SEO by Zaweba on a Mac or a Linux PC

The audit isn't only for Windows. A separate build of SEO by Zaweba runs on macOS and Linux, made with Avalonia, and it uses the same engine and the same database files as the Windows version. The one practical difference is JavaScript rendering, which on Mac and Linux goes through a Chrome-family browser you have installed.

So if your design studio runs on Macs, or you keep a Linux machine for web work, you can run the same guided audit there.

Same engine, same results

The engine is the part that does the work: crawling your page and the competitors, reading the pasted results page, running the checks, scoring and building the plan. Because the Mac and Linux build uses the same engine, the checks and scoring are the same. The six-step guided audit, the comparison with the top results, the content gaps, the action plan and the reports all come from that shared core.

The database files are the same too. That's helpful if you work across machines, because it means the data isn't tied to Windows.

Rendering pages with JavaScript

On Windows, SEO by Zaweba uses Microsoft Edge WebView2 to render pages when Render pages with JavaScript is on, so it can compare the raw HTML with the rendered page and find content, links and headings that only appear after scripts run. On macOS and Linux, that rendering goes through an installed Chrome-family browser instead.

If you want JavaScript rendering on a Mac or Linux PC, make sure such a browser is installed. Plenty of sites build their content with scripts, and seeing the difference between what's in the HTML and what appears after rendering is one of the more useful checks in the app.

Rendering also gives local measurements of LCP, CLS and page weight, which feed the speed checks. With rendering off, the audit still reads the raw HTML and runs the rest of the checks, so a Mac without a Chrome-family browser can still run a useful audit.

What stays the same

The principles carry across. SEO by Zaweba never contacts Google search, suggest or autocomplete; you search in your own browser and paste the results page in. Data is stored on your computer. Optional integrations are off by default and every feature works without them. Crawling stays polite, obeying robots.txt and pausing between requests to the same site.

Working across platforms

A web designer might run audits on a Mac in the studio and look over a client's projects on a Windows laptop at home. Reports are self-contained HTML files with no scripts, so they open in any browser on any system. CSV exports open in any spreadsheet. The AI Fix Brief is a markdown file, readable anywhere.

Getting started on a Mac or Linux PC

Install the build for your system, check that a Chrome-family browser is installed if you'll render JavaScript, and read the How it works dialog. Then start a project and work through the guided audit just as you would on Windows. The instruction panels in each step tell you what to do and where to paste, whatever computer you're using.

It's the same coach for your pages, on the computer you already have.