SEO Technical Skill
Purpose
Audit the technical SEO foundation of a website across 9 critical categories. Technical SEO determines whether search engines can discover, crawl, render, and index content correctly. This skill identifies infrastructure-level issues that block or degrade organic visibility.
Category 1: Crawlability
Standard Crawler Management
| Check |
Pass Criteria |
Severity |
| robots.txt exists |
Returns 200, valid syntax |
Critical |
| robots.txt not blocking key pages |
Sitemap, homepage, key landing pages accessible |
Critical |
| XML sitemap exists |
Referenced in robots.txt or at /sitemap.xml |
High |
| Sitemap is valid |
Well-formed XML, all URLs return 200 |
High |
| Sitemap size |
Under 50MB uncompressed; under 50,000 URLs per file |
Medium |
| Sitemap index |
Used if more than 50,000 URLs |
Medium |
| Crawl depth |
Key pages within 3 clicks of homepage |
High |
| Internal linking |
No orphan pages (pages with 0 internal links pointing to them) |
High |
| Redirect chains |
No chains longer than 2 hops |
Medium |
| Redirect loops |
Zero redirect loops |
Critical |
AI Crawler Management
Modern SEO must account for AI crawlers that scrape content for training and retrieval-augmented generation. Managing these crawlers is both a content protection and an AI search visibility decision.
AI Crawler Tokens
| Crawler |
Owner |
User-Agent Token |
robots.txt Directive |
| GPTBot |
OpenAI |
GPTBot |
User-agent: GPTBot |
| ChatGPT-User |
OpenAI |
ChatGPT-User |
User-agent: ChatGPT-User |
| OAI-SearchBot |
OpenAI |
OAI-SearchBot |
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot |
| ClaudeBot |
Anthropic |
ClaudeBot |
User-agent: ClaudeBot |
| anthropic-ai |
Anthropic |
anthropic-ai |
User-agent: anthropic-ai |
| PerplexityBot |
Perplexity |
PerplexityBot |
User-agent: PerplexityBot |
| Bytespider |
ByteDance |
Bytespider |
User-agent: Bytespider |
| Applebot-Extended |
Apple |
Applebot-Extended |
User-agent: Applebot-Extended |
| Google-Extended |
Google |
Google-Extended |
User-agent: Google-Extended |
| FacebookBot |
Meta |
FacebookExternalHit |
User-agent: FacebookExternalHit |
| cohere-ai |
Cohere |
cohere-ai |
User-agent: cohere-ai |
| Diffbot |
Diffbot |
Diffbot |
User-agent: Diffbot |
| Amazonbot |
Amazon |
Amazonbot |
User-agent: Amazonbot |
| YouBot |
You.com |
YouBot |
User-agent: YouBot |
AI Crawler Strategy Recommendations
| Strategy |
When to Use |
Implementation |
| Allow All |
Want maximum AI search visibility (citations, AI Overviews) |
No blocks in robots.txt |
| Allow Search, Block Training |
Want AI search citations but protect training data |
Allow OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User; Block GPTBot, Google-Extended |
| Block All AI |
Protect proprietary content entirely |
Block all AI tokens in robots.txt |
| Selective Allow |
Allow specific AI platforms aligned with business |
Whitelist approach: block all, then allow specific tokens |
Audit Checks
| Check |
What to Verify |
Severity |
| AI crawler directives present |
robots.txt mentions at least some AI crawlers |
Medium |
| Strategy is intentional |
Not accidentally blocking AI search crawlers |
High |
| Consistency |
If blocking GPTBot, consider whether OAI-SearchBot should also be blocked |
Medium |
| Content protection aligned |
Blocking matches content licensing strategy |
Medium |
Category 2: Indexability
| Check |
Pass Criteria |
Severity |
| No unintended noindex |
Key pages do not have <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> |
Critical |
| Canonical tags present |
All indexable pages have self-referencing canonical |
High |
| Canonical consistency |
Canonical URL matches actual URL (protocol, www/non-www, trailing slash) |
High |
| No canonical conflicts |
JavaScript-rendered canonical matches server-rendered canonical |
Critical |
| Duplicate content |
Content hash comparison; no substantial duplicates without canonical |
High |
| Pagination handling |
rel="next" / rel="prev" or load-more pattern (note: Google ignores these but Bing uses them) |
Low |
| Thin content pages |
Pages with <100 words flagged for review |
Medium |
| Parameter handling |
URL parameters not creating duplicate indexable pages |
High |
| Index coverage |
Compare indexed pages (via sitemap) vs crawled pages; identify gaps |
High |
Category 3: Security Headers
| Header |
Recommended Value |
Severity |
Strict-Transport-Security |
max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload |
High |
X-Content-Type-Options |
nosniff |
Medium |
X-Frame-Options |
DENY or SAMEORIGIN |
Medium |
Content-Security-Policy |
Appropriate policy (not overly permissive) |
Medium |
Referrer-Policy |
strict-origin-when-cross-origin or stricter |
Low |
Permissions-Policy |
Restrict unnecessary APIs (camera, microphone, geolocation) |
Low |
| HTTPS enforcement |
All HTTP requests redirect to HTTPS |
Critical |
| Mixed content |
No HTTP resources loaded on HTTPS pages |
High |
| SSL certificate |
Valid, not expired, covers all subdomains |
Critical |
Category 4: URL Structure
| Check |
Pass Criteria |
Severity |
| Clean URLs |
Human-readable, descriptive slugs |
Medium |
| Consistent format |
Consistent trailing slash policy (all with or all without) |
High |
| Lowercase |
All URLs are lowercase; uppercase variants redirect |
Medium |
| No special characters |
No spaces, underscores (use hyphens), or encoded characters |
Medium |
| Depth |
Key pages within 3 levels of hierarchy |
Medium |
| Consistent protocol |
www vs non-www resolved; one redirects to the other |
High |
| No session IDs |
URLs do not contain session parameters |
High |
| Logical hierarchy |
URL path reflects site architecture (/category/subcategory/page) |
Low |
Category 5: Mobile Optimization
Mobile-First Indexing (Fully Enforced July 2024)
Google uses the mobile version of content for indexing and ranking for all sites. Desktop-only content that is not present on mobile will not be indexed.
| Check |
Pass Criteria |
Severity |
| Responsive design |
Uses viewport meta tag, CSS media queries |
Critical |
| Mobile content parity |
Same content on mobile and desktop versions |
Critical |
| Mobile-friendly fonts |
Minimum 16px base font size |
Medium |
| Tap targets |
Minimum 48x48px with 8px spacing |
Medium |
| No horizontal scroll |
Content fits within viewport width |
High |
| Mobile page speed |
LCP < 2.5s on 4G connection |
High |
| No intrusive interstitials |
No full-screen popups blocking content on mobile |
High |
| Structured data parity |
Same schema markup on mobile and desktop |
High |
| Image parity |
Same images (or appropriate mobile alternatives) on both versions |
Medium |
| Lazy loading works |
Images load correctly when scrolled into view on mobile |
Medium |
Category 6: Core Web Vitals
Current Metrics (Updated March 2024: INP Replaced FID)
| Metric |
Good |
Needs Improvement |
Poor |
What It Measures |
| LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) |
< 2.5s |
2.5s - 4.0s |
> 4.0s |
Loading performance |
| INP (Interaction to Next Paint) |
< 200ms |
200ms - 500ms |
> 500ms |
Responsiveness (replaced FID March 2024) |
| CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) |
< 0.1 |
0.1 - 0.25 |
> 0.25 |
Visual stability |
LCP Optimization Checks
| Check |
Impact |
Severity |
| LCP element identified |
Hero image, large text block, or video |
High |
LCP image has fetchpriority="high" |
Prioritizes download |
High |
| LCP image is preloaded |
<link rel="preload"> for LCP resource |
High |
| No render-blocking CSS/JS above fold |
Critical CSS inlined or preloaded |
High |
| Server response time (TTFB) < 800ms |
Fast server response |
High |
| CDN for static assets |
Assets served from edge locations |
Medium |
INP Optimization Checks
| Check |
Impact |
Severity |
| No long tasks > 50ms |
Main thread not blocked |
High |
| Event handlers are efficient |
No heavy computation in click/input handlers |
High |
| Code splitting implemented |
Only necessary JS loaded per page |
Medium |
| Third-party scripts deferred |
Non-critical scripts use defer or async |
Medium |
| Web Workers for heavy computation |
Offload work from main thread |
Low |
| Input debouncing |
Search inputs and scroll handlers debounced |
Medium |
CLS Optimization Checks
| Check |
Impact |
Severity |
| Images have width/height |
Prevents layout shift during load |
High |
Fonts use font-display: swap or optional |
Prevents FOIT layout shift |
High |
| No dynamically injected content above fold |
