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name: geo-technical
description: Technical SEO audit with GEO-specific checks — crawlability, indexability, security, performance, SSR, and AI crawler access
metadata:
  version: "1.0.0"
  author: geo-seo-claude
  tags: [geo, technical-seo, core-web-vitals, ssr, crawlability, security, performance]

---
name: geo-technical
description: Technical SEO audit with GEO-specific checks — crawlability, indexability, security, performance, SSR, and AI crawler access
metadata:
  version: "1.0.0"
  author: geo-seo-claude
  tags: [geo, technical-seo, core-web-vitals, ssr, crawlability, security, performance]
---

# GEO Technical SEO Audit

## Purpose

Technical SEO forms the foundation of both traditional search visibility and AI search citation. A technically broken site cannot be crawled, indexed, or cited by any platform. This skill audits 8 categories of technical health with specific attention to GEO requirements — most critically, **server-side rendering** (AI crawlers do not execute JavaScript) and **AI crawler access** (many sites inadvertently block AI crawlers in robots.txt).

## How to Use This Skill

1. Collect the target URL (homepage + 2-3 key inner pages)
2. Fetch each page using curl/WebFetch to get raw HTML and HTTP headers
3. Run through each of the 8 audit categories below
4. Score each category using the rubric
5. Generate GEO-TECHNICAL-AUDIT.md with results

---

## Category 1: Crawlability (15 points)

### 1.1 robots.txt Validity
- Fetch `https://[domain]/robots.txt`
- Check for syntactic validity: proper `User-agent`, `Allow`, `Disallow` directives
- Check for common errors: missing User-agent, wildcards blocking important paths, Disallow: / blocking entire site
- Verify XML sitemap is referenced: `Sitemap: https://[domain]/sitemap.xml`

### 1.2 AI Crawler Access (CRITICAL for GEO)
Check robots.txt for directives targeting these AI crawlers:

| Crawler | User-Agent | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| GPTBot | GPTBot | ChatGPT / OpenAI |
| Google-Extended | Google-Extended | Gemini / Google AI training |
| Googlebot | Googlebot | Google Search + AI Overviews |
| Bingbot | bingbot | Bing Copilot + ChatGPT (via Bing) |
| PerplexityBot | PerplexityBot | Perplexity AI |
| ClaudeBot | ClaudeBot | Anthropic Claude |
| Amazonbot | Amazonbot | Alexa / Amazon AI |
| CCBot | CCBot | Common Crawl (used by many AI models) |
| FacebookBot | FacebookExternalHit | Meta AI |
| Bytespider | Bytespider | TikTok / ByteDance AI |
| Applebot-Extended | Applebot-Extended | Apple Intelligence |

**Scoring for AI crawler access:**
- All major AI crawlers allowed: 5 points
- Some blocked but Googlebot + Bingbot allowed: 3 points
- GPTBot or PerplexityBot blocked: 1 point (significant GEO impact)
- Googlebot blocked: 0 points (fatal)

**Important nuance**: Blocking Google-Extended does NOT block Googlebot. Google-Extended only controls AI training data usage, not search indexing. However, blocking Google-Extended may reduce presence in AI Overviews. Recommend allowing Google-Extended unless there is a specific data licensing concern.

### 1.3 XML Sitemaps
- Fetch sitemap (check robots.txt for location, or try `/sitemap.xml`, `/sitemap_index.xml`)
- Validate XML syntax
- Check for `<lastmod>` dates (should be present and accurate)
- Count URLs — compare to expected number of indexable pages
- Check for sitemap index if large site (50,000+ URLs per sitemap max)
- Verify all sitemap URLs return 200 status codes (sample check)

### 1.4 Crawl Depth
- Homepage = depth 0. Check that all important pages are reachable within **3 clicks** (depth 3)
- Pages at depth 4+ receive significantly less crawl budget and are less likely to be cited by AI
- Check internal linking: are key content pages linked from the homepage or main navigation?

