SEO Audit

Static Websites on cPanel

SEO for a commercial B2B site has different priorities than SEO for blogs or e-commerce. The primary goal is not ranking for generic high-volume keywords — it is being found by decision-makers actively searching for solutions, appearing as a trustworthy result in SERP, and ensuring every page a prospect might visit is correctly indexed and optimized.

This audit covers technical foundations that can block indexing, on-page elements affecting SERP presentation and click-through, and structured data that communicates authority to search engines.

Guiding principle: Technical SEO enables ranking. Content quality earns it. Technical checks are the floor, not the ceiling.

Does not cover: domain authority, backlinks, keyword research, SERP competition, algorithm updates, or Search Console data — these are post-launch concerns.

Severity Levels

Integrity rule: A site cannot be considered SEO-ready if it has unresolved critical issues, regardless of how many other checks pass.

Section 1 — Crawlability and Indexing

1.1 robots.txt

Must exist at domain root and return HTTP 200. User-agent: * Allow: / Disallow: /thank-you/ Disallow: /404.html Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

What to check:

• robots.txt exists and returns HTTP 200
• Sitemap referenced with full HTTPS URL
• No important pages blocked with Disallow
• CSS, JS, fonts, and image directories NOT blocked — Google needs to render pages
• No Disallow: / blocking the entire site

Flag any Disallow on /assets/, /css/, /js/, /fonts/, or /images/ — prevents Google from rendering, causes ranking penalties.

1.2 Sitemap XML

Tells search engines which pages exist and when they were updated.

What to check:

• sitemap.xml exists and is accessible
• Contains only canonical, indexable URLs — no thank-you pages, errors, or duplicates
• lastmod reflects actual last modification date — not today's date on all pages
• priority reflects actual page importance (1.0 homepage, lower for secondary)
• All URLs return HTTP 200 — no redirects or errors
• Referenced in robots.txt
• Trailing slash consistency — all with or all without

Full sitemap XML example: see references/seo-templates.md

1.3 URL Structure

Rules:

• Lowercase only
• Separated by hyphens, not underscores
• No visible .html extensions
• Under 75 characters per URL
• No query parameters in main URLs
• HTTPS on all pages

Flag URLs with uppercase, underscores, visible extensions, or query parameters.

1.4 Canonicalization

What to check:

• Every page has a self-referencing canonical
• Canonical uses exact HTTPS — not HTTP
• www vs non-www consistency — choose one, apply everywhere
• Trailing slash consistency — canonical and internal links use same convention
• No page has a canonical pointing to a different page unintentionally

<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/solutions/">

If pages use query parameters (e.g., /demo/?category=legal), canonical must point to the clean URL.

1.5 Meta Robots

<!-- Pages to index (all main pages) -->
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow, max-snippet:150, max-image-preview:large">

<!-- Pages NOT to index -->
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">

Pages that need `noindex`: thank-you/confirmation pages, 404 error page, any policy pages if preferred.

Critical flag: verify no main page has noindex accidentally.

1.6 HTTPS and Security Headers

What to check:

• Entire site serves over HTTPS
• SSL certificate valid and not expired
• HTTP → HTTPS redirect configured in .htaccess
• No mixed content (HTTP resources inside HTTPS pages)

Security headers in `.htaccess`:

Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains"
Header always set X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
Header always set X-Frame-Options "DENY"

Not direct ranking factors but contribute to E-E-A-T Trustworthiness — correct security headers signal technical professionalism.

Section 2 — On-Page Optimization

2.1 Title Tags

Highest individual impact on ranking. Must be unique per page.

Rules:

• 50-60 characters — Google truncates around 60
• Primary keyword near the beginning
• Unique per page — never duplicate titles
• Brand name at end (except homepage)
• Benefit-oriented, not technical description

What to check per page:

• Title unique — no page shares a title with another
• Between 50-60 characters
• Primary keyword in first 30 characters
• No keyword stuffing
• Title matches actual page content

2.2 Meta Descriptions

Not a direct ranking factor but determines SERP text. Affects CTR which is a relevance signal.

Rules:

• 150-160 characters
• Include primary keyword naturally
• Clear CTA — what the user should do
• Unique per page
• Accurately describes what the user will find

What to check per page:

• Meta description present on all pages
• Between 150-160 characters
• Not duplicated between pages
• Includes the page's primary keyword
• Ends with action or clear benefit

2.3 Heading Structure

Rules:

• One <h1> per page — the main topic
• Logical hierarchy: H1 → H2 → H3, no skipped levels
• H1 must contain primary keyword
• Headings as arguments, not labels
• Keyword in at least one H2

Heading argument test: Cover the logo and body copy. Read only the headings in sequence. A first-time visitor must understand the full value proposition from headings alone.

<!-- ❌ Headings as labels -->
<h1>Company Name</h1>
<h2>Features</h2>
<h2>How it works</h2>

<!-- ✅ Headings as arguments -->
<h1>Your documentation, searchable with AI in seconds</h1>
<h2>Find any answer without digging through documents</h2>
<h2>Companies that recovered their investment in under 2 months</h2>

2.4 Keyword in First 100 Words

Primary keyword must appear in the first paragraph of each page. Google gives more weight to content appearing early.

