SEO for Solos
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Metadata covers 11 of the SEO for Soloschecklist's implementation checks. Titles, descriptions, canonicals and social cards. The cheapest wins on the list and the most commonly half-finished.

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Titles, descriptions, canonicals and social cards. The cheapest wins on the list and the most commonly half-finished.

  • A title template with a keyword-led default, not a brand-led one4/S

    Why it matters

    The first 60 characters of a title carry nearly all its weight. Leading with the brand on every page spends that budget on a word nobody searched for.

    How to verify

    curl -s https://example.com/ | grep -o '<title>[^<]*</title>'

    Then confirm the head term appears before the brand name.

    Implementation

    kit/seo/constants.ts
    /**
 * Code Kit: SEO primitives.
 * Implements checks: meta-canonical-absolute, meta-canonical-normalised,
 *                    meta-open-graph, meta-twitter-card, meta-title-template
 *
 * The only module in the kit permitted to read process.env, and it falls back
 * gracefully when the variable is absent.
 */

/** Resolve the site origin once. Callers should import this, never re-derive it. */
export function resolveSiteUrl(fallback: string): string {
  const fromEnv =
    process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL ??
    (process.env.VERCEL_PROJECT_PRODUCTION_URL
      ? `https://${process.env.VERCEL_PROJECT_PRODUCTION_URL}`
      : undefined);
  return stripTrailingSlashes(fromEnv && fromEnv.length > 0 ? fromEnv : fallback);
}

function stripTrailingSlashes(value: string): string {
  return value.replace(/\/+$/, "");
}

/**
 * Normalise a path into an absolute canonical URL.
 *
 * Handles the cases that actually break in production:
 *   ""            -> origin
 *   "/"           -> origin
 *   "/a/"         -> origin + "/a"      (trailing slash stripped)
 *   "//a"         -> origin + "/a"      (protocol-relative path collapsed)
 *   "a/b"         -> origin + "/a/b"    (missing leading slash added)
 *   "/a?b=1#c"    -> query and fragment preserved, path normalised
 *   "https://x/y" -> returned unchanged (already absolute)
 */
export function canonicalUrl(path: string | undefined, siteUrl: string): string {
  const origin = stripTrailingSlashes(siteUrl);
  if (!path) return origin;

  if (/^https?:\/\//i.test(path)) return stripTrailingSlashes(path) || path;

  // Split off query and fragment before touching slashes.
  const queryIndex = path.search(/[?#]/);
  const rawPath = queryIndex === -1 ? path : path.slice(0, queryIndex);
  const suffix = queryIndex === -1 ? "" : path.slice(queryIndex);

  let normalised = rawPath.replace(/\/{2,}/g, "/");
  if (!normalised.startsWith("/")) normalised = `/${normalised}`;
  normalised = normalised.replace(/\/+$/, "");

  if (normalised === "" || normalised === "/") {
    return suffix ? `${origin}/${suffix}` : origin;
  }
  return `${origin}${normalised}${suffix}`;
}

export type OpenGraphImage = {
  url: string;
  width?: number;
  height?: number;
  alt: string;
  type?: string;
};

export type OpenGraphOptions = {
  title: string;
  description: string;
  url: string;
  siteName: string;
  locale?: string;
  type?: "website" | "article" | "profile" | "book";
  images?: OpenGraphImage[];
  publishedTime?: string;
  modifiedTime?: string;
  authors?: string[];
  section?: string;
  tags?: string[];
};

const DEFAULT_OG_IMAGE_WIDTH = 1200;
const DEFAULT_OG_IMAGE_HEIGHT = 630;

/** Open Graph object with the defaults that matter, omitting anything undefined. */
export function openGraph(opts: OpenGraphOptions) {
  const images = (opts.images ?? []).map((image) => ({
    url: image.url,
    width: image.width ?? DEFAULT_OG_IMAGE_WIDTH,
    height: image.height ?? DEFAULT_OG_IMAGE_HEIGHT,
    alt: image.alt,
    type: image.type ?? inferImageType(image.url),
  }));

  return compact({
    title: opts.title,
    description: opts.description,
    url: opts.url,
    siteName: opts.siteName,
    locale: opts.locale ?? "en_US",
    type: opts.type ?? "website",
    images: images.length > 0 ? images : undefined,
    publishedTime: opts.publishedTime,
    modifiedTime: opts.modifiedTime,
    authors: opts.authors?.length ? opts.authors : undefined,
    section: opts.section,
    tags: opts.tags?.length ? opts.tags : undefined,
  });
}

export type TwitterCardOptions = {
  title: string;
  description: string;
  images?: string[];
  creator?: string;
  site?: string;
};

