Example output: examples/seo-drift-wix-com-20260514/compare/DRIFT-REPORT.md

SEO Drift

Git for SEO. Capture a snapshot of a domain or URL's SEO state ("baseline"), then on later runs diff the current state against the baseline and surface regressions. Catches the things that get worse silently after a deploy, redesign, or content cull.

Acknowledgements: drift-as-an-SEO-skill framework originated in claude-seo by AgriciDaniel (with the original concept credited to Dan Colta, Pro Hub Challenge). MIT-licensed both directions; this implementation is independent but the framing is theirs.

Prerequisites

• SE Ranking MCP server connected.
• Claude's WebFetch tool available (for URL-mode page fingerprinting).
• User provides: target domain or URL, plus a subcommand (baseline, compare, history).

Optional flags

Subcommands

baseline <target>

Capture the current SEO state and write it to a snapshot file. No diff produced.

compare <target>

Load the most recent baseline for the target. Capture the current state. Diff. Produce DRIFT-REPORT.md.

history <target>

List all stored baselines for the target with their dates and key metrics (DA, traffic, keyword count). No diff produced.

Process

baseline mode

1. Validate target. Determine if domain or URL. Domain = example.com; URL = anything starting with http(s)://.
   • SSRF protection (URL mode). If target is a URL, validate via python3 -c "from scripts.google_auth import validate_url; import sys; sys.exit(0 if validate_url('{target}') else 1)" (or import validate_url directly in any helper script). Reject loopback (127.0.0.1, ::1, localhost), private IP ranges (10/8, 172.16/12, 192.168/16), link-local (169.254/16), and Google metadata endpoints. If validation fails, abort with a clear error and don't proceed to fetch — feeding an unvalidated URL into Firecrawl / WebFetch / Google APIs would risk SSRF against internal services. Mirrors theirs at seo-drift/SKILL.md:97.
2. Preflight. See skills/seo-firecrawl/references/preflight.md for the canonical 3-stage preflight (credit balance, Firecrawl availability, Google APIs). Skill-specific notes:
   • Estimated SE Ranking cost for this skill: typical baseline costs ~10–20 SE Ranking credits depending on whether step 4 (URL-mode page snapshot) is included.
   • Firecrawl: optional with WebFetch fallback, +1 Firecrawl credit per URL if available (URL mode). When available, the snapshot also captures <head> + JSON-LD content so canonical / robots / og:* / JSON-LD changes are detectable on diff. Without it the snapshot is partial. Pass --no-firecrawl to skip Firecrawl even when available (saves credits at the cost of diff coverage).
   • Google APIs: tier 0 unlocks CrUX p75 LCP/INP/CLS capture (origin in domain mode, URL in URL mode); tier 1 (URL mode only) additionally captures URL Inspection state (indexStatusVerdict, googleCanonical, lastCrawlTime) so subsequent compares can flag field-data and indexation drift. See skills/seo-google/references/cross-skill-integration.md § "seo-drift" for the full recipe.
3. Domain snapshot (always):
   • DATA_getDomainOverviewWorldwide — DA, traffic, organic + paid keyword counts.
   • DATA_getDomainKeywords — top 100 organic keywords with positions.
   • DATA_getBacklinksSummary — backlinks total, referring domains total.
   • DATA_getBacklinksRefDomains — top 20 referring domains with authority.
4. Page snapshot (if target is a URL): WebFetch (always) + mcp__firecrawl-mcp__firecrawl_scrape (when available)
   • WebFetch (free): extract <title>, all <h1..h6>, lang, word count, internal-link count, image count, body markdown for prose-level diff.
   • Firecrawl (1 Firecrawl credit per URL) — recovers <head> and <script> content WebFetch strips:
     • From metadata: canonical URL, robots meta, og:title, og:description, og:image, twitter:card.
     • From returned html: every <script type="application/ld+json"> block. Capture both detected @types and a hash of the full block content (so any schema-content change is detected on diff, not just type-list changes).
   • If Firecrawl unavailable (or --no-firecrawl passed): only WebFetch fields enter the fingerprint. BASELINE.md notes: Snapshot fields recovered via WebFetch only — canonical, robots, og:*, twitter:*, and JSON-LD changes will not be detected on subsequent compares. Install Firecrawl for full coverage.
   • Compute a fingerprint hash of the captured fields.
   • Also capture page authority: DATA_getPageAuthority. 4b. Google field-data snapshot (only if google-api.json is present AND --skip-cwv not set)
   • Tier 0 (always when configured): python3 scripts/pagespeed_check.py "{target}" --crux-only --json (URL mode) or python3 scripts/pagespeed_check.py "https://{domain}" --crux-only --json (domain mode, origin-level CrUX). Store the resulting p75 LCP / INP / CLS / FCP / TTFB and the source label ("URL" or "origin").
   • Tier 0 (always when configured): python3 scripts/crux_history.py "{target_or_origin}" --json for the 25-week trend window snapshot — store as crux_history_baseline. Subsequent compares can detect drift against the most recent week.
   • Tier 1 (URL mode only): python3 scripts/gsc_inspect.py "{target_url}" --site-url "{config.default_property}" --json. Store indexStatusVerdict, coverageState, googleCanonical, userCanonical, lastCrawlTime.
   • If --skip-cwv was passed, skip this step entirely and store null for cwv / crux_history fields. The compare-mode rules then surface "Field-data drift: skipped — --skip-cwv flag passed at baseline."
   • If CrUX returns insufficient data, store null for the affected metrics and continue.
5. Write snapshot file seo-drift-{target-slug}-{YYYYMMDD}/snapshot.json.
6. Update index seo-drift-{target-slug}/baselines.json — append {date, snapshot_path} entry.

