Whether you manage a business website, blog, or e-commerce store, this guide will help uncover hidden SEO issues, improve site performance, and maximize your online visibility.
A Comprehensive SEO Audit Checklist
Here is a complete SEO audit guide that will help you improve your website’s ranking on search engines in 2025.
Step 1: Analyze Your Organic Traffic
Start by knowing how your site is performing right now.
- Go to Google Analytics > Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition.
- Filter by Organic Search to see how many users arrive through search engines.
Next, check Google Search Console > Performance > Pages to see which pages attract the most clicks. This will help you identify high-performing content and pages that may need attention.
Use these insights to guide your audit and check
- What pages have declining traffic trends?
- Are any pages ranking for irrelevant keywords?
Step 2: Run a Website Crawl
To perform a comprehensive crawl, use SEO audit tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs Site Audit, or Semrush Site Audit.
Utilize the tool to check:
- 404 errors (broken links)
- Duplicate or missing title tags and meta descriptions
- Thin or duplicate content
- Canonical tag issues
- Redirect chains and loops
- Structured data errors
Fixing these issues improves overall site health, and search engines can easily crawl and index your pages effectively.
Step 3: Optimize On-Page SEO
Choose five important pages (e.g., homepage, top blog post, product/service pages) and review each one:
- Your title tag contains the primary keyword, which must be under 60 characters.
- Place the primary keyword in the first paragraph.
- Use relevant H2 and H3 headings.
- Include internal links to relevant pages.
- Add outbound links to authoritative sources.
- Use optimized images with alt text.
- Include unique, engaging content that’s better than your competitors
Step 4: Improve Internal Linking Structure
Internal links help users navigate and pass SEO value between pages. Key actions:
- Link from older content to newer, relevant posts.
- Make sure each significant page receives internal links.
- Use keyword-rich anchor text.
- Check for and fix any orphaned pages.
Tools like Screaming Frog can generate a list of pages with weak internal links.
Step 5: Enhance User Experience (UX)
Google values websites that keep users engaged. Improve UX by:
- Writing short chunks of paragraphs (2–3 lines max).
- Using subheadings, bulleted lists, and CTAs.
- Adding relevant images, videos, or infographics.
- Ensuring readability on all devices.
Also, update any outdated content to reflect current trends or information.
Step 6: Optimize for Featured Snippets & AI Answers
To appear in featured snippets or AI-generated responses, add the following to your SEO audit checklist, which is given as:
- Add quick, concise answers (30–60 words) to common questions.
- Use clear H2/H3 questions as section headers.
- Provide data, lists, or step-by-step guides when possible.
- Ensure your site is mobile and voice-search friendly.
Step 7: Check Google Rendering
Make sure Google can render your content:
- Use Google Search Console > URL Inspection Tool.
- Click “View Tested Page” to compare the rendered version with the live page.
Identify the issues with JavaScript, blocked resources, or elements that do not load properly.
Step 8: Ensure Mobile-Friendliness
With mobile-first indexing, mobile usability is non-negotiable:
- Use a responsive design.
- Make fonts and buttons large enough to tap.
- Simplify menus and ensure fast mobile loading.
Run tests with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and PageSpeed Insights.
Step 9: Set the Correct Canonical URL
Avoid duplicate content issues by setting a canonical URL:
- Choose one preferred version of your domain: https://yourdomain.com or https://www.yourdomain.com
- Redirect all other variations to the chosen one.
- Use canonical tags on every page to indicate Google’s preferred version.
Step 10: Improve Page Speed and Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are a ranking factor. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to check:
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) — under 2.5s
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint) — under 200ms
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) — under 0.1
Improve your SEO scores by:
- Compressing images
- Using lazy loading
- Eliminating unused CSS/JavaScript
- Switching to a CDN or faster hosting provider
Step 11: Remove Low-Value or Irrelevant Pages
Clean up your indexed content and remove low-value or irrelevant pages from Google.
- Run site:yourdomain.com to see what’s indexed.
- Remove outdated or duplicate blog posts.
- Delete tag/category pages with no value.
- Use 301 redirects for any removed pages with traffic or backlinks.
Step 12: Fix Indexing and Crawl Issues
Open Google Search Console > Pages and filter by:
- Excluded pages
- Error pages
- Noindexed pages
- Discovered, not indexed
Check your robots.txt and sitemap.xml for problems. Ensure important pages are indexable.
Step 13: Identify and Fix Broken Links
Identify and fix the broken links that can harm UX and SEO performance. Use these audit tools:
- Screaming Frog
- Semrush Site Audit
- Ahrefs Broken Links Report
This improves crawlability and user experience — a critical SEO audit checklist task.
Step 14: Audit Your Backlink Profile
Backlinks are important. They are relevant, high-authority sites that boost your domain authority. In Semrush or Ahrefs, check these SEO metrics:
- Referring domains and total backlinks
- Authority of linking domains
- Anchor text distribution
- Toxic or spammy links (disavow if needed)
Step 15: Spy on Competitor’s SEO
Identify keywords that are working for your competitor’s site:
- Use Semrush > Domain Overview or Ahrefs Site Explorer
- Find keywords they rank for in the search results
- Check top-performing pages
- Discover who links to them
Use this data to close content gaps and create superior pages.
Step 16: Create Outstanding Content
Make sure your content is valuable and efficient enough to outperform your competitors’ content. The content must provide value, solve problems, and improve clarity.
- Strong, compelling headlines and content structure
- Easy-to-read formatting (title, subtitle, heading h1,h2,h3,..etc)
- Data-driven insights, images, and multimedia
- E-E-A-T principles (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust)
Step 17: Add Schema Markup
Schema markup helps search engines understand your content easily for crawling. It enhances your search visibility in search results with structured data:
- Add FAQ, Breadcrumb, Review, or Product schema
- Use tools like Schema.org or Yoast/RankMath (for WordPress)
- Validate using Google Rich Results Test
Step 18: Track Keyword Rankings and Authority
After implementing your SEO checklist audit, it’s important to monitor your site’s progress. Keyword rank tracking allows you to see how your changes affect rankings over time.
You can use a tool like Semrush’s Position Tracking to:
- Track keywords you have targeted
- Discover new keywords your site ranks for
This helps determine if your SEO updates are driving results. Want a quick view of your performance? Try DGSOL’s free keyword rank checker to instantly view your rankings.
Pro Tip to Strengthen Your SEO Audit Checklist
1. Evaluate Your Topical Authority
Building topical authority shows users and Google that you are a reliable source. You can use a topical authority analysis spreadsheet (such as one connected to Google Search Console) to identify:
- Which topics have you already trusted for
- Where you can expand or strengthen your authority
2. Add Information Gain to Content
Information gain is about adding unique value to search results. Go beyond copying top-ranking pages by:
- Better, valuable content that meets user search intent
- Adding custom visuals that explain key points
- Citing and linking relevant people, places, and data
- Offering unique insights, original research, or expert commentary
Remember, only add new content if it improves the value for your readers.
Start Your SEO Audit Checklist Right
An SEO audit is an essential aspect of every successful SEO campaign. With this 18-step SEO audit checklist from DGSOL, you can uncover critical issues, enhance performance, and drive more organic traffic to your site.
Ready to grow your business? Contact DGSOL Digital Marketing Agency for a free SEO audit and strategy session tailored to your goals.
