An SEO audit is a detailed review of your website’s technical health, content quality and search performance.
It helps identify issues that may prevent Google from crawling, indexing or ranking important pages effectively, including broken links, incorrect redirects, duplicate content, indexing problems and poor page performance.
A complete SEO audit also looks beyond technical errors. It reviews on-page optimisation, Core Web Vitals, internal linking, backlinks, structured data, keyword performance and content quality to find areas where your website can improve.
By fixing high-priority issues and monitoring the results in Google Search Console and GA4, you can strengthen search visibility and create better opportunities for long-term organic traffic growth.
Last Updated: 24.08.2026
Tools You Need For An SEO Audit
You do not need dozens of SEO platforms to run an effective audit. A combination of Google’s free tools and a reliable crawler is enough for most websites.
Useful tools include:
- Google Search Console – Check indexing, search queries, clicks, impressions and technical issues
- Google Analytics 4 – Analyse organic traffic, landing pages, engagement and conversions
- Google PageSpeed Insights – Test page performance and Core Web Vitals
- Google Rich Results Test – Check structured data used for Google search features
- Schema Markup Validator – Validate broader Schema.org markup
- Ahrefs Or Semrush – Analyse rankings, backlinks, competitors and content gaps
- Screaming Frog – Crawl URLs, redirects, metadata, canonicals and broken links
You do not necessarily need every tool in the list. Choose the tools that provide the data required for the size and complexity of your website.
16-Step SEO Audit Process To Improve Google Rankings
1. Check Your Preferred Website Version And HTTPS
Your website may be accessible through several URL variations, including HTTP, HTTPS, WWW and non-WWW versions.
For example:
- http://example.com
- http://www.example.com
- https://example.com
- https://www.example.com
Choose one preferred HTTPS version and make sure the other variations permanently redirect to it.
During the audit, check:
- HTTP URLs Redirect To HTTPS
- WWW And Non-WWW Versions Resolve Correctly
- Redirects Go Directly To The Preferred URL
- Internal Links Use The Preferred URL Version
- Canonical Tags Point To Appropriate URLs
Keeping URL signals consistent helps search engines understand which version of a page should be treated as the main version.
2. Crawl Your Website For Technical SEO Issues
A website crawl gives you an overview of technical problems that may be difficult to identify manually.
Use a crawler such as Ahrefs, Semrush or Screaming Frog and review important areas including:
- Broken Internal Links
- 4xx And 5xx Status Codes
- Redirect Chains
- Duplicate Titles
- Missing Meta Descriptions
- Canonical Issues
- Orphan Pages
- Broken External Links
- Internal Linking Depth
- Pages Blocked From Crawling
Large websites should also pay attention to crawl efficiency. Important pages should be easy for users and search engines to reach through a clear site structure.
Fix critical errors first before moving on to warnings and lower-priority recommendations.
3. Check Crawling And Indexing In Google Search Console
A page being published does not automatically mean that Google has indexed it.
Use the Google Search Console Page Indexing report to understand which URLs Google knows about and why particular pages may not be indexed. For individual URLs, use the URL Inspection tool.
Google also makes it clear that not every URL needs to be indexed. Duplicate pages, redirected URLs and intentionally excluded pages can correctly remain outside the index.
Check important pages for:
- Noindex Directives
- txt Restrictions
- Incorrect Canonical URLs
- Redirect Problems
- Server Errors
- Duplicate URLs
- Sitemap Inclusion
- Internal Link Discovery
Your priority should be ensuring that the canonical versions of commercially and informationally important pages are accessible and indexable.
4. Check Your Branded Search Visibility
Search for your website or business name and check whether your main website appears prominently.
If your website struggles to appear for a distinctive brand name, investigate possible problems with:
- Homepage Indexing
- Page Titles
- Canonicalisation
- Brand Consistency
- Internal Linking
- Business Information
- External Brand Mentions
- Relevant Backlinks
- Manual Actions
Do not assume that backlinks alone will solve branded ranking problems. Technical accessibility, relevance, reputation and clear brand signals all need to work together.
Avoid purchasing links or participating in excessive link exchanges purely to manipulate rankings.
5. Audit On-Page SEO Elements
Review the most important pages individually to ensure their on-page elements accurately describe the content.
Check:
- Title Tag – Clearly Describe The Main Topic
- H1 Heading – Reflect The Main Purpose Of The Page
- H2 And H3 Headings – Organise Supporting Topics Logically
- Meta Description – Give Searchers A Useful Summary
- URL – Keep It Descriptive And Easy To Understand
- Images – Add Relevant Alt Text Where Appropriate
- Internal Links – Connect Users To Helpful Related Pages
- Search Intent – Make Sure The Page Answers What Searchers Need
Avoid adding keywords simply to reach a particular keyword density.
Use the main term and closely related terminology naturally where they improve clarity.
6. Review Technical And On-Page Crawl Reports
Once your site crawl is complete, review the reports in order of priority.
Start with serious technical errors before spending time on minor recommendations.
