SEO Audit & Recovery Plan

Pro Tip: Prioritize 404 errors on pages with external backlinks — each broken link loses link equity and frustrates users.

Pro Tip: Check for "keyword cannibalization" — multiple pages targeting the same keyword confuse search engines and dilute ranking potential.

Pro Tip: Use the "Toxic Score" filter and disavow any domain with a score above 80 — but only if the link is clearly unnatural (paid, spam, or irrelevant).

Pro Tip: Use Surfer's "Content Score" metric — any page scoring below 50 is a candidate for a refresh or consolidation.

Pro Tip: Compress images and remove render-blocking JavaScript as the first two fixes — they address LCP and FID simultaneously in most cases.

Pro Tip: Overlay Google algorithm update dates on your traffic timeline in Analytics — if a drop correlates with an update, the fix is content and quality focused, not technical.

Pro Tip: Fix all "high impact, quick win" items first — fixing broken 404 pages with backlinks can recover traffic within 2-3 weeks.

Pro Tip: Tackle one category at a time (technical first, then content, then backlinks) to avoid making changes that are hard to reverse-diagnose later.

Pro Tip: Set up a "rank tracker" in Semrush for your top 20 money keywords and check it weekly — ranking movement is the earliest sign of recovery.

Pro Tip: Create a recurring monthly calendar reminder for the maintenance tasks — the websites that lose traffic are almost always the ones that stop monitoring after the initial fix.