Website Audit Skill

Audit websites for SEO, technical, content, performance and security issues using the squirrelscan cli.

squirrelscan provides a cli tool squirrel - available for macos, windows and linux. It carries out extensive website auditing by emulating a browser, search crawler, and analyzing the website's structure and content against over 230+ rules.

It will provide you a list of issues as well as suggestions on how to fix them.

Links

• squirrelscan website is at https://squirrelscan.com

• documentation (including rule references) are at docs.squirrelscan.com

You can look up the docs for any rule with this template:

https://docs.squirrelscan.com/rules/{rule_category}/{rule_id}

example:

https://docs.squirrelscan.com/rules/links/external-links

What This Skill Does

This skill enables AI agents to audit websites for over 230 rules in 21 categories, including:

• SEO issues: Meta tags, titles, descriptions, canonical URLs, Open Graph tags

• Technical problems: Broken links, redirect chains, page speed, mobile-friendliness

• Performance: Page load time, resource usage, caching

• Content quality: Heading structure, image alt text, content analysis

• Security: Leaked secrets, HTTPS usage, security headers, mixed content

• Accessibility: Alt text, color contrast, keyboard navigation

• Usability: Form validation, error handling, user flow

• Links: Checks for broken internal and external links

• E-E-A-T: Expertise, Experience, Authority, Trustworthiness

• User Experience: User flow, error handling, form validation

• Mobile: Checks for mobile-friendliness, responsive design, touch-friendly elements

• Crawlability: Checks for crawlability, robots.txt, sitemap.xml and more

• Schema: Schema.org markup, structured data, rich snippets

• Legal: Compliance with legal requirements, privacy policies, terms of service

• Social: Open graph, twitter cards and validating schemas, snippets etc.

• Url Structure: Length, hyphens, keywords

• Keywords: Keyword stuffing

• Content: Content structure, headings

• Images: Alt text, color contrast, image size, image format

• Local SEO: NAP consistency, geo metadata

• Video: VideoObject schema, accessibility

and more

The audit crawls the website, analyzes each page against audit rules, and returns a comprehensive report with:

• Overall health score (0-100)

• Category breakdowns (core SEO, technical SEO, content, security)

• Specific issues with affected URLs

• Broken link detection

• Actionable recommendations

• Rules have levels of error, warning and notice and also have a rank between 1 and 10

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

• Analyze a website's health

• Debug technical SEO issues

• Fix all of the issues mentioned above

• Check for broken links

• Validate meta tags and structured data

• Generate site audit reports

• Compare site health before/after changes

• Improve website performance, accessibility, SEO, security and more.

You should re-audit as often as possible to ensure your website remains healthy and performs well.

Prerequisites

This skill requires the squirrel CLI to be installed and available in your PATH.

Installation

If squirrel is not already installed, you can install it using:

curl -fsSL https://squirrelscan.com/install | bash

This will:

• Download the latest release binary

• Install to ~/.local/share/squirrel/releases/{version}/

• Create a symlink at ~/.local/bin/squirrel

• Initialize settings at ~/.squirrel/settings.json

If ~/.local/bin is not in your PATH, add it to your shell configuration:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Windows Installation

Install using PowerShell:

irm https://squirrelscan.com/install.ps1 | iex

This will:

• Download the latest release binary

• Install to %LOCALAPPDATA%\squirrel\

• Add squirrel to your PATH

If using Command Prompt, you may need to restart your terminal for PATH changes to take effect.

Verify Installation

Check that squirrel is installed and accessible:

squirrel --version

Setup

Running squirrel init will setup a squirrel.toml file for configuration in the current directory.

Each project should have a squirrel project name for the database - by default this is the name of the website you audit - but you can set it yourself so that you can place all audits for a project in one database

You do this either on init with:

squirrel init --project-name my-project

or with aliases

squirrel init -n my-project

overwrite existing config

squirrel init -n my-project --force

or config:

squirrel config set project.name my-project

If there is no squirrel.toml in the directory you're running from CREATE ONE with squirrel init and specify the '-n' parameter for a project name (infer this)

The project name is used to identify the project in the database and is used to generate the database name.

