# Audit a Next.js site's SEO with PageAudit

Audit the deployed page, fix the head with the Metadata API, add robots.txt and the sitemap, and audit again from npm.

PageAudit · Updated 2026-10-15

## Step 1. Add the audit script

Save the script as scripts/seo-audit.mjs. It needs Node 18 or newer and no package.

```js
// Audits a page with PageAudit and fails when the page has SEO errors.
// Usage: node scripts/seo-audit.mjs https://example.com/
const page = process.argv[2] ?? "https://example.com/";
const response = await fetch("https://pageaudit.online/api/audit", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "content-type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({ url: page }),
});
const report = await response.json();
if (response.status === 402 || response.status === 429) {
  console.warn("No free PageAudit audits left today. Run it again tomorrow.");
} else if (!response.ok) {
  console.error(`PageAudit answered ${response.status}: ${report.error}`);
  process.exitCode = 1;
} else {
  const { errors, warnings } = report.counts;
  console.log(`Score ${report.score}: ${errors} errors, ${warnings} warnings`);
  for (const issue of report.issues.filter((i) => i.severity === "error"))
    console.error(`${issue.code}: ${issue.message}`);
  if (errors) process.exitCode = 1;
}
```

## Step 2. Add the npm command

Add the seo:audit command to package.json, with the address of your deployed page.

```json
{
  "scripts": {
    "seo:audit": "node scripts/seo-audit.mjs https://example.com/"
  }
}
```

## Step 3. Fix the head

Run npm run seo:audit. Missing titles, descriptions and canonical links go in app/layout.tsx, with the Metadata API.

```tsx
import type { Metadata } from "next";

export const metadata: Metadata = {
  metadataBase: new URL("https://example.com"),
  title: { default: "Example Store", template: "%s | Example Store" },
  description: "Handmade ceramic mugs and plates, shipped in 3 days.",
  alternates: { canonical: "/" },
  openGraph: { type: "website", siteName: "Example Store", images: ["/og.png"] },
};
```

## Step 4. Add robots.txt and the sitemap

Next.js serves both files from app/robots.ts and app/sitemap.ts. Deploy and run npm run seo:audit again.

```ts
// app/robots.ts
import type { MetadataRoute } from "next";

export default function robots(): MetadataRoute.Robots {
  return {
    rules: { userAgent: "*", allow: "/" },
    sitemap: "https://example.com/sitemap.xml",
  };
}

// app/sitemap.ts
import type { MetadataRoute } from "next";

export default function sitemap(): MetadataRoute.Sitemap {
  return [{ url: "https://example.com/", lastModified: new Date() }];
}
```

[Audit a page](https://pageaudit.online/?url=https://example.com/)

[Audit a Next.js site's SEO with PageAudit](https://pageaudit.online/guides/nextjs)