How to Do an SEO Audit: A Step-by-Step Checklist

What Is an SEO Audit?

An SEO audit is a detailed review of a website to identify issues that may be limiting its organic search performance.

A complete website audit normally reviews areas such as:

• Crawling and indexing
• Website structure
• Page titles and meta descriptions
• Keyword targeting
• Content quality
• Internal linking
• Mobile usability
• Page speed
• Structured data
• Backlinks
• User experience

The purpose of an audit is not simply to produce a long list of errors. A useful audit should show which issues matter most, why they matter, and what should be fixed first.

For larger or technically complex websites, technical SEO services can help identify problems that may not be visible through a basic manual review.

1. Check Whether Google Can Crawl Your Website

The first step is making sure search engines can access the pages you want to rank.

A website may contain excellent content, but that content cannot generate organic traffic if Googlebot cannot crawl it.

Start by checking:

• Robots.txt rules
• Noindex tags
• Canonical tags
• XML sitemap
• Redirects
• Broken URLs
• Server errors
• Pages blocked from crawling

You should also review Google Search Console to see whether important URLs are being discovered, crawled and indexed.

Common Indexing Issues to Check

• Crawled – currently not indexed
• Discovered – currently not indexed
• Duplicate without user-selected canonical
• Excluded by noindex
• Not found (404)
• Server error (5xx)

Not every excluded page is a problem. Shopping cart pages, account areas, filters and duplicate URLs may intentionally remain outside Google’s index. The goal is to confirm that your important commercial and informational pages are accessible and indexable.

2. Review Your XML Sitemap

Your XML sitemap gives search engines a list of URLs you want them to discover.

Open your sitemap and check whether it contains only useful, indexable URLs.

Review any URLs that:

• Redirect somewhere else
• Return a 404 error
• Are marked noindex
• Are duplicate versions of another page
• Are outdated
• Should not appear in search

You should also submit the sitemap through Google Search Console.

For WordPress websites, SEO plugins can usually generate XML sitemaps automatically, but that does not mean the sitemap is always correct. It should still be reviewed during an SEO audit.

3. Check Website Indexing

One of the most important website audit steps is comparing the pages that exist on your website with the pages Google has actually indexed.

Google Search Console’s indexing reports are the best starting point.

Look for important pages that are missing from the index and investigate possible causes such as:

• Weak or duplicate content
• Incorrect canonical tags
• Internal pages with no links pointing to them
• Accidental noindex settings
• Crawl problems
• Poor website architecture

You should also check whether Google is indexing pages you do not want in search results, such as parameter URLs, thin tag pages or unnecessary archives.

A healthy index should focus Google’s attention on pages that provide genuine value.

4. Audit Your Website Structure

Website architecture affects both users and search engines.

Important pages should be easy to reach without requiring visitors to click through several unrelated pages.

A simple service structure might look like:

Home → Service Category → Individual Service

A blog structure might look like:

Home → Blog → Topic → Article

During the audit, check whether:

• Important pages are easily accessible
• Related pages are grouped logically
• Navigation is clear
• Breadcrumbs are used where appropriate
• URLs are easy to understand
• Orphan pages exist

An orphan page is a page with no meaningful internal links pointing to it. Search engines can struggle to discover or understand the importance of these pages.

5. Review Keyword Targeting

Next, review what keyword or search intent each important page is targeting.

A common SEO problem occurs when multiple pages compete for the same keyword. This is often referred to as keyword cannibalization.

For example, a business may have several pages targeting very similar phrases:

• SEO audit services
• Professional SEO audit
• Website SEO audit
• SEO website audit service

If those pages provide nearly identical information, Google may struggle to determine which page deserves to rank.

Each important URL should have a clear primary topic and purpose.

Create a Keyword Map

A basic keyword map can include:

• Page URL
• Primary keyword
• Secondary keywords
• Search intent
• Current ranking
• Target page type

This makes it easier to identify keyword overlap and missing opportunities.

6. Audit Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Title tags are an important part of on-page SEO because they help tell search engines and users what a page is about.

