=== Aetos SEO ===
Contributors: aetosseo
Tags: seo, technical seo, site audit, schema, ai readiness
Requires at least: 6.2
Tested up to: 7.0
Stable tag: 4.0.9
Requires PHP: 7.4
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Technical SEO and AI-readiness auditor for WordPress. See what blocks your site in Google and in AI answers, with every finding shown in full.

== Description ==

Aetos SEO is an **audit plugin**, not another meta-writer. It runs alongside
your existing SEO plugin (Rank Math, Yoast, AIOSEO, SEOPress, or any other)
and tells you what is actually broken, missing, or risky across technical SEO
and AI-readiness, then shows you a prioritized list of what to fix first.

Think of it as a second opinion that does not touch your meta titles, your
schema output, or your sitemap. It only reads, diagnoses, and reports.

= Why a separate audit plugin? =

Every SEO plugin tells you it is doing a great job. None of them tell you
when something is wrong outside of their own scope: a noindex left from
staging, a canonical pointing at the wrong domain, a schema that is valid
but does not list the right entity, an `<h1>` that does not match the
title, a robots.txt that blocks an AI crawler you actually want to be in,
or a sitemap that omits half your category pages.

Aetos SEO does that read across **the whole rendered page**, then ranks the
findings by severity so you can fix the highest-impact issues first.

= What the free edition checks =

* **Technical SEO** - indexability, canonicals, robots directives, sitemap
  presence and freshness, redirects, broken links, HTTP error pages.
* **Crawl coverage** - what search engines and AI crawlers (GPTBot, PerplexityBot,
  Claude-Web, Google-Extended, etc.) can actually reach on your site.
* **On-page** - titles, meta descriptions, heading structure, duplicate
  patterns, language and `dir` correctness for Arabic / RTL sites.
* **Mobile usability** - viewport, readability heuristics, tap target sanity.
* **Media** - missing alt text, oversized images, lazy-loading hints.
* **Structured data** - is valid JSON-LD present for Organization, Article,
  Breadcrumb? Are required fields filled?
* **AI-readiness (AEO / GEO)** - is your content readable by AI answer engines?
  Checks AI-crawler access in robots.txt (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot,
  Google-Extended and more), llms.txt presence, JSON-LD entity coverage
  (Organization, sameAs, author / E-E-A-T, publisher), FAQ / HowTo schema,
  H2 / H3 passage structure for answer extraction, and Open Graph completeness.
* **Performance basics** - asset counts, cache headers, heavy CSS / JS.
* **Analytics stack** - auto-detects GA4, Google Tag Manager, Microsoft
  Clarity, and Meta Pixel.
* **Security basics** - HTTPS, mixed content, exposed admin endpoints
  (informational).

= What you actually see =

Every finding includes: a plain-language title, a severity badge (High /
Medium / Low / Info), the pages where it was detected, an "Open" / "Fixed"
status, guidance on how to verify the fix, and a "why this matters"
explanation. Results are shown directly in the Findings screen.

= Bilingual interface (Arabic and English) =

The plugin auto-detects RTL sites and switches the admin interface to
Arabic. Finding titles, severity levels, and "why this matters" copy are
all translated.

= How it differs from Pro =

Pro is sold separately at [aetosseo.com](https://aetosseo.com/) and is
**uploaded to your site by you**, like a separate premium add-on. The
WordPress.org edition is a complete local audit tool: it shows every finding it
computes in full, and you set the scan depth yourself in Settings (the default
is 50 pages, or set 0 to analyze every page on your site).

The WordPress.org edition **diagnoses** your technical SEO and AI-readiness.
Pro is for **acting on what it finds and going deeper**: advanced
answer-engine modules, industry modules, deeper content analysis, internal
page-opportunity prioritization, AI handoff reports with copy-paste prompts
for any AI assistant, and agency-style HTML / PDF / CSV reports. Pro audits
from inside WordPress too, and it does not connect your site to any external
SEO, analytics, or AI service.

== Installation ==

1. In your WordPress admin, go to **Plugins -> Add New** and search for
   "Aetos SEO".
2. Click **Install Now**, then **Activate**.
3. Open the new **Aetos SEO** menu in your sidebar.
4. Click **Start audit** on the Dashboard. The first scan runs in the
   background and usually finishes within a few minutes on typical shared
   hosting, so you can keep working while it runs.
5. Open the **Findings** page to see the prioritized list of issues.

You do not need an account, an API key, or a third-party service to run
the audit. The free edition does everything locally inside your WordPress
install.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Does it replace my SEO plugin? =
No. Aetos SEO is an audit layer that runs **alongside** your existing SEO
plugin. It does not write meta titles, does not output schema, and does
not generate your sitemap. It only reads your rendered pages and reports
what it sees.