Look for:
- Missing Or Duplicate Title Tags
- Multiple H1 Headings Where They Cause Confusion
- Missing Canonical Tags
- Canonical Conflicts
- Redirect Chains
- Broken Internal Links
- Orphan Pages
- Duplicate Content
- Large Images
- Slow Pages
- Incorrect Status Codes
You should not automatically fix every warning generated by an SEO tool. Consider whether the issue genuinely affects crawling, indexing, usability or search performance before changing the site.
7. Review Content Quality, Duplication And Search Intent
Content quality cannot be measured simply by counting words.
Google recommends creating helpful, reliable and people-first content rather than writing primarily to manipulate rankings. Its guidance also states that Google does not have a preferred word count Google’s people-first content guidance
Audit important pages for:
- Original Information
- Accurate Information
- Sufficient Topic Coverage
- Clear Search Intent
- First-Hand Experience Where Relevant
- Reliable Sources
- Useful Examples
- Clear Author Information
- Outdated Claims
- Duplicate Pages
- Keyword Cannibalisation
If several pages target essentially the same intent, consider consolidating them into one stronger resource rather than allowing them to compete with each other.
Do not increase an article’s length simply because competitors have written more words. Add content only when it makes the page more useful or complete.
8. Check Page Experience And Core Web Vitals
Website performance remains an important part of user experience.
Google’s current Core Web Vitals are:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – Aim For 2.5 Seconds Or Less
- Interaction To Next Paint (INP) – Aim For Less Than 200 Milliseconds
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – Aim For 0.1 Or Less
These measurements cover loading performance, responsiveness and visual stability. Google’s Core Web Vitals guidance
Use PageSpeed Insights and Search Console to identify poorly performing pages.
Common improvements include:
- Compressing Large Images
- Using Modern Image Formats
- Reducing Unnecessary JavaScript
- Improving Server Response Times
- Removing Render-Blocking Resources
- Reserving Space For Images And Embedded Content
- Improving Caching
- Using A Content Delivery Network Where Appropriate
Core Web Vitals should not be treated as the only SEO consideration. Strong content and an overall good page experience remain essential.
9. Check Structured Data And Rich Results
Structured data can help Google understand specific information on a page and may make eligible pages available for supported rich-result features.
Review whether your site uses relevant schema types such as:
- Article
- Breadcrumb
- Organisation
- Product
- Local Business
- Event
- Job Posting
Use Google’s Rich Results Test for Google-supported structured data and Schema Markup Validator for broader Schema.org validation.
Check for:
- Missing Required Properties
- Incorrect Property Values
- Outdated Schema
- Markup That Does Not Match Visible Content
- Structured Data Applied To The Wrong Page Type
Valid schema does not guarantee that Google will show a rich result, so structured data should support the actual content rather than being added solely for visibility.
10. Analyse Organic Search Performance
A technical audit should be connected with actual search-performance data.
Use Google Search Console to review:
- Clicks
- Impressions
- Average Position
- Click-Through Rate
- Queries
- Landing Pages
- Countries
- Devices
Then use GA4 to understand what visitors do after they reach your website.
Look for pages that have:
- Lost Clicks
- Lost Impressions
- Fallen In Average Position
- High Impressions But Low CTR
- Declining Organic Sessions
- Poor Engagement
- Declining Conversions
Compare suitable periods rather than relying only on the previous few days. Seasonal businesses may also need year-on-year comparisons.
The goal is to identify exactly where performance has changed before deciding what needs to be updated.
11. Monitor Keyword And Page Ranking Changes
Keyword rankings can show whether particular pages are gaining or losing search visibility.
Use Search Console or an SEO platform to identify:
- Keywords Moving Into The Top 10
- Keywords Dropping From Page One
- New Queries
- Lost Queries
- Pages Ranking For Unexpected Terms
- Multiple Pages Competing For One Query
Do not focus only on individual keyword positions.
A page can lose one keyword while gaining visibility across many related searches, so clicks, impressions and page-level performance should also be considered.
For declining pages, check whether:
- Search Intent Has Changed
- Competitors Provide Better Information
- Your Information Is Outdated
- Internal Links Have Changed
- Important Backlinks Were Lost
- Technical Issues Have Appeared
This gives you a stronger basis for deciding whether a page requires a small refresh or a more substantial rewrite.
12. Find Pages With High SEO Growth Potential
Some of the best SEO opportunities come from pages that already have visibility but have not yet reached their potential.
Look for:
- Keywords Ranking Between Positions 5 And 20
- Pages With High Impressions And Low CTR
- Pages Ranking For Several Related Queries
- Older Content That Still Receives Impressions
- Pages Missing Important Subtopics
- Pages With Few Internal Links
You can improve these pages by:
- Updating Outdated Information
- Strengthening The Title
- Improving Search Intent Alignment
- Adding Missing Sections
- Adding Relevant Internal Links
- Improving Supporting Evidence
- Improving Readability
- Updating Examples
Avoid changing pages simply because they are old. A page that remains accurate and performs well may not require a major update.
13. Analyse Your Backlink Profile
Backlinks can help search engines discover pages and can contribute to signals around authority and reputation.