export function twitterCard(opts: TwitterCardOptions) {
  return compact({
    card: "summary_large_image" as const,
    title: opts.title,
    description: opts.description,
    images: opts.images?.length ? opts.images : undefined,
    creator: opts.creator,
    site: opts.site,
  });
}

function inferImageType(url: string): string | undefined {
  const match = /\.(png|jpe?g|webp|avif|gif|svg)(?:\?|$)/i.exec(url);
  if (!match) return undefined;
  const ext = match[1]?.toLowerCase();
  switch (ext) {
    case "png":
      return "image/png";
    case "jpg":
    case "jpeg":
      return "image/jpeg";
    case "webp":
      return "image/webp";
    case "avif":
      return "image/avif";
    case "gif":
      return "image/gif";
    case "svg":
      return "image/svg+xml";
    default:
      return undefined;
  }
}

/**
 * Drop undefined, null and empty-string values recursively.
 *
 * Structured data with `"author": ""` is worse than structured data without an
 * author: it asserts a fact that is empty. Every factory in the kit runs its
 * output through this.
 */
export function compact<T>(value: T): T {
  if (Array.isArray(value)) {
    const cleaned = value
      .map((item) => compact(item))
      .filter((item) => item !== undefined && item !== null && item !== "");
    return cleaned as unknown as T;
  }
  if (value && typeof value === "object" && !(value instanceof Date)) {
    const entries = Object.entries(value as Record<string, unknown>)
      .map(([key, val]) => [key, compact(val)] as const)
      .filter(([, val]) => {
        if (val === undefined || val === null || val === "") return false;
        if (Array.isArray(val) && val.length === 0) return false;
        if (typeof val === "object" && Object.keys(val as object).length === 0) return false;
        return true;
      });
    return Object.fromEntries(entries) as T;
  }
  return value;
}
    meta-title-templateImpact 4/5SmallFreeRead the chapter
  • Every indexable URL has a unique title and description4/M

    Why it matters

    Duplicate titles across a page tier is the clearest signal that the tier is templated rather than written, and it is the first thing a manual reviewer notices.

    How to verify

    Extract titles from your sitemap and count duplicates: `curl -s https://example.com/sitemap.xml | grep -o '<loc>[^<]*' | cut -d'>' -f2 | while read u; do curl -s "$u" | grep -o '<title>[^<]*'; done | sort | uniq -d`.

    Implementation snippet

    The tested implementation from kit/pseo/template.tsx, plus the test that fails if it regresses.

    Unlock with the Code Kit$14930 day refund, no questions.
    meta-unique-titlesImpact 4/5MediumFreeRead the chapter
  • Descriptions contain a number and a specific offer3/S

    Why it matters

    Descriptions do not rank, they earn the click. A number is the cheapest specificity available and it survives truncation better than an adjective.

    How to verify

    curl -s https://example.com/ | grep -o '<meta name="description" content="[^"]*"'

    Then confirm it contains a digit.

    Implementation snippet

    The tested implementation from kit/seo/constants.ts, plus the test that fails if it regresses.

    Unlock with the Code Kit$14930 day refund, no questions.
    meta-description-with-numberImpact 3/5SmallRead the chapter
  • Every page has a self-referencing absolute canonical5/S

    Why it matters

    A relative canonical resolves differently depending on the requested URL, which is exactly the ambiguity a canonical exists to remove.

    How to verify

    curl -s https://example.com/pricing | grep -o '<link rel="canonical"[^>]*>'

    Then confirm the href is absolute and matches the requested URL.

    Implementation

    kit/seo/constants.ts
    /**
 * Code Kit: SEO primitives.
 * Implements checks: meta-canonical-absolute, meta-canonical-normalised,
 *                    meta-open-graph, meta-twitter-card, meta-title-template
 *
 * The only module in the kit permitted to read process.env, and it falls back
 * gracefully when the variable is absent.
 */

/** Resolve the site origin once. Callers should import this, never re-derive it. */
export function resolveSiteUrl(fallback: string): string {
  const fromEnv =
    process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL ??
    (process.env.VERCEL_PROJECT_PRODUCTION_URL
      ? `https://${process.env.VERCEL_PROJECT_PRODUCTION_URL}`
      : undefined);
  return stripTrailingSlashes(fromEnv && fromEnv.length > 0 ? fromEnv : fallback);
}

function stripTrailingSlashes(value: string): string {
  return value.replace(/\/+$/, "");
}

