formats
+- **Test:** Google's Mobile-Friendly Test
+
+## HTTPS & Security
+
+- **Check:** Valid SSL certificate (not expired, not self-signed)
+- **Check:** All resources load over HTTPS (no mixed content warnings)
+- **Check:** HSTS header present for repeat visitors (Strict-Transport-Security)
+- **Check:** Redirects HTTP → HTTPS (301 permanent redirect)
+- **Check:** No security warnings in browser (mixed content, invalid cert)
+
+## International SEO (If Applicable)
+
+- **hreflang tags:** Correctly implemented for multi-language/multi-region sites
+- **Check:** Self-referencing hreflang (each page includes its own language tag as well)
+- **Check:** No conflicting signals (hreflang says X, redirect says Y)
+
+## Ghost-Specific Technical SEO
+
+| Check | Where to look | Action |
+|-------|---------------|--------|
+| Canonical URLs | Post settings → canonical URL | Verify self-referencing or correct canonical |
+| Meta robots | Code injection → per-page | No thin pages indexed |
+| Sitemap | `/sitemap.xml` | Verify split sitemaps present |
+| Robots.txt | `/robots.txt` | Verify sitemaps referenced, no accidental disallows |
+| Structured data | Source HTML → JSON-LD | Verify Ghost's built-in JSON-LD is correct + any custom |
+| AMP | Ghost settings | Verify AMP is enabled/disabled intentionally (Ghost defaults to disabled in v5+) |
+| Open Graph / Twitter Cards | Post social settings | Verify Facebook and Twitter card previews |