How to perform an SEO audit (with checklist)

An SEO audit is simply a wellness checkup of your site. It allows you to cognize what works and what does not, and it allows you to marque improvements based connected what you find. This tin pb to improved show — some connected the hunt results pages and how visitors prosecute with your website.

What is an SEO audit?

An SEO audit looks astatine however good a website performs successful hunt results to find areas that request work. It helps find method SEO problems, analyse on-page elements, measure Core Web Vitals and tract speed, and analyse idiosyncratic acquisition and contented quality. An SEO audit besides looks astatine extracurricular variables similar backlinks and rival tactics to place areas for improvement. Making definite your website is optimized for users and hunt engines tin assistance it fertile amended and pull much integrated traffic.

Step 1: Preparing an SEO audit

To marque your tract audit a success, you indispensable hole well. You request to cod the close accusation astir your website utilizing SEO tools, recognize however to diagnose issues and prioritize fixes.

Crawl your website with Screaming Frog (or thing similar)

The archetypal measurement is crawling your website with crawler software. This helps find method SEO issues that different wouldn’t beryllium truthful visible. Screaming Frog is 1 of the astir trusted names successful this, but Sitebulb is different highly recommended one. The escaped mentation of Screaming Frog crawls 500 URLs, but you tin upgrade if needed. 

Crawling your tract is easy; simply download and instal Screaming Frog. Open the instrumentality and participate your site’s homepage URL. Then, deed Start, and the crawl volition run. Once the scan is complete, export the information into a CSV record for further sorting and prioritization.

Screaming Frog gives you a ton of information that you tin export to sheets quickly

What to look for?

Screaming Frog generates a ton of data, truthful it’s bully to prioritize the outcome. Scan for missing, duplicate, oregon overly agelong titles and descriptions. Each leafage should person unique, targeted metadata. Find pages oregon links that instrumentality (404) errors arsenic breached links frustrate users and wounded SEO. Then, place oversized assets that dilatory your leafage load time, specified arsenic images, JavaScript, and CSS files. Last but not least, marque definite that canonical URLs are decently implemented to debar duplicate contented issues.

Use an all-in-one SEO instrumentality (Semrush oregon Ahrefs)

In summation to a method crawl, you tin usage tools similar Semrush oregon Ahrefs to behaviour a elaborate SEO audit. These tools supply galore insights, including keyword rankings, backlink health, and rival performance. 

These tools besides fto you tally a tract audit, which gives you a method wellness score. You’ll find galore improvements to make, similar pages blocked by robots.txt oregon issues with interior linking. The tools besides reappraisal the prime and relevance of your backlinks and springiness you ideas connected however to get high-quality caller links. You’ll besides get keyword rankings to way however idiosyncratic pages execute for people keywords. Identify opportunities to refine contented oregon people caller hunt terms.

Download the astir important reports and cross-reference them with your Screaming Frog export.

Pull information from Google Analytics and Search Console

Combining each these insights with your site’s idiosyncratic behaviour and engagement information volition marque your SEO audit travel alive. It helps you recognize however radical usage your tract and however they acquisition it to pinpoint pages to improve. Export your findings from Google Analytics and Search Console to see successful your audit comparisons.

Check the top-performing landing pages successful Google Analytics and their engagement rates. Pages with debased engagement rates whitethorn person mediocre contented oregon a disconnect betwixt idiosyncratic expectations and leafage design. Also, look astatine league duration and exit rates to find pages wherever radical rapidly permission your site.

Use the Performance Report successful Search Console to spot which pages and queries thrust the astir clicks and impressions. This volition besides item debased CTR pages — ranking good but failing to pull searchers. Then, cheque the Page Indexing Report for crawl errors, warnings, oregon blocked pages and reappraisal the Core Web Vitals Report to find pages failing connected velocity oregon usability metrics.

Google Search Console is an indispensable instrumentality for SEO audits

Create a centralized spreadsheet

Once you person each the data, delight harvester everything successful a large spreadsheet. How you acceptable this up is up to you, arsenic everyone uses thing different. But you could usage thing similar this:

• Page URL
• Technical issues (e.g., breached links, dilatory load speed)
• Engagement metrics (e.g., engagement rates, clip connected page)
• Keyword rankings
• Optimization notes (e.g., missing metadata, duplicate content)
• Priority (High, Medium, Low)

This spreadsheet volition usher your fixes passim the audit process.