Late-loading banners, ads, embeds |
High |
| Ad slots have reserved dimensions |
Placeholder sizing for ad containers |
Medium |
| Web fonts preloaded |
<link rel="preload" as="font"> |
Medium |
Animations use transform/opacity |
Not animating layout properties |
Medium |
Category 7: Structured Data
| Check |
Pass Criteria |
Severity |
| JSON-LD format used |
Preferred over microdata or RDFa |
Medium |
| Valid syntax |
No JSON parse errors |
Critical |
| Correct @type |
Matches page content purpose |
High |
| Required properties present |
Per Google's documentation for each type |
High |
| No deprecated types |
Not using HowTo (deprecated Sept 2023), SpecialAnnouncement (deprecated July 2025), ClaimReview (deprecated June 2025) |
High |
| Rich Results eligible |
Passes Google Rich Results Test |
High |
| Organization schema on homepage |
Name, URL, logo, sameAs |
Medium |
| BreadcrumbList |
Present on all non-homepage pages |
Medium |
Category 8: JavaScript Rendering
December 2025 Google Guidance on JS Rendering
Google has provided updated guidance on JavaScript rendering and canonical conflicts:
| Check |
Pass Criteria |
Severity |
| Server-rendered canonical matches JS canonical |
No conflicting canonical tags between SSR and CSR |
Critical |
| Critical content in initial HTML |
Key content visible without JavaScript execution |
High |
| Internal links in HTML |
Navigation links crawlable without JS |
High |
| Meta tags in initial HTML |
title, description, canonical present server-side |
Critical |
| No JavaScript redirects for indexable pages |
Server-side redirects preferred (301/302) |
High |
| Dynamic rendering or SSR for key pages |
If SPA, ensure prerendering for search engines |
High |
| Hydration does not alter SEO elements |
React/Vue hydration does not change title, canonical, or meta tags |
Critical |
<noscript> fallback |
Alternative content or message for no-JS scenarios |
Low |
SPA-Specific Checks
| Check |
Pass Criteria |
Severity |
| Prerender middleware active |
Serves static HTML to bots (Googlebot, social crawlers) |
Critical |
| Route-level meta injection |
Server injects unique meta tags per route before sending HTML |
Critical |
| Client-side routing generates crawlable URLs |
History API (not hash-based routing) |
High |
| Lazy-loaded content is crawlable |
Content within viewport or accessible via scrolling |
Medium |
| JavaScript errors do not break rendering |
Error boundaries prevent blank pages |
High |
Category 9: IndexNow Protocol
IndexNow enables instant notification to search engines when content changes, rather than waiting for crawlers to discover updates.
| Check |
Pass Criteria |
Severity |
| IndexNow supported |
Key file at /{key}.txt or in <meta> tag |
Low |
| API key valid |
Key file accessible and matches submitted key |
Low |
| Supported engines |
Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam (Google does not support IndexNow) |
Low |
| Submission on publish |
New/updated content triggers IndexNow ping |
Low |
| Batch submissions |
Bulk URL submission for large content updates |
Low |
IndexNow Implementation
POST https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow
Content-Type: application/json
{
"host": "example.com",
"key": "your-api-key",
"keyLocation": "https://example.com/your-api-key.txt",
"urlList": [
"https://example.com/new-page",
"https://example.com/updated-page"
]
}
Output Format
# Technical SEO Audit: [Domain]
**Date:** [YYYY-MM-DD]
**Overall Technical Score:** XX/100
## Category Scores
| Category | Score | Max | Status |
|----------|-------|-----|--------|
| Crawlability | XX | 15 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
| Indexability | XX | 15 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
| Security Headers | XX | 10 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
| URL Structure | XX | 10 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
| Mobile Optimization | XX | 15 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
| Core Web Vitals | XX | 15 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
| Structured Data | XX | 10 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
| JavaScript Rendering | XX | 5 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