compare mode

1. Validate target + locate latest baseline in seo-drift-{target-slug}/baselines.json.
   • SSRF protection (URL mode). Same validate_url() check as baseline mode. Refuses to fetch private/loopback/metadata addresses.
   • If no baseline exists, fall through to baseline mode and tell the user to come back later.
2. Capture current state (same data as baseline mode).
3. Diff each metric using references/drift-thresholds.md:
   • Domain authority: ±5 = yellow, ±10 = red.
   • Estimated organic traffic: ±20% = yellow, ±50% = red.
   • Organic keyword count: ±10% = yellow, ±30% = red.
   • Top-3 keyword count: ±15% = yellow, ±40% = red.
   • Top-100 keyword churn: any high-volume drop = red.
   • Net referring domains: -5 to -20 = yellow, <-20 = red.
   • Page-level (URL mode): any change to canonical / robots / lang / H1 = red; title or meta description change = yellow; schema types added/removed = yellow; og:* / twitter:* changes = yellow.
   • Firecrawl-dependent diff caveat: canonical / robots / og:* / twitter:* / JSON-LD diffs require both baseline and current snapshots to have been captured with Firecrawl. If either snapshot was WebFetch-only, those fields surface as not comparable — Firecrawl-only fields missing from {baseline | current} snapshot rather than as a green pass.
   • Google-data drift (only if both snapshots have Google fields):
     • LCP p75 increased ≥20% → red.
     • INP p75 increased ≥20% → red.
     • CLS p75 increased ≥0.05 absolute → yellow.
     • FCP / TTFB p75 increased ≥30% → yellow.
     • Inspection status changed from INDEXED to anything else → red.
     • googleCanonical changed → yellow.
     • lastCrawlTime >60 days old → yellow.
     • Caveat: if either snapshot lacks Google fields (creds were missing at one capture), surface Field-data / indexation drift: not comparable — Google fields missing from {baseline | current} snapshot.
4. Synthesise DRIFT-REPORT.md — red findings first, then yellow, then green/positive deltas. End with a "what to investigate first" recommendation.

history mode

1. Load baselines.json.
2. For each entry, render a one-row summary: date, DA, traffic, keyword count, top-3 count.
3. Write HISTORY.md with the table.

