An SEO audit is like a health check-up for your website. It reveals what’s working, what’s broken, and where improvements can be made to increase your visibility in search engines.
Think of it as your roadmap to better rankings, traffic, and overall performance. If you skip it, you might be wasting your SEO efforts on outdated practices or missing out on major opportunities.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through how to conduct a thorough SEO audit, step by step. Whether you’re doing it for your own site or a client’s, this process will help you identify issues, enhance site performance, and align with current SEO best practices.
Step 1: Crawl Your Website
The first thing you need is a full crawl of your website. Crawling gives you a complete picture of your site’s structure, content, and technical setup.
How to Do It:
Use tools like:
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Screaming Frog SEO Spider
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Ahrefs Site Audit
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SEMrush Site Audit
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Sitebulb
These tools simulate how search engines view your site and flag issues like broken links, duplicate content, or unoptimized metadata.
Step 2: Check Indexability and Crawlability
Google can’t rank what it can’t access or index. Make sure your pages are crawlable and that the important ones are being indexed.
What to Look At:
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robots.txt: Ensure you’re not accidentally blocking essential pages.
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Meta robots tags: Look for
noindextags on pages that should be indexed. -
Canonical tags: Confirm they are used correctly to prevent duplicate content issues.
Tools to Use:
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Google Search Console (Coverage Report)
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Screaming Frog
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URL Inspection Tool
Step 3: Analyze On-Page SEO Elements
On-page elements are crucial for communicating relevance to search engines.
What to Review:
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Title tags: Unique, keyword-rich, and within 60 characters.
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Meta descriptions: Clear and compelling summaries under 155 characters.
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Header tags (H1, H2, H3): Properly structured for readability and SEO.
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URLs: Short, readable, and keyword-optimized.
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Alt text: Descriptive and keyword-aligned for all images.
Tip: Use your audit tool or a browser plugin like SEO Minion to scan these elements in bulk.
Step 4: Check Page Speed and Core Web Vitals
Site speed impacts user experience and rankings. Google’s Core Web Vitals are now part of their ranking algorithm.
Metrics to Watch:
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Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
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First Input Delay (FID)
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Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
How to Test:
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Google PageSpeed Insights
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Lighthouse (Chrome DevTools)
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GTmetrix
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Search Console > Core Web Vitals Report
Slow sites lose users fast. Optimize image sizes, remove unused scripts, and consider lazy loading content to improve performance.
Step 5: Mobile-Friendliness Check
Since Google uses mobile-first indexing, your site must perform well on all devices—especially smartphones.
What to Look For:
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Responsive design
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Readable font sizes
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No horizontal scrolling
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Tap targets (buttons and links) are easy to use
Tools to Use:
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Google Mobile-Friendly Test
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Search Console > Mobile Usability Report
Step 6: Evaluate Content Quality
Quality content is what earns rankings and links. It must be relevant, well-written, and aligned with user intent.
Questions to Ask:
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Does your content satisfy the user’s query?
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Is it better than what’s currently ranking?
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Are your keywords used naturally?
Things to Fix:
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Thin content
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Duplicate pages
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Outdated or irrelevant posts
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Lack of internal linking
Use tools like SurferSEO or Clearscope to improve content depth and relevance.
Step 7: Analyze Keyword Optimization
Make sure your content is targeting the right keywords and not missing key opportunities.
How to Check:
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Use Google Search Console to see which queries drive traffic
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Use Ahrefs or SEMrush to compare keyword rankings vs. competitors
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Check if pages are optimized for both primary and related terms
Keyword cannibalization (multiple pages competing for the same keyword) should also be fixed during this step.
Step 8: Review Technical SEO
Technical issues can prevent search engines from effectively crawling or indexing your site.
What to Audit:
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HTTPS status: Ensure your entire site is secured with SSL
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Redirects: Fix any unnecessary or broken redirects
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Broken links: Internal and external
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XML sitemap: Is it clean and submitted to Google?
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Structured data: Use schema markup for rich results
A well-optimized technical foundation is essential for long-term SEO growth.
Step 9: Assess Backlink Profile
Backlinks are a key ranking factor. A healthy backlink profile should be diverse, relevant, and free of spammy links.
How to Audit:
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Use Ahrefs, Moz, or Majestic to check:
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Number of backlinks
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Referring domains
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Anchor text usage
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Toxic/spammy links
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Disavow low-quality or harmful links via Google Disavow Tool if needed.
Step 10: Benchmark and Set Priorities
An SEO audit may uncover dozens—or even hundreds—of issues. Don’t try to fix everything at once. Prioritize based on:
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Impact on rankings and traffic
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Ease of implementation
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Technical complexity
Create a checklist or spreadsheet, assign tasks, and track progress over time.
Final Thoughts
A comprehensive SEO audit is one of the most valuable things you can do for your website. It uncovers the hidden problems, opportunities, and strengths that can make or break your search performance.
By following the steps outlined here—from crawling and technical fixes to content and backlinks—you’ll have a complete view of your SEO landscape and a solid foundation for continued growth.
Perform an audit at least twice a year (or quarterly for larger sites) to stay ahead of algorithm updates and competition. SEO is a marathon, not a sprint—and regular audits ensure you’re always running in the right direction.
Also, you can learn more about Keyword Research here.