SEO Audit

Framework

IRON LAW: Technical Foundation Before Content Optimization

A site with brilliant content but broken crawlability, slow speed, or
no mobile support will not rank. Fix technical issues FIRST, then optimize
content. A technically sound site with mediocre content outranks a
technically broken site with great content.

Priority: Crawlability → Speed → Mobile → On-Page → Content → Links

Audit Checklist

1. Crawlability & Indexing

Check	Tool	Red Flag
robots.txt blocking important pages	robots.txt tester	Disallow on key pages
Sitemap.xml exists and is valid	XML sitemap validator	Missing or has errors
Index coverage	Google Search Console	Excluded pages growing
Canonical tags correct	Manual check	Missing or pointing to wrong URL
404 errors	Screaming Frog / GSC	> 5% of URLs return 404
Redirect chains	Screaming Frog	Chain > 2 hops

2. Site Speed (Core Web Vitals)

Metric	Target	Tool
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)	< 2.5s	PageSpeed Insights
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)	< 200ms	PageSpeed Insights
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)	< 0.1	PageSpeed Insights

3. Mobile-Friendliness

• Responsive design (passes Google mobile-friendly test)
• Touch targets > 48px
• No horizontal scrolling
• Text readable without zooming

4. On-Page SEO (per page)

Element	Best Practice
Title tag	Primary keyword + brand, < 60 chars
Meta description	Compelling, includes keyword, < 155 chars
H1	One per page, includes primary keyword
URL structure	Short, descriptive, includes keyword
Image alt text	Descriptive, includes keyword naturally
Internal linking	Link to related pages with descriptive anchor text

5. Content Quality

• Keyword targeting: each important page targets a primary keyword
• Content depth: covers the topic comprehensively (not thin content)
• E-E-A-T signals: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness
• Freshness: key content updated within last 12 months

6. Backlink Profile

• Total referring domains (Ahrefs, Moz)
• Domain authority / domain rating
• Toxic links (spammy, irrelevant)
• Anchor text distribution (natural vs over-optimized)

Output Format

# SEO Audit: {Website}

## Summary
| Category | Score | Priority Issues |
|----------|-------|----------------|
| Crawlability | 🟢/🟡/🔴 | {top issue} |
| Speed | 🟢/🟡/🔴 | {top issue} |
| Mobile | 🟢/🟡/🔴 | {top issue} |
| On-Page | 🟢/🟡/🔴 | {top issue} |
| Content | 🟢/🟡/🔴 | {top issue} |
| Backlinks | 🟢/🟡/🔴 | {top issue} |

## Critical Issues (fix immediately)
1. {issue + impact + fix}

## High Priority (fix within 30 days)
1. {issue + fix}

## Opportunities
1. {keyword/content opportunity}

## Action Plan
| Priority | Action | Impact | Effort | Timeline |
|----------|--------|--------|--------|----------|
| 1 | {action} | H/M/L | H/M/L | {weeks} |

Gotchas

• SEO results take 3-6 months: Don't expect ranking changes within weeks. Measure over quarters, not days.
• Google Search Console is the source of truth: Third-party tools estimate. GSC shows actual Google data (clicks, impressions, index status).
• Core Web Vitals are ranking factors: Since 2021, Google uses page experience (speed, interactivity, visual stability) as ranking signals. Not optional.
• AI-generated content: Google doesn't penalize AI content per se, but penalizes low-quality, unhelpful content regardless of how it was produced. E-E-A-T matters.
• Local SEO for Taiwan: For local businesses, Google 我的商家 (Google Business Profile) is critical. Optimize GBP before worrying about organic rankings.

References

• For keyword research methodology, see references/keyword-research.md
• For content optimization guidelines, see references/content-seo.md