What to check:

• Primary keyword appears before word 100 in visible content
• Appearance is natural — not forced
• First paragraph directly answers what the user is searching for

2.5 Image SEO

What to check:

• All images have descriptive alt text
• Alt text describes the image, not a keyword list
• Descriptive filenames: product-dashboard-results.webp not IMG_001.webp
• Images compressed (see Audit 04 — Performance for format details)
• width and height defined in HTML to prevent CLS
• loading="lazy" on below-fold images
• fetchpriority="high" on hero/LCP image

2.6 Internal Linking

Rules:

• Important pages well-linked from other pages
• Descriptive anchor text — never "click here" or "see more"
• No broken internal links
• Bidirectional where relevant
• 3-5 internal links per 1,000 words of content
• No orphan pages — all have at least one incoming link

<!-- ❌ Generic anchor text -->
<a href="/demo/">Click here</a>

<!-- ✅ Descriptive anchor text -->
<a href="/demo/">Try the interactive demo</a>

Section 3 — Structured Data (JSON-LD)

Schema markup helps search engines understand content meaning. It enables eligibility for rich results but does not guarantee them.

For static vanilla sites with JSON-LD in HTML, schema is verifiable via source code. Validate with Google Rich Results Test before launch.

Schemas to implement:

Full JSON-LD templates for all schemas: see references/seo-templates.md

Validation checks:

• All JSON-LD is syntactically valid
• Validated with Google Rich Results Test before launch
• Organization schema on homepage
• No schema makes claims not backed by visible page content
• Schema data matches actual page content (prices, features, FAQs)

Section 4 — Language and Regional Configuration

4.1 Lang Attribute

<!-- Specify regional variant matching target market -->
<html lang="es-MX">

Use the specific regional variant (e.g., es-MX, es-CO, pt-BR, en-US) rather than just the language code. Affects spell checkers, screen readers, and regional relevance signals.

Check: lang attribute with correct regional variant present on <html> element of every page.

4.2 Hreflang (Conditional)

Only applies if the site has multiple language versions. If single-language, not needed.

<!-- Only if multilingual -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="es-MX" href="https://example.com/">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/">

Section 5 — Open Graph and Social Sharing

Determines how pages appear when shared on LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and Facebook. For B2B sites where LinkedIn sharing is a distribution channel, this directly affects brand presentation.

Required per page:

<meta property="og:title" content="Page Title — Brand">
<meta property="og:description" content="Specific page description">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/assets/images/og-page-1200x630.jpg">
<meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
<meta property="og:image:height" content="630">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/page/">
<meta property="og:type" content="website">
<meta property="og:locale" content="es_MX">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Brand Name">

<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Page Title — Brand">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Specific page description">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://example.com/assets/images/og-page-1200x630.jpg">

OG image specs: 1200×630px, JPG or PNG (not WebP — LinkedIn doesn't fully support it), under 1 MB, text legible at thumbnail size.

What to check:

• All pages have complete Open Graph tags
• og:image points to 1200×630px image
• OG image exists and is publicly accessible
• og:url matches the canonical URL
• Each page has unique og:title and og:description

Section 6 — E-E-A-T for B2B

E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) is not a direct ranking factor but the framework Google uses to evaluate quality. For a new site without authority history, the most actionable signals in pre-production:

Experience:

• Case studies with specific numbers, not generic claims
• Real metrics documented — ROI, payback period, error reduction %
• Screenshots or demos of the actual system, not just mockups

Expertise:

• Technical content is accurate — no errors in product descriptions
• Terminology consistent across the site
• Claims are verifiable — no "99% accuracy" without evidence

Authoritativeness:

• Founder or team has verifiable public presence (LinkedIn linked)
• Company name and contact data consistent across site
• Company has a complete LinkedIn profile

Trustworthiness:

• HTTPS active
• Privacy policy and terms linked from footer
• Real, accessible contact data — email, phone, or messaging
• Information about who is behind the product — avoid corporate anonymity
• Product promises are achievable and backed by evidence

Specificity test for claims: Replace each claim with its opposite. If the opposite sounds absurd, the claim has no information value.

Section 7 — Core Web Vitals (Cross-Reference)

Core Web Vitals affect ranking when content quality is comparable between competitors. Technical performance checks are covered in Audit 04 — Performance. This section only verifies SEO alignment:

Cross-reference checks with Audit 04:

• Hero image has fetchpriority="high" (affects LCP)
• All images have width and height (affects CLS)
• Fonts loaded with font-display: swap (affects CLS and LCP)
• Non-critical JS has defer (affects INP)
• cPanel hosting has adequate cache configuration (affects TTFB)

Audit Output Format

SEO Audit — [Project Name]
Date: [Date]
Pages audited: [count]
Summary

Critical issues: X
High priority: X
Medium priority: X
Low priority: X
Indexability: [All pages indexable / Issues found]
Schema status: [Complete / Partial / Missing]
Overall SEO readiness: [Ready / Needs work / Critical blockers]

Critical Issues
[Issue title]

Category: [Crawlability / On-page / Schema / Social / E-E-A-T]
Page: [URL or all pages]
Issue: [What is wrong and SEO impact]
Fix: [Specific correction]

High Priority
[Same format]
Medium Priority
[Same format]
Low Priority
[Same format]
Recommended Fix Order

Indexation blockers — robots.txt, sitemap, noindex
Title tags and meta descriptions — SERP presentation
Heading structure — on-page signals
Schema markup — rich results eligibility
Open Graph — social sharing presentation
E-E-A-T signals — credibility improvements

Full pre-launch checklist and tools reference: see references/checklist.md