Technical SEO Checker

Technical SEO Checker

This skill performs comprehensive technical SEO audits to identify issues that may prevent search engines from properly crawling, indexing, and ranking your site.

When to Use This Skill

• Launching a new website
• Diagnosing ranking drops
• Pre-migration SEO audits
• Regular technical health checks
• Identifying crawl and index issues
• Improving site performance
• Fixing Core Web Vitals issues

What This Skill Does

1. Crawlability Audit: Checks robots.txt, sitemaps, crawl issues
2. Indexability Review: Analyzes index status and blockers
3. Site Speed Analysis: Evaluates Core Web Vitals and performance
4. Mobile-Friendliness: Checks mobile optimization
5. Security Check: Reviews HTTPS and security headers
6. Structured Data Audit: Validates schema markup
7. URL Structure Analysis: Reviews URL patterns and redirects
8. International SEO: Checks hreflang and localization

How to Use

Full Technical Audit

Perform a technical SEO audit for [URL/domain]

Specific Issue Check

Check Core Web Vitals for [URL]

Audit crawlability and indexability for [domain]

Pre-Migration Audit

Technical SEO checklist for migrating [old domain] to [new domain]

Data Sources

See CONNECTORS.md for tool category placeholders.

With ~~web crawler + ~~page speed tool + ~~CDN connected: Claude can automatically crawl the entire site structure via ~~web crawler, pull Core Web Vitals and performance metrics from ~~page speed tool, analyze caching headers from ~~CDN, and fetch mobile-friendliness data. This enables comprehensive automated technical audits.

With manual data only: Ask the user to provide:

1. Site URL(s) to audit
2. PageSpeed Insights screenshots or reports
3. robots.txt file content
4. sitemap.xml URL or file

Proceed with the full audit using provided data. Note in the output which findings are from automated crawl vs. manual review.

Instructions

When a user requests a technical SEO audit:

1. Audit Crawlability

   ## Crawlability Analysis
   
   ### Robots.txt Review
   
   **URL**: [domain]/robots.txt
   **Status**: [Found/Not Found/Error]
   
   **Current Content**:
   

   [robots.txt content]

   
   | Check | Status | Notes |
   |-------|--------|-------|
   | File exists | ✅/❌ | [notes] |
   | Valid syntax | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [errors found] |
   | Sitemap declared | ✅/❌ | [sitemap URL] |
   | Important pages blocked | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [blocked paths] |
   | Assets blocked | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [CSS/JS blocked?] |
   | Correct user-agents | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   
   **Issues Found**:
   - [Issue 1]
   - [Issue 2]
   
   **Recommended robots.txt**:
   

   User-agent: * Allow: / Disallow: /admin/ Disallow: /private/

   Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

   
   ---
   
   ### XML Sitemap Review
   
   **Sitemap URL**: [URL]
   **Status**: [Found/Not Found/Error]
   
   | Check | Status | Notes |
   |-------|--------|-------|
   | Sitemap exists | ✅/❌ | [notes] |
   | Valid XML format | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [errors] |
   | In robots.txt | ✅/❌ | [notes] |
   | Submitted to ~~search console | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | URLs count | [X] | [appropriate?] |
   | Only indexable URLs | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | Includes priority | ✅/⚠️ | [notes] |
   | Includes lastmod | ✅/⚠️ | [accurate?] |
   
   **Issues Found**:
   - [Issue 1]
   
   ---
   
   ### Crawl Budget Analysis
   
   | Factor | Status | Impact |
   |--------|--------|--------|
   | Crawl errors | [X] errors | [Low/Med/High] |
   | Duplicate content | [X] pages | [Low/Med/High] |
   | Thin content | [X] pages | [Low/Med/High] |
   | Redirect chains | [X] found | [Low/Med/High] |
   | Orphan pages | [X] found | [Low/Med/High] |
   
   **Crawlability Score**: [X]/10
   

2. Audit Indexability

   ## Indexability Analysis
   
   ### Index Status Overview
   
   | Metric | Count | Notes |
   |--------|-------|-------|
   | Pages in sitemap | [X] | |
   | Pages indexed | [X] | [source: site: search] |
   | Index coverage ratio | [X]% | [good if >90%] |
   
