Crawl the site, check indexing and technical health, review content and links, then rank the fixes. Here's the step-by-step SEO audit checklist we use.
To do an SEO audit, crawl the site, check what Google has indexed, review technical health, then work through content, internal links and backlinks, and finish with a prioritised list of fixes. The checklist below takes you through each step in the order we use on client sites, so the problems that block everything else get found first.
An audit is only useful if it ends in action. A 90-page PDF that sits in an inbox changes nothing. The aim is a short list of fixes, ranked by how much traffic or revenue they put at risk, that someone can start on the following week.
If you want the background first, our guide to what an SEO audit covers explains the three areas it looks at, and our technical SEO audit guide goes deeper on the crawl and indexing side. This post is the practical how-to.
What you need before you start
You need access to Google Search Console, your analytics platform and a crawler. Search Console tells you what Google sees. Analytics tells you which pages earn traffic and conversions. A crawler, such as Screaming Frog or Sitebulb, shows you what the site looks like to a bot.
It also helps to agree the audit’s scope up front. A 50-page brochure site and a 200,000-page ecommerce site need different depths. Note the site’s main goals too, because “fix what matters” depends on knowing which pages make money.
The SEO audit checklist, step by step
Work through these steps in order. Each one builds on the last, and there is no point polishing title tags on pages Google can’t index.
- Crawl the whole site. Run a full crawl and export the results. Our guide to running a site crawl covers the settings. Look for 4xx and 5xx errors, redirect chains, and pages that return a 200 but are blocked or set to noindex.
- Compare the crawl with what Google has indexed. Open the Page indexing report in Search Console. Check the number of indexed pages against the number of pages you want indexed. A big gap in either direction is the first thing to explain.
- Check robots.txt and the XML sitemap. Make sure robots.txt isn’t blocking pages or resources you need crawled. The sitemap should list only live, indexable, canonical URLs that return a 200.
- Review canonical tags and duplicates. Look for pages with missing, conflicting or self-contradicting canonicals, and for near-duplicate pages created by parameters, filters or print versions.
- Test speed and Core Web Vitals. Use the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console for field data, then PageSpeed Insights on key templates. The three metrics are LCP, INP and CLS. INP replaced FID in March 2024.
- Check mobile experience and HTTPS. Google indexes the mobile version of your pages, so content and links must be there on mobile. Every page should load over HTTPS with no mixed content warnings.
- Audit structured data. Run key templates through the Rich Results Test and fix errors in any schema you already use.
- Review on-page basics. Export title tags, meta descriptions and H1s from the crawl. Flag missing, duplicate and truncated ones, and pages where the title doesn’t match what the page is for.
- Map keywords to pages. Check that each important search term has one clear page targeting it. Two pages chasing the same term is keyword cannibalisation, and it usually means neither ranks well.
- Assess content quality. Pull pages with impressions but low clicks, pages that have lost traffic over 12 months, and thin pages with little unique value. Decide for each: improve, merge or remove.
- Check internal linking. Find orphan pages with no internal links, and important pages buried more than three or four clicks from the homepage.
- Review backlinks. Look at referring domains over time, the pages that attract links, and any broken pages that still have links pointing at them. Those are quick wins with a 301 redirect.
- Prioritise and write it up. List every issue with the pages affected, the likely impact and the effort to fix. Sort by impact against effort.
How to prioritise what you find
Rank issues by the traffic and revenue they put at risk, then by effort. A noindex tag on a category template that drives sales goes to the top. A missing alt attribute on one blog image goes near the bottom.
A simple three-tier split works well for most teams:
| Priority | What goes here | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Fix now | Issues stopping key pages being crawled, indexed or ranked | Product pages set to noindex after a release |
| Fix this quarter | Issues holding back pages that already rank | Slow LCP on the main service template |
| Fix when convenient | Small, isolated issues with little traffic at stake | Duplicate meta descriptions on old blog posts |
A simple SEO audit template
You don’t need a fancy report. A spreadsheet with one row per issue does the job, as long as it has these columns:
- Issue, written in plain English
- Area (technical, content, links)
- Example URLs and the number of pages affected
- Why it matters, in one sentence
- Recommended fix
- Priority, effort and owner
- Status, so the sheet becomes a working tracker
Keep a short summary at the top: the three to five issues that matter most and what fixing them should achieve. That’s the part most stakeholders will read.
How often to repeat the audit
Run a full audit once a year, and after any migration, redesign or platform change. In between, keep an eye on Search Console each month for new indexing errors, Core Web Vitals problems and manual actions. Things break quietly, and a monthly check catches them before rankings drop.
If you’d rather have a second pair of eyes on it, our SEO audit services turn the findings into a prioritised plan. Book a free strategy session and we’ll talk through where your site stands.
Related reading: our guides to indexability and Core Web Vitals. For help fixing what an audit finds, see our technical SEO agency services.
Common questions
How long does an SEO audit take?
A small site of under 100 pages can be audited in a day or two. A large ecommerce or publishing site can take two to four weeks, mostly because there is more data to review and more templates to check.
Can I do an SEO audit myself?
Yes. With Search Console, an analytics platform and a crawler, you can work through most of the checklist yourself. The harder part is judging which issues matter and in what order to fix them.
What tools do I need for an SEO audit?
At minimum you need Google Search Console, an analytics tool and a site crawler. A backlink tool such as Ahrefs or Semrush helps with the links section, and PageSpeed Insights covers performance.
What is the difference between an SEO audit and a technical SEO audit?
A technical SEO audit covers crawling, indexing, speed and site structure. A full SEO audit adds content quality, keyword targeting and backlinks, so it looks at why pages rank as well as whether they can.