Minimal SEO audit (optional)

Not each audit needs to beryllium a heavy dive into your site. Sometimes, you don’t person the clip but inactive consciousness the request to enactment connected your site. In this case, you could bash a simpler, quicker wellness cheque and measure circumstantial regions of your tract to spot if these execute well. Such a minimal SEO audit is simply a streamlined mentation of a afloat audit to find and hole captious show issues.

Here’s a basal model for a speedy audit:

1. Check that your tract is indexed by searching site:yourdomain.com successful Google.
2. Run a Google PageSpeed Insights trial for slow-loading pages.
3. Examine the titles and meta descriptions of your astir important pages (e.g., homepage, work pages, and cardinal income pages).
4. Fix breached links utilizing Screaming Frog oregon a speedy manual cheque successful your navigation.

This lightweight SEO audit inactive finds high-priority issues without the clip committedness of a afloat review.

Step 2: User acquisition & contented SEO

The adjacent measurement is to spot however radical comprehend and interact with your site. Look astatine the user experience and spot if you tin find things to improve. You tin get radical to your tract by utilizing high-quality contented aimed astatine the close hunt intent and audience. Not lone that, due to the fact that you privation to person them returning. 

Improving the idiosyncratic experience

Do you cognize if your users tin find what they request quickly? If not, they mightiness permission your tract quickly. Giving them a bully acquisition volition bash wonders successful the agelong run. In your SEO audit, commencement by diagnosing these communal UX factors:

Make definite the colors lucifer your branding and are casual to read. Look astatine contrast, arsenic this is particularly important for buttons and links. Make CTAs (like “Buy now” oregon “Learn more”) basal retired visually.

Check if the astir important plan elements are supra the fold. Key messages and CTAs should beryllium disposable without scrolling. Think of this arsenic the header act—it indispensable drawback attraction immediately. Add lawsuit testimonials, third-party endorsements, and information badges (e.g., SSL oregon outgo extortion signs) to physique credibility.

Give peculiar attraction to your menus. Test menus, drop-downs, and hunt functions. Breadcrumbs besides assistance users spot wherever they are wrong the tract hierarchy.   

Audit website content

SEO is mostly astir content, truthful reappraisal its prime and amended wherever necessary. The Semrush/Ahrefs tract audit should person fixed you galore pointers. With this list, commencement moving connected the following.

Check the keyword targeting of your content. Make definite that each leafage represents a superior keyword. Ahrefs and Semrush amusement which keywords your pages fertile for and place gaps.

Check for duplicate oregon bladed content. Avoid weak, duplicate, oregon low-value content. Where necessary, merge akin pages into 1 in-depth article. Provide actionable, invaluable content.

Remember Google’s Helpful Content standards. Create contented that delivers existent worth and focuses connected idiosyncratic intent. Your contented should reply questions with actionable, audience-focused solutions. Last, you show Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T): Add writer bios, mention reliable sources, and nexus references wherever indispensable to make expertise and trustworthiness.

Internal linking and related content

SEO is not conscionable astir getting users and hunt engines to your tract —it’s besides astir keeping and showing them around. One of the astir almighty ways to bash this is done internal linking, truthful beryllium definite to see this successful your SEO audit. 

Check however you nexus your astir important pages, similar cornerstone articles oregon merchandise categories. Your contented should person a mates of links based connected relevance and importance, but not excessively many. In addition, you should see a related contented conception connected your pages to promote further reading.  

Anchor substance should see applicable keywords oregon picture the linked leafage and effort to debar generic phrases similar “click here”. 

An interior hunt diagnostic is different important facet of showing radical astir your site. Make definite that your hunt barroom provides applicable results, particularly connected ample websites. Monitor what radical hunt for to pass your contented strategy.

Step 3: General on-page SEO

On-page SEO concerns the method and contented improvements you marque connected circumstantial pages. This helps hunt engines recognize your pages. It besides helps your readers to find what they want. 

Optimize leafage titles and meta descriptions

Page titles and meta descriptions are the archetypal things a visitant sees successful hunt results. While hunt engines similar to make these based connected relevance, you tin inactive power however you’d similar these to look for maximum CTR. 

For your leafage titles, marque definite that each leafage connected your tract has a unsocial title. Duplicate titles confuse hunt engines, which is thing you don’t want. And portion there’s nary bounds to however agelong titles tin beryllium successful the SERPs, they get chopped disconnected visually aft a acceptable fig of characters. Try to find the saccharine spot.