   ### Index Blockers Check
   
   | Blocker Type | Found | Pages Affected |
   |--------------|-------|----------------|
   | noindex meta tag | [X] | [list or "none"] |
   | noindex X-Robots | [X] | [list or "none"] |
   | Robots.txt blocked | [X] | [list or "none"] |
   | Canonical to other | [X] | [list or "none"] |
   | 4xx/5xx errors | [X] | [list or "none"] |
   | Redirect loops | [X] | [list or "none"] |
   
   ### Canonical Tags Audit
   
   | Check | Status | Notes |
   |-------|--------|-------|
   | Canonicals present | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [X]% of pages |
   | Self-referencing | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | Consistent (HTTP/HTTPS) | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | Consistent (www/non-www) | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | No conflicting signals | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   
   ### Duplicate Content Issues
   
   | Issue Type | Count | Examples |
   |------------|-------|----------|
   | Exact duplicates | [X] | [URLs] |
   | Near duplicates | [X] | [URLs] |
   | Parameter duplicates | [X] | [URLs] |
   | WWW/non-WWW | [X] | [notes] |
   | HTTP/HTTPS | [X] | [notes] |
   
   **Indexability Score**: [X]/10
   

3. Audit Site Speed & Core Web Vitals

   ## Performance Analysis
   
   ### Core Web Vitals
   
   | Metric | Mobile | Desktop | Target | Status |
   |--------|--------|---------|--------|--------|
   | LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) | [X]s | [X]s | <2.5s | ✅/⚠️/❌ |
   | FID (First Input Delay) | [X]ms | [X]ms | <100ms | ✅/⚠️/❌ |
   | CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) | [X] | [X] | <0.1 | ✅/⚠️/❌ |
   | INP (Interaction to Next Paint) | [X]ms | [X]ms | <200ms | ✅/⚠️/❌ |
   
   ### Additional Performance Metrics
   
   | Metric | Value | Status |
   |--------|-------|--------|
   | Time to First Byte (TTFB) | [X]ms | ✅/⚠️/❌ |
   | First Contentful Paint (FCP) | [X]s | ✅/⚠️/❌ |
   | Speed Index | [X] | ✅/⚠️/❌ |
   | Total Blocking Time | [X]ms | ✅/⚠️/❌ |
   | Page Size | [X]MB | ✅/⚠️/❌ |
   | Requests | [X] | ✅/⚠️/❌ |
   
   ### Performance Issues
   
   **LCP Issues**:
   - [Issue]: [Impact] - [Solution]
   - [Issue]: [Impact] - [Solution]
   
   **CLS Issues**:
   - [Issue]: [Impact] - [Solution]
   
   **Resource Loading**:
   | Resource Type | Count | Size | Issues |
   |---------------|-------|------|--------|
   | Images | [X] | [X]MB | [notes] |
   | JavaScript | [X] | [X]MB | [notes] |
   | CSS | [X] | [X]KB | [notes] |
   | Fonts | [X] | [X]KB | [notes] |
   
   ### Optimization Recommendations
   
   **High Impact**:
   1. [Recommendation] - Est. improvement: [X]s
   2. [Recommendation] - Est. improvement: [X]s
   
   **Medium Impact**:
   1. [Recommendation]
   2. [Recommendation]
   
   **Performance Score**: [X]/10
   

4. Audit Mobile-Friendliness

   ## Mobile Optimization Analysis
   
   ### Mobile-Friendly Test
   
   | Check | Status | Notes |
   |-------|--------|-------|
   | Mobile-friendly overall | ✅/❌ | [notes] |
   | Viewport configured | ✅/❌ | [viewport tag] |
   | Text readable | ✅/⚠️/❌ | Font size: [X]px |
   | Tap targets sized | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | Content fits viewport | ✅/❌ | [notes] |
   | No horizontal scroll | ✅/❌ | [notes] |
   
   ### Responsive Design Check
   
   | Element | Desktop | Mobile | Issues |
   |---------|---------|--------|--------|
   | Navigation | [status] | [status] | [notes] |
   | Images | [status] | [status] | [notes] |
   | Forms | [status] | [status] | [notes] |
   | Tables | [status] | [status] | [notes] |
   | Videos | [status] | [status] | [notes] |
   
   ### Mobile-First Indexing
   
   | Check | Status | Notes |
   |-------|--------|-------|
   | Mobile version has all content | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | Mobile has same structured data | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | Mobile has same meta tags | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | Mobile images have alt text | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   
   **Mobile Score**: [X]/10
   

