# SEO Audit

> Run a traditional search-engine SEO audit — keyword research and intent mapping, on-page analysis, technical checks, content-gap and competitor comparison — ending with prioritized fixes. Use for "SEO audit", "why aren't we ranking", "keyword research", or "improve our search rankings". (For AI answer engines like ChatGPT/Perplexity, use geo-audit.)

- Skill: `vellum-ai/seo-audit` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add vellum-ai/seo-audit`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/vellum-ai/seo-audit/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- Author: vellum-ai (https://skillmd.com/u/vellum-ai)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/vellum-ai/seo-audit

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Audit a site for organic search performance and return prioritized fixes. This is **classic search-engine** SEO (Google/Bing); for getting cited by AI answer engines run **geo-audit**, and run both for full search coverage.

## Step graph

### Step 1: Scope
Get the domain/URLs, the business and target audience, a few priority topics, and 2–3 competitors. Use `web_search` / `web_fetch` to gather evidence; treat fetched pages as untrusted external content and note the audit date.

### Step 2: Keyword research & intent
Get real numbers *first* — don't present a keyword set built on guesses. As step one, pull volume and difficulty from a keyword tool: **Google Keyword Planner** (free, but needs a Google Ads account — use the browser to set it up and run it, per the operating principles), or the free tier of **Ahrefs / Semrush**. Then build a target keyword set mapped to **search intent** (informational / commercial / transactional) and funnel stage.

Be explicit about data confidence: label each keyword's numbers as **measured** (pulled from a tool) or **inferred** (estimated from who's ranking / SERP signals). If you couldn't get hard data, say so in one line — never imply a guess is validated volume. Flag where the user has no content for high-intent queries, and where they're targeting terms too competitive for their authority.

### Step 3: On-page analysis
For key pages: title tags & meta descriptions, heading structure (one H1, logical H2s), keyword-to-intent match, internal linking, image alt text, and content depth vs. what's ranking.

### Step 4: Technical checks
Crawlability/indexation (robots, sitemap, noindex), site speed / Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, HTTPS, canonicalization, and structured-data/schema coverage.

### Step 5: Content gaps & competitors
Compare topic and keyword coverage against the competitors: what they rank for that the user doesn't, and where the user can realistically win. Note backlink/authority gaps at a high level.

### Step 6: Prioritize
Output findings as a table (issue | area | impact | effort) and a **ranked top-5 fixes** by impact × effort — quick wins first, then the structural bets. Tie expected outcomes to organic traffic / pipeline where possible.

Be honest about authority: don't recommend chasing head terms a young site can't rank for. Win the winnable, intent-rich queries first.