Review your important pages and look for:

• Missing titles
• Duplicate titles
• Titles that are unnecessarily long
• Titles that do not match search intent
• Titles with excessive keyword repetition

A strong SEO title should clearly communicate the main subject of the page without sounding unnatural.

Meta descriptions are not a direct ranking guarantee, but a clear description can improve how a search result communicates its value to users.

Avoid using the same description across dozens of pages.

7. Check Heading Structure

Every important page should have a clear heading structure.

In most cases, the main page topic should appear in the H1, with supporting sections organized under H2 and H3 headings.

Example Heading Structure

• H1: How to Do an SEO Audit
• H2: Check Website Indexing
• H2: Review On-Page SEO
• H3: Title Tags
• H3: Meta Descriptions
• H2: Check Technical SEO

Headings should help users scan the page. Avoid adding keywords to headings simply for SEO if they do not improve readability.

8. Evaluate Content Quality and Search Intent

A technically optimized page can still perform poorly if the content does not answer what the searcher actually wants.

Review important pages and ask:

• Does this page answer the main search query?
• Is important information easy to find?
• Is the information accurate and useful?
• Does the content provide anything better or clearer than competing pages?
• Is outdated information still present?
• Are sections repeated unnecessarily?
• Is the content written for users rather than only for keywords?

You should also identify thin pages that provide little original value.

Sometimes the best action is not to expand a page. It may be better to merge overlapping pages, redirect outdated content, or completely rewrite a page around the correct search intent.

9. Audit Internal Links

Internal links help search engines understand relationships between pages while guiding users toward useful additional information.

Check whether important pages receive internal links from relevant parts of the website.

A useful internal link should:

• Point to a relevant page
• Use descriptive anchor text
• Make sense in context
• Help the reader continue their journey

Avoid repeatedly forcing the exact same keyword-rich anchor throughout the website.

You should also fix internal links that lead to redirected or broken pages.

10. Check Website Speed and Core Web Vitals

Website performance affects user experience, especially on mobile devices.

Review your website using tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights and Search Console’s Core Web Vitals reports.

Common performance problems include:

• Large images
• Unnecessary JavaScript
• Too many third-party scripts
• Poor hosting performance
• Heavy WordPress plugins
• Render-blocking resources
• Layout shifts

Do not focus only on achieving a perfect tool score. Prioritize improvements that make the website noticeably faster and easier to use.

11. Test Mobile Usability

Google primarily evaluates the mobile version of websites for indexing purposes, making mobile usability an essential part of an SEO audit.

Manually review important pages on different screen sizes and check:

• Font readability
• Navigation
• Buttons
• Forms
• Tables
• Images
• Popups
• Horizontal scrolling
• Content spacing

A page may technically be responsive while still providing a poor mobile experience.

Pay particular attention to pages responsible for leads, sales or enquiries.

12. Check HTTPS and Website Security

Every important website should use HTTPS.

Check whether:

• HTTP URLs redirect to HTTPS
• Internal links use HTTPS
• Mixed-content warnings exist
• Multiple versions of the site are accessible
• SSL certificates are valid

Users should not be able to access separate uncontrolled versions such as HTTP, HTTPS, www and non-www without proper redirects.

Choose one preferred version and redirect the others consistently.

13. Review Canonical Tags

Canonical tags help search engines understand which URL should be treated as the main version when similar pages exist.

During a technical SEO audit, check for:

• Missing canonical tags
• Canonicals pointing to incorrect URLs
• Multiple canonical signals
• Canonicalized pages included unnecessarily in the sitemap
• Important pages canonicalized elsewhere

Incorrect canonical implementation can cause the wrong page to appear in search or prevent an important URL from being indexed correctly.

14. Find Broken Links and Redirect Problems

Broken links create a poor user experience and can waste crawl resources.

Use an SEO crawler to identify:

• Internal 404 links
• Redirect chains
• Redirect loops
• Links to removed resources
• Broken images

A redirect chain occurs when one URL redirects to another URL, which then redirects again.

Page A → Page B → Page C

Where practical, Page A should link or redirect directly to Page C.

15. Review Structured Data

Schema markup can provide search engines with additional context about a page.

