---
name: seo-audit
description: "Run a site-wide SEO audit into a ranked PLAN.md: technical, content, links, local. A single page → page-seo-analysis. \"why did our traffic drop\""
argument-hint: "[URL]"
---

# /digital-marketing-pro:seo-audit

> **Script location.** If your host does not set `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}`, the scripts are in this plugin's `scripts/` folder, next to `skills/`.

## Purpose

Perform a comprehensive SEO audit that evaluates a website across all major ranking dimensions. Produces a prioritized action plan with estimated impact and effort for each recommendation.

### Algorithm-update context (read before triaging volatility)

**Status as of 2026-10-04 (time-boxed — re-check after ~2026-12):** per the [Google Search Status Dashboard](https://status.search.google.com/summary), the most recent **core** update began **21 May 2026** (completed after ~12 days). Since then Google has run only **spam** updates: the **August 2026 spam update** (18–21 Aug) and the **September 2026 spam update** (started 24 Sep; not yet marked complete on 2026-10-04). **There was no September 2026 core update** — several SEO blogs reported one; the dashboard lists none. Attribute only to updates the dashboard lists. Separately, Google's **site reputation abuse** policy has split at the EEA border since 30 Aug 2026: outside the EEA a manual action demotes the affected section; inside the EEA the section is separated and ranks on its own instead ([Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/08/update-site-reputation-policy)) — word audit findings on third-party/"parasite" sections per region.

When an audit runs inside a listed update's rollout window (or the 4 weeks after) and the brand shows ranking volatility:

- **Do not make reactive changes during a rollout.** Wait for the dashboard to mark the update complete, plus 7–14 days of settling, before drawing conclusions.
- **Diagnose direction before scope.** A site-wide drop vs a single-section drop vs a single-template drop have very different root causes. Compare pre-rollout (21 days before the start date) vs in-rollout vs post-rollout impressions and clicks, segmented by page-group.
- **Match the response to the update type.** Core updates re-weight existing quality signals — the answer is deeper E-E-A-T, unique value, and pruning thin/duplicated/AI-spam pages, not chasing rumoured signals. Spam updates target policy violations — check the affected pages against Google's spam policies (scaled content abuse, site reputation abuse, expired-domain abuse) before touching anything else.
- **Flag in the executive summary** whether ranking deltas pre-date a listed update (likely site-specific issues) or coincide with one — this decides between quick wins and a multi-quarter quality program.

## Input Required

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

- **Website URL**: The domain or specific pages to audit
- **Target keywords**: Primary keywords the site should rank for (optional — can be researched)
- **Competitors**: 2-3 competitor URLs for benchmarking (optional)
- **Audit scope**: Full site or specific area (technical, content, local, links)
- **Known issues**: Any existing problems the user is aware of

## 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. **Technical audit**: Crawlability, indexation, Core Web Vitals, mobile usability, structured data, HTTPS, XML sitemap, robots.txt, canonical tags, redirect chains
3. **On-page audit**: Title tags, meta descriptions, heading hierarchy, keyword usage, image alt text, internal linking structure, URL structure
4. **Content audit**: Thin content, duplicate content, content gaps, freshness, E-E-A-T signals (author pages, citations, credentials, first-hand experience)
5. **Local SEO** (if applicable): Google Business Profile, NAP consistency, local schema, reviews, local link profile
6. **Link profile**: Domain authority, backlink quality, toxic links, anchor text distribution, link velocity, competitor link gap. Score the own-domain profile with the analyzer (feeds `05-link-profile.md`):
   ```bash
   python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/link-profile-analyzer.py" \
       --file "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA}/{brand}/seo/seo-audit/{date}/links-export.json" \
       --brand-domain {brand-domain}
   ```
   (`--file` is a JSON array of link objects `[{"url","anchor_text","domain","da","follow"}]`, or pass `--links '<json>'` inline; `--brand-domain` excludes internal links.) For competitor link-gap prospecting, hand off to `/digital-marketing-pro:backlink-gap`.
7. Score each dimension on a 1-10 scale
8. Prioritize findings by impact (high/medium/low) and effort (quick win/medium/major project)
9. Generate the audit report with actionable recommendations

For the per-dimension checklists (incl. keyword research), the findings and action-plan table layouts, the after-audit follow-up menu, and the parallel-dispatch rules (independent dimensions concurrently; the action plan stays sequential), read `dimension-checklists.md` beside this file.

