Norml SEO Basics

What it does

Norml SEO Basics audits or fixes the launch-level mechanics a public website needs before search engines and measurement tools can be trusted. It inventories the current owners first, expands real recipe dependencies, and verifies what the public site emits instead of treating an admin setting as proof.

A full run covers search access, metadata, tag management, consent, analytics, identity assets, base schema, and the WordPress-specific controls that apply. A named request runs only that concern and its dependencies.

When to reach for it

Use it before launch, after a redesign or migration, or when a neglected site needs a repeatable baseline:

• Audit the whole baseline without changing the site.
• Fix indexability, canonical, sitemap, and robots alignment.
• Connect Search Console and Bing without speculative duplicate properties.
• Set up GTM, consent, Google Analytics, and Clarity without double-installing tags.
• Verify favicon, social-sharing image, and truthful base schema.
• Review WordPress Rank Math ownership and every Media Library image alt value.
• Reconcile a live site with an existing .seo-basics/seo-basics.md report.

The 14-recipe map

• 01Indexability and canonical environment
• 02Core metadata
• 03Sitemap and robots.txt
• 04Google Search Console
• 05Bing Webmaster Tools
• 06Google Tag Manager
• 07Consent management
• 08Google Analytics through GTM
• 09Microsoft Clarity through GTM
• 10Favicon family and manifest
• 11Social-sharing image
• 12Truthful base schema
• 13WordPress Media Library alt text
• 14WordPress Rank Math baseline

Missing access or an unapproved optional account becomes blocked or skipped. It never authorizes a fabricated ID, duplicate property, or secret in chat.

A typical run

1. 01

   Resolve

   Confirm the public URL, canonical host, platform, environment, project instructions, deployment path, and available access.

2. 02

   Inventory

   Capture the live public output and the current owner of every selected concern before choosing a tool or change.

3. 03

   Select

   Run the full baseline or one named recipe; recursively add only its real dependencies.

4. 04

   Audit or fix

   Analyze-only writes findings. Fix mode creates rollback evidence and implements in dependency order through supported surfaces.

5. 05

   Verify

   Check source, live HTTP, browser/network, provider state, assets, schema, sitemap, WordPress, and Git/deploy parity.

6. 06

   Record

   Write one safe, durable .seo-basics/seo-basics.md report plus machine evidence under .seo-basics/qa/.

Inside the skill

The package separates the runtime router from individual concerns, authorization modes, shared standards, deterministic checks, and the contract that decides whether a run is actually finished.

What it creates

{project-root}/.seo-basics/
├── seo-basics.md
└── qa/
    └── live-validation.json

The Markdown file is the durable human report: selected recipes, dependencies, owners, findings, changes, verification, rollback, and open blocks. The QA folder holds machine evidence. Neither location may contain secrets.

Credential safety

Boundary

Launch mechanics, not the whole SEO program.

It is working if

• Every selected recipe and dependency is PASS or evidence-backed N/A.
• Every output has exactly one owner.
• GTM loads once; Analytics and Clarity, when selected, fire through GTM without a direct duplicate.
• The recorded consent decision and tested tag behavior agree.
• Metadata, approved identity assets, and truthful schema pass live validation without duplicate output or IDs.
• The canonical sitemap and robots.txt agree, and the selected Search Console/Bing site uses that exact sitemap.
• Desktop and 375px renders have no change-caused errors or horizontal overflow.
• The local report, source/deployed commit, platform state, and cache-purged public response describe the same result.

What changed