Skills › Knowledge Work Plugins › seo-ai-visibility › audit_checklist.md
audit_checklist.md
134 lines · small-business/skills/seo-ai-visibility/reference/audit_checklist.md at 2574e29
1# Audit Checklist
3Everything to check on a crawl, and how to rank what comes back.
5This runs on any public website with no connector. Fetch the pages, read the HTML, and record what is there.
7---
Audit Checklist
Everything to check on a crawl, and how to rank what comes back.
This runs on any public website with no connector. Fetch the pages, read the HTML, and record what is there.
Raw lines 1 to 8
9## What to fetch
11| Target | Why |
12|---|---|
13| Homepage | Titles, main claims, structured data, navigation |
14| Each service or category page | The pages that should rank for what customers search |
15| Location pages | Local search depends on these existing and being distinct |
16| Contact and about | Where hours, address, service area, and credentials live |
17| Blog or resources, recent items | Whether content is current and whether it answers real questions |
18| `/robots.txt` | Crawler rules, including AI crawlers |
19| `/sitemap.xml` | Whether pages are discoverable at all |
20| `/llms.txt` | Usually absent — that is a finding |
22Name anything unreachable. A 404 on a page linked from the main menu is itself a finding.
24---
What to fetch
| Target | Why |
|---|---|
| Homepage | Titles, main claims, structured data, navigation |
| Each service or category page | The pages that should rank for what customers search |
| Location pages | Local search depends on these existing and being distinct |
| Contact and about | Where hours, address, service area, and credentials live |
| Blog or resources, recent items | Whether content is current and whether it answers real questions |
/robots.txt | Crawler rules, including AI crawlers |
/sitemap.xml | Whether pages are discoverable at all |
/llms.txt | Usually absent — that is a finding |
Name anything unreachable. A 404 on a page linked from the main menu is itself a finding.
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26## Technical checks
28| Check | Pass looks like |
29|---|---|
30| Robots rules | No blanket disallow blocking search or AI crawlers by accident |
31| Sitemap | Present, current, listing real URLs, referenced in robots.txt |
32| HTTPS | Whole site, no mixed content |
33| Renders without JavaScript | Main content present in the raw HTML response |
34| Canonical tags | One per page, pointing at itself unless deliberately consolidating |
35| Mobile layout | Readable and tappable at phone width |
36| Page speed | Main content visible in a couple of seconds on a normal connection |
37| Broken links | None in the main navigation or on money pages |
38| Duplicate content | Not the same paragraph across ten location pages with the town swapped |
40---
Technical checks
| Check | Pass looks like |
|---|---|
| Robots rules | No blanket disallow blocking search or AI crawlers by accident |
| Sitemap | Present, current, listing real URLs, referenced in robots.txt |
| HTTPS | Whole site, no mixed content |
| Renders without JavaScript | Main content present in the raw HTML response |
| Canonical tags | One per page, pointing at itself unless deliberately consolidating |
| Mobile layout | Readable and tappable at phone width |
| Page speed | Main content visible in a couple of seconds on a normal connection |
| Broken links | None in the main navigation or on money pages |
| Duplicate content | Not the same paragraph across ten location pages with the town swapped |
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42## On-page checks, per page
44| Check | Pass looks like |
45|---|---|
46| Title tag | Present, unique, under about 60 characters, says what the page is |
47| Meta description | Present, unique, under about 155 characters, reads like a person wrote it |
48| H1 | Exactly one, matching what the page is about |
49| Heading order | H2s and H3s in a sensible nesting, not chosen for how they look |
50| Image alt text | Descriptive of the image, not a keyword list |
51| Internal links | Money pages reachable in two clicks from the homepage |
52| Word count | Enough to answer the question. No target number — thin is a symptom, not the disease |
53| Contact info | Consistent name, address, phone across every page |
55---
On-page checks, per page
| Check | Pass looks like |
|---|---|
| Title tag | Present, unique, under about 60 characters, says what the page is |
| Meta description | Present, unique, under about 155 characters, reads like a person wrote it |
| H1 | Exactly one, matching what the page is about |
| Heading order | H2s and H3s in a sensible nesting, not chosen for how they look |
| Image alt text | Descriptive of the image, not a keyword list |
| Internal links | Money pages reachable in two clicks from the homepage |
| Word count | Enough to answer the question. No target number — thin is a symptom, not the disease |
| Contact info | Consistent name, address, phone across every page |
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57## Content checks
59- Does each page answer a question a customer would actually type or ask out loud?
60- Are the facts a customer needs — price range, service area, hours, what is included — stated plainly, or buried in marketing prose?
61- Is anything contradicted elsewhere on the site? Two different phone numbers is common and costly.
62- Is anything out of date? Prices, staff, service areas, copyright year.
63- Is there a page for each real service, or one page listing everything?
65---
Content checks
- Does each page answer a question a customer would actually type or ask out loud?
