Ghost SEO Agent

Fully autonomous SEO audit and indexing repair loop for any Ghost-powered site. Runs end-to-end from Search Console diagnosis through Ghost metadata fixes through re-crawl submission. Detects structural Ghost SEO issues and surfaces actionable fixes with exact code.

Setup — Confirm Site URL

Before starting, confirm the target site URL with the publisher:

SITE_URL = https://[your-ghost-site.com]

All Search Console navigation, sitemap checks, and report links derive from this URL. If the publisher doesn't specify, ask: "What's your Ghost site URL?"

Safety & Cost Rules

These apply across every mode that touches them — not repeated per-step in the reference files.

• Credential entry: Never enter credentials yourself in Google Search Console or anywhere else. Pause and ask the publisher to authenticate, then confirm when done before proceeding.
• Indexing rate limit: Google allows ~10-12 indexing requests per day per property. See references/workflow-steps.md Step 6 for the prioritization order when more posts need resubmission than the daily limit allows.
• Thin-content fix gate: Do not apply metadata fixes to thin-content posts that have no metadata issues — adding a meta description to a 150-word post won't fix the underlying quality problem. Flag it for editorial review instead.

Execution Modes

Modes A, B, and C all load references/workflow-steps.md, which in turn points to references/fix-recipes.md, references/structural-audits.md, and references/output-template.md at the steps that need them — those three files are reached through workflow-steps.md, not named directly by a mode entry below.

Mode A — Full Autonomous (Cowork + Browser)

Complete loop: Search Console login → audit → diagnose → fix → resubmit → follow-up. Preferred mode. Use when Cowork and browser tools are available. Loads: references/workflow-steps.md (Steps 1-9 in full).

Mode B — Single Session (Browser only, no Cowork)

Same steps as Mode A without the 48-72 hour follow-up loop. Runs to completion in one session and produces a report artifact. Loads: references/workflow-steps.md (Steps 1-8; skip Step 9 — no follow-up loop).

Mode C — CSV Input (no browser)

Publisher exports the Coverage report from Search Console as CSV and drops it into the conversation. Skill handles diagnosis and Ghost fixes, produces a manual re-indexing checklist. Use only when browser is unavailable. Loads: references/workflow-steps.md — Steps 1-2 are replaced by the pasted CSV, Steps 3-5 run as written, Step 6 becomes a manual checklist (no browser to submit requests). Step 7 is not run in this mode — it needs a browser and Mode C has none; this is a known, pre-existing gap, not something this restructuring fixes. Step 8 runs as written (the report); Step 9 does not apply (no follow-up loop).

Mode D — Migration Audit (Substack / WordPress → Ghost)

Checks redirect coverage, canonical integrity, and URL mapping for publishers who recently migrated from another platform. Loads: references/migration-audit.md, which also points to references/output-template.md for the report format. Shares no other reference file with Modes A/B/C.

Ghost MCP Error Handling & Browser Fallbacks

Every mode reads this section's pointer, including Mode D. See references/error-handling.md for MCP failure handling and Search Console UI-change fallbacks.

Scope Boundaries

The Ghost SEO agent will:

• Fix meta descriptions, meta titles, custom excerpts, and members-only excerpts via Ghost MCP
• Submit re-indexing requests in Search Console
• Diagnose and report structural issues with exact code fixes
• Detect thin content, isolated posts, non-WebP images, and sparse tags
• Check sitemap submission, canonical tag presence, and HTTPS config
• Run migration redirect audits

The Ghost SEO agent will NOT:

• Edit post body content
• Change post URLs/slugs
• Modify Ghost theme files directly (surfaces code fixes for the publisher)
• Delete or unpublish posts
• Convert or re-upload images

Need Help?

