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craig 6eff12e8ac Initial commit — SEO Guidelines & SmartCrawl reference
SmartCrawl plugin reference (11 docs):
- Overview, configuration, titles & meta, schema, sitemaps,
  social/OG, redirects, breadcrumbs, content analysis,
  hooks/filters, known issues

SEO strategy playbook (6 docs):
- Keyword research, per-page-type selection, on-page optimization,
  local SEO, technical SEO, content strategy

Reusable templates (3):
- Site audit checklist, keyword research worksheet,
  page optimization checklist

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-04-17 13:32:17 -05:00

4.2 KiB

Site SEO Audit Checklist

Use this template before starting SEO work on any site. Copy this file and fill it in for the specific site.

Site Information

  • Site URL:
  • cPanel Account:
  • Cache path: /var/cache/ea-nginx/proxy/<account>/
  • CMS: WordPress / Static HTML / Other
  • SEO Plugin: SmartCrawl Free / SmartCrawl Pro / Other / None
  • Date of Audit:
  • Auditor:

1. Current State Assessment

Indexing

  • Site is indexed in Google (site:example.com returns results)
  • Approximate number of indexed pages: ____
  • Google Search Console connected and verified
  • Any manual actions or security issues in Search Console? ____

Existing SEO Setup

  • SEO plugin installed? Which one? ____
  • Title tags customized or default? ____
  • Meta descriptions set? How many pages? ____
  • Schema markup present? Type(s)? ____
  • XML sitemap exists? URL: ____
  • Sitemap submitted to Search Console?
  • Robots.txt exists and is correct?
  • Open Graph tags present?
  • Any existing redirects?

2. Technical SEO

Performance

  • Page load time (GTmetrix or PageSpeed Insights): ____ seconds
  • LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): ____
  • INP (Interaction to Next Paint): ____
  • CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): ____
  • Mobile-friendly test: Pass / Fail

Security & Protocol

  • HTTPS enabled (no mixed content)
  • HTTP → HTTPS redirect working
  • www / non-www preference set with redirect
  • Trailing slash consistency

Crawlability

  • Robots.txt reviewed (not blocking CSS/JS/important content)
  • No accidental noindex on important pages
  • No orphan pages (pages with zero internal links)
  • No broken internal links (404s)
  • Canonical tags present and correct

3. On-Page SEO

Title Tags

  • Homepage has custom title tag
  • Service pages have custom title tags
  • Blog posts have title tags (template or custom)
  • Any duplicate title tags? List: ____
  • Title tag length (50-60 chars)? ____

Meta Descriptions

  • Homepage has hand-crafted meta description
  • Service pages have meta descriptions
  • Any pages missing descriptions? Count: ____
  • Description length (150-160 chars)? ____

Content

  • Every page has exactly one H1
  • Header hierarchy is correct (no skipped levels)
  • Images have alt text
  • Internal linking structure exists
  • Content quality assessment (thin pages? duplicate content?)

URLs

  • URLs are clean (no ?p=123 or parameter junk)
  • URLs include keywords where appropriate
  • Hyphens used (not underscores)
  • Reasonable length

4. Local SEO (If Applicable)

  • Google Business Profile exists and is verified
  • GBP information is complete and accurate
  • NAP is consistent across website, GBP, and directories
  • LocalBusiness schema on website
  • Google Map embedded on contact page
  • Reviews: count ____, average rating ____
  • Listed in relevant local directories

5. Content Inventory

List the key pages and their current SEO status:

Page URL Title Tag Meta Desc H1 Focus KW Status
Homepage /
About /about/
Contact /contact/
Service 1
Service 2
Blog (if any) /blog/

Status options: Good / Needs Work / Missing / N/A


6. Search Console Quick Wins

After connecting Search Console, check:

  • Top queries by impressions (what Google shows the site for)
  • Striking distance keywords (positions 8-20)
  • Pages with high impressions but low CTR (title/description issue)
  • Any crawl errors or indexing issues

Striking Distance Keywords Found

Keyword Current Position Page Action Needed

7. Priority Actions

Based on the audit, list the top actions in priority order:

Immediate (Do First)

Soon (This Week)

Ongoing (Monthly)


Notes

Additional observations, competitor insights, or client-specific considerations: