This is a sample report for a fictional client, Lumen Payroll. The numbers are illustrative; the structure, statistics and fix artifacts are exactly what a real audit produces. Join the waitlist to have one run on your site.

Lumen Payroll: visibility and experience audit

lumenpayroll.com, audited 9 Oct 2026

Fixes, in order

ranked by severity × pages affected ÷ effort; critical first

Each artifact is ready to paste. “Where it goes” says exactly where. Mark a fix done to see it in the next compare.

1.
Allow AI search and user-triggered agents in robots.txt
robots.txteffort Spriority 96addresses robots.ai_blocked
Where it goes
Append to https://lumenpayroll.com/robots.txt. Keep your existing GPTBot block if you do not want to be used for training.
Why
Search and user-triggered agents fetch pages to answer a live question; blocking them removes the site from those answers. Training-only agents (GPTBot, Google-Extended, Applebot-Extended, CCBot) are a separate choice.
robots.txt
```
# AI search and assistant crawlers (answering live questions)
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
User-agent: ChatGPT-User
User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
User-agent: Claude-User
User-agent: PerplexityBot
User-agent: Perplexity-User
User-agent: Amzn-SearchBot
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
User-agent: MistralAI-Index
Allow: /

# Training-only crawlers (your choice; currently blocked)
User-agent: GPTBot
User-agent: CCBot
User-agent: Google-Extended
User-agent: Applebot-Extended
Disallow: /
```

Organization JSON-LD for the home page

json-ldeffort Spriority 82addresses schema.no_org

Where it goes: Inside <head> on https://lumenpayroll.com/ as <script type="application/ld+json">. Fields we could not find on the site (founding date, legal name) are left out — add them if you have them.
Why: Gives every engine one canonical description of the company and the same profiles it should reconcile against.

json-ld

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Organization",
  "name": "Lumen Payroll",
  "url": "https://lumenpayroll.com/",
  "logo": "https://lumenpayroll.com/assets/logo.png",
  "description": "Payroll software for startups in Germany with automatic statutory reporting and DATEV export.",
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.linkedin.com/company/lumen-payroll",
    "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/lumen-payroll",
    "https://x.com/lumenpayroll"
  ]
}

Hero image as AVIF with high fetch priority

htmleffort Mpriority 78addresses cwv.lcp_poor

Where it goes: Replace the hero <img> on the home page. Export the AVIF at 1600 px wide, target ≤ 200 KB.
Why: The LCP element is the hero image; a 1.8 MB PNG discovered late is the whole 4.6 s.

html

<link rel="preload" as="image" href="/assets/hero.avif" type="image/avif" fetchpriority="high">

<picture>
  <source srcset="/assets/hero.avif" type="image/avif">
  <source srcset="/assets/hero.webp" type="image/webp">
  <img src="/assets/hero.jpg" width="1600" height="900" alt="Lumen Payroll dashboard showing a completed July payroll run" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async">
</picture>

Content brief: "Which payroll tools handle German statutory reporting automatically?"

markdowneffort Lpriority 70addresses answer.capsule_missing

Where it goes: A new page under /guides/, linked from the statutory-reporting feature page and the footer.
Why: Lumen is named in 56% of answers to this question but cited in only 34%; the most-cited domains are orbitpay.io and meridianpayroll.co. A page that answers it directly, with a comparison table, gives engines a citable source.

markdown

# Which payroll tools handle German statutory reporting automatically?

> Answer first (≤ 60 words): which reports are required (Lohnsteueranmeldung, SV-Meldungen, Berufsgenossenschaft), and which tools file them without manual export.

## What "automatic" has to include
- Monthly Lohnsteueranmeldung filed via ELSTER
- DEÜV social-insurance notifications
- Annual Berufsgenossenschaft report
- DATEV export for the tax advisor

## Comparison table
| Tool | ELSTER filing | DEÜV | BG report | DATEV export | Price from |
|------|---------------|------|-----------|--------------|------------|
| (fill with verifiable facts; cite each vendor's own documentation) |

## How Lumen Payroll handles it
Short, specific, with one statistic and one customer quote with attribution.

## Frequently asked questions
Three to five questions buyers actually ask (from the audit's question set), each answered in one paragraph.

Earn citations on the 6 third-party sites engines cite when you lose

markdowneffort Lpriority 65addresses visibility.lost_questions

Where it goes: Outreach list for marketing or PR. Work top-down; re-measure after 4–8 weeks.
Why: On 6 of 8 questions a competitor is named more often than Lumen Payroll. The engines build those answers from the sites listed here, not only from your own pages.

markdown

## Review and comparison sites
What to do: Claim or complete the profile, add current pricing and screenshots, and ask recent customers for reviews.
- g2.com — cited 31× for: "What is the best payroll software for a 30-person startup in Germany?"; "Orbit Pay alternatives for small companies"
- capterra.com — cited 12× for: "Orbit Pay alternatives for small companies"

## Communities
What to do: Answer the threads engines cite with a disclosed, specific reply; do not post promotional comments.
- reddit.com — cited 16× for: "What is the best payroll software for a 30-person startup in Germany?"; "How do I switch payroll providers mid-year in Germany?"

## Other sites
What to do: Find the cited page and ask to be included, with a reason the reader would care about.
- datev.de — cited 14× for: "Payroll software that integrates with DATEV"
- ihk.de — cited 9× for: "How do I switch payroll providers mid-year in Germany?"

## Editorial and blogs
What to do: Pitch the author with data or a customer story that fills the gap in their list.
- forbes.com — cited 6× for: "How much does payroll software cost per employee per month?"

Titles for pages with generic or duplicate titles

texteffort Spriority 44addresses title.generic

Where it goes: Replace the <title> on each page. Suggestions to review — keep them under 60 characters.
Why: Titles are what engines quote when they list the page; three identical ones look like one page.

text

/pricing             → Pricing — per employee, no setup fee | Lumen Payroll
/pricing/startups    → Startup plan: first 10 employees free | Lumen Payroll
/about               → About Lumen Payroll — Berlin, founded 2021 | Lumen Payroll
/                    → Payroll for German startups, statutory reports included | Lumen Payroll

Labels and autocomplete for the signup form

htmleffort Spriority 40addresses forms.labels_placeholder_only

Where it goes: Replace the form fields on /signup.
Why: Placeholder-only labels disappear on focus and are not announced consistently; autocomplete tokens let browsers fill the form (WCAG 1.3.5).