| IndexNow | XX | 5 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
| **Total** | **XX** | **100** | |
## Issues Found
### Critical
- [issue + specific fix]
### High
- [issue + specific fix]
### Medium
- [issue + specific fix]
### Low
- [issue + specific fix]
## AI Crawler Status
| Crawler | Status | Directive |
|---------|--------|-----------|
| GPTBot | Allowed/Blocked | [directive from robots.txt] |
| ClaudeBot | Allowed/Blocked | [directive] |
| PerplexityBot | Allowed/Blocked | [directive] |
| ... | ... | ... |
**AI Crawler Strategy Assessment:** [Intentional/Unintentional/Missing]
**Recommendation:** [strategy recommendation based on site goals]
Usage
# Full technical audit
/seo-technical https://example.com
# Technical audit focused on specific category
/seo-technical https://example.com --focus crawlability
# Technical audit with CWV data from PageSpeed Insights
/seo-technical https://example.com --include-cwv
Notes
- Core Web Vitals thresholds are based on 75th percentile of page loads
- INP officially replaced FID as a Core Web Vital in March 2024
- Mobile-first indexing was fully enforced for all sites as of July 2024
- Google's December 2025 guidance emphasizes canonical consistency between server-rendered and client-rendered HTML
- IndexNow is optional but beneficial for Bing; Google does not participate in IndexNow
- AI crawler management is an emerging discipline; strategies should be reviewed quarterly as the landscape evolves
- Security headers are ranked by SEO impact (HTTPS is critical; CSP is medium) rather than pure security severity
1---2name: seo-technical-23description: Technical SEO audit across 9 categories including crawlability, indexability, security headers, URL structure, mobile optimization, Core Web Vitals, structured data, JavaScript rendering, and IndexNow protocol with AI crawler management.4---5
6# SEO Technical Skill
7
8## Purpose
9
10Audit the technical SEO foundation of a website across 9 critical categories. Technical SEO determines whether search engines can discover, crawl, render, and index content correctly. This skill identifies infrastructure-level issues that block or degrade organic visibility.
11
12---
13
14## Category 1: Crawlability
15
16### Standard Crawler Management
17
18| Check | Pass Criteria | Severity |
19|-------|---------------|----------|
20| robots.txt exists | Returns 200, valid syntax | Critical |
21| robots.txt not blocking key pages | Sitemap, homepage, key landing pages accessible | Critical |
22| XML sitemap exists | Referenced in robots.txt or at /sitemap.xml | High |
23| Sitemap is valid | Well-formed XML, all URLs return 200 | High |
24| Sitemap size | Under 50MB uncompressed; under 50,000 URLs per file | Medium |
25| Sitemap index | Used if more than 50,000 URLs | Medium |
26| Crawl depth | Key pages within 3 clicks of homepage | High |
27| Internal linking | No orphan pages (pages with 0 internal links pointing to them) | High |
28| Redirect chains | No chains longer than 2 hops | Medium |
29| Redirect loops | Zero redirect loops | Critical |
30
31### AI Crawler Management
32
33Modern SEO must account for AI crawlers that scrape content for training and retrieval-augmented generation. Managing these crawlers is both a content protection and an AI search visibility decision.
34
35#### AI Crawler Tokens
36
37| Crawler | Owner | User-Agent Token | robots.txt Directive |
38|---------|-------|------------------|----------------------|
39| GPTBot | OpenAI | `GPTBot` | `User-agent: GPTBot` |
40| ChatGPT-User | OpenAI | `ChatGPT-User` | `User-agent: ChatGPT-User` |
41| OAI-SearchBot | OpenAI | `OAI-SearchBot` | `User-agent: OAI-SearchBot` |
42| ClaudeBot | Anthropic | `ClaudeBot` | `User-agent: ClaudeBot` |
43| anthropic-ai | Anthropic | `anthropic-ai` | `User-agent: anthropic-ai` |
44| PerplexityBot | Perplexity | `PerplexityBot` | `User-agent: PerplexityBot` |
45| Bytespider | ByteDance | `Bytespider` | `User-agent: Bytespider` |
46| Applebot-Extended | Apple | `Applebot-Extended` | `User-agent: Applebot-Extended` |
47| Google-Extended | Google | `Google-Extended` | `User-agent: Google-Extended` |
48| FacebookBot | Meta | `FacebookExternalHit` | `User-agent: FacebookExternalHit` |
49| cohere-ai | Cohere | `cohere-ai` | `User-agent: cohere-ai` |
