cwinvestments 🔎 Site Audit: Running comprehensive SEO audit...
Scans every page for meta tags, heading hierarchy, broken links, image optimization, Core Web Vitals, robots/sitemap, performance, and structured data, producing a prioritized fix list.
Activation
When this skill activates, output:
🔎 Site Audit, Scanning site for SEO issues...
Then execute the protocol below.
| Context | Status |
|---|---|
| User says "SEO audit" or "site audit" or "check SEO" | ACTIVE |
| User says "technical SEO" or "audit my site" | ACTIVE |
| Evaluating a website's overall search health | ACTIVE |
| Optimizing specific meta tags (not full audit) | DORMANT: use meta-tag-optimizer |
| Adding schema markup (not auditing) | DORMANT: use schema-markup |
| Researching keywords (not auditing) | DORMANT: use keyword-research |
Anti-patterns
| Trap | Reality Check |
|---|---|
| "The site looks fine in the browser" | Crawlers and users see different things. Missing meta tags, broken links, and slow JS are invisible to humans. |
| "We'll optimize after launch" | Technical debt compounds. Fixing 5 issues now prevents 50 issues later when Google has already indexed the problems. |
| "One audit is enough" | Sites change with every deploy. Audit after major content or code changes, minimum quarterly. |
| "Performance doesn't affect SEO" | Core Web Vitals are ranking signals. Slow sites rank lower regardless of content quality. |
| "Robots.txt is set and forget" | One wrong rule can deindex your entire site. Review after every major structural change. |
Protocol
For how each AI search engine ranks and cites content (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overview, Copilot, Claude, and Google traditional as baseline), see references/platform-ranking-factors.md. Use it to prioritize fixes, a client whose audience is primarily on Perplexity benefits most from FAQ schema and PDF-friendly pages, while a ChatGPT-first audience needs backlinks and 30-day-fresh content.
Step 0: Live site snapshot (optional, for deployed URLs)
If the site is already deployed, run the bundled stdlib-only audit script for a one-shot snapshot before walking the source-tree checks below:
python scripts/live_audit.py https://example.com
No API keys, no pip installs, no external dependencies: pure Python 3 stdlib (urllib, html.parser, json). It fetches the page once and checks title, meta description, heading hierarchy, image alt attributes, JSON-LD structured data, canonical URL, Open Graph tags, robots meta, viewport, robots.txt (including AI bot rules), sitemap.xml, page load time, and internal vs. external link counts. Output uses the same severity format (🔴 Critical / 🟠 High / 🟡 Medium / 🔵 Low) as the scorecard in Step 9, and the script exit code reflects severity (0 clean, 1 high, 2 critical) so it can also gate CI.
Use this for deployed-URL audits; use Steps 1-8 below for source-tree scans of unshipped code. The two are complementary, the live script confirms what actually reaches crawlers, the grep steps catch issues before they ship.
Step 1: Check Meta Tags
Scan every page for required meta tags:
# Find all page files
find app/ pages/ src/ -name "*.tsx" -o -name "*.jsx" -o -name "*.html" | grep -v node_modules
# Search for meta tag patterns
grep -rn "title\|<meta\|og:title\|og:description\|og:image\|canonical" --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" --include="*.html" . | grep -v node_modules
Required meta tags per page:
| Tag | Required | Rule |
|---|---|---|
<title> |
Yes | Unique per page, 50-60 chars, includes primary keyword |
<meta name="description"> |
Yes | Unique per page, 150-155 chars, includes CTA |
<link rel="canonical"> |
Yes | Points to the canonical URL (prevents duplicate content) |
<meta property="og:title"> |
Yes | Social sharing title (can differ from page title) |
<meta property="og:description"> |
Yes | Social sharing description |
<meta property="og:image"> |
Yes | Social sharing image (1200x630px recommended) |
<meta property="og:url"> |
Yes | Canonical URL |
<meta name="robots"> |
Conditional | noindex on admin, auth, and internal pages |
<meta name="viewport"> |
Yes | width=device-width, initial-scale=1 |
Score per page:
- ✅ All required tags present and valid
- ⚠️ Missing optional tags
- ❌ Missing required tags or invalid values
Step 2: Check Heading Hierarchy
