How to Perform a Complete SEO Audit in 12 Steps

What Is an SEO Audit?

An SEO audit is the process of evaluating however good your website is optimized for hunt engines. 

It identifies errors that tin forestall your tract from ranking well. And uncovers opportunities that tin assistance you summation much visibility. 

That way, you tin boost your rankings, pull much traffic, and execute amended concern outcomes.

An effectual SEO website audit is based connected hard information astir your website’s method health, traffic, and backlink profile. And akin information astir your competitor’s websites.

The 2 astir important SEO audit tools that volition assistance you with that are: 

• Semrush: An all-in-one SEO suite that provides a broad look astatine your site’s show and helps you amended your integrated hunt performance. For example, Site Audit checks for implicit 140 on-page and method SEO issues.
• Google Search Console: A acceptable of dashboards and reports that allows you to show and troubleshoot immoderate issues related to your website’s beingness connected Google

We’ll instrumentality a person look astatine however to bash an SEO audit utilizing these tools now.

How to Do an SEO Audit

SEO audits usually covers areas like:

• Indexing and crawlability 
• Site architecture
• Keyword research
• On-page SEO
• Backlink analysis

It tin beryllium hard to cognize wherever to start. That’s wherefore we’ve breached the process down into 12 easy-to-follow steps. 

In a rush? Here’s an indispensable SEO audit checklist to get started.

1. Run a Site Crawl

Start with a crawl that simulates the mode Google crawls your pages. So you tin spot thing that mightiness contiguous a occupation for the hunt engine.

Use Site Audit for this.

First, make a task and acceptable up the audit.

Use this guide to assistance you spell done the setup.

Once you’re ready, click the “Start Site Audit” button. 

When the audit is done, you’ll get to a dashboard that displays your “Site Health” score.

It’s an wide indicator of your website’s SEO wellness that’s based connected the fig of issues recovered and their severity.

You’ll spot the issues divided into 3 categories: 

1. Errors
2. Warnings
3. Notices

These volition assistance you prioritize your fixes. Fix errors first, past warnings, and past notices.

You’ll besides find “Thematic Reports” to instrumentality a person look astatine assorted aspects of method SEO. 

We’ll dive deeper into immoderate of these successful the pursuing steps.

To reappraisal circumstantial problems, click connected the “Issues” tab.

You’ll find a afloat database of each the issues the crawl detected. 

Click each contented to uncover the database of each affected URLs.

Here are immoderate examples of issues you whitethorn encounter:

• Crawlability issues (e.g., immoderate pages returned 5xx presumption code)
• Redirect issues (e.g., immoderate of your redirects are looped)
• Sitemap issues (e.g., immoderate incorrect pages were recovered successful your sitemap)
• Issues with HTTPS (e.g., HTTPS pages nexus to HTTP pages)
• Internal links issues (e.g., you person broken—non-functional—internal links)
• On-page SEO issues (e.g., you don’t person rubric tags for immoderate pages)
• Markup issues (e.g., immoderate structured information markup doesn’t comply with Google’s guidelines)
• Performance issues (e.g., immoderate pages load slowly)

Some of these issues are rather casual to fix. Some whitethorn necessitate much analyzable solutions. 

If you’re not definite wherever to start, the instrumentality offers an mentation and a abbreviated how-to usher for each issue.

Just click the “Why and however to hole it” nexus adjacent to each contented to spot it. 

Go done the issues 1 astatine a clip to commencement improving your website.

Further reading: If you person an particularly ample website, work our Enterprise SEO Audit guide.

2. Check Your Organic Traffic

Organic postulation refers to visits to your tract that travel from integrated (unpaid) hunt results. So important declines are a bully indicator of thing that needs to beryllium addressed. 

To rapidly cheque your site’s integrated traffic, usage the Organic Research tool.

Enter your domain and click “Search.”

Once your results are ready, you’ll spot an “Overview” leafage similar this:

The “Traffic” fig astatine the apical estimates however galore monthly visits your tract gets. And the illustration shows however that fig has changed implicit time.

You tin usage this accusation to spot spikes and dips successful your site’s traffic.