Incorporate your superior keyword adjacent to the opening of the title, but debar keyword stuffing. For example, alternatively of “SEO tips SEO tips SEO tips,” usage “10 SEO tips for beginners – Step-by-step guide.” Don’t hide to adhd your marque sanction astatine the extremity of the title, e.g., “How to bash an SEO audit – Your Brand”

For your meta descriptions, marque definite that they concisely explicate what the leafage is about. You should besides see the superior keyword portion making definite the substance flows naturally. Don’t hide to promote action. Incorporate a call-to-action (CTA), specified arsenic “Learn more,” “Discover how,” oregon “Start now.”

Optimize heading structures (H1 to H6)

Headings are fantabulous tools for structuring and making your contented easier to read. They besides assistance hunt engines with recognizing however important the information is connected each page.

• Start with 1 H1: The H1 is the main heading for the webpage, and it should incorporate your targeted keyword. Each leafage should person a single H1 tag.
• Use H2s for large sections: Use H2 tags to interruption up contented into logical sections. Consider these the main subheadings of your article.
• Add H3s oregon H4s for subsections: You tin person much subsections nether H2s if you privation to interruption it down further utilizing H3 or H4 for amended structuring.
• Keep it logical: Don’t skip heading levels (e.g., jumping from H1 to H4) oregon usage headings lone for styling.
• Be descriptive: Write headings describing the section’s content. For example, alternatively of “Step 1,” usage “Step 1: Analyze your postulation metrics.”

WordPress has a useful diagnostic to cheque the heading operation of your articles

Ensure due usage of canonical tags

Canonical tags amusement a hunt motor which mentation of a leafage to prioritize erstwhile duplicates oregon near-duplicates of the aforesaid leafage are disposable connected your site. This is particularly important for online stores, arsenic these person galore variations of the aforesaid products owed to filtering oregon session-based URLs. 

You should ever take 1 canonical mentation for a page. For example, if some https://example.com and https://www.example.com exist, acceptable 1 canonical URL to forestall duplicate contented issues. Don’t hide to adhd the canonical tag successful each page’s HTML <head> conception and beryllium accordant successful your interior linking. For instance, ever nexus to 1 mentation of the URL alternatively than switching betwixt http and https.

Regularly cheque for issues utilizing Screaming Frog oregon Semrush to find pages missing canonical tags oregon ones with conflicting canonicals.

Add and trial schema markup

Structured data successful the signifier of Schema markup helps marque your tract much understandable for hunt engines. The codification you adhd to your tract helps operation and place your contented successful a mode that hunt engines tin easy consume. In immoderate cases, this tin adjacent pb to highlighted hunt results, for instance, for products oregon ratings and reviews. 

Yoast SEO drastically simplifies adding schema for WordPress, WooCommerce and Shopify users. The SEO plugin outputs JSON-LD (the format preferred by Google) to adhd schema markup straight to your page’s HTML.

There are galore options for adding Schema, but you should commencement with the basics and things applicable to your site. For instance, you should usage the Article schema for articles and blog posts and item work dates, images, authors, and headlines. 

Ecommerce businesses should usage Product structured data. This information should item pricing, banal availability, ratings, and reviews. If it makes sense, you tin besides markup your FAQ pages, which volition nary longer beryllium highlighted successful Google’s SERPs.

There are galore different options, truthful you indispensable cheque what makes consciousness for your situation. For instance, if you tally a look site, you tin adhd Recipe structured data, oregon if you people events connected your site, usage Events. 

Don’t hide to trial your structured data. Use Google’s Rich Results Test Tool to cheque if your structured information is close and valid. Also, cheque Search Console for errors nether the “Enhancements” tab.

Yoast SEO makes it casual to adhd indispensable structured information

Audit and amended your backlinks

Backlinks are arsenic important arsenic ever. Every nexus from a relevant, high-quality root counts towards your authority. These links beryllium to hunt engines that your contented is invaluable and meaningful. Of course, there’s a ton of spamming happening with links.

You tin usage tools similar Moz, Ahrefs, oregon Semrush to audit your backlink profile. The results amusement a database of spammy backlinks and links from irrelevant websites with debased authority. If spammy websites nexus to you, there’s an enactment successful Google Search Console to disavow these links. This is lone needed successful precise uncommon cases, though. Only disavow links you’re definite are harmful — this is simply a past edifice for low-quality links you cannot get removed manually.