# Find heading usage across all pages
grep -rn "<h[1-6]\|<H[1-6]" --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" --include="*.html" . | grep -v node_modules
Heading rules:
| Rule | Check | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Single H1 per page | Count H1 tags | Multiple H1s confuse crawlers about the page topic |
| H1 matches page title (roughly) | Compare H1 to <title> |
Consistency signals relevance |
| No skipped levels | H1 → H2 → H3, not H1 → H3 | Broken hierarchy hurts accessibility and SEO |
| Keywords in H1 and H2 | Check for target keyword | Headings are high-weight ranking signals |
| No empty headings | Check for <h2></h2> |
Empty headings are wasted signals |
| Headings aren't used for styling | Check if headings are decorative | Use CSS for size, headings for structure |
Step 3: Check for Broken Links
# Find all links in the codebase
grep -rn 'href="\|href={' --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" --include="*.html" --include="*.md" . | grep -v node_modules | grep -v "mailto:\|tel:\|#"
Check each link category:
| Category | What to Check | Common Issues |
|---|---|---|
| Internal links | Path exists in the app | Renamed pages, deleted routes |
| External links | URL returns 200 | Dead links, moved pages, domain expired |
| Anchor links | Target ID exists on page | Renamed sections, removed elements |
| Image links | Image file exists, loads | Wrong path, deleted assets |
| API endpoints | Endpoint is live | Changed API routes |
Flag: Any link returning 404, 500, or timeout. Prioritize fixing internal broken links (you control these).
Step 4: Check Image Optimization
# Find all images
grep -rn '<img\|<Image\|background-image' --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" --include="*.css" . | grep -v node_modules
# Check for alt text
grep -rn '<img\|<Image' --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" . | grep -v 'alt=' | grep -v node_modules
Image optimization checklist:
| Check | Rule | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Alt text present | Every <img> has alt attribute |
Accessibility + image SEO |
| Alt text descriptive | Not empty, not "image", includes context | Screen readers and image search |
| File size | Under 200KB for standard images, under 100KB for thumbnails | Page speed |
| Modern format | WebP or AVIF preferred over PNG/JPG | 25-50% smaller file size |
| Lazy loading | loading="lazy" on below-fold images |
Reduces initial page load |
| Dimensions | width and height attributes set |
Prevents Cumulative Layout Shift |
| Next.js Image | Using next/image component |
Automatic optimization, lazy loading, sizing |
| Responsive | srcset or responsive sizing |
Serves appropriate size per device |
Step 5: Check Core Web Vitals Indicators
Scan code for patterns that affect CWV scores:
# Render-blocking resources
grep -rn '<link.*stylesheet\|<script(?!.*defer\|.*async)' --include="*.html" . | grep -v node_modules
# Layout shift indicators (missing dimensions)
grep -rn '<img\|<video\|<iframe' --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" . | grep -v 'width\|height\|aspect' | grep -v node_modules
# Large bundle imports
grep -rn "import .* from ['\"]lodash['\"]" --include="*.ts" --include="*.tsx" . | grep -v node_modules
CWV targets:
| Metric | Good | Needs Improvement | Poor | What Causes Failure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) | < 2.5s | 2.5-4.0s | > 4.0s | Large hero images, slow server, render-blocking CSS |
| INP (Interaction to Next Paint) | < 200ms | 200-500ms | > 500ms | Heavy JS on main thread, long tasks |
| CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) | < 0.1 | 0.1-0.25 | > 0.25 | Images without dimensions, dynamic content injection, web fonts |
Code-level checks:
- ❌ Large JavaScript bundles without code splitting
- ❌ Synchronous
<script>tags (usedeferorasync) - ❌ CSS loaded without
mediaqueries for non-critical styles - ❌ Web fonts without
font-display: swap(causes invisible text flash) - ❌ Third-party scripts loaded in
<head>(move to end of<body>or lazy load)
Step 6: Check robots.txt and Sitemap
# Check for robots.txt
cat public/robots.txt 2>/dev/null
# Check for sitemap
cat public/sitemap.xml 2>/dev/null
ls public/sitemap*.xml 2>/dev/null
robots.txt checklist:
| Check | Expected | Issue if Missing |
|---|---|---|