/**
 * Normalise a path into an absolute canonical URL.
 *
 * Handles the cases that actually break in production:
 *   ""            -> origin
 *   "/"           -> origin
 *   "/a/"         -> origin + "/a"      (trailing slash stripped)
 *   "//a"         -> origin + "/a"      (protocol-relative path collapsed)
 *   "a/b"         -> origin + "/a/b"    (missing leading slash added)
 *   "/a?b=1#c"    -> query and fragment preserved, path normalised
 *   "https://x/y" -> returned unchanged (already absolute)
 */
export function canonicalUrl(path: string | undefined, siteUrl: string): string {
  const origin = stripTrailingSlashes(siteUrl);
  if (!path) return origin;

  if (/^https?:\/\//i.test(path)) return stripTrailingSlashes(path) || path;

  // Split off query and fragment before touching slashes.
  const queryIndex = path.search(/[?#]/);
  const rawPath = queryIndex === -1 ? path : path.slice(0, queryIndex);
  const suffix = queryIndex === -1 ? "" : path.slice(queryIndex);

  let normalised = rawPath.replace(/\/{2,}/g, "/");
  if (!normalised.startsWith("/")) normalised = `/${normalised}`;
  normalised = normalised.replace(/\/+$/, "");

  if (normalised === "" || normalised === "/") {
    return suffix ? `${origin}/${suffix}` : origin;
  }
  return `${origin}${normalised}${suffix}`;
}

export type OpenGraphImage = {
  url: string;
  width?: number;
  height?: number;
  alt: string;
  type?: string;
};

export type OpenGraphOptions = {
  title: string;
  description: string;
  url: string;
  siteName: string;
  locale?: string;
  type?: "website" | "article" | "profile" | "book";
  images?: OpenGraphImage[];
  publishedTime?: string;
  modifiedTime?: string;
  authors?: string[];
  section?: string;
  tags?: string[];
};

const DEFAULT_OG_IMAGE_WIDTH = 1200;
const DEFAULT_OG_IMAGE_HEIGHT = 630;

/** Open Graph object with the defaults that matter, omitting anything undefined. */
export function openGraph(opts: OpenGraphOptions) {
  const images = (opts.images ?? []).map((image) => ({
    url: image.url,
    width: image.width ?? DEFAULT_OG_IMAGE_WIDTH,
    height: image.height ?? DEFAULT_OG_IMAGE_HEIGHT,
    alt: image.alt,
    type: image.type ?? inferImageType(image.url),
  }));

  return compact({
    title: opts.title,
    description: opts.description,
    url: opts.url,
    siteName: opts.siteName,
    locale: opts.locale ?? "en_US",
    type: opts.type ?? "website",
    images: images.length > 0 ? images : undefined,
    publishedTime: opts.publishedTime,
    modifiedTime: opts.modifiedTime,
    authors: opts.authors?.length ? opts.authors : undefined,
    section: opts.section,
    tags: opts.tags?.length ? opts.tags : undefined,
  });
}

export type TwitterCardOptions = {
  title: string;
  description: string;
  images?: string[];
  creator?: string;
  site?: string;
};

export function twitterCard(opts: TwitterCardOptions) {
  return compact({
    card: "summary_large_image" as const,
    title: opts.title,
    description: opts.description,
    images: opts.images?.length ? opts.images : undefined,
    creator: opts.creator,
    site: opts.site,
  });
}

function inferImageType(url: string): string | undefined {
  const match = /\.(png|jpe?g|webp|avif|gif|svg)(?:\?|$)/i.exec(url);
  if (!match) return undefined;
  const ext = match[1]?.toLowerCase();
  switch (ext) {
    case "png":
      return "image/png";
    case "jpg":
    case "jpeg":
      return "image/jpeg";
    case "webp":
      return "image/webp";
    case "avif":
      return "image/avif";
    case "gif":
      return "image/gif";
    case "svg":
      return "image/svg+xml";
    default:
      return undefined;
  }
}

/**
 * Drop undefined, null and empty-string values recursively.
 *
 * Structured data with `"author": ""` is worse than structured data without an
 * author: it asserts a fact that is empty. Every factory in the kit runs its
 * output through this.
 */
export function compact<T>(value: T): T {
  if (Array.isArray(value)) {
    const cleaned = value
      .map((item) => compact(item))
      .filter((item) => item !== undefined && item !== null && item !== "");
    return cleaned as unknown as T;
  }
  if (value && typeof value === "object" && !(value instanceof Date)) {
    const entries = Object.entries(value as Record<string, unknown>)
      .map(([key, val]) => [key, compact(val)] as const)
      .filter(([, val]) => {
        if (val === undefined || val === null || val === "") return false;
        if (Array.isArray(val) && val.length === 0) return false;
        if (typeof val === "object" && Object.keys(val as object).length === 0) return false;
        return true;
      });
    return Object.fromEntries(entries) as T;
  }
  return value;
}
    meta-canonical-absoluteImpact 5/5SmallFreeRead the chapter
  • Canonical generation normalises slashes, case and query parameters4/S

    Why it matters

    The canonical function is called from every page. If it mishandles a double slash or a trailing slash, that bug is on every URL at once.

