SEO + AI SEO + LLM Readiness Audit Playbook
The full SEO audit we run on every DTC brand in week 1, plus an AI SEO layer that scores your LLM citation and AI Overview visibility, plus an LLM-readiness layer that runs a per-template metadata and schema matrix across ten page archetypes. One report, three disciplines, one ranked action list.
Get the full SEO + AEO Audit playbook
Enter your email. We'll send you the link instantly. Point your Claude Code at it and run the full audit in 20 to 40 minutes.
- What it does: a single diagnostic covering technical SEO, on-page, content gaps, backlinks, AEO presence across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview, and LLM readiness via a per-template metadata and schema matrix across ten page archetypes.
- Output: one consolidated Word doc plus markdown source. Eight area sections including Section 6G — the per-template metadata and schema matrix that catches homepage-only regressions most audits miss. Plus Executive Summary, Cross-cutting Themes, Key Findings, Key Action Items, and a ranked Prioritised Action list.
- Runs in: about 30 minutes inside Claude Code for a full pass.
- You need: Claude Code, a handful of API keys (DataForSEO, Serper, Keywords Everywhere, PageSpeed Insights), a short CLAUDE.md describing your business, and pandoc for the Word doc export.
- For: founder-led premium DTC brands, AOV $500 or two times category median. Service and B2B SaaS teams can run the technical and AEO sections.
- Cost: free. Your only spend is the API credits your own accounts consume (usually under $10 per run).
- Built by: Nishant Kapoor. Chartered Accountant (EY), INSEAD MBA, ten years operating DTC brands. Scale stories include 185% revenue growth on a UK luxury resale brand in two years, a consumer wearable $0 to $3.5M, and consumer electronics $0 to $5M.
What this playbook does
Most DTC brands buy two audits. One SEO audit covers technical health, on-page, keyword gaps, and backlinks. A separate AEO audit checks how the brand shows up inside ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview. The findings overlap, the action lists conflict, and the founder ends up with two decks and no decision.
This playbook runs one consolidated SEO audit with an AI SEO layer built in. Technical site health, schema coverage, keyword footprint, content gaps, and backlink profile sit alongside a cross-engine LLM citation matrix, AI Overview coverage, extractability scoring on your priority pages, and GEO visibility-boost plays. One diagnostic, one report, one ranked action list that names the biggest organic lever to fix this week.
What you get
One consolidated report delivered two ways: a Word doc (shareable with your team) and the markdown source (version-controlled in your GitHub repo). Both land at docs/seo-audit/YYYY-MM-DD/. Nothing in private dashboards. Nothing locked behind login walls.
Eight pillar diagnostics, a ranked action list, and a cross-cutting synthesis. Ten deliverables, front-loaded for a 60-second skim, deep for operators who want to fix things this week.
- Indexation coverage and AI-bot access.
Full-site crawl ·robots.txt(including AI-bot allow-list) · XML sitemap · canonical hygiene · GSC Index Coverage · redirect chains · orphan pages. - Core Web Vitals and schema coverage.
LCP, INP, CLS per template via PageSpeed Insights · schema matrix (Organization, Product, FAQ, HowTo, Article) · mobile UX · internal linking graph ·hreflang. - Title, meta, and heading fixes.
Keyword cannibalisation · duplicate content · image alt text · heading hierarchy · on-page fixes ranked by impressions at risk. - Topical authority heat map.
E-E-A-T signals · content depth · freshness · cluster maturity · duplicate-topic merge candidates · thin-content flags. - Keyword gap and striking-distance map.
GSC queries · competitor gap via set difference · positions 4 to 15 · low-CTR rewrite candidates · branded vs non-branded split. - AI search visibility, LLM readiness, and whitespace.
ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overview presence matrix · per-template metadata and schema matrix across ten page archetypes (homepage, collection, PDP, blog, about, FAQ, technology, refund, comparison) · llms.txt and llms-full.txt root-level checks · JSON-LD URL validation · extractability checklist per priority page · entity clarity · conversational-query targeting. - Authority signal and reclaim targets.
DR · referring domains · link velocity · competitor backlink gap · unlinked brand-mention reclaim · 10-tier target list for the next 90 days. - Product schema and catalog hygiene.
Rich results eligibility · collection/category structure · breadcrumb schema · Merchant Center feed health · GBP and NAP for local brands. - Ranked action list: top fixes to ship this week.
Every finding ICE-scored · grouped into This week / Next 30 days / Backlog · the one biggest organic lever called out first. - Cross-cutting synthesis: correlated insights and highest-leverage moves.
A dedicated synthesis pass reads the entire draft end-to-end. Three to five patterns that span technical, content, and AEO. The fixes that close two gaps with one change. Promoted to the top of the action list.
Plus benchmarking tables (when you provide a competitor set). If you confirm 3 to 5 named competitors at the start, the audit also produces one-glance comparison tables: organic visibility (monthly visits, ranking keywords, average position, blog post count), and content publishing cadence. Each table grows a dated own-brand row on every weekly review, so you see your progression against the field over time. Powered by Ahrefs / DataForSEO / Serper plus Apify's website-content-crawler for JS-heavy competitor sites, with strict per-call cost caps. Skipped cleanly if you don't share a competitor set.
