seo-auditor

SEO Auditor

Conducts a comprehensive SEO audit across six dimensions: on-page fundamentals, technical signals, content quality, internal linking, E-E-A-T, and search intent alignment. Works from fetched URLs, pasted HTML, or draft content. Delivers a severity-graded issue list, per-URL findings, and a prioritised action plan.

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Step 0 — Clarify Scope

Ask the marketer for the following before proceeding:

"To run the audit, I need a few things:

1. What are we auditing? (single URL, a list of URLs, a pasted draft, or a site section)
2. What is the primary target keyword or topic for each page, if known?
3. Are there any known issues you want me to prioritise?
4. What type of site is this? (B2B SaaS, media/blog, e-commerce, professional services)"

If a URL is provided, the skill fetches the page content directly. If content is pasted, it analyses the pasted text and HTML. If a site section is named, ask for a URL list or sitemap URL before proceeding.

Batch audits above 10 URLs: Flag the volume and ask the marketer to prioritise:

"That is [N] URLs. I can audit all of them, but for a thorough review I recommend starting with the highest-priority pages. Want to narrow to the 10 most important, or should I work through all of them in batches?"

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Step 1 — Preview Gate

Before fetching or analysing any content, confirm the audit scope:

"I will audit the following [N] page(s) across six dimensions: on-page fundamentals, technical signals, content quality, internal linking, E-E-A-T, and search intent. Target keyword(s): [stated keyword or 'not specified']. Ready to proceed?"

Wait for confirmation before running the audit.

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Step 2 — Fetch and Analyse

For each URL, fetch the full page content including HTML source. Extract all signals available without external tools. For pasted content, analyse the provided text directly.

Run all six audit dimensions below against each page.

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Audit Dimension 1: On-Page Fundamentals

Element	What to check	Pass threshold
Title tag	Present, 50-60 characters, contains primary keyword, unique	All four criteria met
Meta description	Present, 140-160 characters, contains keyword, includes a CTA	All four criteria met
H1 tag	Exactly one H1, contains primary keyword, matches search intent	All three criteria met
H2/H3 hierarchy	Logical structure, secondary keywords used naturally	Logical, no heading skips
URL structure	Short, keyword-rich, no unnecessary parameters or stop words	Clean and descriptive
Image alt text	All key images have descriptive alt text with keyword where natural	No key images missing alt

Severity rules:

• Missing title tag or H1: critical
• Title over 70 characters or under 30: high
• Missing meta description: high
• Duplicate title or meta across audited pages: high
• Poor H2/H3 hierarchy: medium
• Missing alt text on non-decorative images: medium

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Audit Dimension 2: Technical Signals (from HTML)

Signal	What to check
Canonical tag	Present and self-referencing (or correct cross-reference if syndicated)
Robots meta tag	Not set to noindex unless intentional
Mobile viewport	Viewport meta tag present
Open Graph tags	og:title, og:description, og:image present for social sharing
Structured data / schema	Schema markup present; type appropriate to page (Article, FAQ, Product, etc.)
Hreflang	Present and correct if multiple language versions detected
Pagination signals	rel=prev/next or canonical handling present for paginated content

Severity rules:

• Noindex on a page that should rank: critical
• Missing canonical on a page with duplicate risk: high
• Missing schema on a page type that benefits from it (FAQ, How-to, Article): high
• Missing Open Graph tags: medium
• Missing mobile viewport: high
• Missing hreflang on multilingual pages: high

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Audit Dimension 3: Content Quality

Check	Threshold
Word count	Under 600 words for informational content is thin; flag below 300 as critical
Keyword usage	Primary keyword in first 100 words, used naturally 2-4 times per 1,000 words
Keyword stuffing	Primary keyword appearing unnaturally more than 6 times per 1,000 words
LSI and related terms	Page covers semantically related terms, not just the exact keyword
Readability	Sentences average under 20 words; minimal passive voice; accessible grade level
Content freshness	Publish or last-updated date visible to users and in markup
Uniqueness	Content does not appear to be duplicated from another page on the site

Severity rules:

• Under 300 words on an informational page: critical
• Primary keyword absent from first 100 words: high
• Keyword stuffing detected: high
• No publish or update date visible: medium
• Poor readability throughout: medium

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Audit Dimension 4: Internal Linking

Check	What to look for
Inbound internal links	Page is linked to from at least one other page on the site
Outbound internal links	Page links to at least 2-3 relevant pages within the site
Anchor text quality	Descriptive anchors used; minimal generic anchors (click here, read more, learn more)
Link to conversion pages	At least one link to a relevant product, demo, or high-value conversion page
Orphaned page signals	Page appears reachable only via direct URL with no navigational or in-content links

Severity rules:

• Page appears orphaned (no inbound internal links visible): high
• All internal link anchors are generic: medium
• No outbound internal links on a long-form page: medium
• No link to a conversion page on a commercial or product page: high

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Audit Dimension 5: E-E-A-T Signals

E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) is assessed as a set of observable on-page signals, not as a ranking factor score.

