# SEO drift Human Guide

## What This Is For
Git for your SEO. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for search and SEO workflows: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the SEO drift agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for SEO drift.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the SEO drift guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- **baselines**: Captured snapshots with all SEO elements
- **comparisons**: Diff results with triggered rules and severities
- Validate URL (SSRF protection via `google_auth.validate_url()`)
- Fetch page via `scripts/fetch_page.py`
- Parse HTML via `scripts/parse_html.py`
- Optionally fetch CWV via `scripts/pagespeed_check.py` (use `--skip-cwv` to skip)
- Hash HTML body and schema content (SHA-256)
- Load most recent baseline from SQLite (or specific `--baseline-id`)
- Fetch and parse current page state
- Classify findings by severity
- **All URL fetching** goes through `scripts/fetch_page.py` which enforces SSRF protection
- **No curl, no subprocess HTTP calls** -- only the project's validated fetch pipeline

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Commands, What It Captures, How Comparison Works, Severity Levels, Storage, Tables, Command: `baseline`, Command: `compare`, Command: `history`, Cross-Skill Integration.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- | **WARNING** | Potential impact, needs investigation | Within 1 week |
- | URL unreachable | Report error from `fetch_page.py`. Do not guess state. Suggest user verify URL. |
- | SSRF blocked (private IP) | Report `validate_url()` rejection. Never bypass. |
- **All SQLite queries** use parameterized placeholders (`?`), never string interpolation
- CRITICAL (Immediate Action Required)
- WARNING (Investigate Within 1 Week)

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the SEO drift human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the agricidaniel/claude-seo skill entry for `seo-drift`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# SEO Drift Monitor (April 2026)

Git for your SEO. Capture baselines, detect regressions, track changes over time.

---

## Commands

| Command | Purpose |
|---------|---------|
| `/seo drift baseline <url>` | Capture current SEO state as a "known good" snapshot |
| `/seo drift compare <url>` | Compare current page state to stored baseline |
| `/seo drift history <url>` | Show change history and past comparisons |

---

## What It Captures

Every baseline records these SEO-critical elements:

| Element | Field | Source |
|---------|-------|--------|
| Title tag | `title` | `parse_html.py` |
| Meta description | `meta_description` | `parse_html.py` |
| Canonical URL | `canonical` | `parse_html.py` |
| Robots directives | `meta_robots` | `parse_html.py` |
| H1 headings | `h1` (array) | `parse_html.py` |
| H2 headings | `h2` (array) | `parse_html.py` |
| H3 headings | `h3` (array) | `parse_html.py` |
| JSON-LD schema | `schema` (array) | `parse_html.py` |
| Open Graph tags | `open_graph` (dict) | `parse_html.py` |
| Core Web Vitals | `cwv` (dict) | `pagespeed_check.py` |
| HTTP status code | `status_code` | `fetch_page.py` |
| HTML content hash | `html_hash` (SHA-256) | Computed |
| Schema content hash | `schema_hash` (SHA-256) | Computed |

---

## How Comparison Works

The comparison engine applies **17 rules across 3 severity levels**. Load
`references/comparison-rules.md` for the full rule set with thresholds,
recommended actions, and cross-skill references.

### Severity Levels

| Level | Meaning | Response Time |
|-------|---------|---------------|
| **CRITICAL** | SEO-breaking change, likely traffic loss | Immediate |
| **WARNING** | Potential impact, needs investigation | Within 1 week |
| **INFO** | Awareness only, may be intentional | Review at convenience |

---

## Storage

All data is stored locally in SQLite:

```
~/.cache/claude-seo/drift/baselines.db
```

### Tables

- **baselines**: Captured snapshots with all SEO elements
- **comparisons**: Diff results with triggered rules and severities

URL normalization ensures consistent matching: lowercase scheme/host, strip
default ports (80/443), sort query parameters, remove UTM parameters, strip
trailing slashes.

---

## Command: `baseline`

Captures the current state of a page and stores it.

**Steps:**
1. Validate URL (SSRF protection via `google_auth.validate_url()`)
2. Fetch page via `scripts/fetch_page.py`