- Are the facts a customer needs — price range, service area, hours, what is included — stated plainly, or buried in marketing prose?
- Is anything contradicted elsewhere on the site? Two different phone numbers is common and costly.
- Is anything out of date? Prices, staff, service areas, copyright year.
- Is there a page for each real service, or one page listing everything?
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67## Off-site checks
69| Source | Why it matters |
70|---|---|
71| Google Business Profile | Claimed, complete, hours correct, categories right |
72| Industry directories | Trade-specific listings that assistants and search both read |
73| Review platforms | Presence and recency, not just star count |
74| Local citations | Name, address, phone matching the site exactly |
76Mismatched details across listings are one of the most common causes of a business being described wrong by both search and assistants.
78---
Off-site checks
| Source | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Claimed, complete, hours correct, categories right |
| Industry directories | Trade-specific listings that assistants and search both read |
| Review platforms | Presence and recency, not just star count |
| Local citations | Name, address, phone matching the site exactly |
Mismatched details across listings are one of the most common causes of a business being described wrong by both search and assistants.
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80## Scoring
82Score every finding on two axes. Rank by impact first.
84| Impact | Meaning |
85|---|---|
86| High | Blocks discovery entirely, or states something false about the business |
87| Medium | Reduces how well a page performs or how accurately it is understood |
88| Low | Real improvement, no urgency |
90| Effort | Meaning |
91|---|---|
92| Small | One file, one field, under an hour |
93| Medium | A page rewrite or a batch of edits |
94| Large | Structural — new pages, a template change, a developer |
96The usual order, which holds for most small sites:
981. Unblock crawlers that are accidentally disallowed — high impact, small effort
992. Fix content that only renders in JavaScript — high impact, varies
1003. Correct wrong or contradictory facts — high impact, small effort
1014. Add schema.org structured data — high impact, small effort
1025. Publish llms.txt — medium impact, small effort
1036. Claim and complete business listings — high impact, medium effort
1047. Fix titles and meta descriptions — medium impact, small effort
1058. Rewrite thin or unanswering content — high impact, large effort
107---
Scoring
Score every finding on two axes. Rank by impact first.
| Impact | Meaning |
|---|---|
| High | Blocks discovery entirely, or states something false about the business |
| Medium | Reduces how well a page performs or how accurately it is understood |
| Low | Real improvement, no urgency |
| Effort | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Small | One file, one field, under an hour |
| Medium | A page rewrite or a batch of edits |
| Large | Structural — new pages, a template change, a developer |
The usual order, which holds for most small sites:
- Unblock crawlers that are accidentally disallowed — high impact, small effort
- Fix content that only renders in JavaScript — high impact, varies
- Correct wrong or contradictory facts — high impact, small effort
- Add schema.org structured data — high impact, small effort
- Publish llms.txt — medium impact, small effort
- Claim and complete business listings — high impact, medium effort
- Fix titles and meta descriptions — medium impact, small effort
- Rewrite thin or unanswering content — high impact, large effort
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109## Reporting the audit
111Five findings in the body. Everything else in an appendix.
113```
114Okonkwo Mechanical — Search and AI Visibility Audit
115Crawled 2026-07-27 · 14 pages · okonkwomechanical.com
117The one-line version: the site reads fine to people, but AI crawlers are
118blocked by a line in robots.txt and there's no structured data anywhere, so
119assistants can't confirm basic facts about the business.
121Fix these five, in order:
1231. robots.txt blocks GPTBot and ClaudeBot High impact · 10 minutes
1242. No schema.org markup on any page High impact · 1 hour
1253. Service area says "tri-state" — no towns High impact · 30 minutes
1264. Google Business Profile hours are wrong High impact · 15 minutes
1275. No llms.txt Medium impact · 20 minutes
129Nine more findings in the appendix, none urgent.
131What I could not check: the customer portal at /account is behind a login.
132```
134**No overall score.** A single number invites comparison to a competitor's number that does not exist and hides which fix matters.
Reporting the audit
Five findings in the body. Everything else in an appendix.
Okonkwo Mechanical — Search and AI Visibility Audit
Crawled 2026-07-27 · 14 pages · okonkwomechanical.com
The one-line version: the site reads fine to people, but AI crawlers are
blocked by a line in robots.txt and there's no structured data anywhere, so
assistants can't confirm basic facts about the business.
Fix these five, in order:
1. robots.txt blocks GPTBot and ClaudeBot High impact · 10 minutes
2. No schema.org markup on any page High impact · 1 hour
3. Service area says "tri-state" — no towns High impact · 30 minutes
4. Google Business Profile hours are wrong High impact · 15 minutes
5. No llms.txt Medium impact · 20 minutes
Nine more findings in the appendix, none urgent.
What I could not check: the customer portal at /account is behind a login.No overall score. A single number invites comparison to a competitor's number that does not exist and hides which fix matters.
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