Browser4 SEO
Quick Start
bashbrowser4-cli goto "https://example.com" # load the page to audit browser4-cli plugin-list # confirm browser4-seo is installed AND enabled # then call seo.extractMeta() — full SEO metadata extraction (see Tools below)
Extract and audit SEO metadata from the current page using the browser4-seo plugin's two tools.
When to Use
Use this skill when the user wants to:
- Check a page's SEO health — "audit the SEO of this page", "is this page SEO-friendly?"
- Review meta tags — "what's the title/description/canonical of this page?"
- Check Open Graph / Twitter Card — "does this page have proper social share tags?"
- Review structured data — "does this page have JSON-LD schema markup?"
- Diagnose ranking problems — "why isn't this page ranking?" (SEO issues are a common cause)
Do NOT use this skill for:
- General content extraction — use the
browser4-cliHTML snapshot / X-SQL instead. - Performance auditing (Core Web Vitals) — this plugin only covers SEO metadata, not performance metrics.
How It Works
The browser4-seo plugin exposes two tools that operate on the page currently loaded in the browser session: seo.extractMeta() returns every SEO metadata field (title, description, canonical, Open Graph, Twitter Cards, JSON-LD), and seo.checkIssues() compares the page against SEO best practices and returns a health report.
Patterns
1. Quick SEO health check
textseo.checkIssues() # returns a prioritized issue list
2. Full metadata extraction
textseo.extractMeta() # all fields: title, description, canonical, OG, Twitter, JSON-LD
3. Diagnose poor ranking
textseo.checkIssues() # start with the issue report, then fix the top items
Flags
Neither seo.extractMeta() nor seo.checkIssues() takes arguments — both operate on the page currently loaded in the browser session.
Errors & Recovery
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Tool call fails with "plugin not found" | browser4-seo not installed | browser4-cli plugin-list; install the plugin |
Plugin installed but seo.* tools unavailable | Plugin is opt-in (default-disabled) | Enable it: browser4.plugins.enable=browser4-seo (or browser4.plugins.enable-all=true) and restart |
extractMeta returns empty fields | No page loaded in the session | browser4-cli goto <url> first |
checkIssues reports everything missing | Page is a JS shell | The plugin reads the loaded DOM — ensure the page finished rendering |
Prerequisites
The browser4-seo plugin must be installed AND enabled on the Browser4 server. The plugin is opt-in (defaultEnabled: false): installing the JAR alone does not activate it. Enable it with browser4.plugins.enable=browser4-seo (or browser4.plugins.enable-all=true) and restart. Check with:
bashbrowser4-cli plugin-list # Look for "browser4-seo" in the output
If not installed, see the plugin's README for build and deploy instructions.
Tools
seo.extractMeta()
Extracts all SEO metadata from the current page. No arguments — operates on the page currently loaded in the browser session.
Returns a JSON object with fields:
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
url | String | Final page URL (after redirects) |
title | String? | <title> content |
description | String? | <meta name="description"> |
canonical | String? | <link rel="canonical"> href |
robots | String? | <meta name="robots"> content |
og | Object | All Open Graph tags (og:title, og:image, etc.) |
twitter | Object | All Twitter Card tags |
headings | Object | Count of h1/h2/h3/h4 |
images | Int | Total <img> count |
imagesWithoutAlt | Int | Images missing alt attribute |
wordCount | Int | Approximate body word count |
jsonLd | Array | Parsed JSON-LD structured data blocks |
seo.checkIssues()
Audits the page and returns a categorized list of SEO issues.
Returns a JSON object with:
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
issueCount | Int | Total issues found |
errorCount | Int | Critical issues (e.g., noindex, no title) |
warningCount | Int | Important issues (e.g., no canonical, thin content) |
infoCount | Int | Minor issues (e.g., no Twitter Card) |
issues | Array | Each issue: { severity, field, message, value } |
Severity levels: error (must fix) > warning (should fix) > info (nice to have).
Workflow
Example 1: Quick SEO audit
1. Navigate to the target page (browser4-cli navigate <url>) 2. seo.checkIssues() → get the issue list with severity 3. Summarize errors first, then warnings 4. If user wants detail on a specific field → seo.extractMeta()
Example 2: Full metadata review
1. Navigate to the target page 2. seo.extractMeta() → full metadata object 3. Present: title, description, canonical, OG, Twitter, JSON-LD 4. Flag any missing or suspicious values
Example 3: Compare before/after a fix
1. seo.checkIssues() → baseline (note error/warning counts) 2. (user or agent fixes the page source) 3. Refresh the page 4. seo.checkIssues() → compare counts to verify the fix
This last workflow is the browser-first feedback loop: change code → refresh → re-audit → confirm.
Tips
- Always run
seo.checkIssues()first — it gives a quick summary. Useseo.extractMeta()only when you need the raw values. - The
noindexrobots directive is anerror-level issue — flag it immediately, as it blocks the page from search engines entirely. imagesWithoutAlt> 0 is common but easy to fix — suggest adding alt text.- JSON-LD count of 0 is only
infoseverity — not all pages need structured data, but e-commerce and article pages benefit from it.
