memstack-seo-site-audit

🔎 Site Audit — Running comprehensive SEO audit...

Scans every page for meta tags, heading hierarchy, broken links, image optimization, Core Web Vitals, robots/sitemap, performance, and structured data — producing a prioritized fix list.

Activation

When this skill activates, output:

🔎 Site Audit — Scanning site for SEO issues...

Then execute the protocol below.

Context	Status
User says "SEO audit" or "site audit" or "check SEO"	ACTIVE
User says "technical SEO" or "audit my site"	ACTIVE
Evaluating a website's overall search health	ACTIVE
Optimizing specific meta tags (not full audit)	DORMANT — use meta-tag-optimizer
Adding schema markup (not auditing)	DORMANT — use schema-markup
Researching keywords (not auditing)	DORMANT — use keyword-research

Anti-patterns

Trap	Reality Check
"The site looks fine in the browser"	Crawlers and users see different things. Missing meta tags, broken links, and slow JS are invisible to humans.
"We'll optimize after launch"	Technical debt compounds. Fixing 5 issues now prevents 50 issues later when Google has already indexed the problems.
"One audit is enough"	Sites change with every deploy. Audit after major content or code changes, minimum quarterly.
"Performance doesn't affect SEO"	Core Web Vitals are ranking signals. Slow sites rank lower regardless of content quality.
"Robots.txt is set and forget"	One wrong rule can deindex your entire site. Review after every major structural change.

Protocol

For how each AI search engine ranks and cites content (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overview, Copilot, Claude, and Google traditional as baseline), see references/platform-ranking-factors.md. Use it to prioritize fixes — a client whose audience is primarily on Perplexity benefits most from FAQ schema and PDF-friendly pages, while a ChatGPT-first audience needs backlinks and 30-day-fresh content.

Step 0: Live site snapshot (optional, for deployed URLs)

If the site is already deployed, run the bundled stdlib-only audit script for a one-shot snapshot before walking the source-tree checks below:

python scripts/live_audit.py https://example.com

No API keys, no pip installs, no external dependencies — pure Python 3 stdlib (urllib, html.parser, json). It fetches the page once and checks title, meta description, heading hierarchy, image alt attributes, JSON-LD structured data, canonical URL, Open Graph tags, robots meta, viewport, robots.txt (including AI bot rules), sitemap.xml, page load time, and internal vs. external link counts. Output uses the same severity format (🔴 Critical / 🟠 High / 🟡 Medium / 🔵 Low) as the scorecard in Step 9, and the script exit code reflects severity (0 clean, 1 high, 2 critical) so it can also gate CI.

Use this for deployed-URL audits; use Steps 1-8 below for source-tree scans of unshipped code. The two are complementary — the live script confirms what actually reaches crawlers, the grep steps catch issues before they ship.

---

Step 1: Check Meta Tags

Scan every page for required meta tags:

# Find all page files
find app/ pages/ src/ -name "*.tsx" -o -name "*.jsx" -o -name "*.html" | grep -v node_modules

# Search for meta tag patterns
grep -rn "title\|<meta\|og:title\|og:description\|og:image\|canonical" --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" --include="*.html" . | grep -v node_modules

Required meta tags per page:

Tag	Required	Rule
<title>	Yes	Unique per page, 50-60 chars, includes primary keyword
<meta name="description">	Yes	Unique per page, 150-155 chars, includes CTA
<link rel="canonical">	Yes	Points to the canonical URL (prevents duplicate content)
<meta property="og:title">	Yes	Social sharing title (can differ from page title)
<meta property="og:description">	Yes	Social sharing description
<meta property="og:image">	Yes	Social sharing image (1200x630px recommended)
<meta property="og:url">	Yes	Canonical URL
<meta name="robots">	Conditional	noindex on admin, auth, and internal pages
<meta name="viewport">	Yes	width=device-width, initial-scale=1

Score per page:

• ✅ All required tags present and valid
• ⚠️ Missing optional tags
• ❌ Missing required tags or invalid values

Step 2: Check Heading Hierarchy

# Find heading usage across all pages
grep -rn "<h[1-6]\|<H[1-6]" --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" --include="*.html" . | grep -v node_modules