Use Ahrefs, Semrush or another backlink analysis platform to review:
- New Backlinks
- Lost Backlinks
- Referring Domains
- Most Linked Pages
- Anchor Text
- Relevant Industry Links
- Suspicious Link Patterns
Focus on earning links from relevant and trustworthy websites rather than chasing a particular Domain Rating or Domain Authority score.
Third-party authority metrics can be useful for comparison, but they are not Google ranking metrics.
If an important editorial backlink disappears because a page was moved or deleted, investigate whether the URL needs to be restored or redirected.
Do not automatically disavow every low-quality-looking backlink. Most websites naturally collect some poor-quality links over time.
14. Find And Fix Broken Links
Broken links create a poor user experience and can make important content harder to discover.
Use your crawler to find:
- Broken Internal Links
- Broken External Links
- 404 Pages
- 410 Pages
- 5xx Server Errors
- Redirect Chains
- Links To Redirected URLs
If a deleted page has a genuine replacement, redirect the old URL to the most relevant new page.
Do not redirect every deleted URL to the homepage. If no suitable replacement exists, allowing the page to return a proper 404 or 410 response may be appropriate.
Also update internal links so they point directly to the final live URL instead of relying unnecessarily on redirects.
15. Find Keyword And Content Gaps
A content gap is a topic or search query that relevant competitors cover but your website does not adequately address.
Start by identifying genuine organic-search competitors rather than assuming that every business competitor is also an SEO competitor.
Compare competing sites to find:
- Keywords They Rank For That You Do Not
- Questions Your Content Does Not Answer
- Supporting Topics Missing From Your Site
- Important Commercial Search Terms
- Informational Topics Supporting Your Services
- Search Intent You Have Not Covered
Do not copy a competitor’s heading structure word for word.
Use competitor research to understand the broader search landscape and then create content that provides additional expertise, original examples or a clearer answer.
Content gaps can also reveal internal-linking opportunities. A strong cluster of supporting articles can make it easier for users to move between related topics.
16. Conduct A Full Content Audit
The final stage is to decide what should happen to every important piece of existing content.
Rather than deleting pages purely because they receive little traffic, assess their purpose and value.
Place pages into categories such as:
- Keep – Accurate, Useful And Performing Well
- Update – Valuable But Outdated Or Incomplete
- Consolidate – Overlaps With Another Page
- Redirect – Replaced By A More Relevant URL
- Remove – Provides No Meaningful Value And Has No Suitable Replacement
- Monitor – Requires More Performance Data Before Making A Decision
Before removing a page, check:
- Organic Traffic
- Search Impressions
- Backlinks
- Internal Links
- Conversions
- Topic Relevance
- Historical Performance
If two weak pages cover the same subject, combining them into one stronger page may be better than simply deleting both.
SEO Audit Checklist After Making Changes
An SEO audit is not complete as soon as the recommendations are implemented.
After making changes:
- Re-Crawl The Website
- Test Important URLs
- Check Page Indexing
- Resubmit Updated Sitemaps Where Appropriate
- Monitor Search Console Performance
- Check Core Web Vitals
- Review Organic Landing Pages
- Track Important Queries
- Check Redirects
- Monitor Conversions
Keep a record of major changes and the date they were implemented. This makes it easier to understand whether future ranking or traffic changes are connected with your SEO work.
Conclusion
A good SEO audit should identify problems that actually affect search visibility rather than simply producing a long list of tool warnings.
Start with crawling and indexing, then review technical performance, on-page optimisation, content quality, internal linking and backlinks.
Search Console and analytics data should then be used to determine which pages have declined and which already have strong opportunities for growth.
Once changes are implemented, re-crawl the website and monitor search performance.
SEO auditing works best as an ongoing process of identifying problems, prioritising the pages that matter most and measuring whether the changes genuinely improve organic visibility.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Often Should You Conduct An SEO Audit?
There is no mandatory schedule. Many websites benefit from regular checks, while full audits are especially useful after migrations, redesigns, major content changes or unexplained traffic declines.
What Is The Best Tool For Checking Google Indexing?
Google Search Console is the primary tool. Use the Page Indexing report for broader coverage and URL Inspection when you need to diagnose an individual page.
Does Google Have A Minimum Word Count For SEO?
No. Google does not specify a preferred word count, so content should be as detailed as necessary to satisfy the user’s search intent without adding unnecessary filler.
What Are The Core Web Vitals In 2026?
The current Core Web Vitals are Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint and Cumulative Layout Shift, covering loading, responsiveness and visual stability.
Which Tool Should You Use To Test Structured Data?
Use Google’s Rich Results Test for Google-supported search features and Schema Markup Validator when you need general Schema.org validation.
Should You Disavow Spammy Backlinks?
Not automatically. Review suspicious links carefully and reserve disavowal for situations involving substantial artificial linking patterns where there is a genuine risk from those links.
What Should An SEO Audit Check In 2026?
An SEO audit should review crawling, indexing, on-page SEO, content quality, internal links, backlinks, structured data, Core Web Vitals and organic search performance.
