Canonical audit prompt template

Updated

2026-05-30

This is the verbatim prompt that produces an ATG-style web-site-optimization audit. Run it against any customer-facing site to generate a comparable analysis.

How to use

1. Replace {{WEBSITE_URL}} with the site being audited.
2. Replace {{COMPETITOR_1_URL}} and {{COMPETITOR_2_URL}} with named industry competitors.
3. Paste the full prompt into a Claude / WDM session.
4. File the output under web-site-optimization/<site-slug>-<year>-<quarter>.md.
5. Update web-site-optimization/index.md audit-cadence table.

Template

You are a world-class ecommerce growth team consisting of:

* Senior conversion rate optimization experts
* Automotive and heavy equipment ecommerce specialists
* UX/UI designers
* Technical SEO experts
* Shopify/WooCommerce/full-stack engineers
* Direct-response copywriters
* Brand strategists
* Analytics and growth marketing specialists

Primary objective:

Analyze {{COMPANY_NAME}} and create a complete implementation plan to become the highest-converting and most trusted {{INDUSTRY_VERTICAL}} ecommerce website in the market.

Website to optimize:
{{WEBSITE_URL}}

Competitors to benchmark:
{{COMPETITOR_1_URL}}
{{COMPETITOR_2_URL}}

Your task is NOT simply to compare websites.

Your task is to identify every advantage competitors have, every weakness on {{COMPANY_NAME}}, and every opportunity to create a substantially better customer experience that increases:

* Revenue
* Conversion rate
* Average order value
* Lead generation
* Repeat purchases
* Organic traffic
* Customer trust

# Phase 1: Complete Competitive Analysis

Perform a page-by-page comparison of:

* Homepage
* Navigation
* Search
* Product pages
* Category pages
* Checkout
* Mobile experience
* Technical performance
* Brand presentation
* Trust signals

For every competitor advantage:

* Explain why it matters
* Estimate impact on sales
* Recommend implementation

# Phase 2: CRO Audit

Analyze:

* Visual hierarchy
* Call-to-action placement
* Product discovery
* Search usability
* Category structure
* Filters
* Product information quality
* Product imagery
* Trust indicators
* Shipping messaging
* Return messaging
* Contact visibility
* Lead capture
* Upsells
* Cross-sells
* Bundles

Assign scores from 0-100.

# Phase 3: Technical SEO Audit

Analyze:

* Core Web Vitals
* Site speed
* Crawlability
* Internal linking
* Metadata
* Structured data
* Product schema
* FAQ schema
* Category SEO
* Content gaps
* Keyword opportunities

Identify all missed SEO opportunities.

# Phase 4: Revenue Optimization

Recommend:

* High-margin bundles
* Frequently bought together systems
* Upsells
* Cross-sells
* Subscription opportunities
* B2B account features
* Fleet management opportunities
* Quote-request workflows
* Commercial purchasing improvements

Estimate revenue impact for each recommendation.

# Phase 5: Product Page Perfection

Create the ideal {{INDUSTRY_VERTICAL}} product page.

Include:

* Layout mockup
* Section order
* Copy recommendations
* Trust elements
* Technical specifications
* Compatibility data
* Shipping information
* Warranty information
* Review strategy
* CTA strategy

# Phase 6: Homepage Redesign

Design a homepage intended to maximize:

* Trust
* Lead generation
* Conversion

Include:

* Hero section
* Value proposition
* Category navigation
* Social proof
* Customer testimonials
* Featured products
* Industry expertise
* Contact section
* Footer architecture

Provide actual copy examples.

# Phase 7: Mobile Optimization

Audit every mobile friction point.

Provide exact implementation fixes.

# Phase 8: Action Plan

Create:

## Quick Wins (1 Week)

Highest ROI changes.

## 30-Day Plan

Improvements with measurable conversion impact.

## 90-Day Plan

Strategic projects with largest revenue upside.

Rank every recommendation by:

1. Expected revenue impact
2. Ease of implementation
3. Estimated effort

# Deliverables

Provide:

* CRO score
* UX score
* SEO score
* Trust score
* Mobile score
* Brand score

Then provide:

* Top 25 revenue opportunities
* Top 25 conversion improvements
* Top 25 SEO improvements

Be extremely specific.

Whenever possible provide:

* Exact copy
* Exact design recommendations
* Exact code changes
* Exact schema markup
* Exact page structures
* Exact implementation instructions

Assume the goal is to create the most trusted and highest-converting {{INDUSTRY_VERTICAL}} ecommerce site in {{TARGET_MARKET}}.

Variable reference

Placeholder	Meaning	Example value
{{COMPANY_NAME}}	Brand being audited	"Superior Water Truck Parts"
{{WEBSITE_URL}}	URL of site being audited	"https://superiorwatertruckparts.com"
{{COMPETITOR_1_URL}}	First named competitor	"https://accesstruckparts.com"
{{COMPETITOR_2_URL}}	Second named competitor	"https://watertrucks.com"
{{INDUSTRY_VERTICAL}}	Buyer-facing market term	"water truck parts"
{{TARGET_MARKET}}	Geo target for organic / paid	"North America"

Output expectations

A complete audit deliverable should include:

1. Executive scorecard — 6 composite scores (CRO, UX, SEO, Trust, Mobile, Brand) with side-by-side competitor scores and weighted composite. Honest scoring — no grade inflation.
2. Phase 1-7 detail — page-by-page comparison tables, scored dimensions, ranked opportunities.
3. Phase 8 action plan — 10-25 ranked items in each of Quick Wins / 30-day / 90-day buckets with effort + expected lift estimates.
4. Three "top 25" lists — revenue opportunities, conversion improvements, SEO improvements, each ranked.
5. Implementation notes for the engineering team — exact files to touch, drop-in CSS, schema markup, copy variants.
6. Final 10-item shortlist — if the client could only ship 10 things this month, do these.

Why this prompt works

The prompt's strength is in three constraints:

• "Be extremely specific." Forces concrete deliverables (drop-in code, exact copy) rather than abstract recommendations.
• "Whenever possible provide: exact copy, exact code changes, exact schema markup..." Sets the bar at implementation-ready, not advisory.
• Named competitor benchmarking + scoring 0-100 prevents the analysis from devolving into generic best-practice lists.

The output should read like a senior consultancy deliverable — not a checklist. If you get a checklist back, the prompt didn't carry enough specificity for the vertical; add a few sentences to the {{INDUSTRY_VERTICAL}} context to fix.

Audit history index

Site	Audit file	Date	Composite score	Lead reviewer
superiorwatertruckparts.com	superior-water-truck-parts-2026-q2.md	2026-05-29	50/100	WDM
superiorequipmentinc.com	superior-equipment-2026-q2.md	2026-05-30	61/100	WDM

(Append new rows here as audits complete.)