Have you ever wondered why your website isn’t getting enough traffic from Google? Or why your pages aren’t ranking even though you have good content? The answer might be hidden under the hood of your website. That’s where an SEO audit comes in.
An SEO audit is simply like a health check-up for your website. It examines at how your site is performing on search engines and helps you find out what’s working and what’s not. Whether you’re a business owner, a marketer, or just starting with a website, an SEO audit is a must-do.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about SEO audits—what they are, why they matter, and how you can do one yourself.
What is an SEO Audit?
An SEO audit is a procedure where you review your website’s health in terms of search engine optimization. Think of it as a checklist where you go through your site to find problems that might be hurting your visibility on Google and other search engines.
It covers things like:
- Technical issues (site speed, mobile-friendliness, crawl errors)
- On-page SEO (titles, headers, keywords)
- Off-page SEO (backlinks)
- Content quality
- Site architecture
All of these affect how well your site ranks.
Why Do You Need an SEO Audit?
You may already have a beautiful website. But if it’s not optimized for search, people won’t find it. Here are a few reasons why an SEO audit is important:
- Better rankings: Fixing technical and content issues can help you climb the rankings.
- More traffic: More elevated rankings lead to more clicks and visits.
- Improved user experience: A fast, mobile-friendly site keeps users happy.
- Competitive edge: Find out what your competitors are doing and do it better.
- Identify content gaps: You’ll see where you’re missing keywords or opportunities.
By regularly doing SEO audits, you can keep your website healthy and friendly for search engines.
When Should You Do an SEO Audit?
Experts suggest doing a full SEO audit at least once every 6 months. But you should also run one:
- After launching a new website
- When your traffic suddenly drops
- Before a big content update
- When there is a new Google update
Tools To Perform An SEO Audit
Before we get into the steps to learn how to perform an SEO audit, let’s talk about the expert tools that you can use in the process. These SEO tools can help you to process large amounts of datasets in traffic, content performance, and technical issues, and identify & build high-quality backlinks. Meanwhile, it will give you significant insights about ranking and competition techniques.
Here are some popular tools recommended by experts:
- Google Search Console: Free, essential for indexing and error tracking
- Google Analytics: See what users are doing on your site
- SEMrush: All-in-one SEO toolkit
- Screaming Frog: In-depth technical audit tool
- Ahrefs: Excellent for backlink analysis
- PageSpeed Insights: Helps with speed improvements
Now that you know what each tool does, let’s check out the steps to perform an SEO Audit!
Step-by-Step Guide On How To Conduct SEO Audit
Doing an SEO audit might sound technical, but don’t worry. We’ll break it down into simple steps anyone can follow:
#1. Check If Your Website Is Indexed
Go to Google and type “site:yourwebsite.com.” This shows you how many of your pages are on Google. If important pages are missing, something might be wrong.
For that, you can leverage Google Search Console to:
- Submit your sitemap
- Check which pages are indexed
- Spot any crawl errors (like broken pages or blocked URLs)
#2. Make Sure There Is Only One Version Of Your Website
Your site should only load in one version—preferably with HTTPS. However, sometimes there are duplicate versions of your site when it’s accessible via different protocols or with/without a prefix, such as www. The reason why this happens is that your settings are not properly configured to redirect all the traffic to one site- the version you prefer:
These are how different each looks:
All of these should redirect to a single one. If they don’t set up redirects, Google gets confused and splits your ranking power. So, to make sure only one version of your website is indexed, you need to perform a manual SEO audit by:
- Use a canonical tag to designate the preferred version,
- Use a robots.txt file to block other versions, and
- Finally, submit your preferred version’s sitemap to Google Search Console.
- You should also avoid using the noindex tag on your preferred version.
#3. Fix Technical SEO Problems
It is necessary to crawl your website to find out if there is an underlying technical issue that harms the SEO and affects your site’s ranking on Google. You can use powerful tools such as SEMrush, Screaming Frog, or Ahrefs to crawl your website. These tools look for problems such as:
- Broken links (404 errors)
- Pages that load slowly
- Pages that aren’t mobile-friendly
- Missing image alt tags
- Duplicate content
Fixing these problems improves both your ranking and your users’ experience.
