SEO Audit

Skill Preview

---
name: seo-audit
description: Run a comprehensive SEO audit on any website. Use when someone says "audit my site", "check my SEO", "why aren't we ranking", "technical SEO review", or "find SEO issues". Covers crawlability, technical foundations, on-page optimization, content quality, and authority.
---

# SEO Audit

Run a structured SEO audit that identifies real issues and delivers actionable fixes. Not a generic checklist dump — a prioritized assessment based on what actually matters for this specific site.

**This is an interactive process.** Understand the site before auditing. Ask questions, then investigate.

> Originally adapted from [Corey Haines' marketing skills](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills). Modified and reformatted for SkillCraft.

## Phase 1: Site Context

Start by asking these questions ONE at a time:

> What type of site is this? (SaaS, e-commerce, blog, local business, etc.)

Then:

> What's your primary business goal for SEO? And what keywords or topics matter most?

Then:

> Any known issues, recent migrations, or changes? What's your current organic traffic level?

Finally:

> What's the scope — full site audit, specific pages, or one focus area (technical, content, on-page)?

Wait for all answers before proceeding.

## Phase 2: Audit Framework

Work through these in priority order. Not everything applies to every site — skip sections that aren't relevant.

### Priority 1: Crawlability & Indexation

Can Google find and index the site?

**Robots.txt** — check for unintentional blocks, verify important pages are allowed, confirm sitemap reference.

**XML Sitemap** — exists and accessible, contains only canonical indexable URLs, submitted to Search Console, updated regularly.

**Site Architecture** — important pages within 3 clicks of homepage, logical hierarchy, no orphan pages.

**Index Status** — run site:domain.com check. Compare indexed pages vs expected. Look for noindex 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, www vs non-www, trailing slash consistency.

### Priority 2: Technical Foundations

Is the site fast and functional?

**Core Web Vitals:**
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): target < 2.5s
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint): target < 200ms
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): target < 0.1

**Speed factors** — server response time (TTFB), image optimization, JS execution, CSS delivery, caching headers, CDN, font loading.

**Mobile** — responsive design (not separate m. site), tap target sizes, viewport configured, no horizontal scroll, same content as desktop.

**HTTPS** — valid SSL across entire site, no mixed content, HTTP→HTTPS redirects.

**URL structure** — readable and descriptive, keywords where natural, consistent, lowercase and hyphen-separated.

### Priority 3: On-Page Optimization

Is the content optimized for search?

**Title tags** — unique per page, primary keyword near beginning, 50-60 characters, compelling and click-worthy. Watch for: duplicates, truncation, keyword stuffing, missing entirely.

**Meta descriptions** — unique per page, 150-160 characters, includes primary keyword, clear value proposition, call to action.

**Heading structure** — one H1 per page containing primary keyword, logical hierarchy (H1→H2→H3), headings describe content (not used for styling only).

**Content optimization** — keyword in first 100 words, related keywords used naturally, sufficient depth for the topic, answers search intent, better than competitors.

**Images** — descriptive file names, alt text on all images, compressed sizes, modern formats (WebP), lazy loading, responsive.

**Internal linking** — important pages well-linked, descriptive anchor text, logical relationships, no broken links, no orphan pages.

### Priority 4: Content Quality

Does it deserve to rank?

**E-E-A-T signals:**
- Experience: first-hand experience demonstrated, original data/insights
- Expertise: author credentials visible, accurate detailed information
- Authoritativeness: recognized in space, cited by others
- Trustworthiness: accurate info, transparent about business, contact info, privacy policy, HTTPS

**Content depth** — comprehensive coverage, answers follow-up questions, better than top-ranking competitors, current and updated.

### Priority 5: Authority & Links

Does it have credibility? (Limited to what you can observe — full backlink analysis requires tools like Ahrefs/SEMRush.)

### Schema Markup Note

If checking for structured data: `web_fetch` and `curl` cannot reliably detect JSON-LD injected via JavaScript. Many CMS plugins inject schema client-side. Use Google's Rich Results Test or browser DevTools instead.

## Phase 3: Common Issues by Site Type

Apply the relevant pattern:

**SaaS** — product pages lack content depth, blog not integrated with product pages, missing comparison/alternative pages, feature pages thin.

**E-commerce** — thin category pages, duplicate product descriptions, missing product schema, faceted navigation creating duplicates, out-of-stock pages mishandled.

**Content/Blog** — outdated content not refreshed, keyword cannibalization, no topical clustering, poor internal linking.

**Local Business** — inconsistent NAP, missing local schema, no Google Business Profile optimization, no location pages.

## Phase 4: Report

Structure findings as:

**Executive Summary** — overall health, top 3-5 priority issues, quick wins.

**For each finding:**
- **Issue**: what's wrong
- **Impact**: High / Medium / Low
- **Evidence**: how you found it
- **Fix**: specific recommendation

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