SEO Audit Checklist: Things to Check

This SEO audit checklist follows the process an auditor works through when reviewing a whole site — crawling, indexing, technical SEO, on-page content and reporting — rather than a page-by-page list. If you are checking your own individual pages rather than running a full audit process, see our website SEO checklist instead.

1. Crawl the site

• Run a crawl to establish how many pages exist and how they link together
• Note any pages that return errors or are unreachable
• Identify orphaned pages with no internal links pointing to them
• A tool like SiteScore's SEO audit can crawl a sample of up to 6 pages from the homepage and sitemap as a starting point

2. Check indexing status

• Confirm important pages are not set to noindex by mistake, via robots meta tags or the X-Robots-Tag header
• Check canonical tags point to the intended version of each page
• Review the robots.txt file for any rules blocking sections that should be indexed
• Check the XML sitemap lists current, live pages and excludes redirected or removed ones

3. Review technical SEO

• Confirm HTTPS is used consistently across the whole site
• Check for redirect chains or loops using a HTTP status tool
• Review page speed and Core Web Vitals data using a page speed tool
• Check structured data is present and appropriate for the content type
• Confirm pages include a proper mobile viewport configuration

A full breakdown of this stage is covered in our technical SEO audit guide.

4. Review on-page elements

• Check titles and meta descriptions are unique across pages, using tools like the meta title tool and meta description tool
• Confirm each page has one clear H1 and a logical heading structure
• Review internal linking, checking for descriptive anchor text and adequate links to important pages
• Check images have descriptive alt text

5. Review content quality

• Assess whether each page answers the search intent it is meant to target
• Identify duplicate or thin content that adds little value
• Look for obvious content gaps compared with what your audience is searching for
• Check content is reasonably current and not visibly outdated

6. Check broken links and errors

• Sample-check internal and external links for breakages
• Review any pages returning unexpected status codes
• Confirm any redirects go directly to their final destination

7. Check accessibility basics

• Confirm image alt text is present and meaningful
• Check colour contrast and text legibility where relevant
• Confirm pages remain usable with a keyboard, where this can be reasonably assessed

8. Compile and prioritise findings

• Group issues by whether they affect indexing, technical health, on-page SEO or content
• Rank issues by likely impact and effort to fix
• Separate quick wins from larger projects so stakeholders can see progress early

9. Report and re-check

• Document findings clearly, ideally with screenshots or specific examples
• Set a timeline for fixes and assign ownership where relevant
• Re-run the audit after changes are made to confirm issues are resolved

Running SiteScore's free SEO audit covers many of these checks automatically in one pass, checking titles, meta descriptions, headings, canonicals, robots meta and X-Robots-Tag, robots.txt, XML sitemap, internal links, broken links within the sample, HTTPS, redirects, structured data and image alt text. It does not measure rankings, traffic or backlinks, so combine it with your analytics and manual content review for a complete audit. ## Documenting findings as you go

Keep notes as you move through each stage of the checklist rather than trying to reconstruct everything at the end. For each issue, record which page or pages it affects, why it matters, and a rough sense of effort to fix. This makes the eventual report far quicker to put together and easier for others to act on.

Adjusting the checklist for site size

A five-page brochure site and a five-thousand-page ecommerce catalogue need the same broad process, but the depth at scale differs. On a very large site, focus crawl and indexing checks on templates and page types rather than individual URLs, since issues usually apply across a whole category of pages rather than being unique to one. On a small site, it is often practical to review every page individually.

Working with stakeholders

Audit findings are more useful when they are shared clearly with the people who can act on them. Technical issues may need a developer, content issues may need a writer or marketer, and prioritisation decisions may need input from whoever owns the overall business goals for the site. Framing the checklist results around business impact, not just technical correctness, helps get buy-in for the fixes that matter most. ## Keeping checklists up to date

Search engines and best practices evolve, so revisit this checklist periodically rather than treating it as fixed forever. New structured data types, changes to how canonicalisation is handled, or shifts in what counts as a quick win can all mean a checklist needs a light refresh every so often.

Next step

Work through this checklist faster with SiteScore's free SEO audit.