How to Do an SEO Audit: Complete Guide

Doing an SEO audit means systematically checking your website's technical setup, on-page elements and content so you can identify what is preventing it from performing well in search results. This guide walks through the process step by step, from initial crawl to prioritised action plan.

Step 1: Crawl your site

Start by getting a full picture of your pages. Crawling reveals how many pages exist, how they link together, and whether any are broken or unreachable. An automated tool such as SiteScore's free SEO audit will crawl a sample of up to 6 pages from your homepage and sitemap and check core elements automatically, which is a fast way to get an initial view before digging in manually.

Step 2: Check indexability

There is little point optimising a page that search engines cannot index. Review:

• Your robots.txt file to make sure it is not accidentally blocking important pages
• Robots meta tags and X-Robots-Tag headers on key pages
• Canonical tags, to confirm they point to the correct version of each page
• Your XML sitemap to check it lists your real, current pages

Step 3: Review on-page SEO elements

For your most important pages, check:

• Meta titles are unique, descriptive and reasonably concise
• Meta descriptions are unique and give a genuine reason to click
• Headings follow a logical order, with one clear H1 per page
• Internal links connect related pages and use descriptive anchor text
• Structured data is present where relevant, such as for articles or products

Step 4: Check technical health

Technical issues can undermine even well-written content. Look at:

• HTTPS usage across the whole site, not just some pages
• Redirects, checking for chains or loops
• HTTP status codes for key pages, which you can check with a HTTP status tool
• Page speed, since slow pages can affect both users and rankings — see our page speed tool

For a deeper dive into this area specifically, read our technical SEO audit guide.

Step 5: Assess content quality

Search engines reward content that genuinely answers what people are searching for. Ask honestly:

• Does each page answer the query it is meant to target?
• Is content unique, or duplicated across similar pages?
• Are there obvious gaps where you have no content at all for topics your customers ask about?
• Are pages kept reasonably current, or visibly out of date?

Step 6: Check mobile and accessibility basics

Most search traffic happens on mobile devices, so confirm your pages have a proper mobile viewport configuration, that text is legible without zooming, and that basic accessibility signals like image alt text are in place. These issues often get missed because they do not show up on a desktop screen.

Step 7: Prioritise and fix

Once you have a list of issues, sort them roughly into:

• Quick wins: missing titles or descriptions, broken links, missing alt text
• Medium effort: restructuring headings, cleaning up redirects, improving internal linking
• Larger projects: site speed improvements, content rewrites, migrations

Fix the quick wins first so you see progress, then work through the rest based on which pages matter most for your business.

Step 8: Re-check regularly

An SEO audit is not a one-off task. Search engines' expectations and your site both change over time. Running a free website audit every few months, or after any significant site change, helps you catch new issues before they affect performance. Our SEO audit checklist sets out the full list of items worth checking in each pass.

Before you start: decide what the audit is for

An audit without a goal produces a long list nobody acts on. Write down, in one sentence, why you are doing it. Typical reasons:

• Traffic has dropped — focus on indexability, recent site changes and the pages that lost visibility.
• A new site is not appearing in search — focus on whether pages are crawlable, indexed and distinct enough to be worth showing.
• Preparing for a redesign or migration — record every important URL, title and redirect now so nothing is lost later.
• Routine health check — work through the full checklist, but only on the pages that matter commercially.

Then list your ten to twenty most important pages: the homepage, main service or product pages, and any page that brings in enquiries. Audit those first. Everything else comes second.

Use Google Search Console as your source of truth

Crawling tools tell you what is on your pages. Only Google can tell you what Google did with them. If you have not set up Google Search Console, do it before the audit — it is free. Then open the Pages report and read the reason given for each page that is not indexed:

• Submitted and indexed: Google stores the page and can show it. Check: nothing to fix; review content and titles.
• Discovered – currently not indexed: Google knows the URL but has not crawled it yet. Check: internal links to the page, sitemap, overall site authority.
• Crawled – currently not indexed: Google read the page and chose not to index it. Check: thin, duplicated or low-value content.
• Excluded by noindex tag: Your page tells Google not to index it. Check: remove the tag if the page should rank.
• Alternate page with proper canonical: Google is using a different URL as the main version. Check: usually fine; confirm the canonical is the one you want.
• Not found (404): The URL returns an error. Check: fix links pointing to it or redirect it.

