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 project context first: If .claude/project-context.md or .cursor/project-context.md exists, read it for content structure.

Identify:

• Content type: Blog article, guide, whitepaper, documentation

• Length: TOC most valuable for 1000+ word content

• Platform: Web, mobile, both

Placement Strategies

Placement

Best For

Pros

Cons

After intro

Most articles

Natural flow; visible early

Can scroll out of view

Floating sidebar

Very long content

Always visible

More complex; mobile challenges

Collapsible

Long articles

Less intrusive

May be overlooked

Top of article

Mobile-first

Accessible on all devices

Takes space

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

Practice

Purpose

Schema.org TableOfContents

Help search engines understand structure

Keywords in headings

Natural integration; avoid stuffing

Jump links in SERP

Google may feature TOC links; increases CTR; see serp-features

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

Requirement

Practice

ARIA

aria-label="Table of contents" on nav

Keyboard

All links keyboard-accessible

Screen readers

Proper heading structure; TOC aids skimming

Output Format

• TOC structure (sections, nesting)

• Heading/ID mapping suggestions

• HTML/ARIA notes

• SEO checklist

Related Skills

• tab-accordion: Collapsible TOC uses same disclosure pattern; details/summary implementation

• heading-structure: TOC built from heading structure

• content-optimization: H2 structure, lists, tables for Featured Snippets

• featured-snippet: Featured Snippet optimization; TOC supports snippet structure

• serp-features: SERP features; jump links in results

• article-page-generator: TOC common in long-form article pages