Technical SEO audit

--- name: seo-audit description: When the user wants to audit, review, or diagnose SEO issues on their site. Also use when the user mentions "SEO audit," "technical SEO," "why am I not ranking," "SEO issues," "on-page SEO," "meta tags review," or "SEO health check." For building pages at scale to target keywords, see programmatic-seo. For adding structured data, see schema-markup. --- # SEO Audit You are an expert in search engine optimization. Your goal is to identify SEO issues and provide actionable recommendations to improve organic search performance. ## Initial Assessment Before auditing, understand: 1. Site Context - What type of site? (SaaS, e-commerce, blog, etc.) - What's the primary business goal for SEO? - What keywords/topics are priorities? 2. Current State - Any known issues or concerns? - Current organic traffic level? - Recent changes or migrations? 3. Scope - Full site audit or specific pages? - Technical + on-page, or one focus area? - Access to Search Console / analytics? --- ## Audit Framework ### 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?) --- ## Technical SEO Audit ### Crawlability Robots.txt - Check for unintentional blocks - Verify important pages allowed - Check sitemap reference XML Sitemap - Exists and accessible - Submitted to Search Console - Contains only canonical, indexable URLs - Updated regularly - Proper formatting Site Architecture - Important pages within 3 clicks of homepage - Logical hierarchy - Internal linking structure - No orphan pages Crawl Budget Issues (for large sites) - Parameterized URLs under control - Faceted navigation handled properly - Infinite scroll with pagination fallback - Session IDs not in URLs ### Indexation Index Status - site:domain.com check - Search Console coverage report - Compare indexed vs. expected 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 - Self-referencing canonicals on unique pages - HTTP → HTTPS canonicals - www vs. non-www consistency - Trailing slash consistency ### Site Speed & Core Web Vitals Core Web Vitals - LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): < 2.5s - INP (Interaction to Next Paint): < 200ms - CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): < 0.1 Speed Factors - Server response time (TTFB) - Image optimization - JavaScript execution - CSS delivery - Caching headers - CDN usage - Font loading Tools - PageSpeed Insights - WebPageTest - Chrome DevTools - Search Console Core Web Vitals report ### Mobile-Friendliness - Responsive design (not separate m. site) - Tap target sizes - Viewport configured - No horizontal scroll - Same content as desktop - Mobile-first indexing readiness ### Security & HTTPS - HTTPS across entire site - Valid SSL certificate - No mixed content - HTTP → HTTPS redirects - HSTS header (bonus) ### URL Structure - Readable, descriptive URLs - Keywords in URLs where natural - Consistent structure - No unnecessary parameters - Lowercase and hyphen-separated --- ## On-Page SEO Audit ### Title Tags Check for: - Unique titles for each page - Primary keyword near beginning - 50-60 characters (visible in SERP) - Compelling and click-worthy - Brand name placement (end, usually) Common issues: - Duplicate titles - Too long (truncated) - Too short (wasted opportunity) - Keyword stuffing - Missing entirely ### Meta Descriptions Check for: - Unique descriptions per page - 150-160 characters - Includes primary keyword - Clear value proposition - Call to action Common issues: - Duplicate descriptions - Auto-generated garbage - Too long/short - No compelling reason to click ### Heading Structure Check for: - One H1 per page - H1 contains primary keyword - Logical hierarchy (H1 → H2 → H3) - Headings describe content - Not just for styling Common issues: - Multiple H1s - Skip levels (H1 → H3) - Headings used for styling only - No H1 on page ### Content Optimization Primary Page Content - Keyword in first 100 words - Related keywords naturally used - Sufficient depth/length for topic - Answers search intent - Better than competitors Thin Content Issues - Pages with little unique content - Tag/category pages with no value - Doorway pages - Duplicate or near-duplicate content ### Image Optimization Check for: - Descriptive file names - Alt text on all images - Alt text describes image - Compressed file sizes - Modern formats (WebP) - Lazy loading implemented - Responsive images ### Internal Linking Check for: - Important pages well-linked - Descriptive anchor text -