Output format

baseline mode

seo-drift-{target-slug}-{YYYYMMDD}/:

seo-drift-{target-slug}-{YYYYMMDD}/
├── snapshot.json            (the captured state)
└── BASELINE.md              (one-page human summary of what was captured)

compare mode

seo-drift-{target-slug}-{YYYYMMDD}/:

seo-drift-{target-slug}-{YYYYMMDD}/
├── DRIFT-REPORT.md              (synthesised: red/yellow/green changes — primary deliverable; inlines 01-domain-deltas, 02-keyword-churn, 03-backlink-deltas, 04-page-deltas as sections)
└── evidence/
    ├── baseline-snapshot.json   (the prior reference — kept for replay)
    ├── current-snapshot.json    (today's state — kept for replay)
    ├── 01-domain-deltas.md      (DA, traffic, keyword count changes — raw step output)
    ├── 02-keyword-churn.md      (top-100 entries/exits)
    ├── 03-backlink-deltas.md    (new + lost backlinks/domains)
    └── 04-page-deltas.md        (URL mode only: HTML fingerprint diff)

Top-level: DRIFT-REPORT.md only. The four delta step files are inlined into named sections in DRIFT-REPORT.md; evidence/ keeps the raw delta dumps and both snapshot JSONs so a future re-diff or audit can replay against them.

DRIFT-REPORT.md shape:

# Drift Report: {target}
> Baseline: {baseline date} · Current: {today's date}

## RED — investigate today
- {finding} ({severity rationale})
- ...

## YELLOW — investigate this week
- {finding}
- ...

## GREEN — positive deltas
- {finding}
- ...

## Field-data drift (CrUX + URL Inspection)
- LCP p75: {baseline} → {current} ms ({Δ%}) {↑ red / ↑ yellow / stable / ↓ green}
- INP p75: {baseline} → {current} ms ({Δ%}) {…}
- CLS p75: {baseline} → {current} ({Δ absolute}) {…}
- Indexation status: {baseline INDEXED → current EXCLUDED} (URL mode)
- googleCanonical: {baseline → current} (if changed)
- (Or: `Field-data / indexation drift: not configured` / `not comparable — missing from {snapshot}`)

## What to investigate first
1. {prioritised action with reasoning}
2. ...

history mode

seo-drift-{target-slug}-{YYYYMMDD}/HISTORY.md:

# History: {target}

| Date | DA | Traffic | Keywords | Top-3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-27 | 42 | 18,500/mo | 1,247 | 89 |
| 2026-03-15 | 41 | 17,200/mo | 1,213 | 85 |
| ...

Tips

• Respect rate limit: 10 req/sec. Baseline runs 4–6 sequential calls; pace easily.
• Call DATA_getCreditBalance before running. Domain baseline ~10–15 SE Ranking credits; URL baseline ~15–20 SE Ranking credits + 1 Firecrawl credit; compare ~20–30 SE Ranking credits + 1 Firecrawl credit (current-state capture).
• Snapshot storage is local-only in v0.4.0. If your team needs shared baselines, point everyone at the same seo-drift-{target-slug}/ directory in a shared filesystem or commit it to a private repo. Baselines are JSON — git-friendly.
• Baseline cadence: monthly is the natural rhythm because SE Ranking's history endpoints have monthly granularity. Weekly is too noisy for backlink data. Document recommended cadence in handoff to your team.
• For deploy-time "did anything break in the last hour" use cases, the URL-mode page-fingerprint half is the workhorse — that doesn't depend on monthly data.
• Don't auto-disavow or auto-fix anything based on drift findings. The skill diagnoses; humans decide.
• Authority-history all-zeros caveat: if DATA_getPageAuthorityHistory (URL mode) or DATA_getDomainAuthorityHistory returns flat-zero values across the window, treat as "insufficient history" — don't compute a delta or surface a regression based on missing data. Cross-check the current-value endpoint (DATA_getPageAuthority / DATA_getDomainOverviewWorldwide) — if the current value is meaningful but history is flat, surface that as a data-quality flag in DRIFT-REPORT.md rather than fabricating a trend.
• Cost of doing nothing: silent regressions. Cost of running monthly: ~15 credits. Run monthly.