SEO Content Audit

The complete SEO footprint analysis — content inventory, real SEO metrics, competitor comparison, gap matrices, and prioritized recommendations in one report.

Quick Start

Run an SEO content audit for [company]. Website: [url]. Competitors: [list].

Inputs

| Input | Required | Description | |-------|----------|-------------| | Company name | Yes | User provides | | Company domain | Yes | e.g., "example.com" | | Seed competitors | Recommended | 2-5 competitor domains; system discovers more | | Target keywords | Optional | User provides; system also auto-discovers |

Cost

| Component | Est. Cost | |-----------|-----------| | Content catalog (target) | ~$0-0.50 (free unless Apify fallback needed) | | Semrush data (target) | ~$0.10 | | Ahrefs data (target) | ~$0.10 | | Google rank checks (~30 keywords) | ~$0.06 | | Competitor Semrush data (3-5 competitors) | ~$0.30-0.50 | | Content catalog (competitors, lighter) | ~$0-1.00 | | Brand voice extraction | Free (WebFetch) | | Total typical audit | ~$1-3 |

Step-by-Step Process

Phase 1: Context & Setup

Gather basics from the user: company name, domain, seed competitors, target keywords.

Phase 2: Content Inventory

Crawl the target domain to build a complete content inventory:

1. Fetch sitemap.xml (or RSS, blog index as fallback)
2. Catalog every page: URL, title, date, content type, topic cluster
3. Group content by type (blog posts, landing pages, case studies, comparisons, etc.)
4. Analyze publishing cadence (posts/month, trend, recency)
5. Optionally deep-analyze top 20 pages for word count, funnel stage, CTA presence

Phase 3: SEO Performance Data

Pull SEO metrics for the target domain:

1. Domain overview — authority score, organic traffic estimate, keyword count, traffic trend (via Apify Semrush scraper if APIFY_API_TOKEN is set, or web search probes as fallback)
2. Backlink profile — domain rating, referring domains, top linking sites (via Apify Ahrefs scraper)
3. Keyword rankings — check actual Google rankings for target keywords (via web search or Apify Google Search scraper)
4. Competitor discovery — identify competing domains from keyword overlap
5. Competitor metrics — run a lighter version of steps 1-2 for each competitor

Phase 4: Competitor Content Analysis

For each competitor (3-5 max), crawl their site to get:

• Content type breakdown (blog posts, case studies, comparisons, etc.)
• Topic clusters (what topics they cover)
• Publishing cadence (how often they publish)

No deep analysis needed for competitors — just structure and volume.

Phase 5: Build Gap Matrices

Using data from Phases 2-4, build two matrices:

A) Topic/Keyword Gap Matrix

Cross-reference the target's keyword rankings and content topics against competitors:

markdown
| Topic / Keyword | [Target] | [Comp 1] | [Comp 2] | [Comp 3] | Gap? |
|-----------------|----------|----------|----------|----------|------|
| cloud cost optimization | #4, 3 posts | #1, 12 posts | #2, 8 posts | #7, 5 posts | Partial |
| aws savings plans | No content | #3, 4 posts | No content | #1, 6 posts | YES |
| finops best practices | 1 post, not ranking | #5, 3 posts | #2, 7 posts | — | YES |

For each topic/keyword:

• Does the target have content? How much?
• Does the target rank for it? What position?
• Which competitors rank? How much content do they have?
• Is this a gap? (target has no/weak content, competitors are strong)

How to build this:

1. Collect all unique topic clusters from target + all competitors
2. For each topic, count content pieces per company
3. Cross-reference with keyword ranking data (from Phase 3)
4. Flag gaps where competitors have coverage and target doesn't

B) Content Type Gap Matrix

Compare what types of content each company produces:

markdown
| Content Type | [Target] | [Comp 1] | [Comp 2] | [Comp 3] | Gap? |
|-------------|----------|----------|----------|----------|------|
| Blog posts | 89 | 156 | 112 | 45 | Volume gap |
| Comparison pages | 0 | 12 | 8 | 3 | YES |
| Case studies | 5 | 22 | 15 | 8 | Weak |
| Glossary / educational | 0 | 45 | 0 | 30 | YES |
| Integration pages | 12 | 34 | 28 | 15 | Partial |
| ROI calculator / tools | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | Opportunity |
| Webinars / video | 3 | 18 | 12 | 6 | Weak |

How to build this:

1. Use the content type classifications from all content catalogs
2. Count per type per company
3. Flag types where target is at zero or significantly behind competitors

Phase 6: Brand Voice Extraction (Optional)

If the audit will feed into content creation:

1. From the content inventory (Phase 2), select 10-15 of the best blog posts (most recent, longest, most diverse topics)
2. Fetch each page and analyze the writing style
3. Produce brand voice guidelines: tone, vocabulary patterns, sentence structure, do's and don'ts

Phase 7: Synthesis & Report

Combine all findings into the final report. Save to the current working directory or wherever the user prefers.

Output Template

markdown
# SEO Content Audit: [Company Name]

**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Domain:** [domain]
**Competitors analyzed:** [list]
**Data sources:** [Semrush (via Apify), Ahrefs (via Apify), Google SERP, sitemap crawl, RSS]

---

## Executive Summary

[3-5 sentences. Overall SEO health assessment. Biggest strength. Biggest gap.
Most important recommendation. How they compare to competitors overall.]

