SEO/GEO Audit Checklist

Complete checklist for auditing and optimizing websites for both traditional SEO and GEO (AI search visibility).

Priority Levels

Technical SEO

P0 - Critical

• [ ] P0 robots.txt allows important pages
• [ ] P0 Site is accessible (no 5xx errors)
• [ ] P0 HTTPS enabled (valid SSL certificate)
• [ ] P0 Mobile-responsive design
• [ ] P0 No critical pages blocked by noindex
• [ ] P0 Site is indexed in Google (check: site:domain.com)

P1 - Important

• [ ] P1 robots.txt allows AI bots (GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot)
• [ ] P1 XML sitemap exists and is submitted
• [ ] P1 Site is indexed in Bing (for Copilot visibility)
• [ ] P1 Canonical tags properly implemented
• [ ] P1 No duplicate content issues
• [ ] P1 Page load time < 3 seconds
• [ ] P1 LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) < 2.5s

P2 - Recommended

• [ ] P2 FID (First Input Delay) < 100ms
• [ ] P2 CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) < 0.1
• [ ] P2 Images optimized (WebP format, lazy loading)
• [ ] P2 CSS/JS minified
• [ ] P2 GZIP/Brotli compression enabled
• [ ] P2 CDN configured
• [ ] P2 Mobile-friendly test passed
• [ ] P2 No mixed content warnings
• [ ] P2 Secure headers configured

On-Page SEO

P0 - Critical

• [ ] P0 Unique <title> tag exists (50-60 characters)
• [ ] P0 Title contains primary keyword
• [ ] P0 Unique <meta description> exists (150-160 characters)
• [ ] P0 Single H1 tag per page
• [ ] P0 H1 contains primary keyword

P1 - Important

• [ ] P1 Description is compelling and includes keyword
• [ ] P1 <meta name="robots"> correctly set
• [ ] P1 Logical heading hierarchy (H1 > H2 > H3)
• [ ] P1 All images have alt attributes
• [ ] P1 Internal links to related content
• [ ] P1 No broken links (404s)
• [ ] P1 Anchor text is descriptive

P2 - Recommended

• [ ] P2 og:title set
• [ ] P2 og:description set
• [ ] P2 og:image set (1200x630px recommended)
• [ ] P2 og:url set (canonical URL)
• [ ] P2 og:type set (website/article)
• [ ] P2 twitter:card set (summarylargeimage)
• [ ] P2 twitter:title set
• [ ] P2 twitter:description set
• [ ] P2 twitter:image set
• [ ] P2 Paragraphs are short (2-3 sentences)
• [ ] P2 Bullet points used for lists
• [ ] P2 Tables used for comparisons
• [ ] P2 Alt text includes keywords where natural
• [ ] P2 Image file names are descriptive
• [ ] P2 External links have rel="noopener noreferrer"

Schema Markup (Structured Data)

P1 - Important

• [ ] P1 Organization schema on homepage
• [ ] P1 WebPage schema on all pages
• [ ] P1 Article schema on blog posts
• [ ] P1 Schema passes Google Rich Results Test
• [ ] P1 No errors in Search Console "Enhancements"

P2 - Recommended - GEO Enhanced

• [ ] P2 FAQPage schema on FAQ sections (+40% AI visibility)
• [ ] P2 BreadcrumbList schema for navigation
• [ ] P2 SpeakableSpecification for voice search
• [ ] P2 datePublished and dateModified included
• [ ] P2 Author information with credentials
• [ ] P2 Publisher information with logo
• [ ] P2 Schema passes Schema.org Validator

GEO Optimization (AI Search)

P1 - Important - Princeton GEO Methods

• [ ] P1 Content includes authoritative citations (+40%)
• [ ] P1 Statistics and data points included (+37%)
• [ ] P1 Expert quotes with attribution (+30%)
• [ ] P1 NO keyword stuffing (causes -10%)

P2 - Recommended - GEO Enhancement

• [ ] P2 Authoritative, confident tone (+25%)
• [ ] P2 Content is accessible/easy to understand (+20%)
• [ ] P2 Appropriate technical terminology (+18%)
• [ ] P2 Diverse vocabulary throughout (+15%)
• [ ] P2 High fluency and readability (+15-30%)

Content Structure for AI

• [ ] "Answer-first" format (direct answer at top)
• [ ] Clear, extractable paragraphs
• [ ] FAQ format for common questions
• [ ] Tables for comparison data
• [ ] Lists for step-by-step processes

AI Bot Access

• [ ] GPTBot allowed in robots.txt
• [ ] PerplexityBot allowed in robots.txt
• [ ] ClaudeBot allowed in robots.txt
• [ ] Anthropic-ai allowed in robots.txt
• [ ] Bingbot allowed in robots.txt

Off-Page SEO

Backlinks

• [ ] Quality backlinks from relevant sites
• [ ] Diverse referring domains
• [ ] No toxic/spammy backlinks
• [ ] Brand mentions (even without links)

E-E-A-T Signals

• [ ] Author bios with credentials
• [ ] About page with company info
• [ ] Contact information visible
• [ ] Privacy policy and terms
• [ ] Trust badges/certifications if applicable
• [ ] Customer reviews/testimonials

Social Presence

• [ ] Active social media profiles
• [ ] Links to social profiles on website
• [ ] Social sharing buttons on content
• [ ] Consistent branding across platforms

Content Strategy

Content Audit

• [ ] All pages have unique, valuable content
• [ ] No thin content (< 300 words for main pages)
• [ ] Content matches search intent
• [ ] Content is up-to-date (within 30 days for news/tech)
• [ ] Content provides unique value vs competitors

Keyword Strategy

• [ ] Primary keyword identified for each page
• [ ] Secondary keywords mapped
• [ ] Long-tail keywords targeted
• [ ] No keyword cannibalization
• [ ] Keywords match user intent

Monitoring & Analytics

Setup

• [ ] Google Analytics installed
• [ ] Google Search Console connected
• [ ] Bing Webmaster Tools connected
• [ ] Sitemap submitted to both

Regular Checks

• [ ] Weekly: Check Search Console for errors
• [ ] Weekly: Review Core Web Vitals
• [ ] Monthly: Analyze organic traffic trends
• [ ] Monthly: Review top performing pages
• [ ] Quarterly: Full SEO audit

Quick Audit Commands

# Check meta tags
curl -sL "https://example.com" | grep -E "<title>|<meta"

# Check robots.txt
curl -s "https://example.com/robots.txt"

# Check sitemap
curl -s "https://example.com/sitemap.xml" | head -30

# Check page speed (using PageSpeed Insights API)
# Requires API key
curl "https://www.googleapis.com/pagespeedonline/v5/runPagespeed?url=https://example.com&strategy=mobile"

# Check if indexed in Google
# Manual check: https://www.google.com/search?q=site:example.com

# Validate schema
# Open: https://search.google.com/test/rich-results?url=https://example.com

Priority Matrix