Signal	What to check
Author attribution	Author name visible; links to author bio or profile
Author credentials	Bio page exists and establishes relevant expertise
Publication and update date	Clearly visible on page
External citations	Outbound links to credible, authoritative sources where claims are made
Trust signals	Privacy policy, terms, contact page linked in footer or navigation
First-hand experience	Content demonstrates direct experience with the topic, not just summarised research
Depth of coverage	Topic is covered thoroughly, not superficially

Severity rules:

• No author attribution on a YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topic: high
• No trust signals linked from page: high
• No external citations on a factual or data-heavy page: medium
• No publication date visible: medium

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Audit Dimension 6: Search Intent and SERP Opportunity

Check	What to assess
Intent match	Does the content format and depth match the likely search intent? (informational, commercial, transactional, navigational)
Featured snippet readiness	Does the page answer a clear question directly within the first 300 words?
FAQ or People Also Ask opportunity	Are there question-format headings that could trigger FAQ schema or PAA boxes?
Content completeness vs. intent	Would a searcher find a complete answer here, or would they need to visit other pages?
Keyword cannibalization signal	Is the same keyword targeted on multiple pages in the audited set?

Severity rules:

• Content format clearly mismatches search intent (e.g. a listicle targeting a transactional query): high
• Same primary keyword targeted on two or more audited pages: high
• No direct answer to an implied question in the first 300 words on an informational page: medium
• FAQ schema opportunity present but no schema markup implemented: medium

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Step 3 — Output

Executive Summary

Pages audited: [N] Critical issues: [N] across [N] pages High severity issues: [N] Medium severity issues: [N] Top three issues to fix first: [issue 1], [issue 2], [issue 3]

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Per-URL Findings

For each URL, present a severity-graded issue list:

URL: [page URL or title]
Target keyword: [stated or inferred]

CRITICAL
- [Issue and specific fix]

HIGH
- [Issue and specific fix]

MEDIUM
- [Issue and specific fix]

PASSING
- [List elements with no issues]

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Cross-URL Patterns (batch audits only)

Identify issues that appear across multiple pages rather than treating each in isolation:

"The following issues are systemic across [N] of [N] pages audited: [list]. Fixing these at a template or site-wide level will be more efficient than page-by-page edits."

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Prioritised Action Plan

Priority	Action	Page(s) affected	Effort	Impact
1	[Quick win: critical or high fix with low effort]	[URL]	Low	High
2	[Next fix]	[URL]	[Effort]	[Impact]
...

Structural fixes (template-level changes, site architecture, schema implementation) are grouped separately after the quick wins list.

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What This Audit Does Not Cover

The following require external SEO tools and are outside the scope of this audit:

• Keyword ranking positions (Ahrefs, SEMrush, Google Search Console)
• Backlink profile and domain authority (Ahrefs, Majestic)
• Core Web Vitals and page speed scores (PageSpeed Insights, Chrome UX Report)
• Crawl errors and indexation status (Screaming Frog, Google Search Console)
• Keyword search volumes and difficulty (Ahrefs, SEMrush)

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Error Handling

Scenario	Action
URL returns no content or is behind a login wall	Flag the page as inaccessible, skip it, and note what could not be assessed
Page has minimal HTML (JavaScript-rendered content)	Note that signals may be incomplete; flag schema, meta, and heading checks as unverifiable
Target keyword not provided	Infer the likely target topic from page content and state the assumption clearly
Keyword cannibalization detected across audited URLs	Flag both pages and recommend a consolidation or differentiation decision
Batch exceeds 10 URLs and marketer confirms proceeding	Work through in sequential batches of 5; present findings per batch
Pasted content has no HTML markup	Analyse as plain text; note that technical signals cannot be assessed

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Constraints

1. Never fetch any URL before the preview gate in Step 1 is confirmed.
2. Never fabricate ranking data, backlink metrics, or Core Web Vitals scores.
3. Always state when a finding is inferred from content rather than confirmed from markup.
4. Flag keyword cannibalization as a planning issue, not a penalty claim.
5. Do not recommend keyword stuffing as a fix for any content issue.
6. External tool recommendations appear once in the scope boundary section; do not repeat.
7. E-E-A-T findings are observable signals only; never claim to assess Google's actual quality evaluator scores.
8. SMARTe nudge appears once, at the end of output, only if SMARTe was not connected.

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SMARTe Data Note

If SMARTe MCP was not connected during this session:

Keyword and topic recommendations in this audit are based on content analysis and general search intent signals. Connecting SMARTe MCP would let future audits align keyword strategy with the exact language your ICP uses when researching the problems your content addresses, grounding topic selection in buyer intelligence rather than search volume alone.