= Is the free version really useful on its own? =
Yes. It runs a complete technical SEO **and AI-readiness** audit and shows
every finding it computes, with no hidden or blurred results. You control how
deep the crawl goes in Settings.

= Can I control how many pages it scans? =
Yes. On the Aetos SEO **Settings** page you set how many pages the audit
analyzes (and the crawl page limit). The default is a performance-friendly 50
pages so the first scan stays light on shared hosting; set it to 0 to analyze
every page, or lower it on a very large site. The page count is controlled by
your settings.

= Does the free version send my data anywhere? =
No. All audit work happens inside your WordPress install, using same-site
requests to read your public pages during an audit. Updates ship through
WordPress.org like any other free plugin.

= Is there a Pro version? =
Yes, sold separately at [aetosseo.com](https://aetosseo.com/) and
uploaded to your site like any premium add-on. It adds extra audit modules
and reporting workflows, all running locally inside WordPress. If you never
install Pro, the WordPress.org edition keeps working on its own.

= Will it conflict with Rank Math, Yoast, AIOSEO, or SEOPress? =
No. Aetos SEO does not emit meta tags, schema, or sitemap output. It only
reads, so it cannot conflict with another SEO plugin.

= Does it support Arabic / RTL sites? =
Yes. The admin interface auto-switches to Arabic on RTL sites, and the
audit understands `lang` and `dir` attributes when checking on-page
correctness.

= How often should I run an audit? =
After every significant change: a redesign, a migration, a new
SEO / cache / security plugin, or a content batch. Running it weekly on a
production site is also fine.

= Does the plugin require any third-party services? =
No. The free edition does not contact any third-party service automatically.
During an audit it performs same-site HTTP requests against your own
WordPress site to read your public pages, robots.txt, sitemaps, and internal
links. No page content leaves your server. The only external links are
documentation, pricing, changelog, and support links that open when you
click them.

== Screenshots ==

1. Dashboard: overall score, latest run, plugin / theme stack detection.
2. Findings page: prioritized list of issues with severity and status.
3. Finding detail: explanation, affected pages, and how to verify the fix.
4. Settings: admin language, scan limits, crawl delay, email summary.
5. Upgrade page: what Pro adds (advanced answer-engine modules, AI handoff reports, and exports).

== External services ==

The free edition does **not** automatically contact any third-party
service. Updates ship through WordPress.org like any other free plugin
(handled by WordPress core, not by this plugin).

During an audit, the plugin performs HTTP requests **against your own
WordPress site** to inspect your public pages, robots.txt, sitemaps, and
internal links. These are same-site requests; no page content leaves your
server. To run audits in the background it may also trigger WordPress cron
through a same-site loopback request to this same WordPress installation
(the standard WP-Cron mechanism); this never contacts Aetos servers or any
third-party API in the free edition. The admin interface also contains a few
user-clicked links to documentation, pricing, changelog, and support on
aetosseo.com — those open only when you click them; the plugin never
requests those pages itself.

Some checks look for analytics or tag-manager fingerprints already present in
your site's rendered HTML. The plugin may recognize strings such as
googletagmanager.com, google-analytics.com, analytics.google.com,
connect.facebook.net, clarity.ms, clarity.microsoft, plausible.io,
cdn.plausible.io, cdn.segment.com, segment.com, posthog.com, matomo.js,
matomo.php, and piwik.js, plus the matching client-side API names these tools
place in page scripts (for example gtag, fbq, and _paq). These are
**detection strings only**: Aetos SEO does not contact those providers, does
not send them data, and does not load their scripts. If your public pages
already include one of those scripts, the plugin records that it was detected
so the audit can avoid false "analytics missing" findings.

To put findings in context, the audit also detects which SEO, performance,
caching, security, and page-builder plugins or themes are active on your site
and reads their settings from your **local** WordPress database through the
standard options API. This information is shown only inside your own WordPress
admin, to explain a finding (for example, that a caching plugin controls a
header the audit flagged). It is never transmitted anywhere, and the plugin
never contacts those plugins' vendors.

== Upgrade Notice ==

= 4.0.9 =
Improves WordPress.org translation readiness and refreshes the Arabic language files.

= 4.0.8 =
Polishes the Aetos admin experience: isolates third-party notices, unifies action buttons, and clarifies the Lite + Pro add-on flow.

= 4.0.7 =
Closes mixed-language risk in English admin screens, stored finding displays, and audit summary emails.

= 4.0.6 =
Polishes the Dashboard copy when Aetos SEO Pro is active, so licensed sites see Pro-aware audit labels instead of Lite-only wording.

= 4.0.5 =
Adds prefixed extension hooks for separately installed add-ons. The complete Lite audit and all Lite results remain unchanged.