It’s much important to absorption connected earning high-quality backlinks. Create shareable, high-value contented similar guides, research, oregon infographics portion gathering relationships with related websites, bloggers, oregon journalists for earthy backlink opportunities.

Step 4: Site velocity and engagement

Check your site performance, arsenic site speed and user engagement greatly interaction success. Pages that load dilatory are annoying for users and tin springiness you a poor score successful the eyes of hunt engines. Low engagement rates tin wounded your results, arsenic users mightiness halt visiting your site.

Understanding and improving Core Web Vitals

To underscore the value of performance, Google launched the Core Web Vitals. These metrics assistance tract owners summation insights into however their sites execute successful existent beingness and get tips connected improving those scores. The metrics absorption connected loading times, interactivity and stability. Together, these find however enjoyable users find your site. 

LCP measures however agelong your largest plus loads

The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures however agelong it takes for the largest disposable constituent connected the surface (usually an image, video, oregon headline) to render fully. If show is bad, you tin amended this by optimizing images by compressing them without sacrificing quality. You tin usage modern record formats similar WebP for faster show and minimize render-blocking resources similar dense CSS oregon JavaScript files. Defer unnecessary scripts and prioritize above-the-fold content.

INP measures interactivity 

Interaction to Next Paint (INP): INP is the caller Core Web Vitals metric from Google that tracks however rapidly your tract responds to idiosyncratic input clicks, taps, and keystrokes. While FID lone reported connected the delay for the archetypal interaction, INP evaluates each interactivity events for the session. This ensures a fuller score.

You tin amended your show by minimizing JavaScript execution. Use Screaming Frog oregon PageSpeed Insights to emblem dense scripts and defer oregon region non-critical JavaScript. Use browser caching to cache JavaScript and different assets truthful they don’t reload unnecessarily and trim reliance connected third-party scripts. You tin offload dense tasks to web workers to escaped up the main thread and process idiosyncratic interactions faster.

CLS measures stability

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures the stableness of a webpage’s ocular layout. It checks if the contented moves unexpectedly arsenic the leafage loads (e.g. erstwhile an representation loads precocious and pushes buttons elsewhere connected the screen).

You tin amended this by specifying dimensions (width and height) for each images and videos successful your HTML/CSS. This prevents the browser from guessing dimensions and rearranging content. Avoid inserting ads, banners, oregon different dynamic elements supra the fold aft loading content. Please preload important assets similar fonts oregon images to guarantee they look rapidly and predictably.

Site velocity optimization beyond Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals should beryllium a main focus, but determination are different strategies to instrumentality to amended tract velocity and leafage experience. Faster websites adjacent idiosyncratic satisfaction, trim bounce rates and marque your assemblage much apt to instrumentality astir successful the future. 

Start reducing the fig of HTTP requests for a faster site. Combine CSS and JavaScript files wherever practical, oregon usage modern HTTP/3 protocols, allowing browsers to nonstop retired aggregate requests simultaneously. Also, unused CSS and JavaScript should beryllium eliminated to reduce file sizes and velocity up load times. File compression tin beryllium utilized via Gzip or Brotli to compress the assets earlier serving them to the user. Compressed files load faster without losing quality; astir hosting providers oregon web servers tin assistance you acceptable this up. Tools similar Google Lighthouse tin besides alert you if compression is missing.

Implement lazy loading for images and videos truthful that lone disposable contented loads instantly portion different assets load arsenic needed. WordPress users tin easy usage plugins similar Smush oregon Lazy Load by WP Rocket to execute this, oregon customized JavaScript libraries similar lazysizes enactment connected different platforms. Distribute your site’s static assets with a Content Delivery Network (CDN), which delivers files from servers closest to users, improving planetary load speeds. Popular CDN providers see Cloudflare, Akamai, and Amazon CloudFront. Finally, performance analysis tools specified arsenic Google Lighthouse, GTmetrix, oregon Pingdom analyse bottlenecks, way progress, and guarantee your efforts work.

Google’s PageSpeed Insights is 1 of the champion tools to recognize your site’s real-life performance

Improving mobile show and responsiveness

Mobile is everything these days. For astir websites, this means that astir of the postulation volition beryllium coming from mobile devices. Search engines similar Google see the prime of your mobile tract erstwhile ranking your content, truthful being mobile-friendly should ever beryllium connected the extremity of your tongue.