Head implicit to the “Position Changes” tab to spot however your rankings person changed successful the hunt motor results pages (SERPs.)

The “Top Page Changes” widget provides an casual mode to spot the pages with the biggest postulation changes implicit the past 28 days.

If you announcement an antithetic dip successful traffic—whether crossed your full tract oregon for circumstantial pages—it mightiness beryllium utile to cheque for manual actions that bespeak your tract has violated Google’s spam policies. 

You tin cheque if you’ve received a manual enactment successful Google Search Console.

Go to “Manual actions” nether “Security & Manual Actions.”

Click it, and you’ll onshore connected a leafage that displays your site’s existent status.

Hopefully, you spot a greenish tick that shows nary issues are detected.

If there’s a manual enactment against your website, hole the issues and marque a reconsideration request. 

For example, if you’ve received a manual enactment arsenic a effect of buying backlinks (“Unnatural links to your site”), you’ll request to get escaped of those backlinks either by contacting the webmasters to inquire for removal oregon disavowing them. 

See Google’s Manual Actions guide for much details.

Further reading: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Google Penalties 

3. Check for Indexing Issues

Pages that aren’t indexed are ones that don’t look successful Google’s database. That means Google can’t fertile them.

Find indexing issues (and different technical SEO issues) with Site Audit. 

Crawl your tract and caput to the “Issues” tab. 

Select “Indexability” successful the “Category” drop-down to spot lone indexing issues. 

You tin besides cheque to spot whether your pages person been indexed straight successful Google Search Console.

Head to the “Pages” study nether the “Index” conception successful the near menu. 

Here, you tin spot a graph of each pages based connected their indexing status. 

Underneath, you’ll spot a database of reasons wherefore the pages haven’t been indexed.

Go done each the listed reasons 1 by one. Inspect each the affected pages.

Remember that not each pages person to beryllium indexed—only the ones you privation to fertile successful hunt results. It’s completely normal to person immoderate URLs that aren’t indexed.

Here are immoderate examples of URLs that don’t person to beryllium indexed:

• Pages with redirects
• Admin pages
• Alternate pages with canonical tags
• Feed pages

If you find a leafage that should beryllium indexed but isn’t, hole the contented by pursuing Google’s guidelines. Once done, deed the “Validate Fix” button.

Alternatively, drawback a circumstantial URL and participate it into the apical hunt barroom successful the Google Search Console dashboard.

You’ll spot the URL’s status. 

You tin besides petition that Google scale the URL by clicking the “Request Indexing” link.

Further reading:

• How to Get Your Website Indexed by Google
• Crawlability & Indexability: What They Are & How They Affect SEO

4. Check for Duplicate Versions of Your Site

It’s indispensable that Google indexes lone 1 mentation of your site. 

To exemplify why, see that these are each antithetic versions of the aforesaid tract to hunt engines: 

• http://www.yoursite.com
• http://yoursite.com
• https://www.yoursite.com
• https://yoursite.com

If your website runs connected much than 1 of these URL versions, it tin origin galore issues with crawling, indexing, and ranking. Because Google volition spot them arsenic duplicates. 

Plus, having aggregate versions of your tract tin dilute PageRank. Which tin besides person a antagonistic interaction connected your SEO rankings. 

You tin cheque this precise easily. 

Just participate each the versions of your tract into a web browser. You should beryllium automatically redirected to the preferred version. 

For example, if your preferred URL mentation is “https://yoursite.com,” you should beryllium redirected to it if you participate immoderate different mentation into your browser.

If you tin entree your tract done assorted versions, usage a 301 redirect for the different versions. 

Further reading: The Ultimate Guide to Redirects: URL Redirections Explained

5. Check for Mobile-Friendliness Issues

Mobile-friendliness is 1 of the main page acquisition signals for Google. And Google nary longer indexes sites that don’t enactment connected mobile devices.

That means your site’s usability connected mobile devices tin straight power your quality to fertile successful hunt results.

Check for mobile-friendliness problems utilizing the “Issues” study successful Site Audit.

First, marque definite your “user agent” is acceptable to a mobile crawler. 

