# Seostupidity

> Stupid mistakes. Measured fixes. Candid, data-backed takes on what is actually stupid in SEO, AEO and GEO, and the concrete fix for each.

Written by Matt Hopkins. I also run PageClimber, which this site links to. PageClimber's own llms.txt: https://pageclimber.co/llms.txt

## Articles

- [To an AI crawler, your homepage has zero links](https://seostupidity.com/articles/zero-links-to-a-crawler/): If your site builds its pages in the browser, crawlers that don't run JavaScript get an empty shell. One homepage we tested had no heading and not one link.
- [Schema that lies about you](https://seostupidity.com/articles/schema-that-lies/): Structured data is a set of claims you make to search engines in your own name. What false claims look like, from real payloads, and why they cost you.
- [Your SEO pixel's fixes are invisible to AI crawlers](https://seostupidity.com/articles/seo-pixels-ai-crawlers-never-see/): We tested five sites running an SEO platform's JavaScript pixel. On every site with live changes, none of the fixes reached the HTML AI crawlers read.
- [How to audit your site's agent readiness](https://seostupidity.com/articles/agent-readiness-audit/): AI agents are starting to use websites, not just read them. A step-by-step check you can run in an afternoon, with JavaScript off and on.
- [GEO without the snake oil: how pages get cited](https://seostupidity.com/articles/geo-without-the-snake-oil/): Generative engines cite pages they can read, understand and trust. Five things that help, and the "AI optimization" tricks that don't.
- [Your link previews are broken and you've never looked](https://seostupidity.com/articles/broken-link-previews/): When someone shares your page, the preview comes from a few meta tags in your raw HTML. Missing, relative or JavaScript-added tags mean a blank card.
- [The AI crawlers you're blocking by accident](https://seostupidity.com/articles/ai-crawlers-you-block-by-accident/): AI companies run separate crawlers for training and for search. Block the wrong name, or let your CDN block for you, and you vanish from AI answers.
- [FAQ schema won't get you FAQ rich results anymore](https://seostupidity.com/articles/faq-schema-rich-results/): Since August 2023 Google shows FAQ rich results only for well-known government and health sites. Selling FAQ markup as a search win is three years late.
- [Your sitemap is lying to Google](https://seostupidity.com/articles/sitemap-lying-to-google/): Google ignores priority and changefreq, and stops trusting lastmod when every page claims it changed today. What a sitemap should actually say.
- [Your homepage has four addresses. Pick one.](https://seostupidity.com/articles/four-versions-of-your-homepage/): http, https, www and bare: every site answers on four addresses. Each one should reach the same final URL in a single redirect, not three.

## Pages

- [About](https://seostupidity.com/about/): Who writes Seostupidity, how the site works, and how it relates to PageClimber.
- [The 2026 Q4 Stupidity Index](https://seostupidity.com/index/2026-q4-stupidity/): Ten SEO mistakes we keep running into in late 2026, the evidence for each, and the fix.
- [Methods](https://seostupidity.com/methods/): How Seostupidity checks a site for classic search, AI answer engines, generative engines and AI agents.
- [AEO: answer engine optimization](https://seostupidity.com/methods/aeo/): What it takes to be picked as the answer by AI answer engines, and how Seostupidity checks it.
- [ARO: agent readiness optimization](https://seostupidity.com/methods/aro/): What makes a site readable and usable by AI agents, and how Seostupidity checks it with JavaScript off and on.
- [GEO: generative engine optimization](https://seostupidity.com/methods/geo/): What it takes to be cited as a source by generative engines, and how Seostupidity checks it.
- [How we audit a site for SEO](https://seostupidity.com/methods/seo-audit/): The classic-search checks Seostupidity runs on a site, in order, and what counts as a pass for each.
- [Free SEO and AI-visibility checks](https://seostupidity.com/tools/): Six free checks for the mistakes we see most: AI bot blocking, redirects, schema, sitemaps, share previews and agent readiness.