seo-drift

SKILL.md

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:

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)

Store snapshot in SQLite

Execution:

python scripts/drift_baseline.py <url>
python scripts/drift_baseline.py <url> --skip-cwv

Output: JSON with baseline ID, timestamp, URL, and summary of captured elements.

Command: compare

Fetches the current page state and diffs it against the most recent baseline.

Steps:

Validate URL

Load most recent baseline from SQLite (or specific --baseline-id)

Fetch and parse current page state

Run all 17 comparison rules

Classify findings by severity

Store comparison result

Output JSON diff report

Execution:

python scripts/drift_compare.py <url>
python scripts/drift_compare.py <url> --baseline-id 5
python scripts/drift_compare.py <url> --skip-cwv

Output: JSON with all triggered rules, old/new values, severity, and actions.

After comparison, offer to generate an HTML report:

python scripts/drift_report.py <comparison_json_file> --output drift-report.html

Command: history

Shows all baselines and comparisons for a URL.

Execution:

python scripts/drift_history.py <url>
python scripts/drift_history.py <url> --limit 10

Output: JSON array of baselines (newest first) with timestamps and comparison summaries.

Cross-Skill Integration

When drift is detected, recommend the appropriate specialized skill:

Finding
Recommendation

Schema removed or modified
Run /seo schema <url> for full validation

CWV regression
Run /seo technical <url> for performance audit

Title or meta description changed
Run /seo page <url> for content analysis

Canonical changed or removed
Run /seo technical <url> for indexability check

Noindex added
Run /seo technical <url> for crawlability audit

H1/heading structure changed
Run /seo content <url> for E-E-A-T review

OG tags removed
Run /seo page <url> for social sharing analysis

Status code changed to error
Run /seo technical <url> for full diagnostics

Error Handling

Scenario
Action

URL unreachable
Report error from fetch_page.py. Do not guess state. Suggest user verify URL.

No baseline exists for URL
Inform user and suggest running baseline first.

SSRF blocked (private IP)
Report validate_url() rejection. Never bypass.

SQLite database missing
Auto-create on first use. No error.

CWV fetch fails (no API key)
Store null for CWV fields. Skip CWV rules during comparison.

Page returns 4xx/5xx
Still capture as baseline (status code IS a tracked field).

Multiple baselines exist
Use most recent unless --baseline-id specified.

Security

All URL fetching goes through scripts/fetch_page.py which enforces SSRF protection
(blocks private IPs, loopback, reserved ranges, GCP metadata endpoints)

No curl, no subprocess HTTP calls -- only the project's validated fetch pipeline

All SQLite queries use parameterized placeholders (?), never string interpolation

TLS always verified -- no verify=False anywhere in the pipeline

Typical Workflows

Pre/Post Deployment Check

/seo drift baseline https://example.com     # Before deploy
# ... deploy happens ...
/seo drift compare https://example.com      # After deploy

Ongoing Monitoring

/seo drift baseline https://example.com     # Initial capture
# ... weeks later ...
/seo drift compare https://example.com      # Check for drift
/seo drift history https://example.com      # Review all changes

Investigating a Traffic Drop

/seo drift compare https://example.com      # What changed?
/seo drift history https://example.com      # When did it change?