It is stored in ~/.squirrel/projects/

Usage

Intro

There are three processes that you can run and they're all cached in the local project database:

• crawl - subcommand to run a crawl or refresh, continue a crawl

• analyze - subcommand to analyze the crawl results

• report - subcommand to generate a report in desired format (llm, text, console, html etc.)

the 'audit' command is a wrapper around these three processes and runs them sequentially:

squirrel audit https://example.com --format llm

YOU SHOULD always prefer format option llm - it was made for you and provides an exhaustive and compact output format.

FIRST SCAN should be a surface scan, which is a quick and shallow scan of the website to gather basic information about the website, such as its structure, content, and technology stack. This scan can be done quickly and without impacting the website's performance.

SECOND SCAN should be a deep scan, which is a thorough and detailed scan of the website to gather more information about the website, such as its security, performance, and accessibility. This scan can take longer and may impact the website's performance.

If the user doesn't provide a website to audit - extrapolate the possibilities in the local directory and checking environment variables (ie. linked vercel projects, references in memory or the code).

If the directory you're running for provides for a method to run or restart a local dev server - run the audit against that.

If you have more than one option on a website to audit that you discover - prompt the user to choose which one to audit.

If there is no website - either local, or on the web to discover to audit, then ask the user which URL they would like to audit.

You should PREFER to audit live websites - only there do we get a TRUE representation of the website and performance or rendering issuers.

If you have both local and live websites to audit, prompt the user to choose which one to audit and SUGGEST they choose live.

You can apply fixes from an audit on the live site against the local code.

When planning scope tasks so they can run concurrently as sub-agents to speed up fixes.

When implementing fixes take advantage of subagents to speed up implementation of fixes.

Run typechecking and formatting against generated code when you finish if available in the environment (ruff for python, biome and tsc for typescript etc.)

Basic Workflow

The audit process is two steps:

• Run the audit (saves to database, shows console output)

• Export report in desired format

Step 1: Run audit (default: console output)

squirrel audit https://example.com

Step 2: Export as LLM format

squirrel report <audit-id> --format llm

Regression Diffs

When you need to detect regressions between audits, use diff mode:

Compare current report against a baseline audit ID

squirrel report --diff <audit-id> --format llm

Compare latest domain report against a baseline domain

squirrel report --regression-since example.com --format llm

Diff mode supports console , text , json , llm , and markdown . html and xml are not supported.

Running Audits

When running an audit:

• Fix ALL issues - critical, high, medium, and low priority

• Don't stop early - continue until score target is reached (see Score Targets below)

• Parallelize fixes - use subagents for bulk content edits (alt text, headings, descriptions)

• Iterate - fix batch → re-audit → fix remaining → re-audit → until done

• Only pause for human judgment - broken links may need manual review; everything else should be fixed automatically

• Show before/after - present score comparison only AFTER all fixes are complete

IMPORTANT: Fix ALL issues, don't stop early.

Iteration Loop: After fixing a batch of issues, re-audit and continue fixing until:

• Score reaches target (typically 85+), OR

• Only issues requiring human judgment remain (e.g., "should this link be removed?")

Treat all fixes equally: Code changes (*.tsx , .ts ) and content changes (.md , *.mdx , *.html ) are equally important. Don't stop after code fixes.

Parallelize content fixes: For issues affecting multiple files:

• Spawn subagents to fix in parallel

• Example: 7 files need alt text → spawn 1-2 agents to fix all

• Example: 30 files have heading issues → spawn agents to batch edit

Don't ask, act: Don't pause to ask "should I continue?" - proceed autonomously until complete.

Completion criteria:

• ✅ All errors fixed

• ✅ All warnings fixed (or documented as requiring human review)

• ✅ Re-audit confirms improvements

• ✅ Before/after comparison shown to user

• ✅ Site is complete and fixed (scores above 95 with full coverage)

Run multiple audits to ensure completeness and fix quality. Prompt the user to deploy fixes if auditing a live production, preview, staging or test environment.

Score Targets

Starting Score Target Score Expected Work

< 50 (Grade F) 75+ (Grade C) Major fixes

50-70 (Grade D) 85+ (Grade B) Moderate fixes

70-85 (Grade C) 90+ (Grade A) Polish

85 (Grade B+) 95+ Fine-tuning

A site is only considered COMPLETE and FIXED when scores are above 95 (Grade A) with coverage set to FULL (--coverage full).

Don't stop until target is reached.

