| name | geo-technical |
| description | Technical SEO audit with GEO-specific checks — crawlability, indexability, security, performance, SSR, and AI crawler access |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| author | geo-seo-claude |
| tags | ["geo","technical-seo","core-web-vitals","ssr","crawlability","security","performance"] |
GEO Technical SEO Audit
Purpose
Foundation audit for both traditional search and AI citation. Most critical GEO gates: server-side rendering (AI crawlers do not execute JavaScript) and AI crawler access (sites often inadvertently block AI bots in robots.txt). 8 categories, 100 points.
How to Use This Skill
- Collect target URL (homepage + 2-3 key inner pages)
- Fetch each page using curl/WebFetch — get raw HTML + HTTP headers
- Run through each of the 8 audit categories below
- Score using the rubric
- Generate GEO-TECHNICAL-AUDIT.md (template at end)
Sub-check details, fix lists, framework-specific SSR solutions, and the IndexNow protocol explainer are in checks.md alongside this file. Reference it as needed.
Category 1: Crawlability (15 pts)
Sub-checks (detail in checks.md §1):
- 1.1 robots.txt validity — syntactic correctness, sitemap reference
- 1.2 AI crawler access (CRITICAL) — see table below
- 1.3 XML sitemaps — valid XML,
<lastmod> accurate, sample-verify 200s
- 1.4 Crawl depth — important pages within 3 clicks of homepage
- 1.5 Noindex management — no erroneous
noindex on indexable pages
AI Crawlers — User-Agent Reference
| Crawler | User-Agent | Platform |
|---|
| GPTBot | GPTBot | ChatGPT / OpenAI |
| Google-Extended | Google-Extended | Gemini / Google AI training |
| Googlebot | Googlebot | Google Search + AI Overviews |
| Bingbot | bingbot | Bing Copilot + ChatGPT (via Bing) |
| PerplexityBot | PerplexityBot | Perplexity AI |
| ClaudeBot | ClaudeBot | Anthropic Claude |
| Amazonbot | Amazonbot | Alexa / Amazon AI |
| CCBot | CCBot | Common Crawl (many AI models) |
| FacebookBot | FacebookExternalHit | Meta AI |
| Bytespider | Bytespider | TikTok / ByteDance AI |
| Applebot-Extended | Applebot-Extended | Apple Intelligence |
Scoring
| Check | Points |
|---|
| robots.txt valid and complete | 3 |
| AI crawlers allowed | 5 |
| XML sitemap present and valid | 3 |
| Crawl depth within 3 clicks | 2 |
| No erroneous noindex directives | 2 |
Category 2: Indexability (12 pts)
Sub-checks (detail in checks.md §2):
- 2.1 Canonical tags — self-referencing, no conflicts, no chains
- 2.2 Duplicate content — www/non-www, HTTP/HTTPS, trailing slash, params
- 2.3 Pagination —
rel="next/prev" or canonical-to-first
- 2.4 Hreflang — reciprocal, x-default, valid ISO codes
- 2.5 Index bloat — indexed pages vs valuable content pages
| Check | Points |
|---|
| Canonical tags correct on all pages | 3 |
| No duplicate content issues | 3 |
| Pagination handled correctly | 2 |
| Hreflang correct (if applicable) | 2 |
| No index bloat | 2 |
Category 3: Security (10 pts)
Required HTTP response headers (detail + values in checks.md §3): Strict-Transport-Security, Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff, X-Frame-Options: DENY or SAMEORIGIN, Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin (or stricter), Permissions-Policy.
HTTPS: enforced, HTTP→HTTPS 301, no mixed content, valid unexpired cert.
| Check | Points |
|---|
| HTTPS enforced with valid cert | 4 |
| HSTS header present | 2 |
| X-Content-Type-Options | 1 |
| X-Frame-Options | 1 |
| Referrer-Policy | 1 |
| Content-Security-Policy | 1 |
Category 4: URL Structure (8 pts)
Sub-checks (detail in checks.md §4):
- 4.1 Clean URLs — human-readable, lowercase, hyphens, no session IDs
- 4.2 Logical hierarchy —
/category/subcategory/page, consistent
- 4.3 Redirect chains — max 1 hop, all 301, no loops
- 4.4 Parameter handling — canonical/Disallow, GSC + Bing WMT configured
| Check | Points |
|---|
| Clean, readable URLs | 2 |
| Logical hierarchy | 2 |
| No redirect chains (max 1 hop) | 2 |
| Parameter handling configured | 2 |
Category 5: Mobile Optimization (10 pts)
Critical: As of July 2024, Google crawls ALL sites exclusively with mobile Googlebot. No desktop crawling.
