How do I get a prioritized SEO fix list I can hand to a developer or AI agent?
Crawl the site, group issues by type, and rank them by whether they stop pages being indexed and how many pages each affects. Then write each fix as a concrete code change plus the list of affected URLs, so a developer or AI agent can act without guessing. SEOBolt's seo_fix_plan returns this per issue with a ready-to-apply snippet.
By SEOBolt. Published , updated .
Why this happens
Most audit reports fail at the handover. They list hundreds of findings sorted by tool category, with severity labels nobody trusts, and no indication of what to change in the template or the CMS. A developer then asks the obvious question, which is which of these actually matter, and the report cannot answer it.
A useful fix list has three properties. It is grouped by cause, not by page: one missing canonical in a shared template shows up on 400 URLs but is one fix. It is ordered by consequence: issues that block crawling or indexing come before issues that merely weaken a title. And every item contains the change itself, such as the exact tag or header, and the URLs it applies to, so it can be implemented and verified.
The same format works for AI coding agents. An agent given 'improve SEO' wanders; an agent given a list of issue types with a snippet and the affected URLs can make the change on a branch and show a diff for review.
How to build the list, step by step
1. Crawl the whole site
Use any crawler that records status codes, canonicals, robots directives, titles, headings and internal links for every page. Record the crawl date.
2. Group findings by issue type
Count how many URLs each issue type affects. Issues that share a cause (a template, a plugin, a redirect rule) become one task.
3. Rank by consequence
Tier 1: problems that stop pages being crawled or indexed (server errors, noindex on pages that should rank, robots.txt blocks, wrong canonicals). Tier 2: signals Google uses to understand pages (titles, headings, internal links, redirects). Tier 3: refinements (descriptions, image alt text, structured data extras).
4. Write each fix as a change
For each task, write the exact edit: the tag to add, the header to set, the rule to change, and where it lives (template, config, CMS field). A fix without a location is a to-do for someone else to research.
5. Attach the affected URLs
List the URLs, or a pattern that matches them, so the fix can be verified after deployment.
6. Hand it over with a verification step
Tell the developer or agent how you will check the result: re-crawl and expect the issue count for that type to fall to zero.
7. Re-crawl and compare
After deployment, crawl again and compare issue counts and the overall health score with the first crawl.
A priority order that works for most sites
| Tier | Issue types | Why first |
|---|---|---|
| 1: Crawl and index blockers | 5xx and 404 on important URLs, accidental noindex, robots.txt blocks, canonical pointing elsewhere | If a page cannot be crawled or indexed, nothing else on it matters |
| 2: Understanding signals | Missing or duplicate titles and H1s, redirect chains, broken internal links, thin duplicate pages | These tell Google what each page is about and how pages relate |
| 3: Presentation | Meta descriptions, image alt text, Open Graph tags, structured data extras | They affect how results look and are read, after the page is indexable |
| 4: Performance | Core Web Vitals problems | Matters for user experience; fix the biggest opportunities first |
When to use SEOBolt for this
seo_fix_plan returns the full prioritised plan for a project: every site-wide issue with a ready-to-apply code snippet and the affected URLs. seo_fix_suggestions returns specific HTML snippet fixes for one crawled page (the page with the most issues if you do not name one). seo_issues returns the detailed issues grouped by type with fix recommendations, and seo_core_web_vitals adds mobile Core Web Vitals from PageSpeed Insights and Chrome UX Report field data for a URL or the first pages of a crawl.
The usual flow is: crawl, read the plan, have a coding agent apply the fixes in your repository on a branch, review the diff, deploy, re-crawl. SEOBolt returns the plan and snippets; your agent or developer makes the changes. How many pages a crawl covers depends on your plan; /pricing lists the details.
MCP tools involved: seo_fix_plan, seo_fix_suggestions, seo_issues, seo_core_web_vitals.
When SEOBolt is not the right tool
A fix plan does not decide business priorities. If a recommended change conflicts with a deliberate choice, such as a noindex on a staging section, your judgement wins; mark it intentional and move on.
Prompt to give your AI assistant
With the SEOBolt MCP server connected (setup), copy this into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Gemini CLI:
Assign to SEOBolt: use seo_fix_plan for my project and give me the plan in priority order: first anything that blocks crawling or indexing, then title and heading issues, then the rest. For each item show the snippet and the affected URLs. Do not change anything. Show me what you did so I can approve the changes before any code is edited.
Frequently asked questions
What should I fix first?
Anything that stops pages being crawled or indexed: server errors, accidental noindex, robots.txt blocks and wrong canonicals. Titles and descriptions come after the page can be indexed.
Can an AI coding agent apply the fixes?
Yes, if you give it the issue types, the snippets and the affected URLs and ask it to work on a branch. Review the diff before merging and re-crawl after deploying.
Do all issues need fixing?
No. Some are intentional, such as noindex on internal pages. Mark them as intentional so they do not clutter the list.
How do I verify a fix?
Re-crawl the site and confirm the issue count for that type is zero and the affected URLs return the expected values.