An SEO audit helps identify issues that may limit a website’s discoverability, usability, or ability to convert visitors. It should produce a prioritised action plan—not simply a long list of warnings from a tool. Start by understanding the site’s goals and reviewing actual search and analytics data.
1. Review performance and indexing data
In Google Search Console, review clicks, impressions, queries, landing pages, indexing reports, and any manual actions or security issues. Compare relevant date ranges and look for patterns rather than assuming every traffic decline is caused by an algorithm update.
2. Crawl important URLs
Use a crawler such as Screaming Frog SEO Spider to check status codes, redirect chains, broken internal links, canonical tags, titles, headings, and pages that are difficult to reach. Include key service pages, blog posts, category pages, and conversion pages in the review. For a broader crawlability and indexation checklist, see our technical SEO checklist.
3. Check crawlability and indexability
- Confirm important pages return the correct HTTP status.
- Check robots.txt and noindex directives for accidental blocks.
- Review XML sitemaps for canonical, indexable URLs.
- Inspect canonical tags and redirect rules for consistency.
- Check that internal links point to the preferred URL version.
4. Evaluate content quality and search intent
Check whether each important page answers the question implied by its target query. Look for outdated facts, thin or repetitive sections, unsupported claims, missing examples, and pages that compete for the same intent. Improve content where it genuinely helps readers; do not expand every page just to reach an arbitrary word count.
5. Review internal links and navigation
Ensure important pages are reachable through sensible navigation and relevant contextual links. Use descriptive anchor text and connect supporting articles to the service pages they genuinely support. Identify orphaned pages and unnecessary links.
6. Measure mobile experience and performance
Test representative page templates using PageSpeed Insights and field data where available. Investigate Core Web Vitals, image sizes, layout shifts, font loading, JavaScript, and server response time. Prioritise problems that affect real users rather than chasing a perfect laboratory score.
7. Check structured data and trust signals
Use structured data only when it accurately represents visible content and follows Google’s documentation. Validate markup and monitor eligible enhancements. Also make sure business details, author information where relevant, service descriptions, and contact options are clear and accurate.
8. Prioritise fixes
Group issues by severity, affected URLs, business impact, and implementation effort. Fix critical crawl/indexing errors and broken conversion journeys first, then work through content gaps, internal linking, and lower-impact refinements. Record changes so results can be evaluated later.
Useful tools and references
Need help prioritising your audit?
Qhr Solutions offers SEO services and technical SEO support. Contact us to discuss your website and goals.
Key takeaway: An effective audit connects technical findings to user needs and business outcomes, then turns them into a clear, measurable action plan.