## Output

A structured SEO audit report containing:

- Executive summary with overall health score
- Technical SEO scorecard with specific issues and fixes
- On-page optimization findings per page/template
- Content quality assessment with gap analysis
- E-E-A-T evaluation and improvement recommendations
- Local SEO assessment (if applicable)
- Link profile analysis with opportunities
- Prioritized action plan sorted by impact-to-effort ratio

## Numbered output convention

All audit outputs go to `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA}/{brand}/seo/seo-audit/{YYYY-MM-DD}/`:

```
00-input.md                    target URL, audit scope, brand context, Core Update window flag
01-crawl-inventory.md          discovered URLs, status codes, redirect chains
02-technical-scorecard.md      Core Web Vitals, crawlability, schema validity (1-10 per dimension)
03-onpage-findings.md          per-template issues with affected URL list
04-content-quality.md          E-E-A-T, thin/duplicate, topical coverage
05-link-profile.md             own backlink health (hand off to backlink-gap for prospect work)
06-eeat-evaluation.md          author signals, expertise indicators, trust elements
07-local-seo.md                only if business profile.target_markets has local intent
08-quality-scorecard.md        the gates below — must pass for status: ready
09-prioritised-actions.md      impact × effort matrix, top 20 actions
PLAN.md                        single-page deliverable
```

Downstream skills (`seo-implement`, `seo-plan`, `content-engine`) consume `PLAN.md` and the relevant numbered file rather than re-querying.

## Quality scorecard

| Gate | What it checks |
|---|---|
| **crawl_coverage** | ≥ 90% of sitemap URLs successfully crawled (else input data is incomplete) |
| **dimension_completeness** | Scores filled for all 6 mandatory dimensions (technical, on-page, content, E-E-A-T, link, local-if-applicable) |
| **finding_actionability** | Every "high impact" finding has a named owner + effort estimate (else it's not actionable) |
| **core_update_flag_set** | If running inside a Core Update window, `00-input.md` flags it AND `PLAN.md` carries the "wait 7-14 days before reactive changes" callout |

`status: ready` requires all four gates pass.

## Chain handoffs

- **Upstream:** brand profile + (optional) prior `tech-seo-audit`, `aeo-audit` outputs
- **Downstream:**
  - `/digital-marketing-pro:seo-implement` — applies the top-N findings to CMS / dev backlog
  - `/digital-marketing-pro:seo-plan` — consumes via dispatcher pillar scoring
  - `/digital-marketing-pro:backlink-gap` — for the link-prospect side that `05-link-profile.md` only covers from the own-domain angle
  - `/digital-marketing-pro:seo-drift` — next quarter, compare two audit snapshots

## Tips & caveats

- **Run during a Core Update?** Mark it loudly in `00-input.md` and don't recommend reactive changes. The audit findings stay valid; the timing of action does not.
- **Don't audit at the URL level for sites > 10k pages.** Sample template-typically (cluster by template, audit one representative URL per template, generalise).
- **E-E-A-T scoring is judgement, not measurement.** Two senior SEOs will disagree by ~1 point per dimension on the same site. Calibrate against the brand's industry: a 7/10 author signal is excellent for SaaS but minimum-viable for a YMYL health publisher.
- **Local SEO dimension** only applies if the brand profile has `business_model: local` or `target_markets` includes specific geographies with physical service. Otherwise skip.
- **The link-profile dimension here is own-domain health** (broken links, redirect chains, anchor-text distribution on inbound links). For competitor link-gap analysis, hand off to `/digital-marketing-pro:backlink-gap` — don't try to do both in this audit.

## Agents Used

- **seo-specialist** — All audit dimensions, scoring, prioritization, and recommendations