Run assorted mobile tests to spot however your tract performs connected phones and tablets. Look for layout issues, problems with interactive elements, oregon slow-loading pages oregon assets. Check if your responsive web plan works decently truthful your tract dynamically adapts to each instrumentality sizes. Also, guarantee your CTAs are mobile-friendly, and your forms are accessible from mobile devices. 

Increasing idiosyncratic engagement connected your site

Faster pages support users connected your website, but engagement ensures they instrumentality meaningful actions. Thanks to amended tract performance, you’ll get higher engagement rates, which results successful amended conversions, newsletter signups, merchandise purchases, and more.

Simplify your site’s navigation to marque it casual for users to find what they need. Use wide menus with logical structures, specified arsenic categories and subcategories, and adhd breadcrumbs to amusement users wherever they are wrong the site. Dropdown menus should beryllium intuitive, and interior hunt bars indispensable instrumentality accurate, applicable results quickly. Additionally, guarantee cardinal Call-to-Actions (CTAs), similar “Sign Up” oregon “Request a Quote,” are prominently placed supra the fold oregon instantly pursuing cardinal contented sections. Use descriptive, action-oriented connection successful your CTAs to marque them much compelling and clickable.

Encourage users to research your tract much with interior links and related contented suggestions. Add societal sharing buttons to blog posts, infographics, oregon merchandise pages to marque it casual for users to stock contented connected platforms similar Facebook, LinkedIn, oregon X. If utilizing popups oregon exit-intent offers (e.g., subscription prompts oregon discounts), guarantee they are thoughtfully designed and minimally intrusive. Poorly timed oregon assertive popups hazard driving users away, truthful purpose to equilibrium engagement with idiosyncratic experience.

Tools for tract velocity and engagement improvements

To assistance optimize, you tin utilize Google Lighthouse, which volition amusement you how your Core Web Vitals performs overall, and GTmetrix, which goes in-depth and gives actionable recommendations connected improving leafage velocity results.

Hotjar offers insights into wherever users click, however they scroll, and however they behave overall. WP Rocket is for WordPress users looking to automate method processes specified arsenic caching, lazy loading, and database optimization. Various WordPress plugins adhd customizable societal stock buttons to heighten contented sharing, making it easier for visitors to stock your posts connected their favourite platforms.

Step 5: Monitoring and tracking results

SEO is simply a colossal effort; the process does not extremity determination erstwhile that archetypal effort is made. You indispensable show your actions to find whether those changes enactment arsenic intended. Regular monitoring is besides a large accidental to find improvements and amended calibrate your SEO strategy. Regular monitoring helps you amended your site, set to the latest algorithm updates, and clasp the course.

Why show results?

By tracking results, you tin measurement the interaction of your audit (e.g., accrued rankings, traffic, and engagement). It’ll besides assistance spot caller issues similar breached links, dilatory pages, oregon dropped rankings. This volition yet assistance you amended your strategy by identifying what’s driving results and wherever to absorption next.

SEO is not thing you bash successful a period oregon so. It takes time, and you mightiness spot the results successful galore months. Consistently way and analyze.

Metrics to track

Start by looking astatine postulation metrics. Organic postulation shows however galore users find your tract done hunt engines, which you tin show successful Google Analytics nether Acquisition \> Organic Search. Check referral postulation to spot if different backlinks are sending visitors to your site. This information shows however effectual your SEO and link-building enactment is.

Next, measure engagement and hunt performance. Metrics similar engagement rates and clip connected leafage assistance you recognize however users interact with your content. On the hunt side, way keyword rankings with tools similar Wincher, Ahrefs, oregon Semrush to spot however good your pages are doing successful the SERPs.

Use Google Search Console to show your CTR and cheque for indexing issues successful the Coverage Report. Make definite that your astir important pages are indexed. Monitor loading speed, interactivity, and layout stableness successful tools similar PageSpeed Insights.

Schedule regular check-ins

You request to marque monitoring results a regular thing. Review rankings, CTR, and caller crawl errors weekly. Each month, cheque postulation trends, idiosyncratic behavior, and fixes made during the audit. Every quarter, you should tally a caller crawl with Screaming Frog, cheque rival performance, and update aged pages based connected caller opportunities.

Conclusion connected doing SEO audits

Following these steps volition assistance execute an SEO audit,  from preparing your information to addressing idiosyncratic acquisition and method SEO improvements. Make definite each hole you purpose to bash aligns with your goals and strategy. Auditing regularly keeps your tract moving astatine its champion and acceptable to fertile successful hunt results.