Components: Table of Contents (TOC)

Guides TOC implementation for long-form articles, guides, and whitepapers. TOCs improve UX and SEO by enabling quick navigation and reducing bounce rates.

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 content structure.

Identify:

1. Content type: Blog article, guide, whitepaper, documentation
2. Length: TOC most valuable for 1000+ word content
3. Platform: Web, mobile, both

Placement Strategies

Technical Implementation

Heading Structure

• One <h1> per page
• <h2> for major sections
• <h3> for subsections; avoid skipping levels
• Headings >=15 characters for SEO

Jump Links

• Assign unique IDs to headings (e.g., id="keyword-optimization")
• Use kebab-case for IDs
• Link TOC entries via anchor tags (#section-id)
• Descriptive anchor text; include target keywords naturally

Semantic HTML

<nav aria-label="Table of contents">
  <ol>
    <li><a href="#section-1">Section Title</a></li>
  </ol>
</nav>

SEO Best Practices

UX Guidelines

Visibility & Interaction

• Clear visual hierarchy; indent nested items
• Highlight current section when scrolling (optional)
• Smooth scroll behavior for jump links

Mobile

• Minimum 16px font size
• Touch targets >=44x44px
• Responsive layout; consider collapsible on small screens

Accessibility

Output Format

• TOC structure (sections, nesting)
• Heading/ID mapping suggestions
• HTML/ARIA notes
• SEO checklist

Related Skills

• seo-on-page-heading: TOC built from heading structure
• seo-content-optimization: H2 structure, lists, tables for Featured Snippets
• pages-article: TOC common in long-form article pages