/suede-seo-audit

name: suede-seo-audit
description: "Suede AI technical and on-page SEO audit with a generative search lane. Runs nine evidence-based lanes on a live page or site: crawl and index access, search intent, metadata, structure and internal links, supported schema, answer extractability, copy, E-E-A-T, and topic clusters, then grades each A-F and writes exact rewrite fixes, JSON-LD, and KPIs to watch. Use when the audit itself is the deliverable: traffic drops, pre-launch SEO checks, indexation problems, schema errors, Core Web Vitals risk, or a scored SEO report. NOT FOR: a fast A-F promotion-readiness grade (use suede-visibility-grader); AI crawler policy, entity consistency, and prompt-panel measurement for ChatGPT, Perplexity or AI Overviews (use suede-ai-seo); conversion-path rework (use suede-site-alchemy)."

Suede SEO Audit

A deep, scored audit of how search engines and answer engines reach, understand, and present a page. Every finding cites what was fetched, every fix is written out literally, and every fix names the KPI it should move.

Gate policy: advisory, not blocking

Every check, grade, and ship gate here is a recommendation to the user, not a control on the agent. A failed gate changes what you report, never what you do. Single exception: an extremely risky finding (data loss, credential exposure, legal or rights violations, payment mistakes, irreversible public damage) pauses for the user's choice.

Where this audit stops

| Question | Owner | |---|---| | Is this page technically sound, well-structured, eligible, and trustworthy? Graded, with fixes. | **this skill** | | Is this page ready to promote today? One fast A-F read including design and CTA. | `suede-visibility-grader` | | Do ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and AI Overviews cite and recommend us, and how do we measure it? | `suede-ai-seo` | | The page is found but does not convert. | `suede-site-alchemy` | | Hundreds of templated pages. | `suede-programmatic-seo` |

Lane 6 applies the extractability standard that `suede-ai-seo` owns. Cite it; do not redefine it here.

Current rules

Before applying any Google-specific rule, read `references/google-search-guidance.md` (verified 2026-10-23). It records what changed recently and must be re-checked before a ship decision: FAQ rich results ended in May 2026, several structured data features were retired in 2025, AI Overviews and AI Mode have no extra technical requirements, and Search Console now has a Search Generative AI performance report.

1. Source truth

Never audit from memory. Before any finding, fetch and record exactly:

• HTTP status, every redirect hop, final URL
• `robots.txt` rules for `*`, `Googlebot`, and `Bingbot` (other named crawlers

only when asked; AI crawler policy belongs to `suede-ai-seo`)

• `<meta name="robots">`, `X-Robots-Tag`, snippet directives
• `<link rel="canonical">` and whether it is self-referencing
• Sitemap presence and whether the URL is listed
• `<title>`, meta description (text and length as a preview diagnostic)
• Open Graph and Twitter/X card tags
• Every JSON-LD block, parsed
• Primary H1 and heading outline
• Raw HTML vs rendered DOM for primary content

If the URL is inaccessible, audit source files and mark live checks unverified. If content is behind auth or a paywall, say so and limit scope.

2. Audit lanes

Run every lane. Mark each checklist item pass, fail, or N/A with location. Checklists live in `references/`:

| Lane | Checklist | |---|---| | 0 Keyword research (optional) | `references/keyword-research.md` | | 1-4, 6-9 | `references/lane-checklists.md` | | 5 Schema | `references/schema-templates.md` |

Lane 0: Keyword research (optional)

Run only when discovery is requested. Produces a keyword and content brief, not a grade. Numeric demand stays `unknown` unless a dated source supplies it.

Lane 1: Technical access

Can Google and Bing crawl, render, and index the page? Status, redirects, canonical, robots, sitemap, rendering, Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow setup, and the Core Web Vitals protocol (LCP 2.5 s, INP 200 ms, CLS 0.1 at the 75th percentile). Measure CWV with PageSpeed Insights or CrUX field data when available; otherwise report "not measurable" plus observed risk factors. CWV never enters the grade.

Drops to C or below: an indexability block, wrong canonical, failing redirects, or primary content missing from the rendered result. Using JavaScript is not a failure by itself.

Lane 2: Search and answer intent

One primary reader, one primary query theme, one action the page should earn, and no cannibalization. Write the standalone definition ("[Entity] is [what] for [whom] by [how]") from the opening; if the page cannot support one, report the ambiguity.

Drops to C or below: no clear reader, intent conflicts with the title, or the opening answers a different question than the URL implies.

Lane 3: Metadata

Title, meta description, Open Graph, Twitter/X card, alt text, author and publisher entity names. Character counts are preview diagnostics; Google sets no fixed limit and may rewrite title links and snippets.

Drops to D or below: title missing or misleading, meta description missing on a priority landing page, broken social preview assets, or the entity cannot be identified from title, description, and H1 together. Length alone never drops a grade.

Lane 4: Structure and internal links

Heading hierarchy, heading self-sufficiency, real `<table>` markup for tabular content, section order that follows the reader's task, internal links (descriptive anchors, click depth, orphans, broken links), and natural topic coverage. No universal template, word count, or keyword density.

Drops to C or below: H1 missing, the page omits information its primary intent requires, internal anchors are non-descriptive throughout, or the page is reachable only through search or the sitemap (orphan). The retrieval-chunk and heading checks in the checklist are warnings, nev