SEO — Search & AI Engine Optimization

Production-ready SEO patterns for Next.js applications. Covers traditional SEO (Google), GEO (AI search engines), and implementation with actual code — not just recommendations.

This skill generates code, not audits. Every pattern includes production-ready Next.js App Router examples you can use directly.

Architecture Overview

[Metadata]
    ├── Static metadata (layout.tsx / page.tsx exports)
    ├── Dynamic metadata (generateMetadata with data fetching)
    ├── File-based (favicon.ico, opengraph-image.tsx, robots.ts, sitemap.ts)
    └── Title templates (%s | Site Name)
              ↓
[Structured Data]
    ├── JSON-LD via <script type="application/ld+json">
    ├── Schema.org types (Article, Product, Organization, BreadcrumbList)
    └── Rich results eligibility (FAQ, HowTo, Review, Video)
              ↓
[Crawlability]
    ├── robots.ts (Google + AI crawler control)
    ├── sitemap.ts (dynamic, with images and i18n)
    ├── Canonical URLs (alternates.canonical)
    └── Internal linking
              ↓
[Performance (Ranking Factor)]
    ├── LCP — next/image priority, Server Components
    ├── INP — useTransition, code splitting
    └── CLS — next/font, image dimensions
              ↓
[AI Visibility (GEO)]
    ├── llms.txt generation
    ├── Content structure for citation
    ├── AI crawler user-agent management
    └── Entity optimization

Quick Reference

Need to...	See
Add metadata to pages and layouts	Metadata
Create sitemap.xml and robots.txt	Crawlability
Add JSON-LD structured data	Structured Data
Generate dynamic OG images	OG Images
Optimize for AI search (ChatGPT, Perplexity)	GEO
Fix Core Web Vitals for SEO ranking	Performance
Avoid common SEO mistakes	Anti-Myths

Decision Matrix

"What metadata does this page need?"

Page Type	Title	Description	OG Image	Canonical	Structured Data
Home page	Static	Yes	Yes (branded)	Yes	Organization, WebSite, SearchAction
Listing/product page	Dynamic (from data)	Dynamic	Dynamic (from image)	Yes	Product, BreadcrumbList
Blog post	Dynamic	Dynamic	Dynamic (generated)	Yes	Article, BreadcrumbList
Category/search	Dynamic (with filters)	Dynamic	Optional	Yes (without query params)	BreadcrumbList, ItemList
Auth pages (login)	Static	Optional	No	noindex	None
Legal (privacy, terms)	Static	Yes	No	Yes	None
Dashboard/app pages	Static	Optional	No	noindex	None

"Should this page be indexed?"

Is the page valuable to search users?
├── YES (content, product, article)
│   ├── Is there a canonical version? → Set alternates.canonical
│   ├── Is it paginated? → Set rel prev/next or canonical to page 1
│   └── Index it (default — no robots directive needed)
└── NO (auth, dashboard, admin, API, staging)
    └── Set robots: { index: false, follow: false }
        └── Also consider: noindex via robots.ts rules

SEO Anti-Myths (Google's Actual Guidance)

These are widely believed but wrong according to Google's official documentation:

Myth	Reality	Source
"Add meta keywords"	Google has ignored <meta name="keywords"> since 2009	Google Webmaster Blog
"E-E-A-T is a ranking factor"	E-E-A-T is a quality rater guideline, not an algorithm signal	Google Quality Rater Guidelines
"Content must be X words long"	No minimum or maximum. Write what's useful.	Google SEO Starter Guide
"Heading order affects rankings"	Heading hierarchy helps accessibility, not rankings	Google Search Central (multiple confirmations)
"Duplicate content is a penalty"	No spam penalty. Google picks a canonical. Bad UX, not a ranking hit.	Google Search Central
"Domain keywords boost ranking"	Minimal if any impact	Google (multiple confirmations)
"Subdomain vs subdirectory matters"	Google can handle either. Choose for architecture, not SEO.	John Mueller, Google
"More backlinks = higher ranking"	Quality and relevance matter, not quantity	Google Link Spam Update
"FID is a Core Web Vital"	INP replaced FID in March 2024	web.dev

What Google Actually Cares About

1. Unique, descriptive title tags per page
2. Concise meta descriptions that summarize page content
3. Canonical URLs to consolidate duplicate content
4. Structured data (JSON-LD) for rich results eligibility
5. Mobile-friendly design (responsive, touch-friendly)
6. Core Web Vitals — LCP <= 2.5s, INP <= 200ms, CLS <= 0.1
7. Descriptive alt text for images
8. Internal linking with descriptive anchor text
9. XML sitemaps for crawl efficiency
10. robots.txt for crawl control
11. HTTPS (ranking signal since 2014)

When Reviewing Code

• Every page has a unique <title> (via metadata export or generateMetadata)
• Every page has a meta description
• Root layout sets metadataBase for URL resolution
• Root layout uses title template: { template: '%s | Site Name', default: '...' }
• app/sitemap.ts exists and covers all public routes
• app/robots.ts exists with rules for Googlebot and AI crawlers
• Product/article pages have JSON-LD structured data
• Dynamic pages use generateMetadata with data memoization (cache())
• Images use next/image with proper alt text
• Fonts use next/font (prevents CLS)
• Auth/dashboard pages have robots: { index: false }
• Canonical URLs set for pages accessible at multiple URLs
• No <meta name="keywords"> tag (Google ignores it)
• OG images exist for shareable pages (social + messaging previews)