SEO Audit Mini Tool

WordPress

1. Install Yoast or Rank Math for automatic title/meta/canonical management
2. Enable schema modules (Article, FAQ, Breadcrumb) in plugin settings
3. Run our audit on a published post — fix any flagged issues at the template level
4. Submit fixed URLs in Google Search Console > URL Inspection > Request Indexing

Shopify

1. Edit theme.liquid to ensure single H1 per page (often the product title)
2. Use a schema app like JSON-LD for SEO to handle Product/Review/Breadcrumb schema
3. Audit your top 20 product URLs — flag duplicate titles auto-generated from variants
4. Set canonical via theme settings or app to consolidate variant URLs

Next.js

1. Use next/head or next/seo to set unique title and meta per route
2. Implement getStaticProps for SSR/SSG so Googlebot sees rendered HTML, not a JS shell
3. Add JSON-LD via Script component with strategy="afterInteractive"
4. Audit the deployed URL (not localhost) — production behavior often differs from dev

Webflow

1. Set page-level title and description in Page Settings > SEO
2. Add canonical and OG tags via Custom Code in Page Settings
3. For schema, paste JSON-LD into Before </body> custom code
4. Publish, then audit — Webflow's auto-generated `<h1>` for hero sections often duplicates your H1

Squarespace

1. Edit page SEO in Page Settings > SEO Title, Description, URL Slug
2. Squarespace auto-generates Article schema; verify with Rich Results Test
3. For custom schema (FAQ, How-To), add via Code Injection > Header
4. Squarespace adds noindex to draft pages — confirm pages are live before auditing

Page returns 200 but is blocked by robots.txt

Cause: A `Disallow: /path/` rule in robots.txt prevents Googlebot from crawling, even though the URL responds normally to browsers.

Fix: Open /robots.txt, remove the matching Disallow rule, then resubmit the URL in Google Search Console URL Inspection. Allow 7-14 days for re-indexing.

Meta robots noindex left in production

Cause: A `<meta name="robots" content="noindex">` tag stays in the page template after dev/staging — Google obeys it and drops the page.

Fix: Remove the noindex tag from the template, redeploy, validate with curl or our audit, then trigger reindexing in GSC. Pages typically return to index within 5-10 days.

Canonical points to a different URL

Cause: The rel=canonical tag references another page (often a CMS default like the homepage), so Google consolidates ranking signals away from this URL.

Fix: Set the canonical to the page's own URL (self-canonical) using `<link rel="canonical" href="https://yoursite.com/exact-url">`. For paginated content, point to page 1 only when content is identical.

Title tag missing or duplicated across pages

Cause: CMS template falls back to site name, or a developer hardcoded the same `<title>` on multiple templates.

Fix: Ensure each page has a unique `<title>` (30-60 chars) including primary keyword and brand. Audit duplicates in GSC > Coverage > Duplicate titles. Fix template variables.

H1 missing or multiple H1s on the same page

Cause: CMS layouts wrap the page heading and a hero element both in `<h1>`, or the heading uses a styled `<div>` instead of an `<h1>`.

Fix: Use exactly one H1 per page, matching the page topic. Demote duplicates to H2. Validate with our audit or `document.querySelectorAll("h1")` in DevTools.

Schema validates but doesn't trigger rich results

Cause: Schema is technically correct but missing required fields, references invisible content, or violates Google's structured data guidelines.

Fix: Run the URL through Google's Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results). Add missing required fields (e.g., aggregateRating needs reviewCount), ensure marked-up content is visible, request indexing.

Page weight over 5 MB and LCP over 4 seconds

Cause: Unoptimized hero images (often 2-5 MB JPEGs), render-blocking JavaScript, and uncompressed fonts inflate first paint.

Fix: Convert hero images to WebP/AVIF, lazy-load below-fold images, add `loading="lazy"`, code-split JS bundles, preload critical fonts, and audit with Lighthouse. Target LCP under 2.5s.

Mobile viewport tag missing

Cause: The `<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">` tag is missing, so mobile browsers render the desktop layout zoomed out.

Fix: Add the viewport meta tag in `<head>` of every page template. Mobile-first indexing means Google primarily evaluates the mobile rendering — without viewport, CWV and rankings tank.