    How to verify

    Unit test it: assert `canonicalUrl('//a/')` and `canonicalUrl('a')` both produce the same absolute URL. The Code Kit ships the suite.

    Implementation snippet

    The tested implementation from kit/seo/constants.ts, plus the test that fails if it regresses.

    Unlock with the Code Kit$14930 day refund, no questions.
    meta-canonical-normalisedImpact 4/5SmallRead the chapter
  • Open Graph tags with a 1200x630 image, alt text and an explicit MIME type3/S

    Why it matters

    A link shared without an OG image renders as a bare grey rectangle. The alt text and MIME type are what stop some platforms from silently dropping the card.

    How to verify

    curl -s https://example.com/ | grep -o '<meta property="og:[^>]*>'

    Then confirm og:title, og:description, og:image, og:image:width, og:image:height, og:image:alt and og:type are present.

    Implementation snippet

    The tested implementation from kit/seo/constants.ts, plus the test that fails if it regresses.

    Unlock with the Code Kit$14930 day refund, no questions.
    meta-open-graphImpact 3/5SmallRead the chapter
  • twitter:card set to summary_large_image with its own title and description2/S

    Why it matters

    X does not always fall back to Open Graph. Without the explicit card type the link renders in the small format, which halves its visual footprint in a feed.

    How to verify

    curl -s https://example.com/ | grep 'twitter:card'

    Then confirm the value is summary_large_image.

    Implementation snippet

    The tested implementation from kit/seo/constants.ts, plus the test that fails if it regresses.

    Unlock with the Code Kit$14930 day refund, no questions.
    meta-twitter-cardImpact 2/5SmallRead the chapter
  • Explicit robots directives, including max-snippet and max-image-preview for Googlebot3/S

    Why it matters

    Defaults limit snippet length and image preview size. `max-snippet: -1` and `max-image-preview: large` are what let a page occupy more of the result, and they are opt-in.

    How to verify

    curl -s https://example.com/ | grep -o '<meta name="googlebot"[^>]*>'

    Then confirm max-image-preview:large and max-snippet:-1.

    Implementation snippet

    The tested implementation from kit/seo/constants.ts, plus the test that fails if it regresses.

    Unlock with the Code Kit$14930 day refund, no questions.
    meta-robots-directivesImpact 3/5SmallRead the chapter
  • hreflang alternates including x-default, even on a single-language site2/S

    Why it matters

    A single-language site still benefits from declaring x-default: it tells the crawler there is no other variant to look for, which prevents speculative fetches.

    How to verify

    curl -s https://example.com/ | grep hreflang

    Then confirm both the language tag and x-default appear.

    Implementation snippet

    The tested implementation from kit/seo/sitemap.ts, plus the test that fails if it regresses.

    Unlock with the Code Kit$14930 day refund, no questions.
    meta-hreflang-xdefaultImpact 2/5SmallRead the chapter
  • A full icon set with cache-busted URLs and a complete web manifest2/M

    Why it matters

    Static assets carry a one-year immutable cache header. Without a version query, a changed icon never reaches a returning visitor, and the manifest is what decides how the site looks when installed.

    How to verify

    curl -s https://example.com/manifest.webmanifest | jq '.icons, .screenshots'

    Then confirm a 192px icon, a 512px icon, a maskable icon and at least one wide-form screenshot.

    Implementation snippet

    The tested implementation from kit/seo/constants.ts, plus the test that fails if it regresses.

    Unlock with the Code Kit$14930 day refund, no questions.
    meta-icons-versionedImpact 2/5MediumRead the chapter
  • Authenticated routes carry a robots noindex tag as well as a robots.txt disallow3/S

    Why it matters

    robots.txt stops the crawl, not the indexing. A disallowed URL that someone links to can still appear in results as a bare URL with no snippet. The meta tag is what removes it, and the crawler has to be allowed to fetch the page to see it.

    How to verify

    curl -s https://example.com/library | grep -o '<meta name="robots"[^>]*>'

    Then confirm noindex is present.

    Implementation snippet

    The tested implementation from kit/seo/constants.ts, plus the test that fails if it regresses.

    Unlock with the Code Kit$14930 day refund, no questions.
    meta-noindex-private-routesImpact 3/5SmallRead the chapter