5. Audit Security & HTTPS

   ## Security Analysis
   
   ### HTTPS Status
   
   | Check | Status | Notes |
   |-------|--------|-------|
   | SSL certificate valid | ✅/❌ | Expires: [date] |
   | HTTPS enforced | ✅/❌ | [redirects properly?] |
   | Mixed content | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [X] issues |
   | HSTS enabled | ✅/⚠️ | [notes] |
   | Certificate chain | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   
   ### Security Headers
   
   | Header | Present | Value | Recommended |
   |--------|---------|-------|-------------|
   | Content-Security-Policy | ✅/❌ | [value] | [recommendation] |
   | X-Frame-Options | ✅/❌ | [value] | DENY or SAMEORIGIN |
   | X-Content-Type-Options | ✅/❌ | [value] | nosniff |
   | X-XSS-Protection | ✅/❌ | [value] | 1; mode=block |
   | Referrer-Policy | ✅/❌ | [value] | [recommendation] |
   
   **Security Score**: [X]/10
   

6. Audit URL Structure

   ## URL Structure Analysis
   
   ### URL Pattern Review
   
   | Check | Status | Notes |
   |-------|--------|-------|
   | HTTPS URLs | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [X]% HTTPS |
   | Lowercase URLs | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | No special characters | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | Readable/descriptive | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | Appropriate length | ✅/⚠️/❌ | Avg: [X] chars |
   | Keywords in URLs | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | Consistent structure | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   
   ### URL Issues Found
   
   | Issue Type | Count | Examples |
   |------------|-------|----------|
   | Dynamic parameters | [X] | [URLs] |
   | Session IDs in URLs | [X] | [URLs] |
   | Uppercase characters | [X] | [URLs] |
   | Special characters | [X] | [URLs] |
   | Very long URLs (>100) | [X] | [URLs] |
   
   ### Redirect Analysis
   
   | Check | Status | Notes |
   |-------|--------|-------|
   | Redirect chains | [X] found | [max chain length] |
   | Redirect loops | [X] found | [URLs] |
   | 302 → 301 needed | [X] found | [URLs] |
   | Broken redirects | [X] found | [URLs] |
   
   **URL Score**: [X]/10
   

7. Audit Structured Data

   CORE-EEAT alignment: Schema markup quality maps to O05 (Schema Markup) in the CORE-EEAT benchmark. See content-quality-auditor for full content quality audit.

   ## Structured Data Analysis
   
   ### Schema Markup Found
   
   | Schema Type | Pages | Valid | Errors |
   |-------------|-------|-------|--------|
   | [Type 1] | [X] | ✅/❌ | [errors] |
   | [Type 2] | [X] | ✅/❌ | [errors] |
   
   ### Validation Results
   
   **Errors**:
   - [Error 1]: [affected pages] - [solution]
   - [Error 2]: [affected pages] - [solution]
   
   **Warnings**:
   - [Warning 1]: [notes]
   
   ### Missing Schema Opportunities
   
   | Page Type | Current Schema | Recommended |
   |-----------|----------------|-------------|
   | Blog posts | [current] | Article + FAQ |
   | Products | [current] | Product + Review |
   | Homepage | [current] | Organization |
   
   **Structured Data Score**: [X]/10
   

8. Audit International SEO (if applicable)

   ## International SEO Analysis
   
   ### Hreflang Implementation
   
   | Check | Status | Notes |
   |-------|--------|-------|
   | Hreflang tags present | ✅/❌ | [notes] |
   | Self-referencing | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | Return tags present | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | Valid language codes | ✅/⚠️/❌ | [notes] |
   | x-default tag | ✅/⚠️ | [notes] |
   
   ### Language/Region Targeting
   
   | Language | URL | Hreflang | Status |
   |----------|-----|----------|--------|
   | [en-US] | [URL] | [tag] | ✅/⚠️/❌ |
   | [es-ES] | [URL] | [tag] | ✅/⚠️/❌ |
   