= 4.0.4 =
AI prompts copied from an English admin screen now use English labels and instructions; Arabic prompts remain available when the admin language is Arabic.

= 4.0.3 =
The interface is now fully bilingual: every audit finding and every admin
label renders completely in English on English sites and completely in Arabic
on Arabic / RTL sites, with no mixed-language screens.

= 4.0.2 =
Completes the WordPress.org path-handling fix: no manual core/admin path
composition and no fixed directory walks anywhere in the plugin.

== Changelog ==

= 4.0.9 =
* Added a WordPress.org GlotPress extraction catalog so the bilingual Aetos admin strings are available to the official translation system.
* Regenerated the Arabic language source files from the current plugin strings.
* Numbered several placeholder strings to improve translator context and avoid extraction warnings.

= 4.0.8 =
* Isolated WordPress/admin notices into a dedicated Aetos notices zone so third-party plugin messages no longer appear inside Aetos cards.
* Unified Dashboard action and "View details" buttons for a cleaner, consistent admin experience.
* Reworked the Upgrade to Pro screen to explain the separate Pro add-on model while keeping the WordPress.org edition complete.
* Added Pro-ready styling hooks used by the separately installed Aetos SEO Pro add-on license screen.

= 4.0.7 =
* Converted remaining Settings, Findings, Dashboard, and scan-recovery admin strings to the explicit Aetos language switch instead of legacy gettext fallbacks.
* Added English-safe display fallbacks for older stored findings that were generated while the admin language was Arabic, so English admin screens and summary emails never show Arabic plugin copy for those legacy rows.
* Made audit summary emails language-aware, including `lang` / `dir`, category labels, severity labels, and the call-to-action.
* Removed Arabic fallback text from the admin JavaScript stats bar if localization data is unavailable.

= 4.0.6 =
* Updated Dashboard action labels and descriptions to recognize an active Aetos SEO Pro add-on while keeping the Lite-only wording unchanged for free installs.
* The audit behavior is unchanged; this is a copy/UX polish for licensed Pro sites.

= 4.0.5 =
* Added prefixed extension hooks so separately installed add-ons can register audit checks, score categories, and category labels without replacing or deactivating Aetos SEO Lite.
* Kept the complete Lite audit and all Lite results unchanged and available without a license.

= 4.0.4 =
* Made the per-finding "Copy AI prompt" output fully language-aware. English admin screens now copy an English prompt with English site-context labels and instructions; Arabic admin screens keep the Arabic prompt.
* Made the "copied" button feedback use the Aetos admin-language setting instead of the general WordPress page language.
* This closes the last visible mixed-language risk after the 4.0.3 bilingual admin pass.

= 4.0.3 =
* Completed the bilingual interface. Every audit finding (its title, the
  "why it matters" explanation, and the fix steps) is now fully translated, and
  all remaining Dashboard and Settings labels were moved onto the same
  language switch. English sites now show a 100% English admin, and Arabic / RTL
  sites a 100% Arabic admin, with no mixed-language screens.
* Simplified the displayed plugin author to "Aetos SEO".

= 4.0.2 =
* Addressed the WordPress.org "determine file and directory locations" review
  in full: removed manual wp-admin / core path composition and every fixed
  parent-directory walk across the plugin, not only the two reported lines.
* Plugin, asset, and upload locations now use the WordPress public path APIs
  (plugin_dir_path, plugin_dir_url, plugins_url, wp_upload_dir, plugin_basename).
* Expanded the "External services" disclosure: documented the client-side
  analytics API names the audit recognizes (gtag, fbq, _paq) and clarified that
  detecting active SEO/performance/security/builder plugins reads their settings
  only from the local database and never transmits them.
* Hardened the Lite build so any of those path patterns fail the build if reintroduced.

= 3.3.57 =
* WordPress.org review feedback round: reworded audit-result description
  strings so no raw tag-like text remains in code or comments (the plugin's
  own CSS / JS always loaded through wp_enqueue APIs).
* Path resolution now avoids fixed directory walks and uses WordPress path
  helpers for plugin-owned paths and uploads.
* Removed a read of another plugin's filter; plugin-conflict detection now
  uses an internal list. All hooks, options, transients, and AJAX actions
  the plugin creates use the aetos_seo_ prefix.
* Removed leftover dormant Pro-edition helper code and unused CSS from the
  free package; the free edition continues to show every finding in full.

= 3.3.52 =
* First public release on WordPress.org (free edition).
* Built on the mature Aetos SEO audit engine.
* Audit engine: technical SEO, crawl coverage, on-page, mobile, media,
  structured data, AI-readiness (AEO / GEO), performance basics, analytics
  detection, security basics.
* Bilingual admin interface (Arabic / English) with full RTL support.
* Self-contained WordPress.org release with no automatic third-party service calls.