50| Diffbot | Diffbot | `Diffbot` | `User-agent: Diffbot` |
51| Amazonbot | Amazon | `Amazonbot` | `User-agent: Amazonbot` |
52| YouBot | You.com | `YouBot` | `User-agent: YouBot` |
53
54#### AI Crawler Strategy Recommendations
55
56| Strategy | When to Use | Implementation |
57|----------|-------------|----------------|
58| **Allow All** | Want maximum AI search visibility (citations, AI Overviews) | No blocks in robots.txt |
59| **Allow Search, Block Training** | Want AI search citations but protect training data | Allow `OAI-SearchBot`, `ChatGPT-User`; Block `GPTBot`, `Google-Extended` |
60| **Block All AI** | Protect proprietary content entirely | Block all AI tokens in robots.txt |
61| **Selective Allow** | Allow specific AI platforms aligned with business | Whitelist approach: block all, then allow specific tokens |
62
63#### Audit Checks
64
65| Check | What to Verify | Severity |
66|-------|----------------|----------|
67| AI crawler directives present | robots.txt mentions at least some AI crawlers | Medium |
68| Strategy is intentional | Not accidentally blocking AI search crawlers | High |
69| Consistency | If blocking GPTBot, consider whether OAI-SearchBot should also be blocked | Medium |
70| Content protection aligned | Blocking matches content licensing strategy | Medium |
71
72---
73
74## Category 2: Indexability
75
76| Check | Pass Criteria | Severity |
77|-------|---------------|----------|
78| No unintended noindex | Key pages do not have `<meta name="robots" content="noindex">` | Critical |
79| Canonical tags present | All indexable pages have self-referencing canonical | High |
80| Canonical consistency | Canonical URL matches actual URL (protocol, www/non-www, trailing slash) | High |
81| No canonical conflicts | JavaScript-rendered canonical matches server-rendered canonical | Critical |
82| Duplicate content | Content hash comparison; no substantial duplicates without canonical | High |
83| Pagination handling | `rel="next"` / `rel="prev"` or load-more pattern (note: Google ignores these but Bing uses them) | Low |
84| Thin content pages | Pages with <100 words flagged for review | Medium |
85| Parameter handling | URL parameters not creating duplicate indexable pages | High |
86| Index coverage | Compare indexed pages (via sitemap) vs crawled pages; identify gaps | High |
87
88---
89
90## Category 3: Security Headers
91
92| Header | Recommended Value | Severity |
93|--------|-------------------|----------|
94| `Strict-Transport-Security` | `max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload` | High |
95| `X-Content-Type-Options` | `nosniff` | Medium |
96| `X-Frame-Options` | `DENY` or `SAMEORIGIN` | Medium |
97| `Content-Security-Policy` | Appropriate policy (not overly permissive) | Medium |
98| `Referrer-Policy` | `strict-origin-when-cross-origin` or stricter | Low |
99| `Permissions-Policy` | Restrict unnecessary APIs (camera, microphone, geolocation) | Low |
100| HTTPS enforcement | All HTTP requests redirect to HTTPS | Critical |
101| Mixed content | No HTTP resources loaded on HTTPS pages | High |
102| SSL certificate | Valid, not expired, covers all subdomains | Critical |
103
104---
105
106## Category 4: URL Structure
107
108| Check | Pass Criteria | Severity |
109|-------|---------------|----------|
110| Clean URLs | Human-readable, descriptive slugs | Medium |
111| Consistent format | Consistent trailing slash policy (all with or all without) | High |
112| Lowercase | All URLs are lowercase; uppercase variants redirect | Medium |
113| No special characters | No spaces, underscores (use hyphens), or encoded characters | Medium |
114| Depth | Key pages within 3 levels of hierarchy | Medium |
115| Consistent protocol | www vs non-www resolved; one redirects to the other | High |
116| No session IDs | URLs do not contain session parameters | High |
117| Logical hierarchy | URL path reflects site architecture (`/category/subcategory/page`) | Low |
118
119---
120
121## Category 5: Mobile Optimization
122
123### Mobile-First Indexing (Fully Enforced July 2024)
124
125Google uses the mobile version of content for indexing and ranking for all sites. Desktop-only content that is not present on mobile will not be indexed.