If it’s not, click connected the cogwheel icon astatine the apical right-hand broadside of your page, and click “User agent:”

From here, prime “SiteAuditBot-Mobile” from the drop-down. Then, click “Save.”

Navigate to the “Issues” tab. 

Then, participate “mobile” successful the hunt barroom to spot immoderate mobile-specific issues connected your site. 

Fix immoderate errors, warnings, and notices that you tin code by yourself. Then enactment with a developer to spell done the rest.

Further reading: The Complete Guide to Mobile SEO—Tips & Best Practices

6. Analyze Your Site’s Speed

Better loading velocity helps you fertile higher connected Google. And it’s amended for the idiosyncratic experience.

Data shows that the slower a leafage loads, the higher the accidental of users leaving the website. 

To cheque your site’s speed, caput to the “Site Performance” study from your Site Audit dashboard.

Here, you’ll spot a database of each the issues affecting your site’s loading time.

To larn much astir a circumstantial contented and however to code it, click connected the “Why and however to hole it” nexus successful that issue’s row. 

Address arsenic galore issues arsenic you can. You should spot your tract velocity (and rankings) amended arsenic a result. 

Further reading: What Is Page Speed & How to Improve It

7. Analyze Your Core Web Vitals

Google’s Core Web Vitals are a postulation of 3 metrics that measure the wide user-friendliness of your site. While they’re mostly related to speed, checking these metrics should beryllium portion of your technical SEO audit due to the fact that they affect rankings.

Here’s a person look astatine what the circumstantial metrics are:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures however agelong it takes to load the largest constituent connected the page
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP): Measures however agelong it takes for a tract to respond to idiosyncratic interactions
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures however overmuch the layout of the leafage shifts unexpectedly for the user

There’s a dedicated Core Web Vitals study successful Site Audit.

Just click “View details” successful the “Core Web Vitals” widget successful the dashboard. 

You’ll spot a breakdown of each metric (note that Total Blocking Time is utilized arsenic an approximation for INP). Like this:

If you scroll down, you’ll spot a array labeled “Analyzed Pages.” 

Here are each the metrics for each of your analyzed pages. 

If you’d similar to alteration the database of pages that are evaluated (like erstwhile you privation to absorption connected your astir important pages), click the “Edit list” button. 

Edit the database arsenic you wish. And click “Save.”

You tin besides cheque these metrics utilizing Google Search Console. 

Head to the “Core Web Vitals” study nether the “Experience” conception successful the near menu.

You’ll spot some “Desktop” and “Mobile” reports listing each the issues and the affected pages.

Click “Open Report” astatine the apical of either illustration for much details.

These reports volition springiness you elaborate insights into immoderate Core Web Vitals issues your tract whitethorn have.

The instrumentality distinguishes betwixt pages that person terrible issues (“poor URLs”) and those that conscionable request immoderate improvement.

Go done the issues and travel the instructions connected however to hole them. 

8. Analyze Your Internal Links

Internal links are a important portion of SEO for 3 reasons: 

1. They assistance hunt engines crawl your website
2. They assistance users navigate your website
3. They assistance you to nonstop PageRank (also called “link equity” oregon “link juice”) to the astir important pages

There’s a study successful Site Audit dedicated to interior linking issues. 

Click “View details” successful the “Internal Linking” widget.

You’ll get a database of issues related to interior links. And tips connected however to hole them.

The study volition besides springiness you a utile overview of your pages based connected Internal LinkRank (ILR)—a metric that measures however beardown your interlinking is for antithetic pages.

Going done each class volition assistance you place 2 types of pages: 

1. Important pages that don’t get capable interior links (so you tin constituent much interior links to them)
2. Pages with bully ILR scores (so you tin usage them to administer nexus equity to different pages)

Further reading: Internal Links: Ultimate Guide + Strategies

9. Find Keywords You’re Missing Out On

An SEO audit is simply a large accidental to look astatine the keywords your competitors target. And observe whether you’re missing retired connected immoderate opportunities. 

Open the Keyword Gap tool, participate your domain and up to 4 rival domains, and click “Compare.” 

The instrumentality volition comparison the sets of keywords the analyzed domains are ranking for.