The two "not indexed" statuses are the most misunderstood. Neither is an error or a penalty. "Discovered" usually means Google has not prioritised crawling the page — common on new sites with few links pointing at them. "Crawled" means Google looked and did not think the page added enough. The fix for the first is stronger internal linking; the fix for the second is better, more distinct content.

A worked example: auditing one page

Here is what checking a single service page looks like in practice, say a page for "boiler repair in Leeds":

• Is it indexed? Search Console's URL Inspection shows the current status. If it is not indexed, stop and fix that first — nothing else matters until it is.
• Is the title specific? "Services | Smith Heating" tells nobody anything. "Boiler Repair in Leeds | Smith Heating" matches what people search for.
• Does the H1 match the intent? One clear heading saying what the page offers.
• Does the page answer the obvious questions? Areas covered, how quickly you can attend, rough price guidance, how to book. If a customer would phone to ask it, the page should say it.
• Is it different from your other pages? If your Leeds and Bradford pages are identical apart from the town name, Google is likely to index only one.
• What links to it? Check that the homepage or main navigation links to the page with clear anchor text such as "boiler repair", not "click here".
• Does it load and work on a phone? Open it on your own mobile and try to book.

Write down what you found against each point. That record is what lets you compare the next audit to this one.

How to prioritise: impact versus effort

When the list is long, score each issue on two questions: how many important pages does it affect, and how hard is it to fix? Then work in this order:

• Blocking issues — anything stopping important pages being crawled or indexed (accidental noindex, robots.txt blocks, broken canonicals, server errors). These come first regardless of effort.
• High impact, low effort — missing or duplicated titles on key pages, broken internal links, missing links to orphaned pages.
• High impact, high effort — rewriting thin pages, improving page speed, restructuring navigation.
• Low impact — tidy-up items on pages that bring in little or no business. Do these last, or not at all.

Make one group of changes at a time and note the date. Search results usually take weeks to reflect changes, so without dates you cannot tell which fix made the difference.

How long an SEO audit takes

The time required depends heavily on site size and how deep you go. A small site with a handful of pages might take an afternoon to review thoroughly, while a large site with hundreds of pages could take days of manual review even with automated tools handling the initial crawl. Set realistic expectations before starting, and consider auditing your most important pages first rather than trying to cover everything at once.

Frequently asked questions

Can I do an SEO audit myself?

Yes. Most of the checks in this guide need no technical background — just Google Search Console, a browser and a free audit tool. You may want help for server configuration, redirects during a migration, or JavaScript-heavy sites where content does not appear in the page source.

How often should I audit my site?

A full audit every three to six months suits most small business sites, plus a quick check after any redesign, platform change or large batch of new pages.

Why is my page not showing on Google even though it is indexed?

Being indexed only means Google can show the page. Whether it does depends on how well the page matches a search compared with other pages, and on how much your site is trusted. New sites typically appear first for their own brand name, and for wider searches only after they earn links and build up useful content over time.

What is the difference between an SEO audit and a website audit?

An SEO audit focuses on search visibility. A website audit is broader and also covers performance, accessibility, security and conversion. In practice the two overlap heavily.

Does an audit tool find everything?

No. Automated tools are good at measurable checks such as missing titles, broken links and status codes. They cannot judge whether your content is genuinely useful or whether it matches what your customers want. Treat a tool's report as the starting point and use your own judgement on content.

Tools that help

Beyond a general audit tool, a few specific checks are worth running individually:

• A meta title tool to check length and clarity of titles across pages
• A meta description tool to review descriptions for uniqueness and appeal
• A robots.txt checker to confirm you are not accidentally blocking pages
• A sitemap checker to validate your XML sitemap is accurate
• A HTTP status tool to spot unexpected redirects or errors

Common pitfalls to avoid

• Treating an SEO audit as a one-time task rather than an ongoing habit
• Fixing technical issues but never reviewing content quality
• Focusing only on pages that already rank, while ignoring pages that could rank but currently have no visibility at all
• Making multiple changes at once without tracking which fix caused which improvement

Next step

Get a clear, prioritised list of issues by running SiteScore's free SEO audit on your site now.