   **International Score**: [X]/10
   

9. Generate Technical Audit Summary

   # Technical SEO Audit Report
   
   **Domain**: [domain]
   **Audit Date**: [date]
   **Pages Analyzed**: [X]
   
   ## Overall Technical Health: [X]/100
   

   Score Breakdown: ████████░░ Crawlability: 8/10 ███████░░░ Indexability: 7/10 █████░░░░░ Performance: 5/10 ████████░░ Mobile: 8/10 █████████░ Security: 9/10 ██████░░░░ URL Structure: 6/10 █████░░░░░ Structured Data: 5/10

   
   ## Critical Issues (Fix Immediately)
   
   1. **[Issue]**: [Impact] 
      - Affected: [pages/scope]
      - Solution: [specific fix]
      - Priority: 🔴 Critical
   
   2. **[Issue]**: [Impact]
      - Affected: [pages/scope]
      - Solution: [specific fix]
      - Priority: 🔴 Critical
   
   ## High Priority Issues
   
   1. **[Issue]**: [Solution]
   2. **[Issue]**: [Solution]
   
   ## Medium Priority Issues
   
   1. **[Issue]**: [Solution]
   2. **[Issue]**: [Solution]
   
   ## Quick Wins
   
   These can be fixed quickly for immediate improvement:
   
   1. [Quick fix 1]
   2. [Quick fix 2]
   3. [Quick fix 3]
   
   ## Implementation Roadmap
   
   ### Week 1: Critical Fixes
   - [ ] [Task 1]
   - [ ] [Task 2]
   
   ### Week 2-3: High Priority
   - [ ] [Task 1]
   - [ ] [Task 2]
   
   ### Week 4+: Optimization
   - [ ] [Task 1]
   - [ ] [Task 2]
   
   ## Monitoring Recommendations
   
   Set up alerts for:
   - Core Web Vitals drops
   - Crawl error spikes
   - Index coverage changes
   - Security issues
   

Validation Checkpoints

Input Validation

• Site URL or domain clearly specified
• Access to technical data (robots.txt, sitemap, or crawl results)
• Performance metrics available (via ~~page speed tool or screenshots)

Output Validation

• Every recommendation cites specific data points (not generic advice)
• All issues include affected URLs or page counts
• Performance metrics include actual numbers with units (seconds, KB, etc.)
• Source of each data point clearly stated (~~web crawler data, ~~page speed tool, user-provided, or estimated)

Example

User: "Check the technical SEO of cloudhosting.com"

Output:

# Technical SEO Audit Report

**Domain**: cloudhosting.com
**Audit Date**: 2024-09-15
**Pages Analyzed**: 312

## Crawlability Analysis

### Robots.txt Review

**URL**: cloudhosting.com/robots.txt
**Status**: Found

| Check | Status | Notes |
|-------|--------|-------|
| File exists | ✅ | 200 response |
| Valid syntax | ⚠️ | Wildcard pattern `Disallow: /*?` too aggressive — blocks faceted pages |
| Sitemap declared | ❌ | No Sitemap directive in robots.txt |
| Important pages blocked | ⚠️ | /pricing/ blocked by `Disallow: /pricing` rule |
| Assets blocked | ✅ | CSS/JS accessible |

**Issues Found**:
- Sitemap URL not declared in robots.txt
- `/pricing/` inadvertently blocked — high-value commercial page

### XML Sitemap Review

**Sitemap URL**: cloudhosting.com/sitemap.xml
**Status**: Found (not referenced in robots.txt)

| Check | Status | Notes |
|-------|--------|-------|
| Sitemap exists | ✅ | Valid XML, 287 URLs |
| Only indexable URLs | ❌ | 23 noindex URLs included |
| Includes lastmod | ⚠️ | All dates set to 2023-01-01 — not accurate |

**Crawlability Score**: 5/10

## Performance Analysis

### Core Web Vitals

| Metric | Mobile | Desktop | Target | Status |
|--------|--------|---------|--------|--------|
| LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) | 4.8s | 2.1s | <2.5s | ❌ Mobile / ✅ Desktop |
| FID (First Input Delay) | 45ms | 12ms | <100ms | ✅ / ✅ |
| CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) | 0.24 | 0.08 | <0.1 | ❌ Mobile / ✅ Desktop |
| INP (Interaction to Next Paint) | 380ms | 140ms | <200ms | ❌ Mobile / ✅ Desktop |