| File exists | public/robots.txt |
Crawlers assume everything is allowed |
| Sitemap referenced | Sitemap: https://domain.com/sitemap.xml |
Crawlers may not find your sitemap |
| Admin pages blocked | Disallow: /admin |
Internal pages get indexed |
| API routes blocked | Disallow: /api |
API endpoints appear in search |
| Auth pages blocked | Disallow: /login, /register |
Auth pages waste crawl budget |
| Assets allowed | CSS/JS not blocked | Crawlers can't render the page |
sitemap.xml checklist:
| Check | Expected | Issue if Missing |
|---|---|---|
| File exists | public/sitemap.xml |
Crawlers may miss pages |
| All public pages listed | Every indexable page | Unlisted pages get lower priority |
<lastmod> dates |
Accurate last modified date | Stale dates reduce crawl frequency |
| No noindex pages included | Only indexable pages | Contradictory signals confuse crawlers |
| Submitted to Search Console | Verified in GSC | Google may not discover it |
Step 7: Check Page Performance
# Check bundle size (Next.js)
ls -la .next/static/chunks/*.js 2>/dev/null | sort -k5 -n -r | head -10
# Check for render-blocking patterns
grep -rn "useEffect\|useState" --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" . | grep -v node_modules | wc -l
Performance checklist:
| Check | Target | How to Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Total page weight | < 1MB (initial load) | Code split, lazy load, compress |
| JavaScript bundle | < 200KB (main bundle) | Tree shaking, dynamic imports |
| CSS | < 50KB (critical CSS) | Purge unused CSS, inline critical |
| Fonts | < 100KB total | Subset fonts, use font-display: swap |
| Images | < 200KB each | Compress, use WebP, lazy load |
| Time to First Byte | < 200ms | Server optimization, CDN |
| First Contentful Paint | < 1.8s | Optimize critical rendering path |
Step 8: Check Structured Data
# Search for JSON-LD schema markup
grep -rn "application/ld+json\|schema.org" --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" --include="*.html" . | grep -v node_modules
# Check for common schema types
grep -rn "Organization\|Product\|Article\|BreadcrumbList\|FAQPage\|WebSite" --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" . | grep -v node_modules
Required schema by page type:
| Page Type | Required Schema | Rich Result Eligibility |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage | Organization, WebSite, SearchAction | Sitelinks search box |
| Product page | Product (with price, availability) | Product rich results |
| Blog post | Article (with author, datePublished) | Article rich results |
| FAQ page | FAQPage | FAQ rich results |
| How-to page | HowTo | How-to rich results |
| Local business | LocalBusiness (with address, hours) | Local pack, knowledge panel |
| Breadcrumbs | BreadcrumbList | Breadcrumb trail in SERP |
Flag if: No structured data found at all, this is a significant missed opportunity for rich results in search.
Step 9: Output Scorecard
🔎 Site Audit: Complete
Site: [domain]
Pages scanned: [count]
Overall score: [X/100]
Category scores:
Meta tags: [X/10], [count] issues
Heading hierarchy: [X/10], [count] issues
Broken links: [X/10], [count] issues
Image optimization: [X/10], [count] issues
Core Web Vitals: [X/10], [count] issues
Robots/sitemap: [X/10], [count] issues
Performance: [X/10], [count] issues
Structured data: [X/10]: [count] issues
Priority fix list (by impact):
🔴 Critical: [count]
1. [Most impactful issue, e.g., "No sitemap.xml found"]
2. [Second issue]
🟠 High: [count]
3. [Issue]
4. [Issue]
🟡 Medium: [count]
5. [Issue]
🔵 Low: [count]
6. [Issue]
Page-by-page breakdown:
/ (homepage), Score: [X/10], [issues summary]
/about, Score: [X/10], [issues summary]
/blog/[slug], Score: [X/10], [issues summary]
/pricing, Score: [X/10], [issues summary]
Next steps:
1. Fix all Critical issues immediately
2. Run meta-tag-optimizer for tag-specific fixes
3. Run schema-markup to add missing structured data
4. Re-audit after fixes to verify improvement
5. Submit updated sitemap to Google Search Console
Level History
- Lv.1: Base: Meta tag scanning, heading hierarchy, broken link detection, image optimization, Core Web Vitals code patterns, robots.txt/sitemap.xml, page performance, structured data presence, scored page-by-page output with prioritized fix list. (Origin: MemStack Pro v3.2, Mar 2026)