Issue Categories

Category Fix Approach Parallelizable

Meta tags/titles Edit page components or metadata.ts No

Structured data Add JSON-LD to page templates No

Missing H1/headings Edit page components + content files Yes (content)

Image alt text Edit content files Yes

Heading hierarchy Edit content files Yes

Short descriptions Edit content frontmatter Yes

HTTP→HTTPS links Bulk sed/replace in content Yes

Broken links Manual review (flag for user) No

For parallelizable fixes: Spawn subagents with specific file assignments.

Content File Fixes

Many issues require editing content files (*.md , *.mdx ). These are equally important as code fixes:

• Image alt text: Edit markdown image tags to add descriptions

• Heading hierarchy: Change ### to ## where H2 is skipped

• Meta descriptions: Extend excerpt in frontmatter to 120+ chars

• HTTP links: Replace http:// with https:// in all links

For 5+ files needing the same fix type, spawn a subagent:

Task: Fix missing alt text in 6 posts Files: [list of files] Pattern: Find ![]( or <img src= without alt, add descriptive text

Parallelizing Fixes with Subagents

Use the Task tool to spawn subagents for parallel fixes. Critical rules:

• Multiple Task calls in ONE message = parallel execution

• Sequential Task calls = slower, only when fixes have dependencies

• Each subagent gets a focused scope - don't overload with too many files

When to parallelize:

• 5+ files need same fix type (alt text, headings, meta descriptions)

• Fixes have no dependencies on each other

• Files are independent (not importing from each other)

Subagent prompt structure:

Fix [issue type] in the following files:

• path/to/file1.md
• path/to/file2.md
• path/to/file3.md

Pattern: [what to find] Fix: [what to change]

Do not ask for confirmation. Make all changes and report what was fixed.

Example - parallel alt text fixes:

When audit shows 12 files missing alt text, spawn 2-3 subagents in a SINGLE message:

[Task tool call 1] subagent_type: "general-purpose" prompt: | Fix missing image alt text in these files:

• content/blog/post-1.md
• content/blog/post-2.md
• content/blog/post-3.md
• content/blog/post-4.md

Find images without alt text ( or <img without alt=). Add descriptive alt text based on image filename and context. Do not ask for confirmation.

[Task tool call 2] subagent_type: "general-purpose" prompt: | Fix missing image alt text in these files:

• content/blog/post-5.md
• content/blog/post-6.md
• content/blog/post-7.md
• content/blog/post-8.md

[same instructions...]

[Task tool call 3] subagent_type: "general-purpose" prompt: | Fix missing image alt text in these files:

• content/blog/post-9.md
• content/blog/post-10.md
• content/blog/post-11.md
• content/blog/post-12.md

[same instructions...]

Example - parallel heading fixes:

[Task tool call 1] Fix H1/H2 heading hierarchy in: docs/guide-1.md, docs/guide-2.md, docs/guide-3.md Change ### to ## where H2 is skipped. Ensure single H1 per page.

[Task tool call 2] Fix H1/H2 heading hierarchy in: docs/guide-4.md, docs/guide-5.md, docs/guide-6.md [same instructions...]

Batch sizing:

• 3-5 files per subagent (optimal)

• Max 10 files per subagent

• Spawn 2-4 subagents for parallel work

DO NOT parallelize:

• Shared component edits (layout.tsx, metadata.ts)

• JSON-LD schema changes (single source of truth)

• Config file edits (may conflict)

Advanced Options

Audit more pages:

squirrel audit https://example.com --max-pages 200

Force fresh crawl (ignore cache):

squirrel audit https://example.com --refresh

Resume interrupted crawl:

squirrel audit https://example.com --resume

Verbose output for debugging:

squirrel audit https://example.com --verbose

Common Options

Audit Command Options

Option Alias Description Default

--format <fmt>

-f <fmt>

Output format: console, text, json, html, markdown, llm console

--coverage <mode>

-C <mode>

Coverage mode: quick, surface, full surface

--max-pages <n>

-m <n>

Maximum pages to crawl (max 5000) varies by coverage

--output <path>

-o <path>

Output file path

--refresh

-r

Ignore cache, fetch all pages fresh false

--resume

Resume interrupted crawl false

--verbose

-v

Verbose output false

--debug

Debug logging false

--trace

Enable performance tracing false

--project-name <name>

-n <name>

Override project name from config

Coverage Modes

Choose a coverage mode based on your audit needs:

Mode Default Pages Behavior Use Case

quick

25 Seed + sitemaps only, no link discovery CI checks, fast health check

surface

100 One sample per URL pattern General audits (default)

full

500 Crawl everything up to limit Deep analysis

Surface mode is smart - it detects URL patterns like /blog/{slug} or /products/{id} and only crawls one sample per pattern. This makes it efficient for sites with many similar pages (blogs, e-commerce).