126
127| Check | Pass Criteria | Severity |
128|-------|---------------|----------|
129| Responsive design | Uses viewport meta tag, CSS media queries | Critical |
130| Mobile content parity | Same content on mobile and desktop versions | Critical |
131| Mobile-friendly fonts | Minimum 16px base font size | Medium |
132| Tap targets | Minimum 48x48px with 8px spacing | Medium |
133| No horizontal scroll | Content fits within viewport width | High |
134| Mobile page speed | LCP < 2.5s on 4G connection | High |
135| No intrusive interstitials | No full-screen popups blocking content on mobile | High |
136| Structured data parity | Same schema markup on mobile and desktop | High |
137| Image parity | Same images (or appropriate mobile alternatives) on both versions | Medium |
138| Lazy loading works | Images load correctly when scrolled into view on mobile | Medium |
139
140---
141
142## Category 6: Core Web Vitals
143
144### Current Metrics (Updated March 2024: INP Replaced FID)
145
146| Metric | Good | Needs Improvement | Poor | What It Measures |
147|--------|------|--------------------|------|------------------|
148| **LCP** (Largest Contentful Paint) | < 2.5s | 2.5s - 4.0s | > 4.0s | Loading performance |
149| **INP** (Interaction to Next Paint) | < 200ms | 200ms - 500ms | > 500ms | Responsiveness (replaced FID March 2024) |
150| **CLS** (Cumulative Layout Shift) | < 0.1 | 0.1 - 0.25 | > 0.25 | Visual stability |
151
152#### LCP Optimization Checks
153
154| Check | Impact | Severity |
155|-------|--------|----------|
156| LCP element identified | Hero image, large text block, or video | High |
157| LCP image has `fetchpriority="high"` | Prioritizes download | High |
158| LCP image is preloaded | `<link rel="preload">` for LCP resource | High |
159| No render-blocking CSS/JS above fold | Critical CSS inlined or preloaded | High |
160| Server response time (TTFB) < 800ms | Fast server response | High |
161| CDN for static assets | Assets served from edge locations | Medium |
162
163#### INP Optimization Checks
164
165| Check | Impact | Severity |
166|-------|--------|----------|
167| No long tasks > 50ms | Main thread not blocked | High |
168| Event handlers are efficient | No heavy computation in click/input handlers | High |
169| Code splitting implemented | Only necessary JS loaded per page | Medium |
170| Third-party scripts deferred | Non-critical scripts use `defer` or `async` | Medium |
171| Web Workers for heavy computation | Offload work from main thread | Low |
172| Input debouncing | Search inputs and scroll handlers debounced | Medium |
173
174#### CLS Optimization Checks
175
176| Check | Impact | Severity |
177|-------|--------|----------|
178| Images have width/height | Prevents layout shift during load | High |
179| Fonts use `font-display: swap` or `optional` | Prevents FOIT layout shift | High |
180| No dynamically injected content above fold | Late-loading banners, ads, embeds | High |
181| Ad slots have reserved dimensions | Placeholder sizing for ad containers | Medium |
182| Web fonts preloaded | `<link rel="preload" as="font">` | Medium |
183| Animations use `transform`/`opacity` | Not animating layout properties | Medium |
184
185---
186
187## Category 7: Structured Data
188
189| Check | Pass Criteria | Severity |
190|-------|---------------|----------|
191| JSON-LD format used | Preferred over microdata or RDFa | Medium |
192| Valid syntax | No JSON parse errors | Critical |
193| Correct @type | Matches page content purpose | High |
194| Required properties present | Per Google's documentation for each type | High |
195| No deprecated types | Not using HowTo (deprecated Sept 2023), SpecialAnnouncement (deprecated July 2025), ClaimReview (deprecated June 2025) | High |
196| Rich Results eligible | Passes Google Rich Results Test | High |
197| Organization schema on homepage | Name, URL, logo, sameAs | Medium |
198| BreadcrumbList | Present on all non-homepage pages | Medium |
199
200---
201
202## Category 8: JavaScript Rendering
203
204### December 2025 Google Guidance on JS Rendering
205
206Google has provided updated guidance on JavaScript rendering and canonical conflicts:
207
208| Check | Pass Criteria | Severity |
209|-------|---------------|----------|
210| Server-rendered canonical matches JS canonical | No conflicting canonical tags between SSR and CSR | Critical |
211| Critical content in initial HTML | Key content visible without JavaScript execution | High |
212| Internal links in HTML | Navigation links crawlable without JS | High |
213| Meta tags in initial HTML | title, description, canonical present server-side | Critical |
214| No JavaScript redirects for indexable pages | Server-side redirects preferred (301/302) | High |
215| Dynamic rendering or SSR for key pages | If SPA, ensure prerendering for search engines | High |
216| Hydration does not alter SEO elements | React/Vue hydration does not change title, canonical, or meta tags | Critical |
217| `<noscript>` fallback | Alternative content or message for no-JS scenarios | Low |
218
219#### SPA-Specific Checks
220
221| Check | Pass Criteria | Severity |
222|-------|---------------|----------|
223| Prerender middleware active | Serves static HTML to bots (Googlebot, social crawlers) | Critical |
224| Route-level meta injection | Server injects unique meta tags per route before sending HTML | Critical |
225| Client-side routing generates crawlable URLs | History API (not hash-based routing) | High |
226| Lazy-loaded content is crawlable | Content within viewport or accessible via scrolling | Medium |
227| JavaScript errors do not break rendering | Error boundaries prevent blank pages | High |
228
229---
230
231## Category 9: IndexNow Protocol
232
233IndexNow enables instant notification to search engines when content changes, rather than waiting for crawlers to discover updates.