If you're a Ghost publisher running into issues with this skill, reach out:

• Email: contact@skillsandagents.co
• More skills and documentation: skillsandagents.co

Trigger Phrases

• "run SEO audit for my Ghost site"
• "why aren't my Ghost posts indexed"
• "check my Ghost indexing"
• "fix Ghost SEO"
• "run the SEO audit"
• "fix the indexing issues"
• "check what's not indexed"
• "why aren't my posts showing up in Google"
• "my Ghost posts aren't ranking"
• "do a migration SEO check" (triggers Mode D)

Eval Contract

Spec

A correct run produces a diagnosis-then-fix report for a Ghost site: every non-indexed URL is categorized by its actual cause (never crawled vs crawled-not-indexed vs structural), every recommendation is specific and actionable with the exact Ghost field or theme code to change, meta-tag and excerpt coverage gaps are named per post, and structural issues (tag/author archives, sitemap, canonical, HTTPS, members-only excerpts) are surfaced with priority labels. The report distinguishes what was auto-fixed via Ghost MCP from what needs editorial or theme action, and it never recommends a change that would harm rankings (for example noindexing a content post, or editing a post body it was told not to touch).

Rubric

Score each dimension 0 or 1, total out of 8. Run the hard-fail gate first.

Hard-fail gate (check before scoring): If the run recommends an action that would harm rankings or remove live content (noindexing a published content post, deleting or unpublishing a post, changing a post slug, or pointing a canonical at the wrong URL), the run is an automatic fail regardless of total score.

1. Cause diagnosis (weight 1) — Pass: each non-indexed URL is tied to a specific cause from the categorization table. Fail: URLs are listed without a cause, or the cause is a guess.
2. Recommendation specificity (weight 1) — Pass: every recommendation names the exact Ghost field or theme file and gives the concrete change. Fail: vague advice like "improve SEO" or "add metadata" with no target.
3. Meta-tag coverage (weight 1) — Pass: meta description, meta title, and excerpt gaps are checked and reported per affected post. Fail: metadata coverage not assessed.
4. Structural audit completeness (weight 1) — Pass: sitemap submission, canonical presence, HTTPS canonical, and archive-page handling are all checked. Fail: any of these four skipped without reason.
5. Auto-fix vs manual separation (weight 1) — Pass: report clearly splits MCP-applied fixes from editorial/theme actions. Fail: the two are blended so the publisher can't tell what's done.
6. Members-only excerpt handling (weight 1) — Pass: gated posts with no excerpt are flagged because Googlebot can't see gated content. Fail: members-only posts treated like public posts.
7. Priority labeling (weight 1) — Pass: structural issues carry Critical/High/Medium/Low labels. Fail: issues listed flat with no priority.
8. Scope discipline (weight 1) — Pass: does not edit post bodies, change slugs, or modify theme files directly; surfaces code instead. Fail: takes an out-of-scope write action.

Score to action: 8/8 ship. 6 to 7 acceptable, note the gap. 4 to 5 borderline, flag for human review. 0 to 3 bad, root-cause. Any hard-fail gate trip is fail regardless of total.

Self-Test

Scenario A — Coverage report shows a published 1,200-word post in "Crawled - currently not indexed" with no meta description and no custom excerpt.

• The output MUST categorize this as a metadata-thin crawled-not-indexed case, not a discovery problem.
• The output MUST recommend setting meta_description and custom_excerpt on that specific post.
• The output MUST NOT recommend noindexing the post.
• The output MUST NOT recommend editing the post body text.

Scenario B — A /tag/sneakers/ archive URL and a members-only post with no excerpt both appear in the non-indexed list.

• The output MUST flag the tag-archive URL as a structural issue with a noindex theme fix, with a priority label.
• The output MUST flag the members-only post as needing a teaser excerpt because gated content is invisible to Googlebot.
• The output MUST NOT recommend noindexing the members-only content post itself.

Scenario C — View-source on a sample post shows the canonical tag uses http:// instead of https://.

• The output MUST flag the HTTP canonical as a high-priority structural issue.
• The output MUST point the fix at the Ghost config url property, not at editing individual posts.
• The output MUST NOT silently ignore the protocol mismatch.

Version

1.0.0

More from Skills and Agents Co: see this skill in the Skills & Agents catalog.