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
Check for product marketing context first:
If .claude/product-marketing-context.md exists, read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.
Before auditing, understand:
-
Site Context
- What type of site? (SaaS, e-commerce, blog, etc.)
- What's the primary business goal for SEO?
- What keywords/topics are priorities?
-
Current State
- Any known issues or concerns?
- Current organic traffic level?
- Recent changes or migrations?
-
Scope
- Full site audit or specific pages?
- Technical + on-page, or one focus area?
- Access to Search Console / analytics?
Audit Framework
The audit walks three layers — technical (crawl/indexation/speed), on-page (titles, headings, internal links, keyword targeting), content (intent match, E-E-A-T, thin/duplicate pages). Full framework: references/seo-audit-reference.md.
Core Web Vitals pass/fail thresholds (75th percentile of real-user data; full triage in references/cwv-thresholds.md):
| Metric | Good | Needs improvement | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|
| LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) | ≤ 2.5s | 2.5-4.0s | > 4.0s |
| INP (Interaction to Next Paint) | ≤ 200ms | 200-500ms | > 500ms |
| CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) | ≤ 0.1 | 0.1-0.25 | > 0.25 |
Tools
| Tool | Invocation | Output |
|---|---|---|
| On-page checker | python3 scripts/seo_checker.py --file page.html (or --url https://...; --json) | Scores a single page 0-100: title/meta/headings/links/images |
| Health scorer | python3 scripts/seo_health_scorer.py --checks checks.json --industry saas (no arg = --demo; industries: saas/ecommerce/local/publisher; --json) | Weighted 0-100 site health score across 7 categories |
Run seo_checker.py on the key templates/pages during the on-page layer, and seo_health_scorer.py on the completed check matrix to produce the audit's headline score.
Output Format
Audit Report Structure
Executive Summary
- Overall health assessment — lead with the
seo_health_scorer.pyscore and its weakest categories - Top 3-5 priority issues
- Quick wins identified
Technical SEO Findings For each issue:
- Issue: What's wrong
- Impact: SEO impact (High/Medium/Low)
- Evidence: How you found it
- Fix: Specific recommendation
- Priority: 1-5 or High/Medium/Low
On-Page SEO Findings Same format as above
Content Findings Same format as above
Prioritized Action Plan
- Critical fixes (blocking indexation/ranking)
- High-impact improvements
- Quick wins (easy, immediate benefit)
- Long-term recommendations
References
- SEO Audit Reference: Full audit framework, scoring, and remediation patterns
- Core Web Vitals Thresholds: LCP/INP/CLS targets and triage rules
- E-E-A-T Framework: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness checklist
- Schema Types: Structured data patterns by content type
Tools Referenced
Free Tools
- Google Search Console (essential)
- Google PageSpeed Insights
- Bing Webmaster Tools
- Rich Results Test
- Mobile-Friendly Test
- Schema Validator
Paid Tools (if available)
- Screaming Frog
- Ahrefs / Semrush
- Sitebulb
- ContentKing
Task-Specific Questions
- What pages/keywords matter most?
- Do you have Search Console access?
- Any recent changes or migrations?
- Who are your top organic competitors?
- What's your current organic traffic baseline?
Related Skills
- programmatic-seo — WHEN: user wants to build SEO pages at scale after the audit identifies keyword gaps. WHEN NOT: don't use for diagnosing existing issues; stay in seo-audit mode.
- aeo — WHEN: user wants to optimize for AI answer engines (SGE, Perplexity, ChatGPT) in addition to traditional search. WHEN NOT: don't use for purely technical crawl/indexation issues.
- schema-markup — WHEN: audit reveals missing structured data opportunities (FAQ, HowTo, Product, Review schemas). WHEN NOT: don't use as a standalone fix when core technical SEO is broken.
- site-architecture — WHEN: audit uncovers poor internal linking, orphan pages, or crawl depth issues that need a structural redesign. WHEN NOT: don't involve when the audit scope is limited to on-page or content issues.
- content-strategy — WHEN: audit reveals thin content, keyword gaps, or lack of topical authority requiring a content plan. WHEN NOT: don't use when the problem is purely technical (robots.txt, redirects, speed).
- marketing-context — WHEN: always read first if
.claude/product-marketing-context.mdexists to avoid redundant questions. WHEN NOT: skip if no context file exists and user has provided all necessary product info directly.
Communication
All audit output follows the SEO Audit Quality Standard:
- Lead with the executive summary (3-5 bullets max)
- Findings use the Issue / Impact / Evidence / Fix / Priority format consistently
- Prioritized Action Plan is always the final deliverable section
- Avoid jargon without explanation; write for a technically-aware but non-SEO-specialist reader
- Quick wins are called out explicitly and kept separate from high-effort recommendations
- Never present recommendations without evidence or rationale
Proactive Triggers
Automatically surface seo-audit recommendations when:
- Traffic drop mentioned — User says organic traffic dropped or rankings fell; immediately frame an audit scope.
- Site migration or redesign — User mentions a planned or recent URL change, platform switch, or redesign; flag pre/post-migration audit needs.
- "Why isn't my page ranking?" — Any ranking frustration triggers the on-page + intent checklist before external factors.
- Content strategy discussion — When content-strategy skill is active and keyword gaps appear, proactively suggest an SEO audit to validate opportunity.
- New site or product launch — User preparing a launch; proactively recommend a technical SEO pre-launch checklist from the audit framework.
Output Artifacts
| Artifact | Format | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Executive Summary | Markdown bullets | 3-5 top issues + quick wins, suitable for sharing with stakeholders |
| Technical SEO Findings | Structured table | Issue / Impact / Evidence / Fix / Priority per finding |
| On-Page SEO Findings | Structured table | Same format, focused on content and metadata |
| Prioritized Action Plan | Numbered list | Ordered by impact × effort, grouped into Critical / High / Quick Wins |
| Keyword Cannibalization Map | Table | Pages competing for same keyword with recommended canonical or redirect actions |