Quick health check (25 pages, no link discovery)

squirrel audit https://example.com -C quick --format llm

Default surface audit (100 pages, pattern sampling)

squirrel audit https://example.com --format llm

Full comprehensive audit (500 pages)

squirrel audit https://example.com -C full --format llm

Override page limit for any mode

squirrel audit https://example.com -C surface -m 200 --format llm

When to use each mode:

• quick : CI pipelines, daily health checks, monitoring

• surface : Most audits - covers unique templates efficiently

• full : Before launches, comprehensive analysis, deep dives

Report Command Options

Option Alias Description

--list

-l

List recent audits

--severity <level>

Filter by severity: error, warning, all

--category <cats>

Filter by categories (comma-separated)

--format <fmt>

-f <fmt>

Output format: console, text, json, html, markdown, xml, llm

--output <path>

-o <path>

Output file path

--input <path>

-i <path>

Load from JSON file (fallback mode)

Config Subcommands

Command Description

config show

Show current config

config set <key> <value>

Set config value

config path

Show config file path

config validate

Validate config file

Other Commands

Command Description

squirrel feedback

Send feedback to squirrelscan team

squirrel skills install

Install Claude Code skill

squirrel skills update

Update Claude Code skill

Self Commands

Self-management commands under squirrel self :

Command Description

self install

Bootstrap local installation

self update

Check and apply updates

self completion

Generate shell completions

self doctor

Run health checks

self version

Show version information

self settings

Manage CLI settings

self uninstall

Remove squirrel from the system

Output Formats

Console Output (default)

The audit command shows human-readable console output by default with colored output and progress indicators.

LLM Format

To get LLM-optimized output, use the report command with --format llm :

squirrel report <audit-id> --format llm

The LLM format is a compact XML/text hybrid optimized for token efficiency (40% smaller than verbose XML):

• Summary: Overall health score and key metrics

• Issues by Category: Grouped by audit rule category (core SEO, technical, content, security)

• Broken Links: List of broken external and internal links

• Recommendations: Prioritized action items with fix suggestions

See OUTPUT-FORMAT.md for detailed format specification.

Examples

Example 1: Quick Site Audit with LLM Output

User asks: "Check squirrelscan.com for SEO issues"

squirrel audit https://squirrelscan.com --format llm

Example 2: Deep Audit for Large Site

User asks: "Do a thorough audit of my blog with up to 500 pages"

squirrel audit https://myblog.com --max-pages 500 --format llm

Example 3: Fresh Audit After Changes

User asks: "Re-audit the site and ignore cached results"

squirrel audit https://example.com --refresh --format llm

Example 4: Two-Step Workflow (Reuse Previous Audit)

First run an audit

squirrel audit https://example.com

Note the audit ID from output (e.g., "a1b2c3d4")

Later, export in different format

squirrel report a1b2c3d4 --format llm

Output

On completion give the user a summary of all of the changes you made.

Troubleshooting

squirrel command not found

If you see this error, squirrel is not installed or not in your PATH.

Solution:

• Install squirrel: curl -fsSL https://squirrelscan.com/install | bash

• Add to PATH: export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

• Verify: squirrel --version

Permission denied

If squirrel is not executable:

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/squirrel

Crawl timeout or slow performance

For very large sites, the audit may take several minutes. Use --verbose to see progress:

squirrel audit https://example.com --format llm --verbose

Invalid URL

Ensure the URL includes the protocol (http:// or https://):

✗ Wrong

squirrel audit example.com

✓ Correct

squirrel audit https://example.com

How It Works

• Crawl: Discovers and fetches pages starting from the base URL

• Analyze: Runs audit rules on each page

• External Links: Checks external links for availability

• Report: Generates LLM-optimized report with findings

The audit is stored in a local database and can be retrieved later with squirrel report commands.

Additional Resources

• Output Format Reference: OUTPUT-FORMAT.md

• squirrelscan Documentation: https://docs.squirrelscan.com

• CLI Help: squirrel audit --help