seo-auditor

name	seo-auditor
description	Audit websites for SEO issues and optimize content for search engine visibility.

SEO Auditor & Content Optimizer

Audit websites for technical SEO issues, analyze on-page optimization, and provide actionable recommendations to improve search engine visibility and rankings.

When to Use

• User wants an SEO audit of their website
• User asks how to improve search rankings
• User wants to optimize content for specific keywords
• User needs meta tag, title, or description improvements
• User wants to compare their SEO against competitors

When NOT to Use

• Paid advertising strategy (use ad-creative skill)
• Social media content creation (use content-machine skill)
• General competitive analysis without SEO focus (use competitive-analysis)
• Building pages at scale for SEO (use programmatic-seo skill)

Methodology

Audit Priority Order

1. Crawlability & Indexation (can Google find and index it?)
2. Technical Foundations (is the site fast and functional?)
3. On-Page Optimization (is content optimized?)
4. Content Quality (does it deserve to rank?)
5. Authority & Links (does it have credibility?)

Step 1: Crawlability & Indexation

Robots.txt:

• Check for unintentional blocks
• Verify important pages allowed
• Check sitemap reference

XML Sitemap:

• Exists and accessible
• Contains only canonical, indexable URLs
• Updated regularly

Site Architecture:

• Important pages within 3 clicks of homepage
• Logical hierarchy
• No orphan pages (pages with no internal links)

Index Status:

• site:domain.com check
• Compare indexed vs. expected page count

Indexation Issues:

• Noindex tags on important pages
• Canonicals pointing wrong direction
• Redirect chains/loops
• Soft 404s
• Duplicate content without canonicals

Canonicalization:

• All pages have canonical tags
• HTTP → HTTPS canonicals
• www vs. non-www consistency
• Trailing slash consistency

Step 2: Technical Foundations

Core Web Vitals (2025-2026):

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): < 2.5s
• INP (Interaction to Next Paint): < 200ms — replaced FID in 2025 as the responsiveness metric
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): < 0.1

Speed Factors:

• Server response time (TTFB)
• Image optimization and modern formats (WebP)
• JavaScript execution and bundle size
• CSS delivery
• Caching headers and CDN usage
• Font loading strategy

Mobile-Friendliness:

• Responsive design (not separate m. site)
• Tap target sizes
• Viewport configured
• No horizontal scroll
• Mobile-first indexing readiness

Security:

• HTTPS across entire site
• Valid SSL certificate
• No mixed content
• HSTS header

URL Structure:

• Readable, descriptive URLs
• Keywords where natural
• Consistent structure (lowercase, hyphen-separated)
• No unnecessary parameters

Note: Google now excludes pages returning non-200 status codes (4xx, 5xx) from the rendering queue entirely — critical for SPAs.

Step 3: On-Page SEO

Title Tags:

• Unique per page, 50-60 characters
• Primary keyword near beginning
• Compelling and click-worthy
• Brand name at end
• Common issues: duplicates, too long/short, keyword stuffing, missing

Meta Descriptions:

• Unique per page, 150-160 characters
• Includes primary keyword
• Clear value proposition with CTA
• Common issues: duplicates, auto-generated, no compelling reason to click

Heading Structure:

• One H1 per page containing primary keyword
• Logical hierarchy (H1 → H2 → H3, no skipping)
• Headings describe content, not used just for styling

Content Optimization:

• Keyword in first 100 words
• Related keywords naturally used
• Sufficient depth for topic
• Answers search intent
• Better than current top-ranking competitors

Image Optimization:

• Descriptive file names and alt text
• Compressed file sizes, modern formats (WebP)
• Lazy loading, responsive images

Internal Linking:

• Important pages well-linked with descriptive anchor text
• No broken internal links
• No orphan pages

Keyword Targeting (per page):

• Clear primary keyword target
• Title, H1, URL aligned with keyword
• Content satisfies search intent
• Not competing with other pages (cannibalization)

Step 4: Content Quality — E-E-A-T Signals

Experience: First-hand experience demonstrated, original insights/data, real examples Expertise: Author credentials visible, accurate and detailed information, properly sourced claims Authoritativeness: Recognized in the space, cited by others, industry credentials Trustworthiness: Accurate information, transparent about business, contact info available, privacy policy, HTTPS

Step 5: Bot Governance & AI Readiness

• Review robots.txt to differentiate between beneficial retrieval agents (OAI-SearchBot, Googlebot) and non-beneficial training scrapers
• Use structured data (schema.org) as the language of LLMs
• Use "BLUF" (Bottom Line Up Front) formatting to help content get cited in AI Overviews

Schema Markup Detection Warning: webFetch and curl cannot reliably detect structured data — many CMS plugins inject JSON-LD via client-side JavaScript. Never report "no schema found" based solely on webFetch. Recommend using Google Rich Results Test or browser DevTools for accurate schema verification.

Step 6: Competitor SEO Comparison

• Search for target keywords and analyze top-ranking pages
• Identify content gaps and opportunities
• Compare meta tags, content depth, structure, and E-E-A-T signals

Common Issues by Site Type

SaaS/Product Sites: Product pages lack content depth, blog not integrated with product pages, missing comparison/alternative pages, thin feature pages E-commerce: Thin category pages, duplicate product descriptions, missing product schema, faceted navigation creating duplicates Content/Blog Sites: Outdated content not refreshed, keyword cannibalization, no topical clustering, poor internal linking Local Business: Inconsistent NAP, missing local schema, no Google Business Profile optimization

Output Format

SEO Audit Report Structure

# SEO Audit Report: [Website]

## Executive Summary

- Overall health assessment
- Top 3-5 priority issues
- Quick wins identified

## Critical Issues (Fix Immediately)
| Issue | Page | Impact | Evidence | Fix |
|-------|------|--------|----------|-----|

## High-Impact Improvements
| Issue | Page | Impact | Evidence | Fix |
|-------|------|--------|----------|-----|

## Quick Wins
| Opportunity | Page | Potential Impact |
|------------|------|-----------------|

## Page-by-Page Analysis

### [Page URL]

- **Title**: Current | Recommended
- **Meta Description**: Current | Recommended
- **H1**: Current | Recommended
- **Content Score**: X/10
- **Issues**: [list]

## Prioritized Action Plan

1. Critical fixes (blocking indexation/ranking)
2. High-impact improvements
3. Quick wins (easy, immediate benefit)
4. Long-term recommendations

Tools

Free: Google Search Console, Google PageSpeed Insights, Rich Results Test (use for schema validation — it renders JavaScript), Mobile-Friendly Test, Schema Validator Paid (if available): Screaming Frog, Ahrefs / Semrush, Sitebulb

Best Practices

1. Prioritize by impact -- fix critical issues before optimizing nice-to-haves
2. Write for humans first -- keyword-stuffed content hurts rankings
3. Check actual SERPs -- search for target keywords to understand what Google currently rewards
4. Focus on search intent -- match content type to what users actually want
5. Monitor competitors -- see what top-ranking pages do well and identify gaps

Limitations

• Cannot access Google Search Console or Analytics data
• Cannot measure actual page speed (use Google Lighthouse separately)
• Cannot check backlink profiles (recommend Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz)
• Cannot run full site crawls (recommend Screaming Frog or Sitebulb)
• Cannot guarantee ranking improvements -- SEO involves many factors
• Cannot access pages behind authentication or paywalls