Depending on the website, relevant structured data may include:

• Organization
• LocalBusiness
• Product
• Article
• Breadcrumb
• Event
• JobPosting

Use Google’s structured data testing tools to check for implementation problems.

Only use schema that accurately represents information visible or relevant on the page. Adding unrelated structured data does not create an SEO advantage.

16. Check Your Backlink Profile

On-page and technical checks are only part of a complete SEO audit.

Backlinks remain useful signals when they come from legitimate and relevant websites.

Review:

• Referring domains
• Most linked pages
• Anchor text patterns
• Lost links
• Suspicious links
• Competitor link gaps

Do not judge a backlink profile purely by the number of links. A smaller number of strong and relevant referring domains can be more valuable than thousands of low-quality links.

17. Compare Performance in Google Search Console

An SEO audit should use actual search performance data whenever possible.

Google Search Console can show:

• Clicks
• Impressions
• Average position
• Search queries
• Ranking pages
• Country performance
• Device performance

Compare different date ranges to identify pages gaining or losing visibility.

For example, a page may lose clicks even when its ranking appears similar because search demand changed or competing search results are attracting more attention.

The data helps you decide which pages require the most attention.

18. Prioritize SEO Issues by Impact

One of the biggest mistakes in an SEO audit is treating every problem as equally important.

Finding 500 warnings does not mean you have 500 urgent problems.

Group your findings into clear priorities.

High-Priority SEO Issues

Issues that directly affect crawling, indexing or important revenue pages.

• Important pages blocked from indexing
• Website-wide redirect problems
• Incorrect canonical implementation
• Major organic traffic losses
• Broken commercial pages

Medium-Priority SEO Issues

Issues that may reduce performance but do not completely prevent ranking.

• Weak internal linking
• Poor page titles
• Keyword cannibalization
• Slow important pages
• Thin content

Low-Priority SEO Issues

Minor improvements that should be addressed after larger problems are fixed.

• Small metadata improvements
• Minor formatting issues
• Low-value broken external links

Prioritization turns an audit into an SEO action plan instead of a spreadsheet full of warnings.

SEO Audit Tools You Can Use

You do not need one tool for every part of an audit.

Common SEO audit tools include:

• Google Search Console: indexing and search performance
• Google Analytics: website behavior and traffic trends
• Google PageSpeed Insights: website performance
• Screaming Frog: technical website crawling
• Ahrefs or Semrush: keyword and backlink analysis
• Google Rich Results Test: structured data checks

Tools help collect information, but they cannot replace analysis.

An automated tool may label something as an error even when it is intentional. Each finding should be reviewed in the context of the website and its business goals.

Complete SEO Audit Checklist

Before completing your audit, make sure you have reviewed:

• Crawling and robots.txt
• XML sitemap
• Google indexing
• Canonical tags
• Redirects and 404 errors
• Website architecture
• Keyword targeting
• Search intent
• Page titles
• Meta descriptions
• Heading structure
• Content quality
• Internal links
• Mobile usability
• Core Web Vitals
• HTTPS
• Structured data
• Backlinks
• Google Search Console performance

The final step is to convert these findings into a prioritized action plan.

How Often Should You Perform an SEO Audit?

There is no single schedule that works for every website.

A smaller business website may only need a detailed audit periodically, while large ecommerce or publishing websites often require more frequent monitoring because hundreds or thousands of URLs can change.

You should also consider an audit after:

• A website redesign
• A CMS migration
• A significant traffic drop
• Major URL changes
• A large content expansion
• A change in SEO strategy

Regular audits make it easier to identify problems before they affect a large part of the website.

Turn Your SEO Audit Into an Action Plan

Knowing how to do an SEO audit is only the first step. The real value comes from deciding what to fix, what to improve and what can safely be left alone.

Start with issues that prevent crawling or indexing. Next, improve high-value pages with weak keyword targeting, content or internal links. After that, work through performance, structured data, authority and smaller optimization opportunities.

Valkor Digital reviews technical, content and search performance issues to identify where a website is losing organic visibility and what should be addressed first.

If you want a starting point before making major SEO changes, you can request a free SEO audit to identify the areas that deserve closer attention.