Scroll down to the database of keywords and instrumentality a look astatine the “Missing” and “Weak” tabs: 

• Missing: Keywords your competitors fertile for (but you don’t)
• Weak: Keywords your competitors fertile for higher than you do

The database volition apt uncover immoderate hidden keyword opportunities you whitethorn not person considered. 

10. Find Missed Backlink Opportunities

Backlinks are links that constituent from an outer tract to yours. 

They’re important for SEO due to the fact that Google views backlinks arsenic votes of confidence. Especially erstwhile those links are from authoritative sources successful your niche.

Generally, the much high-quality backlinks your tract gets, the higher its chances of performing good successful hunt results.

You tin usage the Backlink Gap instrumentality to find backlink opportunities.

Just participate your domain and the domains of up to 4 competitors. Click “Find prospects.”

The instrumentality volition amusement a database of domains that nexus to your competitors but not to you: 

These are domains that are apt to nexus to your website since they’re already linking to akin sites (your competitors). 

Click connected the arrow adjacent to the fig indicating the fig of backlinks from a definite domain.

This expands the presumption to amusement circumstantial pages that nexus to your competitors. As good arsenic the anchor substance and people URLs.

Now, you tin effort to replicate these backlinks.

Select the ones that are applicable to your website and click the “Start outreach” fastener successful the top-right corner. 

This volition nonstop the selected prospects to the Link Building Tool, wherever you tin acceptable up a caller task for your domain. 

The instrumentality volition assistance you: 

• Find backlink prospects from assorted sources
• Reach retired to the domain owners and inquire them for backlinks
• Keep way of the advancement of your outreach campaigns

Further reading: 

• Link Building for SEO: A Guide to the Basics
• 10 Link Building Strategies That Work successful 2024

11. Audit Your On-Page SEO 

A wide tract crawl volition assistance you find method issues crossed your website. But it’s besides bully to instrumentality a person look astatine circumstantial pages (especially your important ones).

This volition assistance you analyse their show and find ways to amended them.

On Page SEO Checker volition assistance you with that.

Let the instrumentality find the pages and keywords automatically. Or capable them successful manually.

You don’t request to cheque each your pages. Instead, absorption connected the ones that: 

• Bring the astir conversions
• Target the keywords that are astir important for your business

The instrumentality volition comparison your information with the top-ranking competitors and supply actionable tips and recommendations to amended your rankings successful assorted on-page SEO audit areas. 

To cheque the ideas for a circumstantial page, spell to the “Optimization Ideas” tab. And click the “# ideas” fastener adjacent to the page’s URL:

You’ll get a elaborate database of each the suggestions (with tips and trouble levels). 

Implement the recommendations to assistance your pages execute better. 

Further reading: The Ultimate Guide connected How to Do a Content Audit (+ Template)

12. Update Declining Content

Updating pages that utilized to execute good but nary longer bash tin springiness them caller life. To boost their rankings and pull much traffic.

Use Semrush’s Position Tracking instrumentality to place pages that person declined successful the hunt results. 

Follow the steps to configure your settings. You tin besides cheque retired our Position Tracking setup guide for step-by-step guidance.

Once your results are ready, you’ll spot a dashboard similar this:

Visit the “Pages” tab for a afloat database of pages that fertile for astatine slightest 1 keyword successful your campaign. 

Look astatine the “Diff” columns nether “Estimated Traffic” and “Average position.” And instrumentality enactment of the pages with the astir notable declines.

Once you person a database of pages that request to beryllium refreshed:

• Revise outdated information: Update references and and regenerate outdated accusation with existent statistic and details
• Prune bladed content: If you person bladed contented that doesn't supply important value, see merging it with a much applicable leafage oregon removing it altogether (you should instrumentality a redirect if you take deletion)
• Improve contented readability: Ensure your contented is casual to read. Use wide headings, slug points, ocular breaks, and shorter paragraphs for a amended idiosyncratic experience. 

Continue to Improve Your SEO

A website audit is simply a invaluable archetypal step. But SEO is an ongoing process. 

Use Semrush’s Site Audit instrumentality to way your SEO improvements implicit time. And observe caller issues that mightiness get successful your way.

Run your archetypal SEO audit today.