Skill.md
10 Most Important SEO Metadata Tags
Search engines can only rank pages they can understand. Before content quality, keyword strategy, or backlinks matter, your HTML metadata must correctly signal what each page is about, who it's for, and how it should be indexed. This skill turns the 10 most critical metadata tags into a structured, scoreable audit that identifies exactly what to fix — and in what order.
Core Framework: 10 Critical Metadata Tags
| # | Tag | SEO Impact Type | Max Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | <title> | Direct ranking signal (~15% weight) | 5 pts |
| 2 | <meta name="description"> | Click-through rate (not direct ranking) | 5 pts |
| 3 | <h1>–<h6> Headings | Indirect (content structure signal) | 5 pts |
| 4 | <img alt=""> Image Alt | Indirect (image search + accessibility) | 4 pts |
| 5 | rel="nofollow" Link Attribute | Indirect (PageRank management) | 4 pts |
| 6 | <meta name="robots"> | Indirect (crawl and index control) | 4 pts |
| 7 | <link rel="canonical"> | Direct (PageRank consolidation) | 5 pts |
| 8 | Schema Markup / Structured Data | Direct (rich results eligibility) | 5 pts |
| 9 | Open Graph + Twitter Cards | Social sharing quality | 5 pts |
| 10 | <meta name="viewport"> | Indirect (mobile-first indexing) | 4 pts |
Total: 46 points — Grades: A (40-46), B (30-39), C (20-29), D (10-19), F (0-9)
Supported Query Types
- Metadata audit: Provide a URL or HTML
<head>block and get a scored report with priority fixes - Ranking diagnosis: Identify which metadata issues are most likely causing a ranking drop
- Code generation: Get ready-to-paste HTML for any tag that fails or scores below 50%
- Bulk strategy: Build a systematic metadata improvement plan for large sites (e-commerce, blogs)
- Pre-launch checklist: Confirm all 10 tags are in place before a product launch or content push
How to Use
- Share a URL (the skill will fetch the page) or paste your HTML
<head>content directly - The skill checks all 10 tags and scores each from 0 to its maximum
- You receive a prioritized fix list ordered by ranking impact, with corrected code snippets
- Validate fixes using Google Search Console, the Rich Results Test, and the Mobile-Friendly Test
Limitations
This skill covers HTML metadata only — it does not audit page speed (Core Web Vitals), backlink profile, keyword research, or content depth. Metadata is the foundation layer of technical SEO, but it works in combination with high-quality content and a sound keyword strategy. Fixing metadata alone will not overcome weak content or a thin link profile.