Resources

The audit checklist, in public.

These are the 48 checks, in seven tracks, that the SNIFF audit expands into 150+ individual tests on your site. Read them. Run them yourself if you like. Use them to check what your current agency is doing. If you get stuck, that is where we come in.

Have us run it: SNIFF auditGet a free visibility check

Track 1 of 7

Technical

Nothing else works until search engines and AI crawlers can crawl, render and index the site properly.

  • Crawl the whole site (Screaming Frog or similar) and export 4xx, 5xx, redirect chains, duplicate titles and descriptions, pages under 300 words, pages with zero internal links
  • Compare pages published with pages indexed in Search Console; read every "why not indexed" reason
  • XML sitemap contains only canonical, indexable, 200-status URLs; submitted in Search Console and Bing Webmaster; referenced in robots.txt
  • robots.txt blocks nothing important, never blocks CSS or JS, and explicitly allows GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, Applebot-Extended, CCBot and Bytespider
  • CDN or firewall (Cloudflare, Shopify bot protection) is not blocking AI crawlers; verify in server logs that they actually arrive
  • Every page has a self-referencing canonical; parameter and filter URLs canonical to the clean URL; paginated pages canonical to themselves
  • Core Web Vitals: LCP under 2.5s, INP under 200ms, CLS under 0.1 on mobile, from field data not just lab
  • Images: WebP or AVIF, under 150KB, descriptive filenames, alt text on every image, explicit width and height, lazy-loaded below the fold
  • HTTPS everywhere, HSTS on, http/https and www/non-www all 301 to one canonical host, one redirect per hop
  • Mobile check on a real device: tap targets 48px+, text 16px+, no horizontal scroll, menu and forms work, content parity with desktop
  • Structured data validates: Organization with sameAs, WebSite, BreadcrumbList, Service or Product, FAQPage, Article with author
  • No orphan pages; every important page has 5+ internal links with descriptive anchors

Track 2 of 7

On-page

One page, one primary search, written for the click and for extraction.

  • A keyword-to-URL map exists; no two pages target the same primary term
  • Title tags under 60 characters with the primary term near the front and a reason to click
  • Meta descriptions under 155 characters on every money page, written by a person
  • One H1 per page containing the primary term; H2s and H3s phrased as the real questions people ask
  • The answer to the page's question appears in the first 40 to 60 words, then the detail
  • Bullet lists, numbered steps, comparison tables and definition boxes where the content allows; no facts buried in long paragraphs
  • Author bios with credentials and a photo on articles; Person schema linked to the author's profiles
  • Outbound links to primary sources with dates; first-hand evidence (own screenshots, own data) where claimed
  • Pages ranking in positions 5 to 20 with falling clicks are listed for a refresh

Track 3 of 7

Content

A map, a calendar and a reason for every page to exist.

  • Topic clusters defined: one pillar page per topic with 6 to 12 supporting pages, all interlinked
  • Priority scored as (search volume × commercial intent) ÷ difficulty; long tail first in year one
  • Competitor content gap run against 3 to 5 competitors, filtered for commercial intent
  • Editorial calendar for the next 90 days with owners and target searches
  • Comparison, pricing and "alternatives" pages exist for decision-stage searches
  • A repurposing plan turns each long-form piece into social, video and community assets

Track 4 of 7

Off-page

Links still matter; mentions now matter more for AI visibility.

  • Backlink profile reviewed: referring domains, anchor text distribution, obvious spam
  • Unlinked brand mentions found and a reclaim list built
  • Link-earning plan in priority order: journalist queries, podcast guesting, original data, guest posts, listicle inclusion, broken-link building
  • One original data study planned for the year
  • Toxic-link check done; disavow only clear spam networks

Track 5 of 7

AI search (AEO/GEO)

You cannot improve visibility you are not measuring.

  • A fixed prompt set of 30 to 50 buyer questions is written and locked
  • Baseline run across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews or AI Mode, 3 runs per prompt: mention rate, citation rate, position, description accuracy
  • The third-party sources the engines cite in the category are listed (review sites, listicles, Reddit, YouTube, press) as the off-site target list
  • Competitor share of voice recorded on the same prompt set
  • Entity check: name, description and facts byte-identical across site, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, directories and schema; Wikidata and Crunchbase where relevant
  • llms.txt present and accurate (cheap, but do not expect much from it; the evidence says it is rarely fetched)
  • GA4 channel group created for AI referrals: chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com, claude.ai, copilot.microsoft.com
  • Search Console generative AI performance report checked for AI Overviews and AI Mode impressions

Track 6 of 7

Local (if local demand matters)

Google Business Profile is the highest-intent local surface and a strong entity signal.

  • Google Business Profile 100% complete: two categories, service areas, hours, description, 20+ photos, services with prices, Q&As, booking link
  • Review velocity plan: steady requests, replies to every review within 48 hours
  • Name, address and phone byte-identical across 50 directories

Track 7 of 7

Measurement

Clients renew for leads and revenue, not impressions.

  • Conversion tracking verified end to end: forms, calls, chats, orders, in GA4 and in the ad platforms
  • Rank tracking with alerts for drops of 5+ positions on money terms
  • Weekly Search Console review scheduled; anything moving more than 15% investigated
  • Algorithm-update dates annotated in GA4
  • Monthly report template opens with leads, cost per lead and revenue; rankings and traffic follow as evidence

How we use it

The checklist is the easy part.

Anyone can run a checklist. The value is in what comes after: ranking the findings by likely impact, effort and dependency, and turning them into a 90-day plan with owners and dates that a business can actually follow.

That is what the SNIFF audit delivers: every track above expanded into 150+ individual tests on your site, a 50-keyword opportunity map, a content-gap analysis against three competitors, a 30-prompt AI visibility baseline, a competitor teardown, and the plan, walked through on a 60-minute call. ₹15,000 or USD 300, in seven working days, no ongoing commitment. See what is included.

Next step

Would rather we ran it?

SNIFF covers every item on this page and ends in a prioritised 90-day plan you can use with or without us.

Start with SNIFFSee pricing