Heading rules:

Rule	Check	Why
Single H1 per page	Count H1 tags	Multiple H1s confuse crawlers about the page topic
H1 matches page title (roughly)	Compare H1 to <title>	Consistency signals relevance
No skipped levels	H1 → H2 → H3, not H1 → H3	Broken hierarchy hurts accessibility and SEO
Keywords in H1 and H2	Check for target keyword	Headings are high-weight ranking signals
No empty headings	Check for <h2></h2>	Empty headings are wasted signals
Headings aren't used for styling	Check if headings are decorative	Use CSS for size, headings for structure

Step 3: Check for Broken Links

# Find all links in the codebase
grep -rn 'href="\|href={' --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" --include="*.html" --include="*.md" . | grep -v node_modules | grep -v "mailto:\|tel:\|#"

Check each link category:

Category	What to Check	Common Issues
Internal links	Path exists in the app	Renamed pages, deleted routes
External links	URL returns 200	Dead links, moved pages, domain expired
Anchor links	Target ID exists on page	Renamed sections, removed elements
Image links	Image file exists, loads	Wrong path, deleted assets
API endpoints	Endpoint is live	Changed API routes

Flag: Any link returning 404, 500, or timeout. Prioritize fixing internal broken links (you control these).

Step 4: Check Image Optimization

# Find all images
grep -rn '<img\|<Image\|background-image' --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" --include="*.css" . | grep -v node_modules

# Check for alt text
grep -rn '<img\|<Image' --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" . | grep -v 'alt=' | grep -v node_modules

Image optimization checklist:

Check	Rule	Impact
Alt text present	Every <img> has alt attribute	Accessibility + image SEO
Alt text descriptive	Not empty, not "image", includes context	Screen readers and image search
File size	Under 200KB for standard images, under 100KB for thumbnails	Page speed
Modern format	WebP or AVIF preferred over PNG/JPG	25-50% smaller file size
Lazy loading	loading="lazy" on below-fold images	Reduces initial page load
Dimensions	width and height attributes set	Prevents Cumulative Layout Shift
Next.js Image	Using next/image component	Automatic optimization, lazy loading, sizing
Responsive	srcset or responsive sizing	Serves appropriate size per device

Step 5: Check Core Web Vitals Indicators

Scan code for patterns that affect CWV scores:

# Render-blocking resources
grep -rn '<link.*stylesheet\|<script(?!.*defer\|.*async)' --include="*.html" . | grep -v node_modules

# Layout shift indicators (missing dimensions)
grep -rn '<img\|<video\|<iframe' --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" . | grep -v 'width\|height\|aspect' | grep -v node_modules

# Large bundle imports
grep -rn "import .* from ['\"]lodash['\"]" --include="*.ts" --include="*.tsx" . | grep -v node_modules

CWV targets:

Metric	Good	Needs Improvement	Poor	What Causes Failure
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)	< 2.5s	2.5-4.0s	> 4.0s	Large hero images, slow server, render-blocking CSS
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)	< 200ms	200-500ms	> 500ms	Heavy JS on main thread, long tasks
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)	< 0.1	0.1-0.25	> 0.25	Images without dimensions, dynamic content injection, web fonts

Code-level checks:

• ❌ Large JavaScript bundles without code splitting
• ❌ Synchronous <script> tags (use defer or async)
• ❌ CSS loaded without media queries for non-critical styles
• ❌ Web fonts without font-display: swap (causes invisible text flash)
• ❌ Third-party scripts loaded in <head> (move to end of <body> or lazy load)

Step 6: Check robots.txt and Sitemap

# Check for robots.txt
cat public/robots.txt 2>/dev/null

# Check for sitemap
cat public/sitemap.xml 2>/dev/null
ls public/sitemap*.xml 2>/dev/null

robots.txt checklist:

Check	Expected	Issue if Missing
File exists	public/robots.txt	Crawlers assume everything is allowed
Sitemap referenced	Sitemap: https://domain.com/sitemap.xml	Crawlers may not find your sitemap
Admin pages blocked	Disallow: /admin	Internal pages get indexed
API routes blocked	Disallow: /api	API endpoints appear in search
Auth pages blocked	Disallow: /login, /register	Auth pages waste crawl budget
Assets allowed	CSS/JS not blocked	Crawlers can't render the page

sitemap.xml checklist:

