domain-authority-auditor

This skill should be used when the user asks to "audit domain authority", "domain trust score", "CITE audit", "how authoritative is my site", "domain credibility check", "is my domain trustworthy", or "domain credibility score". Runs a full CITE 40-item domain authority audit, scoring domains across 4 dimensions with weighted scoring by domain type. Produces a detailed report with per-item scores, dimension analysis, veto checks, and a prioritized action plan. For content-level assessment, see content-quality-auditor. For link profile details, see backlink-analyzer.

# Domain Authority Auditor

> Based on [CITE Domain Rating](https://github.com/aaron-he-zhu/cite-domain-rating). Full benchmark reference: [references/cite-domain-rating.md](../../references/cite-domain-rating.md)

> **[SEO & GEO Skills Library](https://skills.sh/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills)** · 20 skills for SEO + GEO · Install all: `npx skills add aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills`

<details>
<summary>Browse all 20 skills</summary>

**Research** · [keyword-research](../../research/keyword-research/) · [competitor-analysis](../../research/competitor-analysis/) · [serp-analysis](../../research/serp-analysis/) · [content-gap-analysis](../../research/content-gap-analysis/)

**Build** · [seo-content-writer](../../build/seo-content-writer/) · [geo-content-optimizer](../../build/geo-content-optimizer/) · [meta-tags-optimizer](../../build/meta-tags-optimizer/) · [schema-markup-generator](../../build/schema-markup-generator/)

**Optimize** · [on-page-seo-auditor](../../optimize/on-page-seo-auditor/) · [technical-seo-checker](../../optimize/technical-seo-checker/) · [internal-linking-optimizer](../../optimize/internal-linking-optimizer/) · [content-refresher](../../optimize/content-refresher/)

**Monitor** · [rank-tracker](../../monitor/rank-tracker/) · [backlink-analyzer](../../monitor/backlink-analyzer/) · [performance-reporter](../../monitor/performance-reporter/) · [alert-manager](../../monitor/alert-manager/)

**Cross-cutting** · [content-quality-auditor](../content-quality-auditor/) · **domain-authority-auditor** · [entity-optimizer](../entity-optimizer/) · [memory-management](../memory-management/)

</details>

This skill evaluates domain authority across 40 standardized criteria organized in 4 dimensions. It produces a comprehensive audit report with per-item scoring, dimension and weighted scores by domain type, veto item checks, and a prioritized action plan.

**Sister skill**: [content-quality-auditor](../content-quality-auditor/) evaluates content at the page level (80 items). This skill evaluates the domain behind the content (40 items). Together they provide a complete 120-item assessment.

> **Namespace note**: CITE uses C01-C10 for Citation items; CORE-EEAT uses C01-C10 for Contextual Clarity items. In combined 120-item assessments, prefix with the framework name (e.g., CITE-C01 vs CORE-C01) to avoid confusion.

## When to Use This Skill

- Evaluating domain authority before a GEO campaign
- Benchmarking your domain against competitors
- Assessing whether a domain is trustworthy as a citation source
- Running periodic domain health checks or after link building campaigns
- Identifying manipulation red flags (PBNs, link farms, penalty history)
- Cross-referencing with content-quality-auditor for full 120-item assessment

## What This Skill Does

1. **Full 40-Item Audit**: Scores every CITE check item as Pass/Partial/Fail
2. **Dimension Scoring**: Calculates scores for all 4 dimensions (0-100 each)
3. **Weighted Totals**: Applies domain-type-specific weights for CITE Score
4. **Veto Detection**: Flags critical manipulation signals (T03, T05, T09)
5. **Priority Ranking**: Identifies Top 5 improvements sorted by impact
6. **Action Plan**: Generates specific, actionable improvement steps
7. **Cross-Reference**: Optionally pairs with CORE-EEAT for combined diagnosis

## How to Use

### Audit Your Domain

```
Audit domain authority for [domain]
Run a CITE domain audit on [domain] as a [domain type]
```

### Audit with Domain Type

```
CITE audit for example.com as an e-commerce site
Score this SaaS domain against the 40-item benchmark: [domain]
```

### Comparative Audit

```
Compare domain authority: [your domain] vs [competitor 1] vs [competitor 2]
```

### Combined Assessment

```
Run full 120-item assessment on [domain]: CITE domain audit + CORE-EEAT content audit on [sample pages]
```

## Data Sources

> See [CONNECTORS.md](../../CONNECTORS.md) for tool category placeholders.