Sub-checks (detail in checks.md §5):
- 5.1 Responsive design —
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">, no horizontal scroll
- 5.2 Tap targets — minimum 48x48 CSS px, 8px spacing
- 5.3 Font sizes — base ≥ 16px, WCAG AA contrast (4.5:1 normal, 3:1 large)
- 5.4 Mobile content parity — all desktop content visible on mobile
| Check | Points |
|---|
| Viewport meta tag correct | 3 |
| Responsive layout (no horizontal scroll) | 3 |
| Tap targets appropriately sized | 2 |
| Font sizes legible | 2 |
Category 6: Core Web Vitals (15 pts)
Field data (75th percentile) is the ranking signal. Lab data is for debugging.
| Metric | Good | Needs Improvement | Poor | Notes |
|---|
| LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) | < 2.5s | 2.5s - 4.0s | > 4.0s | Time until largest visible element renders |
| INP (Interaction to Next Paint) | < 200ms | 200ms - 500ms | > 500ms | Replaced FID March 2024. Measures ALL interactions |
| CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) | < 0.1 | 0.1 - 0.25 | > 0.25 | Unexpected layout movements |
Without CrUX data, estimate from page characteristics; common fixes for each metric in checks.md §6.
| Check | Points |
|---|
| LCP < 2.5s | 5 |
| INP < 200ms | 5 |
| CLS < 0.1 | 5 |
Category 7: Server-Side Rendering (15 pts) — CRITICAL FOR GEO
AI crawlers (GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, etc.) do NOT execute JavaScript. They fetch raw HTML. Client-rendered content = invisible to AI. Googlebot does execute JS but deprioritizes it (separate rendering queue, days/weeks delay).
Detection Method
- Fetch with curl (no JS):
curl -s [URL]
- Compare raw HTML to browser-rendered DOM
- If key content (headings, paragraphs, product info, article text) is MISSING from curl output → client-side rendering
What to Check in Raw HTML
Main content text, headings (H1/H2/H3), navigation, structured data (JSON-LD), meta tags (title/description/canonical/OG), internal links.
SSR solutions per framework + extended scoring detail in checks.md §7.
| Check | Points |
|---|
| Main content in raw HTML | 8 |
| Meta tags + structured data in raw HTML | 4 |
| Internal links in raw HTML | 3 |
Category 8: Page Speed & Server Performance (15 pts)
Sub-checks (detail in checks.md §8):
- 8.1 TTFB — target < 800ms (ideal < 200ms). Measure:
curl -o /dev/null -s -w 'TTFB: %{time_starttransfer}s\n' [URL]
- 8.2 Resource optimization — total page weight < 2MB (critical pages < 1MB), gzip/brotli on, minified, unused CSS/JS
- 8.3 Image optimization — WebP/AVIF, correctly sized,
loading="lazy" below fold (NOT above), explicit width/height
- 8.4 Code splitting — JS bundles < 200KB compressed (warning), < 500KB (critical),
async/defer third-party, no render-blocking in <head>
- 8.5 Caching — static assets
max-age=31536000 with content-hashed filenames; HTML short cache or no-cache with ETag/Last-Modified
- 8.6 CDN —
CF-Ray (Cloudflare), X-Cache (CloudFront), X-Served-By (Fastly)
| Check | Points |
|---|
| TTFB < 800ms | 3 |
| Page weight < 2MB | 2 |
| Images optimized (format, size, lazy) | 3 |
| JS bundles reasonable (< 200KB compressed) | 2 |
| Compression enabled (gzip/brotli) | 2 |
| Cache headers on static resources | 2 |
| CDN in use | 1 |
IndexNow Protocol
Bing/Yandex/Seznam/Naver instant-indexing protocol. Google does NOT support but monitors. GEO relevance: ChatGPT and Bing Copilot both use Bing's index — faster Bing indexing = faster AI visibility.
Check for https://[domain]/.well-known/indexnow-key.txt or CMS plugin. Full explainer in checks.md.
Overall Scoring
| Category | Max Points | Weight |
|---|
| Crawlability | 15 | Core foundation |
| Indexability | 12 | Core foundation |
| Security | 10 | Trust signal |
| URL Structure | 8 | Crawl efficiency |
| Mobile Optimization | 10 | Google requirement |
| Core Web Vitals | 15 | Ranking signal |
| Server-Side Rendering | 15 | GEO critical |
| Page Speed & Server | 15 | Performance |
| Total | 100 | |
Score interpretation bands in checks.md (90-100 Excellent, 70-89 Good, 50-69 Needs Work, 30-49 Poor, 0-29 Critical).
Output Format
Generate GEO-TECHNICAL-AUDIT.md with:
# GEO Technical SEO Audit — [Domain]
Date: [Date]
## Technical Score: XX/100
## Score Breakdown
| Category | Score | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Crawlability | XX/15 | Pass/Warn/Fail |
| Indexability | XX/12 | Pass/Warn/Fail |
| Security | XX/10 | Pass/Warn/Fail |
| URL Structure | XX/8 | Pass/Warn/Fail |
| Mobile Optimization | XX/10 | Pass/Warn/Fail |
| Core Web Vitals | XX/15 | Pass/Warn/Fail |
| Server-Side Rendering | XX/15 | Pass/Warn/Fail |
| Page Speed & Server | XX/15 | Pass/Warn/Fail |
Status: Pass = 80%+ of category points, Warn = 50-79%, Fail = <50%
## AI Crawler Access
| Crawler | User-Agent | Status | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPTBot | GPTBot | Allowed/Blocked | [Action] |
| Googlebot | Googlebot | Allowed/Blocked | [Action] |
[Continue for all AI crawlers]
## Critical Issues (fix immediately)
[List with specific page URLs and what is wrong]
## Warnings (fix this month)
[List with details]
## Recommendations (optimize this quarter)
[List with details]
## Detailed Findings
[Per-category breakdown with evidence]