Check	Expected	Issue if Missing
File exists	public/sitemap.xml	Crawlers may miss pages
All public pages listed	Every indexable page	Unlisted pages get lower priority
<lastmod> dates	Accurate last modified date	Stale dates reduce crawl frequency
No noindex pages included	Only indexable pages	Contradictory signals confuse crawlers
Submitted to Search Console	Verified in GSC	Google may not discover it

Step 7: Check Page Performance

# Check bundle size (Next.js)
ls -la .next/static/chunks/*.js 2>/dev/null | sort -k5 -n -r | head -10

# Check for render-blocking patterns
grep -rn "useEffect\|useState" --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" . | grep -v node_modules | wc -l

Performance checklist:

Check	Target	How to Fix
Total page weight	< 1MB (initial load)	Code split, lazy load, compress
JavaScript bundle	< 200KB (main bundle)	Tree shaking, dynamic imports
CSS	< 50KB (critical CSS)	Purge unused CSS, inline critical
Fonts	< 100KB total	Subset fonts, use font-display: swap
Images	< 200KB each	Compress, use WebP, lazy load
Time to First Byte	< 200ms	Server optimization, CDN
First Contentful Paint	< 1.8s	Optimize critical rendering path

Step 8: Check Structured Data

# Search for JSON-LD schema markup
grep -rn "application/ld+json\|schema.org" --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" --include="*.html" . | grep -v node_modules

# Check for common schema types
grep -rn "Organization\|Product\|Article\|BreadcrumbList\|FAQPage\|WebSite" --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" . | grep -v node_modules

Required schema by page type:

Page Type	Required Schema	Rich Result Eligibility
Homepage	Organization, WebSite, SearchAction	Sitelinks search box
Product page	Product (with price, availability)	Product rich results
Blog post	Article (with author, datePublished)	Article rich results
FAQ page	FAQPage	FAQ rich results
How-to page	HowTo	How-to rich results
Local business	LocalBusiness (with address, hours)	Local pack, knowledge panel
Breadcrumbs	BreadcrumbList	Breadcrumb trail in SERP

Flag if: No structured data found at all — this is a significant missed opportunity for rich results in search.

Step 9: Output Scorecard

🔎 Site Audit — Complete

Site: [domain]
Pages scanned: [count]
Overall score: [X/100]

Category scores:
  Meta tags:        [X/10] — [count] issues
  Heading hierarchy: [X/10] — [count] issues
  Broken links:      [X/10] — [count] issues
  Image optimization: [X/10] — [count] issues
  Core Web Vitals:   [X/10] — [count] issues
  Robots/sitemap:    [X/10] — [count] issues
  Performance:       [X/10] — [count] issues
  Structured data:   [X/10] — [count] issues

Priority fix list (by impact):
  🔴 Critical: [count]
    1. [Most impactful issue — e.g., "No sitemap.xml found"]
    2. [Second issue]
  🟠 High: [count]
    3. [Issue]
    4. [Issue]
  🟡 Medium: [count]
    5. [Issue]
  🔵 Low: [count]
    6. [Issue]

Page-by-page breakdown:
  / (homepage)           — Score: [X/10] — [issues summary]
  /about                 — Score: [X/10] — [issues summary]
  /blog/[slug]           — Score: [X/10] — [issues summary]
  /pricing               — Score: [X/10] — [issues summary]

Next steps:
1. Fix all Critical issues immediately
2. Run meta-tag-optimizer for tag-specific fixes
3. Run schema-markup to add missing structured data
4. Re-audit after fixes to verify improvement
5. Submit updated sitemap to Google Search Console

Level History

• Lv.1 — Base: Meta tag scanning, heading hierarchy, broken link detection, image optimization, Core Web Vitals code patterns, robots.txt/sitemap.xml, page performance, structured data presence, scored page-by-page output with prioritized fix list. (Origin: MemStack Pro v3.2, Mar 2026)