/seo-audit

name: seo-audit
description: "Run comprehensive SEO audit. Use when: checking technical health, on-page, content quality, E-E-A-T, or link profile."
argument-hint: "[URL]"

/digital-marketing-pro:seo-audit

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.

May 2026 Core Update context (read before triaging volatility)

> **Time-boxed guidance — valid until ~2026-08.** This block is specific to the May 2026 Core Update window. After ~August 2026 it is stale: re-check the [Google Search Status Dashboard](https://status.search.google.com/) for the current/most-recent core update and its dates before applying any of the timing advice below.

Google rolled out a **broad core algorithm update starting 21 May 2026** with the usual ~2-week deployment window. If the audit is being run inside that window (or in the 4 weeks after) and the brand is showing ranking volatility:

• **Do not make reactive changes during the rollout.** Wait for the update to fully deploy (Google announces completion in the Search Status Dashboard) plus 7–14 days of post-deploy 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. Use Search Console to compare pre-rollout (21 days before May 21) vs in-rollout vs post-rollout impressions and clicks segmented by page-group.
• **Core updates re-weight existing signals, they don't introduce new ones.** The audit dimensions below remain authoritative; the right response to a Core Update hit is usually to deepen E-E-A-T, improve unique value, fix thin/duplicated content, and reduce low-quality affiliate or AI-spam pages — not to chase rumoured signals.
• **Flag in the executive summary** whether ranking deltas pre-date the rollout (likely site-specific issues) or coincide with it (likely Core Update reweighting). This determines whether quick wins are appropriate or whether the brand needs 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`):

   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

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 loca