---

## 1. Content Inventory

### Overview
- **Total pages cataloged:** X
- **Blog posts:** X
- **Landing pages:** X
- **Case studies:** X
- **Comparison pages:** X
- **Other:** X

### Content by Topic Cluster
| Topic | Posts | % of Content | Most Recent |
|-------|-------|-------------|-------------|
| [Topic 1] | X | X% | YYYY-MM-DD |
| ... |

### Publishing Cadence
- **Average:** X posts/month
- **Trend:** [increasing/decreasing/stable]
- **Most recent publish:** YYYY-MM-DD
- **Unique authors:** X

### Content Depth Assessment
[From deep analysis of top 20 pages: average word count, funnel stage distribution,
how many have CTAs, internal linking patterns]

---

## 2. SEO Performance

### Domain Metrics
| Metric | [Target] | Industry Benchmark* |
|--------|----------|-------------------|
| Authority Score (Semrush) | X/100 | |
| Domain Rating (Ahrefs) | X/100 | |
| Monthly Organic Traffic | ~X | |
| Organic Keywords | X | |
| Backlinks | X | |
| Referring Domains | X | |

### Top Performing Pages
| # | URL | Est. Traffic | Top Keyword | Position |
|---|-----|-------------|-------------|----------|
| 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... |

### Keyword Rankings
| Keyword | Position | URL | Gap? |
|---------|----------|-----|------|
| [keyword 1] | #X | [url] | |
| [keyword 2] | Not ranking | — | YES |

### Backlink Profile
- Domain Rating: X/100
- Referring Domains: X
- Top linking sites: [list]
- Notable: [any insights about link profile quality]

---

## 3. Competitor Comparison

### Domain Metrics Comparison
| Metric | [Target] | [Comp 1] | [Comp 2] | [Comp 3] |
|--------|----------|----------|----------|----------|
| Authority Score | | | | |
| Organic Traffic | | | | |
| Keywords | | | | |
| Blog Posts | | | | |
| Content Types | | | | |

### Topic/Keyword Gap Matrix
| Topic / Keyword | [Target] | [Comp 1] | [Comp 2] | [Comp 3] | Gap? |
|-----------------|----------|----------|----------|----------|------|
| [topic 1] | X posts, #Y | ... | ... | ... | |
| ... |

### Content Type Gap Matrix
| Content Type | [Target] | [Comp 1] | [Comp 2] | [Comp 3] | Gap? |
|-------------|----------|----------|----------|----------|------|
| Blog posts | X | X | X | X | |
| Comparison pages | X | X | X | X | |
| Case studies | X | X | X | X | |
| ... |

---

## 4. Gaps & Opportunities

### Critical Gaps (High Impact, Act Now)
1. **[Gap]:** [Description. What competitors have that target doesn't.
   Estimated search volume / traffic opportunity. Difficulty to address.]
2. ...

### Content Type Opportunities
1. **[Missing content type]:** [Why it matters. What competitors are doing.
   Estimated effort to create.]
2. ...

### Quick Wins (Low Effort, Immediate Impact)
1. **[Quick win]:** [What to do. Expected impact.]
2. ...

### Keyword Opportunities
| Keyword | Est. Search Volume | Competitor Positions | Difficulty | Priority |
|---------|-------------------|---------------------|------------|----------|
| ... |

---

## 5. Brand Voice Profile

### Voice Summary
[2-3 sentence summary of their writing voice]

### Tone
| Dimension | Position |
|-----------|----------|
| Formality | [e.g., Professional-casual] |
| Authority | [e.g., Expert/teacher] |
| Humor | [e.g., None] |
| Directness | [e.g., Very direct] |

### Writing Guidelines
**Do:**
- [Guideline 1]
- [Guideline 2]

**Don't:**
- [Anti-pattern 1]
- [Anti-pattern 2]

[Link to full brand voice profile if generated]

---

## 6. Recommendations (Prioritized)

### Tier 1: High Impact, Do First
1. **[Recommendation]**
   - What: [specific action]
   - Why: [evidence from audit]
   - Expected impact: [traffic/ranking improvement]
   - Effort: [Low/Medium/High]

2. ...

### Tier 2: Medium Impact, Plan For
1. ...

### Tier 3: Long-term Strategic
1. ...

---

## Appendix

### A. Full Content Catalog
[Link to content-inventory.md]

### B. Complete SEO Profile
[Link to seo-profile.md]

### C. Brand Voice Guidelines
[Link to brand-voice.md]

### D. Raw Data
- Content inventory JSON
- SEO profile JSON
- Competitor content JSONs

Tips

• Run Phases 2-3 in parallel. Content cataloging and SEO metrics are independent — run them simultaneously to save time.
• Start with 3 competitors, not 5. More competitors = more Apify costs. Start small, add more if the initial analysis shows gaps.
• The gap matrices are the most valuable output. Focus your analysis effort there. They directly feed into content strategy recommendations.
• Brand voice is optional but valuable. If you're pressed for time, skip it. But if this feeds into content creation or outreach, it's worth the 10 minutes.
• Update quarterly. SEO landscapes shift. Re-run the audit every quarter to track progress and discover new gaps.
• Combine with AEO visibility for a complete organic search picture — traditional SEO + AI answer engine coverage.
• The free fallback works. If Apify is unavailable, the scripts fall back to web search probes. You get less precise data but still a useful audit.

Dependencies

• APIFY_API_TOKEN env var (for Semrush/Ahrefs data via Apify; free web search probes work without it)
• Web search and web fetch capabilities