**With ~~link database + ~~SEO tool + ~~AI monitor + ~~knowledge graph + ~~brand monitor connected:**
Automatically pull backlink profiles and link quality metrics from ~~link database, domain authority scores and keyword rankings from ~~SEO tool, AI citation data from ~~AI monitor, entity presence from ~~knowledge graph, and brand mention data from ~~brand monitor.

**With manual data only:**
Ask the user to provide:
1. Domain to evaluate
2. Domain type (if not auto-detectable): Content Publisher, Product & Service, E-commerce, Community & UGC, Tool & Utility, or Authority & Institutional
3. Backlink data: referring domains count, domain authority, top linking domains
4. Traffic estimates (from any SEO tool or SimilarWeb)
5. Competitor domains for comparison (optional)

Proceed with the full 40-item audit using provided data. Note in the output which items could not be fully evaluated due to missing access (e.g., AI citation data, knowledge graph queries, WHOIS history).

## Instructions

When a user requests a domain authority audit:

### Step 1: Preparation

```markdown
### Audit Setup

**Domain**: [domain]
**Domain Type**: [auto-detected or user-specified]
**Dimension Weights**: [from domain-type weight table below]

#### Domain-Type Weight Table

> Canonical source: `references/cite-domain-rating.md`. This inline copy is for convenience.

| Dim | Default | Content Publisher | Product & Service | E-commerce | Community & UGC | Tool & Utility | Authority & Institutional |
|-----|:-------:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|
| C | 35% | **40%** | 25% | 20% | 35% | 25% | **45%** |
| I | 20% | 15% | **30%** | 20% | 10% | **30%** | 20% |
| T | 25% | 20% | 25% | **35%** | 25% | 25% | 20% |
| E | 20% | 25% | 20% | 25% | **30%** | 20% | 15% |

#### Veto Check (Emergency Brake)

| Veto Item | Status | Action |
|-----------|--------|--------|
| T03: Link-Traffic Coherence | ✅ Pass / ⚠️ VETO | [If VETO: "Audit backlink profile; disavow toxic links"] |
| T05: Backlink Profile Uniqueness | ✅ Pass / ⚠️ VETO | [If VETO: "Flag as manipulation network; investigate link sources"] |
| T09: Penalty & Deindex History | ✅ Pass / ⚠️ VETO | [If VETO: "Address penalty first; all other optimization is futile"] |
```

If any veto item triggers, flag it prominently at the top of the report. CITE Score is capped at 39 (Poor) regardless of other scores.

### Step 2: C + I Audit (20 items)

Evaluate each item against the criteria in [references/cite-domain-rating.md](../../references/cite-domain-rating.md).

Score each item:
- **Pass** = 10 points (fully meets criteria)
- **Partial** = 5 points (partially meets criteria)
- **Fail** = 0 points (does not meet criteria)

```markdown
### C — Citation

| ID | Check Item | Score | Notes |
|----|-----------|-------|-------|
| C01 | Referring Domains Volume | Pass/Partial/Fail | [specific observation] |
| C02 | Referring Domains Quality | Pass/Partial/Fail | [specific observation] |
| ... | ... | ... | ... |
| C10 | Link Source Diversity | Pass/Partial/Fail | [specific observation] |

**C Score**: [X]/100

### I — Identity

| ID | Check Item | Score | Notes |
|----|-----------|-------|-------|
| I01 | Knowledge Graph Presence | Pass/Partial/Fail | [specific observation] |
| ... | ... | ... | ... |

**I Score**: [X]/100
```

### Step 3: T + E Audit (20 items)

Same format for Trust and Eminence dimensions.

```markdown
### T — Trust

| ID | Check Item | Score | Notes |
|----|-----------|-------|-------|
| T01 | Link Profile Naturalness | Pass/Partial/Fail | [specific observation] |
| ... | ... | ... | ... |

**T Score**: [X]/100

### E — Eminence

| ID | Check Item | Score | Notes |
|----|-----------|-------|-------|
| E01 | Organic Search Visibility | Pass/Partial/Fail | [specific observation] |
| ... | ... | ... | ... |

**E Score**: [X]/100
```

**Note**: Some items require specialized data (C05-C08 AI citation data, I01 knowledge graph queries, T04-T05 IP/profile analysis). Score what is observable; mark unverifiable items as "N/A — requires [data source