search-console-indexing-audit

search-console-indexing-audit

Use this skill to turn Google Search Console Coverage exports into a concrete indexing fix plan.

Workflow

1. Read the export directory first:
   • Chart.csv for indexed/not-indexed trend and impressions
   • Metadata.csv for property context such as sitemap scope
   • Critical issues.csv and Non-critical issues.csv for issue buckets
2. Run the summarizer when the standard CSV files are present:

python3 <skill-dir>/scripts/summarize_gsc_coverage.py <export-dir>
python3 <skill-dir>/scripts/summarize_gsc_coverage.py <export-dir> --json

3. Inspect the target repo for SEO sources of truth:
   • sitemap generation and whether listed URLs are canonical, indexable HTML pages
   • robots rules, sitemap URL, and host hints
   • canonical metadata, metadataBase, Open Graph URL base, and per-route noindex
   • redirects across apex/www, http/https, trailing slash, moved routes, and legacy paths
4. Check live URLs when network access is available:

curl -sS -I https://example.com/sitemap.xml
curl -sS https://example.com/sitemap.xml
curl -sS https://example.com/robots.txt
curl -sS https://example.com/page | rg -o '<link rel="canonical"[^>]*>|<meta name="robots"[^>]*>'
curl -sS -I -L --max-redirs 5 https://example.com/page

5. Map GSC buckets to fixes:
   • Page with redirect: remove redirected URLs from sitemap and canonicals; submit only final 200 URLs.
   • Redirect error: inspect redirect chains, protocol/host loops, blocked destinations, and non-200 final responses.
   • Alternate page with proper canonical tag: usually acceptable; verify sitemap does not include alternates.
   • Discovered - currently not indexed: improve crawl signals first: clean sitemap, canonical consistency, internal links, content quality, stable 200 responses, and lastmod accuracy.
   • Excluded by noindex: verify it is intentional and keep those URLs out of sitemap.

Output

Report:

• Export summary: date range, indexed/not-indexed trend, issue buckets, and limitations.
• Likely root cause, with evidence from files or live HTTP responses.
• Prioritized fixes, smallest reliable change first.
• Verification steps for local tests, build, live sitemap/robots/canonical checks, and Search Console validation.

Call out when the export is aggregate-only and does not contain affected URL examples. Do not infer exact URLs unless the CSVs or live sitemap provide them.