One Word doc + markdown source.
How the playbook flexes
The audit adapts on two dimensions. Path classifies whether the brand has historical organic data. Mode refines coverage based on the access you grant.
| Mode | Path | When to use | Centre of gravity |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 (Full) | Established | GSC + GA4 + Ahrefs or DataForSEO configured | Complete diagnostic across every section. Biggest-lever call grounded in historical traffic. |
| A2 (Quick) | Established | 30-minute pass before a content sprint | Sections 1 to 3 at full depth. Sections 4 to 6 as a scorecard. Section 7 ranked list. Caps at 30 minutes. |
| A2-thin | Established | GSC only, no other external credentials | GSC-driven: indexation, queries, top-CTR opportunities. Public SERP competitor layer. Full AEO checks. |
| B1 (New) | New or pre-launch | Minimal organic history yet | Foundations, keyword strategy, competitor positioning, AEO readiness. Pre-launch checklist replaces performance analysis. |
| B2 (Comparison) | Either | Benchmark against 3 named competitors | Three-competitor comparison across every section. Ranked list of the biggest organic gaps the brand has against the field. |
Tools the playbook uses
Public-data tools (our own accounts).
- DataForSEO for ranked keywords, SERP data, backlinks, and content-gap set differences
- Ahrefs for DR, referring domains, link velocity (optional, DataForSEO covers if absent)
- Serper for live SERP snapshots, brand-mention scan, paid-SERP copy capture
- Keywords Everywhere for search volume, trend, related queries (free tier covers most runs)
- Meta Ad Library for paid-SERP competitor copy cross-reference
- Google AI Overview scans for AEO citation checks on commercial queries
Your-own-data tools (once access is shared).
- Google Search Console for query-level data, indexation, coverage errors, CTR patterns
- Google Analytics 4 for organic sessions, conversions, landing-page performance
- Ahrefs project access for historical rank tracking (when the brand has a seat)
- DataForSEO Backlinks API for full reclaim lists (public mode is capped)
- Microsoft Clarity for session recordings on SEO landing pages flagged as weak converters
- Shopify Admin for product schema, collection hygiene, redirect audit, sales-channel state
- Screaming Frog CLI for full-site crawls against the live site
The synthesis pass: what makes this different
Most SEO audits stop at section-by-section findings. Eight sections, eight lists, read each in turn. Most AEO audits sit in a separate deck. The founder assembles the story themselves and usually drops it. This playbook runs a synthesis pass after every section is drafted. Claude re-reads the entire report as one document and surfaces the cross-cutting themes that span multiple sections. The highest-leverage category is what we call double-hit opportunities: queries where the brand is weak in the classical SERP and missing from LLM citations simultaneously. A single content or schema fix closes both gaps at once. Those double-hit items get promoted to the top of the action list because the return on attention is the highest in the audit.
Ready to run the SEO + AEO audit on your brand?
Enter your email. We'll send you the playbook URL. Paste it into Claude Code and you'll have a full SEO + AEO report in about 30 minutes.
Questions we get asked
What's included in an SEO + AEO audit?
An SEO audit here covers technical health (crawl, indexation, Core Web Vitals, schema), on-page (titles, metas, headings, cannibalisation), content (topical authority, thin-content flags), keyword footprint (top-100 ranks, striking-distance queries, competitor gap via set difference), and backlinks. The AEO layer adds a cross-engine presence matrix across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview, an extractability checklist per priority page, and a ranked AEO content brief list. Everything lands in one consolidated report.
Is this a free SEO audit?
Yes. The playbook itself is free. Your only spend is the API credits your own accounts consume during the run, typically under $10 for a full audit (DataForSEO, Serper, Keywords Everywhere free tier). No account required with us, no booking needed. Download the bundle, fill in the CLAUDE.md template, paste the master prompt into Claude Code, and you'll have a full SEO + AI SEO report in about 30 minutes.
What is AEO and how does it differ from traditional SEO?
AEO stands for answer engine optimization. Its close cousins are generative engine optimization (GEO) and LLM SEO. All three cover the same problem: showing up inside the answers that ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview generate. Traditional SEO optimises for the blue-link SERP. AEO optimises for the passage an LLM extracts and cites. The tactics overlap (schema, clear definitions, expert attribution, clean structure), though the scoring targets are different. This playbook runs both in one pass because the overlap is where the biggest wins sit.
How does this compare to a Screaming Frog report or an Ahrefs site audit?
An SEO audit from this playbook treats Screaming Frog and Ahrefs as inputs. A raw Screaming Frog crawl gives you a spreadsheet of broken links and missing metas. A raw Ahrefs site audit scores technical health and lists keyword opportunities. This playbook pulls both, then layers on content quality, topical authority, competitor gap analysis via set difference, AEO citation presence across four engines, and the synthesis pass that identifies cross-cutting themes. You end up with a narrative and a ranked plan, plus the raw-tool reports as supporting evidence.
How long does the audit take?
About 30 minutes inside Claude Code for a full Mode A1 run. The A2-thin mode (GSC-only) runs in 15 to 20 minutes. Reviewing the report and kicking off the top five "this week" actions takes another 20 to 30 minutes.
