Tech SEO Audit

/digital-marketing-pro:tech-seo-audit

Purpose

Run a comprehensive technical SEO audit that covers the infrastructure and code-level factors that affect search engine crawling, indexation, and ranking. This audit focuses on the technical foundation rather than content or backlinks. Produces a prioritized report with specific fixes, expected impact, and implementation guidance.

Important — technical SEO during the May 2026 Core Update

The Google broad core update that started 21 May 2026 is primarily a quality/relevance reweighting, not a technical signal change. If a brand contacts you about ranking volatility in May/June 2026:

• Run this audit anyway — Core Updates frequently surface pre-existing technical debt because relative quality matters more during reweighting. Crawl-budget waste on low-quality pages, broken canonical chains, soft-404s, and orphaned JS-rendered routes all amplify Core Update damage.
• Resist crawler/rendering "fixes" pitched as Core Update remedies. No technical change will undo a Core Update hit if the underlying content quality issue isn't addressed. Pair this audit with /digital-marketing-pro:seo-audit (content/E-E-A-T side) — both are needed.
• Hreflang, structured data, and Core Web Vitals carry their normal weight — the update did not change technical priorities, only how much E-E-A-T deficits hurt.

Input Required

The user must provide (or will be prompted for):

• Website URL (required): The domain or specific section to audit
• CMS/Platform (helpful): WordPress, Shopify, Next.js, custom, etc.
• Known issues (optional): Any specific technical concerns
• Site size (helpful): Approximate number of pages
• International presence (optional): Whether site serves multiple countries/languages
• Access to Google Search Console data (optional): Enables real data vs estimates

Process

1. Load brand context: Read ~/.claude-marketing/brands/_active-brand.json for the active slug, then load ~/.claude-marketing/brands/{slug}/profile.json. Apply brand voice, compliance rules for target markets (skills/context-engine/compliance-rules.md), and industry context. Also check for guidelines at ~/.claude-marketing/brands/{slug}/guidelines/_manifest.json — if present, load restrictions and relevant category files. Check for custom templates at ~/.claude-marketing/brands/{slug}/templates/. Check for agency SOPs at ~/.claude-marketing/sops/. If no brand exists, ask: "Set up a brand first (/digital-marketing-pro:brand-setup)?" — or proceed with defaults.
2. Load reference files: Read skills/technical-seo/core-web-vitals.md, skills/technical-seo/crawlability.md, skills/technical-seo/site-architecture.md, skills/technical-seo/indexation.md, and skills/technical-seo/international-seo.md for detailed technical SEO frameworks
3. Run tech-seo-auditor script (if Python available): python "scripts/tech-seo-auditor.py" --url {url} to get automated checks on status codes, redirects, meta tags, and page structure
4. Core Web Vitals assessment: Evaluate LCP, INP, and CLS using known thresholds. If GSC MCP is connected, pull real CrUX data. Otherwise, provide optimization checklist based on CMS/platform
5. Crawlability audit: Check robots.txt configuration, XML sitemap presence and structure, crawl budget considerations, JavaScript rendering impact
6. Indexation review: Canonical tag usage, meta robots directives, duplicate content risks, index bloat potential, pagination handling
7. Site architecture analysis: URL structure, internal linking patterns, site depth, navigation efficiency, breadcrumbs
8. Page speed optimization: Image optimization, render-blocking resources, compression, caching, CDN usage
9. Mobile-first compliance: Viewport configuration, responsive design, mobile usability, touch targets
10. Redirect health check: Redirect chain detection, mixed HTTP/HTTPS, trailing slash consistency
11. Structured data review: Schema markup presence, validation, completeness, opportunity identification
12. International SEO (if applicable): Hreflang implementation, language targeting, URL structure
13. Security check: HTTPS enforcement, HSTS, mixed content
14. Compile prioritized report: Group findings by severity (Critical / High / Medium / Low), include specific fix instructions, estimated effort, and expected impact for each issue

Output

A structured technical SEO audit report containing:

• Audit header: Brand name, URL, date, CMS/platform, overall health score (0-100)
• Executive summary: 3-5 sentence overview of technical health
• Critical issues (fix immediately): Issues blocking crawling, indexation, or causing significant ranking impact
• High priority (fix this week): Issues with measurable ranking or UX impact
• Medium priority (fix this month): Optimization opportunities with moderate impact
• Low priority (backlog): Minor improvements and best-practice alignment
• Each finding includes: Description, affected URLs/pages, specific fix with code/config examples, estimated effort (hours), expected impact (traffic/ranking)
• Core Web Vitals scorecard: LCP, INP, CLS with current estimates and target values
• Quick wins list: Top 5 highest-impact, lowest-effort fixes
• Implementation roadmap: Suggested timeline for addressing all findings

Agents Used

• seo-specialist — Runs the technical audit across all dimensions, generates structured data recommendations, provides CMS-specific fix guidance, prioritizes findings by impact/effort