### Additional Performance Metrics

| Metric | Value | Status |
|--------|-------|--------|
| Time to First Byte (TTFB) | 1,240ms | ❌ |
| Page Size | 3.8MB | ❌ |
| Requests | 94 | ⚠️ |

**LCP Issues**:
- Uncompressed hero image (2.4MB PNG): Convert to WebP, est. save 1.9MB
- No CDN detected: TTFB 1,240ms from origin server

**CLS Issues**:
- Ad banner at top of page injects without reserved height (0.18 shift contribution)

**Performance Score**: 3/10

## Security Analysis

### HTTPS Status

| Check | Status | Notes |
|-------|--------|-------|
| SSL certificate valid | ✅ | Expires: 2025-03-22 |
| HTTPS enforced | ⚠️ | http://cloudhosting.com returns 200 instead of 301 redirect |
| Mixed content | ❌ | 7 images loaded over HTTP on /features/ page |
| HSTS enabled | ❌ | Header not present |

**Security Score**: 5/10

## Structured Data Analysis

### Schema Markup Found

| Schema Type | Pages | Valid | Errors |
|-------------|-------|-------|--------|
| Organization | 1 (homepage) | ✅ | None |
| Article | 0 | — | Missing on 48 blog posts |
| Product | 0 | — | Missing on 5 plan pages |
| FAQ | 0 | — | Missing on 12 pages with FAQ content |

**Structured Data Score**: 3/10

## Overall Technical Health: 42/100

Score Breakdown: █████░░░░░ Crawlability: 5/10 ██████░░░░ Indexability: 6/10 ███░░░░░░░ Performance: 3/10 ██████░░░░ Mobile: 6/10 █████░░░░░ Security: 5/10 ██████░░░░ URL Structure: 6/10 ███░░░░░░░ Structured Data: 3/10

## Priority Issues

### 🔴 Critical (Fix Immediately)
1. **Mobile LCP 4.8s (target <2.5s)** — Compress hero image to WebP (est. save 1.9MB) and implement a CDN to reduce TTFB from 1,240ms to <400ms.

### 🟡 Important (Fix Soon)
2. **HTTP not redirecting to HTTPS** — Add 301 redirect from http:// to https:// and enable HSTS header. 7 mixed-content images on /features/ need URL updates.

### 🟢 Minor (Optimize)
3. **No Article/FAQ schema on blog posts** — Add Article schema to 48 blog posts and FAQ schema to 12 FAQ pages for rich result eligibility.

Technical SEO Checklist

### Crawlability
- [ ] robots.txt is valid and not blocking important content
- [ ] XML sitemap exists and is submitted to ~~search console
- [ ] No crawl errors in ~~search console
- [ ] No redirect chains or loops

### Indexability  
- [ ] Important pages are indexable
- [ ] Canonical tags are correct
- [ ] No duplicate content issues
- [ ] Pagination is handled correctly

### Performance
- [ ] Core Web Vitals pass
- [ ] Page speed under 3 seconds
- [ ] Images are optimized
- [ ] JS/CSS are minified

### Mobile
- [ ] Mobile-friendly test passes
- [ ] Viewport is configured
- [ ] Touch elements are properly sized

### Security
- [ ] HTTPS is enforced
- [ ] SSL certificate is valid
- [ ] No mixed content
- [ ] Security headers present

### Structure
- [ ] URLs are clean and descriptive
- [ ] Site architecture is logical
- [ ] Internal linking is strong

Tips for Success

1. Prioritize by impact - Fix critical issues first
2. Monitor continuously - Use ~~search console alerts
3. Test changes - Verify fixes work before deploying widely
4. Document everything - Track changes for troubleshooting
5. Regular audits - Schedule quarterly technical reviews

Technical SEO Severity Framework

Issue Classification

Technical Debt Prioritization Matrix

Core Web Vitals Optimization Quick Reference

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) Optimization

CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) Optimization

INP (Interaction to Next Paint) Optimization

Reference Materials

• robots.txt Reference - Syntax guide, templates, common configurations
• HTTP Status Codes - SEO impact of each status code, redirect best practices

Related Skills

• on-page-seo-auditor — On-page SEO audit
• schema-markup-generator — Fix schema issues
• performance-reporter — Monitor improvements
• internal-linking-optimizer — Fix link issues
• alert-manager — Set up alerts for technical issues found
• content-quality-auditor — Full 80-item CORE-EEAT audit