Who built this playbook?
Nishant Kapoor, founder of EntireCommerce AI. Chartered Accountant (EY), INSEAD MBA, ten-year DTC operator. Scale stories include 185% revenue growth on a UK luxury resale brand in two years, a consumer wearable $0 to $3.5M in eighteen months, and consumer electronics $0 to $5M in two years. The playbook was tested on multiple live DTC brands before being published.
What if my brand already ranks on page one for its head terms?
The SEO audit still surfaces value through the striking-distance layer (positions 4 to 15 with meaningful impressions), low-CTR page-one rewrites, and the cannibalisation map. The AEO layer is usually where established brands find the biggest opportunity: page-one SEO rarely correlates with LLM citation presence, and the cross-engine matrix often flags 10 to 20 commercial queries where competitors are cited and the client is absent. Those are the double-hit opportunities the synthesis pass promotes.
What AI engines are checked for AEO presence?
ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview. The audit runs 10 to 20 commercial queries from your category against each engine and builds a cross-engine presence matrix (four green squares equals dominant presence, zero green squares equals an AEO blind spot). Each priority page then runs through an extractability checklist: clear definition in the first paragraph, self-contained answer blocks, statistics with named sources, comparison tables, FAQ schema, HowTo schema, expert attribution, and the AI-bot allow-list in robots.txt.
Does this work for Shopify and ecommerce catalog sites?
Yes. The ecommerce layer in Section 8 covers Shopify-specific checks: product schema coverage and required fields, collection/category-page structure, breadcrumb schema on every PDP, faceted-navigation crawl control, Merchant Center feed health when access is granted, and Shopify sales-channel activation. WooCommerce and Hydrogen stores run the same section with platform-specific notes. The playbook was tested on multiple Shopify stores as part of the pre-publish QA.
Can I run it myself or do I need you?
You can run it yourself. Claude Code does the execution; your domain knowledge does the judgment. Paste the playbook URL into Claude Code and say "read this and take me through it step by step." Claude interviews you for the business context, walks you through any missing API setup, and runs the audit end-to-end. If you want a senior operator to run this plus the thirty-plus other playbooks in the EntireCommerce system for you, book a call at the bottom of this page.
Your playbook is ready
Open the playbook on EntireCommerce.ai or clone the GitHub repo. Run it on your brand in your own Claude Code session.
Paste this URL into Claude and Claude reads it live.
https://entirecommerce.ai/playbooks/seo-audit/read
Clone or fork into your project. Standard git workflow.
Copy the playbook URL above. Paste it into Claude Code and say:
"Read this and take me through it step by step."
Claude interviews you for the business context, walks you through any missing API setup, and runs the audit end-to-end. You don't need to manage files or copy prompt content manually.
Prefer to do it manually? Run in three steps
The alternative path if you'd rather manage the files yourself.
- Get the files. Open the GitHub repo above. It contains the three files:
README.md(setup and run instructions),CLAUDE.md(business-briefing template), andseo-audit.md(the master prompt Claude runs). - Drop them into your Claude project. Copy the three files into a new folder on your machine. Open Claude Code inside that folder. Fill in the
CLAUDE.mdtemplate with your business details: product, audience, competitors, pricing, tool stack. Claude loads this on every run so the audit is grounded in your specifics. - Run the audit. Paste the contents of
seo-audit.mdinto Claude Code and hit enter. Claude prints its tool inventory, asks for any missing inputs, then writes the full report todocs/seo-audit/YYYY-MM-DD/seo-audit-report.md. About 30 minutes end to end.
What each file does
README.mdSetup instructions and prerequisite API keys (DataForSEO, Serper, Keywords Everywhere, PageSpeed Insights; Ahrefs optional). Read this first. Takes five minutes to follow.
CLAUDE.mdA business-briefing template. Fill in your positioning, audience, pricing, catalog, and known competitors. Claude reads this on every run so the audit is grounded in your specific business context.
seo-audit.mdThe master prompt. Claude reads it and runs the audit end to end: crawls your site, scores technical health, pulls ranked keywords, maps content gaps, checks LLM citation presence across four engines, and ranks the highest-impact actions.
Sections that need your access to populate
Sections that rely on Google Search Console query data, GA4 organic performance, Shopify product schema, Microsoft Clarity recordings, or Merchant Center feed health populate only when you grant access. Without access, each of those checks stubs with a "grant access to populate this section" note and the exact service-account email plus role to share.
Wiring those accounts cleanly takes thirty to forty-five minutes end to end. Happy to walk you through the setup on a short call. Easier to do together than to chase credentials alone.
What to do with the report once you've run it
Section 9 of the report is a ranked action list. The top five items flagged as "this week" merge straight into an actions.md file in your project folder. Start there. Fix the biggest organic lever. Let the next one reveal itself.
The weekly review playbook (publishing separately) turns the audit from a one-time snapshot into a live operating system that refreshes every Monday. If you want the full GTM system built on your brand (SEO + AEO audit plus the thirty-plus downstream playbooks we run on every engagement), book a call above.
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