### 1.5 Noindex Management
- Check for `<meta name="robots" content="noindex">` on pages that SHOULD be indexed
- Check for `X-Robots-Tag: noindex` HTTP headers
- Common mistakes: noindex on paginated pages, category pages, or key landing pages

**Category Scoring:**
| Check | Points |
|---|---|
| robots.txt valid and complete | 3 |
| AI crawlers allowed | 5 |
| XML sitemap present and valid | 3 |
| Crawl depth within 3 clicks | 2 |
| No erroneous noindex directives | 2 |

---

## Category 2: Indexability (12 points)

### 2.1 Canonical Tags
- Every indexable page must have a `<link rel="canonical" href="...">` tag
- Canonical must point to itself (self-referencing) for the authoritative version
- Check for conflicting canonicals (canonical in HTML vs. HTTP header)
- Check for canonical chains (A canonicals to B, B canonicals to C — should be A to C)

### 2.2 Duplicate Content
- Check for www vs. non-www (both should resolve, one should redirect)
- Check for HTTP vs. HTTPS (HTTP should redirect to HTTPS)
- Check for trailing slash consistency (pick one pattern and redirect the other)
- Check for parameter-based duplicates (`?sort=price` creating duplicate pages)

### 2.3 Pagination
- If paginated content exists, check for `rel="next"` / `rel="prev"` (note: Google ignores these as of 2019, but Bing still uses them)
- Preferred: use `rel="canonical"` on paginated pages pointing to a view-all page or the first page
- Ensure paginated pages are not noindexed if they contain unique content

### 2.4 Hreflang (international sites)
- Check for `<link rel="alternate" hreflang="xx">` tags
- Validate: reciprocal hreflang (if page A points to page B, B must point back to A)
- Validate: x-default fallback exists
- Check for language/region code validity (ISO 639-1 / ISO 3166-1)

### 2.5 Index Bloat
- Estimate number of indexed pages (check sitemap count, use `site:domain.com` estimate)
- Compare indexed pages to actual valuable content pages
- Flag if indexed pages significantly exceed content pages (index bloat from thin/duplicate/parameter pages)

**Category Scoring:**
| Check | Points |
|---|---|
| Canonical tags correct on all pages | 3 |
| No duplicate content issues | 3 |
| Pagination handled correctly | 2 |
| Hreflang correct (if applicable) | 2 |
| No index bloat | 2 |

---

## Category 3: Security (10 points)

### 3.1 HTTPS Enforcement
- Site must load over HTTPS
- HTTP must redirect to HTTPS (301 redirect)
- No mixed content warnings (HTTP resources on HTTPS pages)
- SSL/TLS certificate must be valid and not expired

### 3.2 Security Headers
Check HTTP response headers for:

| Header | Required Value | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| `Strict-Transport-Security` | `max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains` | Forces HTTPS |
| `Content-Security-Policy` | Appropriate policy | Prevents XSS |
| `X-Content-Type-Options` | `nosniff` | Prevents MIME sniffing |
| `X-Frame-Options` | `DENY` or `SAMEORIGIN` | Prevents clickjacking |
| `Referrer-Policy` | `strict-origin-when-cross-origin` or stricter | Controls referrer data |
| `Permissions-Policy` | Appropriate restrictions | Controls browser features |

**Category Scoring:**
| Check | Points |
|---|---|
| HTTPS enforced with valid cert | 4 |
| HSTS header present | 2 |
| X-Content-Type-Options | 1 |
| X-Frame-Options | 1 |
| Referrer-Policy | 1 |
| Content-Security-Policy | 1 |

---

## Category 4: URL Structure (8 points)

### 4.1 Clean URLs
- URLs should be human-readable: `/blog/seo-guide` not `/blog?id=12345`
- No session IDs in URLs
- Lowercase only (no mixed case)
- Hyphens for word separation (not underscores)
- No special characters or encoded spaces

### 4.2 Logical Hierarchy
- URL path should reflect site architecture: `/category/subcategory/page`
- Flat where appropriate — avoid unnecessarily deep nesting
- Consistent pattern across the site

### 4.3 Redirect Chains
- Check for redirect chains (A redirects to B redirects to C)
- Maximum 1 hop recommended (A redirects to C directly)
- Check for redirect loops
- All redirects should be 301 (permanent), not 302 (temporary), unless intentionally temporary

### 4.4 Parameter Handling
- URL parameters should not create duplicate indexable pages
- Use canonical tags or `robots.txt` Disallow for parameter variations
- Configure parameter handling in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools

**Category Scoring:**
| Check | Points |
|---|---|
| Clean, readable URLs | 2 |
| Logical hierarchy | 2 |
| No redirect chains (max 1 hop) | 2 |
| Parameter handling configured | 2 |

---

## Category 5: Mobile Optimization (10 points)

### Critical Context
As of **July 2024**, Google crawls ALL sites exclusively with mobile Googlebot. There is no desktop crawling. If your site does not work on mobile, it does not work for Google. Period.

