/seo-drift

SEO Drift Comparison Rules

17 rules across 3 severity levels. Each rule compares a specific SEO element between the stored baseline and the current page state.

CRITICAL (Immediate Action Required)

These changes typically cause measurable traffic loss within days.

Rule 1: Schema/JSON-LD Completely Removed

• Compare: Baseline schema array has items, current is empty
• Threshold: Any schema present before, none now
• Action: Restore structured data immediately. Eligible rich results (Product, Review, LocalBusiness, and similar supported types) can drop from SERPs quickly; retired types (FAQ, HowTo) should not be treated as rich-result losses.
• Cross-ref: /seo schema <url>

Rule 2: Canonical URL Changed

• Compare: Baseline canonical vs current canonical
• Threshold: Different non-null values (after normalization)
• Action: Verify the new canonical is intentional. Incorrect canonicals redirect ranking signals to wrong page.
• Cross-ref: /seo technical <url>

Rule 3: Canonical URL Removed

• Compare: Baseline canonical was set, current is null
• Threshold: Had value, now missing
• Action: Restore canonical tag. Google will guess, often incorrectly for pages with query parameters.
• Cross-ref: /seo technical <url>

Rule 4: Noindex Directive Added

• Compare: Baseline meta_robots did not contain "noindex", current does
• Threshold: "noindex" substring now present (case-insensitive)
• Action: If unintentional, remove immediately. Page will be dropped from index within days.
• Cross-ref: /seo technical <url>

Rule 5: H1 Tag Removed Entirely

• Compare: Baseline h1 had entries, current is empty
• Threshold: One or more H1s before, zero now
• Action: Restore H1 heading. Primary page topic signal for search engines.
• Cross-ref: /seo content <url>

Rule 6: H1 Text Changed Significantly

• Compare: First H1 in baseline vs first H1 in current, SequenceMatcher ratio
• Threshold: Similarity ratio < 0.5 (>50% different)
• Action: Verify the H1 change aligns with target keyword strategy.
• Cross-ref: /seo content <url>

Rule 7: Title Tag Removed Entirely

• Compare: Baseline title was set, current is null or empty
• Threshold: Had value, now missing
• Action: Restore title tag immediately. Google will auto-generate one, often poorly.
• Cross-ref: /seo page <url>

Rule 8: HTTP Status Code Changed to Error

• Compare: Baseline status_code was 2xx, current is 4xx or 5xx
• Threshold: Status code class changed from success to client/server error
• Action: Investigate server error or missing page. Rankings will drop within days.
• Cross-ref: /seo technical <url>

WARNING (Investigate Within 1 Week)

These changes may impact rankings or CTR but are sometimes intentional.

Rule 9: Title Text Changed

• Compare: Baseline title vs current title (trimmed)
• Threshold: Strings differ (case-sensitive, whitespace-normalized)
• Action: Verify new title includes target keywords. Monitor CTR in GSC over 2 weeks.
• Cross-ref: /seo page <url>

Rule 10: Meta Description Changed

• Compare: Baseline meta_description vs current meta_description
• Threshold: Strings differ (trimmed)
• Action: Verify new description includes call-to-action and target keywords. Monitor CTR.
• Cross-ref: /seo page <url>

Rule 11: Core Web Vitals Metric Regressed >20%

• Compare: Each CWV metric p75 value (LCP, INP, CLS) baseline vs current
• Threshold: Current value is >20% worse than baseline (higher for LCP/INP, higher for CLS)
• Action: Investigate performance regression. Check recent code changes or third-party scripts.
• Cross-ref: /seo technical <url>

Rule 12: Lighthouse Performance Score Dropped 10+ Points

• Compare: Lighthouse performance score baseline vs current
• Threshold: Drop of 10 or more points (e.g., 85 to 74)
• Action: Run full PageSpeed analysis to identify new bottlenecks.
• Cross-ref: /seo google psi <url>

Rule 13: OG Tags Removed

• Compare: Baseline open_graph had entries, current is empty
• Threshold: One or more OG tags before, none now
• Action: Restore OG tags. Social sharing will show generic/missing previews.
• Cross-ref: /seo page <url>

Rule 14: Schema/JSON-LD Content Modified

• Compare: Baseline schema_hash vs current schema_hash
• Threshold: Hash differs AND schema still exists (removal is Rule 1)
• Action: Validate modified schema. Check for type changes, removed properties, or new validation errors.
• Cross-ref: /seo schema <url>

INFO (Awareness Only)

These are tracked for completeness. Often positive or neutral changes.

Rule 15: New Schema/JSON-LD Added

• Compare: Baseline schema was empty, current has items
• Threshold: No schema before, schema now present
• Action: Positive change. Validate the new schema with /seo schema <url>.
• Cross-ref: /seo schema <url>

Rule 16: H2 Structure Changed

• Compare: Baseline h2 array vs current h2 array
• Threshold: Different number of H2s, or different H2 text values
• Action: Review heading hierarchy. Ensure content sections still align with target topics.
• Cross-ref: /seo content <url>

Rule 17: Content Hash Changed

• Compare: Baseline html_hash vs current html_hash
• Threshold: Hash differs (catch-all for any body content change)
• Action: General content change detected. Review if no other rules triggered to understand what changed.
• Cross-ref: /seo page <url>