234
235| Check | Pass Criteria | Severity |
236|-------|---------------|----------|
237| IndexNow supported | Key file at `/{key}.txt` or in `<meta>` tag | Low |
238| API key valid | Key file accessible and matches submitted key | Low |
239| Supported engines | Bing, Yandex, Naver, Seznam (Google does not support IndexNow) | Low |
240| Submission on publish | New/updated content triggers IndexNow ping | Low |
241| Batch submissions | Bulk URL submission for large content updates | Low |
242
243### IndexNow Implementation
244
245```
246POST https://api.indexnow.org/indexnow
247Content-Type: application/json
248
249{
250 "host": "example.com",
251 "key": "your-api-key",
252 "keyLocation": "https://example.com/your-api-key.txt",
253 "urlList": [
254 "https://example.com/new-page",
255 "https://example.com/updated-page"
256 ]
257}
258```
259
260---
261
262## Output Format
263
264```markdown
265# Technical SEO Audit: [Domain]
266**Date:** [YYYY-MM-DD]
267**Overall Technical Score:** XX/100
268
269## Category Scores
270| Category | Score | Max | Status |
271|----------|-------|-----|--------|
272| Crawlability | XX | 15 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
273| Indexability | XX | 15 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
274| Security Headers | XX | 10 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
275| URL Structure | XX | 10 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
276| Mobile Optimization | XX | 15 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
277| Core Web Vitals | XX | 15 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
278| Structured Data | XX | 10 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
279| JavaScript Rendering | XX | 5 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
280| IndexNow | XX | 5 | [PASS/WARN/FAIL] |
281| **Total** | **XX** | **100** | |
282
283## Issues Found
284### Critical
285- [issue + specific fix]
286
287### High
288- [issue + specific fix]
289
290### Medium
291- [issue + specific fix]
292
293### Low
294- [issue + specific fix]
295
296## AI Crawler Status
297| Crawler | Status | Directive |
298|---------|--------|-----------|
299| GPTBot | Allowed/Blocked | [directive from robots.txt] |
300| ClaudeBot | Allowed/Blocked | [directive] |
301| PerplexityBot | Allowed/Blocked | [directive] |
302| ... | ... | ... |
303
304**AI Crawler Strategy Assessment:** [Intentional/Unintentional/Missing]
305**Recommendation:** [strategy recommendation based on site goals]
306```
307
308---
309
310## Usage
311
312```bash
313# Full technical audit
314/seo-technical https://example.com
315
316# Technical audit focused on specific category
317/seo-technical https://example.com --focus crawlability
318
319# Technical audit with CWV data from PageSpeed Insights
320/seo-technical https://example.com --include-cwv
321```
322
323---
324
325## Notes
326
327- Core Web Vitals thresholds are based on 75th percentile of page loads
328- INP officially replaced FID as a Core Web Vital in March 2024
329- Mobile-first indexing was fully enforced for all sites as of July 2024
330- Google's December 2025 guidance emphasizes canonical consistency between server-rendered and client-rendered HTML
331- IndexNow is optional but beneficial for Bing; Google does not participate in IndexNow
332- AI crawler management is an emerging discipline; strategies should be reviewed quarterly as the landscape evolves
333- Security headers are ranked by SEO impact (HTTPS is critical; CSP is medium) rather than pure security severity
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