### 5.1 Responsive Design
- Check for `<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">`
- Content must not require horizontal scrolling on mobile
- No fixed-width layouts wider than viewport

### 5.2 Tap Targets
- Interactive elements (buttons, links) must be at least 48x48 CSS pixels
- Minimum 8px spacing between tap targets
- Check that navigation is usable on mobile

### 5.3 Font Sizes
- Base font size should be at least 16px
- No text requiring zoom to read
- Sufficient contrast ratio (WCAG AA: 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text)

### 5.4 Mobile Content Parity
- All content visible on desktop must also be visible on mobile
- No hidden content behind "read more" toggles that Googlebot cannot expand (though Google has improved at expanding these as of 2025)
- Images and media must load on mobile

**Category Scoring:**
| Check | Points |
|---|---|
| Viewport meta tag correct | 3 |
| Responsive layout (no horizontal scroll) | 3 |
| Tap targets appropriately sized | 2 |
| Font sizes legible | 2 |

---

## Category 6: Core Web Vitals (15 points)

### 2026 Metrics and Thresholds
Core Web Vitals use the **75th percentile** of real user data (field data) as the benchmark. Lab data is useful for debugging but field data determines the ranking signal.

| Metric | Good | Needs Improvement | Poor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **LCP** (Largest Contentful Paint) | < 2.5s | 2.5s - 4.0s | > 4.0s | Measures loading — time until largest visible element renders |
| **INP** (Interaction to Next Paint) | < 200ms | 200ms - 500ms | > 500ms | Replaced FID in March 2024. Measures ALL interactions, not just first |
| **CLS** (Cumulative Layout Shift) | < 0.1 | 0.1 - 0.25 | > 0.25 | Measures visual stability — unexpected layout movements |

### How to Assess Without CrUX Data
When real user data is unavailable, estimate from page characteristics:
- **LCP**: Check largest above-fold element. Is it an image (check size/format)? Is it text (check web font loading)? Server response time (TTFB)?
- **INP**: Check for heavy JavaScript on page. Long tasks (>50ms) block interactivity. Check for third-party scripts.
- **CLS**: Check for images without explicit width/height. Check for dynamically inserted content above the fold. Check for web fonts causing layout shift (FOUT/FOIT).

### Common LCP Fixes
1. Optimize hero images: WebP/AVIF format, correct sizing, preload with `<link rel="preload">`
2. Reduce server response time (TTFB < 800ms)
3. Eliminate render-blocking CSS/JS
4. Preconnect to critical third-party origins

### Common INP Fixes
1. Break up long tasks (>50ms) into smaller chunks using `requestIdleCallback` or `scheduler.yield()`
2. Reduce third-party JavaScript
3. Use `content-visibility: auto` for off-screen content
4. Debounce/throttle event handlers

### Common CLS Fixes
1. Always include `width` and `height` attributes on images and videos
2. Reserve space for ads and embeds with CSS `aspect-ratio` or explicit dimensions
3. Use `font-display: swap` with size-adjusted fallback fonts
4. Avoid inserting content above existing content after page load

**Category Scoring:**
| Check | Points |
|---|---|
| LCP < 2.5s | 5 |
| INP < 200ms | 5 |
| CLS < 0.1 | 5 |

---

## Category 7: Server-Side Rendering (15 points) — CRITICAL FOR GEO

### Why SSR Is Mandatory for AI Visibility
AI crawlers (GPTBot, PerplexityBot, ClaudeBot, etc.) do **NOT execute JavaScript**. They fetch the raw HTML and parse it. If your content is rendered client-side by React, Vue, Angular, or any other JavaScript framework, AI crawlers see an empty page.

Even Googlebot, which does execute JavaScript, deprioritizes JS-rendered content due to the additional crawl budget required. G