003 Name Skill Eec3df7a

---
name: pages-blog
description: When the user wants to create, optimize, or audit blog page structure and content. Also use when the user mentions "blog page," "blog index," "blog layout," or "content hub."
metadata:
  version: 1.0.0
---

# Pages: Blog

Guides blog page structure, SEO, and content marketing best practices.

**When invoking**: On **first use**, if helpful, open with 1-2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On **subsequent use** or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.

## Initial Assessment

**Check for product marketing context first:** If `.claude/product-marketing-context.md` or `.cursor/product-marketing-context.md` exists, read it for topics, audience, and keywords.

Identify:
1. **Blog purpose**: SEO traffic, thought leadership, product education
2. **Content mix**: Pillar pages, cluster content, news
3. **Audience**: Buyers, existing customers, developers

## Best Practices

### Blog Placement: Subdomain vs Subdirectory

| Option | Example | SEO / Use |
|--------|---------|-----------|
| **Subdirectory** | `example.com/blog` | SEO weight flows to main domain; recommended for product blogs |
| **Subdomain** | `blog.example.com` | Treated as separate entity; consider for distinct brands or technical isolation |

Choose based on SEO weight distribution, brand consistency, and technical architecture. See [Alignify subdomain vs subdirectory guide](https://alignify.co/zh/seo/create-blog) for details.

### Blog Index Page Structure

| Section | Purpose |
|---------|---------|
| **Featured/Recent** | Highlight newest or most important posts |
| **Categories/Topics** | Help users find by theme |
| **Editor's Picks** | Curate best content |
| **Related posts** | Per-article recommendations |
| **Search** | Help users find specific topics |

### Content Strategy

- **Topical authority**: Topic clusters -> pillar page per core topic + 6-12 cluster articles
- **Intent mapping**: Transactional, problem-aware, informational
- **EEAT signals**: Author bios, Organization schema, citations, changelog
- **Refresh > new**: For established sites, updating existing content often outperforms publishing new posts; avoid changing only the date without substantive edits
- **Quality > quantity**: Fewer high-quality posts beat many mediocre ones; consider deleting, merging, or refreshing underperformers
- **Topic focus**: Avoid blindly expanding topics; dilution can hurt authority on core topics
- **Conversion as north star**: SEO KPIs should tie to leads, signups, or sales -> not just traffic

### SEO

- **Title**: 55 chars, power words, primary keyword
- **Meta**: Clear CTA in description
- **Headers**: H1-H3 hierarchy, table of contents
- **Content depth**: 2,500+ words for pillars; Grade 8 readability
- **URL**: Use **components-url-slug** -> clean slugs, 3-5 words, under 60 chars
- **Schema**: Article, BlogPosting, FAQPage where relevant

### Technical

- **Core Web Vitals**: LCP < 1.0s on mobile
- **Images**: WebP, compressed
- **IndexNow**: For fast indexing of new posts

### Design

- **Scannable**: Preview copy, thumbnails, hero images
- **Social sharing**: Share buttons on article pages -> see **components-social-share**
- **Quick answers**: Definition boxes, mini-FAQs for AEO
- **TOC**: Table of contents for Featured Snippets; jump links in long articles
- **CTA placement**: Sidebar CTA or in-paragraph CTA at key conversion points
- **Related/Recent posts**: Manual curation or plugin; same topic cluster

## Output Format

- **Structure** for blog index and post template
- **Content** strategy (pillar + clusters)
- **SEO** metadata and schema
- **Internal linking** approach

## Related Skills

- **pages-article**: Single article/post page structure, SEO, schema -> use for individual post templates
- **components-url-slug**: URL slug for blog posts; 3-5 words, primary keyword
- **seo-content-content-strategy**: Content clusters, editorial calendar
- **seo-content-keyword-research**: Keywords for blog topics
- **seo-on-page-title, seo-on-page-description, seo-on-page-metadata, seo-on-page-open-graph, seo-on-page-twitter-cards**: Blog metadata and social previews
- **seo-on-page-schema**: Article schema
- **pages-resources**: Blog may be part of resources hub