#4. Review On-Page SEO Elements
You need to optimize your on-page seo elements within the web pages to improve the ranking. You can go through each page and check if each one has:
- A clear, unique title tag (under 60 characters)
- A short meta description that explains the page (under 160 characters)
- An H1 heading that matches your topic
- Proper use of H2 and H3 subheadings
- Keywords naturally included in the content
In addition to that, link to other pages on your site (called internal linking). This helps Google understand your content structure.
#5. Analyze Your Content Daily
It is worth mentioning that Google always tells you to write quality content. If your content is authentic, well-researched, and helps the user, then it is surely going to rank on the search engine. Apart from that, your content should be:
- Useful and well-written
- Easy to read (short sentences, bullet points, headings)
- Updated regularly
- Focused on answering real user questions
Check if you’re actually giving users what they’re searching for. Tools like Surfer SEO or Clearscope can help analyze content relevance. Also, make sure to stay updated with Google updates regarding the content so that you can use and optimize such content on your website.
#6. Check Your Backlinks
In simple words, these Backlinks are links from various other websites to yours. They act like votes of trust. Most importantly, even in 2025, they are very important. According to research done by Backlink.io, the top result in the Google search engine has 3.8x more backlinks than the results after.
You can use Ahrefs or SEMrush to analyze your backlinks:
- See who is linking to you
- Find spammy or low-quality links (you may want to disavow these)
- Look for backlink opportunities by checking your competitors
A strong backlink profile improves your site’s authority and trust with Google.
#7. Look at Your Site Structure
Make sure your website is easy to navigate.
- Every page should be reachable within 3 clicks from the homepage
- Use simple URLs like /blog/seo-audit instead of weird ones like /page?id=249
- Group-related content under clear categories
This assists both users and search engines find things more easily.
#8. Test Your Website Speed and Mobile Usability
Google loves fast websites, especially on mobile. Use PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to test your site. Some important tips to improve speed:
-Compress images
-Use browser caching
-Minify CSS and JavaScript
-Choose a fast hosting provider
Also, open your site on your phone. Is it easy to use? If not, fix the layout and buttons.
#9. Set Up Analytics and Track Goals
Use Google Analytics to:
- See how people find and use your site
- Track bounce rate (people who leave after 1 page)
- See how long people stay
- Set up goals like contact form submissions, downloads, or purchases.
This data helps you measure SEO results and tweak your strategy.
10. Spy on Your Competitors
See what’s working for others in your niche. Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs show:
-Which keywords do your competitors rank for
-How many backlinks do they have
-What kind of content gets them traffic
Use this info to create better, more helpful content and attract backlinks.
Looking for a company that can help you with an SEO audit? Soft Tech Cube, a remarkable IT solutions and service provider in Canada, can perform a detailed audit on your website and apply necessary fixes to make sure it ranks on the search engine and converts your leads with their incredible SEO services.
To Sum Up
Doing an SEO audit might sound like a lot of work. But once you break it into steps, it’s totally doable—even if you’re not an expert. Start small. Fix a few issues each week. Over time, you’ll notice your site getting more traffic and better rankings. Remember, SEO isn’t a one-time job. It’s an ongoing process. Keep auditing. Keep improving. Your future traffic depends on it.
If you are not familiar with the technical aspects of SEO, you can always opt for website Audit services to ensure your website is up to standard.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How many times should you audit your site for SEO?
If you want your website to be successfully optimized for search engines and make sure it ranks, it is recommended that you perform an SEO website audit on your website twice a year.
What is included in an SEO audit?
These are the top 10 things included in an SEO online Audit:
#1. Check If Your Website Is Indexed
#2. Make Sure There Is Only One Version Of Your Website
#3. Fix Technical SEO Problems
#4. Review On-Page SEO Elements
#5. Analyze Your Content Daily
#6. Check Your Backlinks
#7. Look at Your Site Structure
#8. Test Your Website Speed and Mobile Usability
#9. Set Up Analytics and Track Goals
10. Spy on Your Competitors
What is SEO site audit?
An SEO web audit is a detailed inspection of your website’s structure, content, and performance to find out areas where it needs improvement to boost its ranking on the Google SERPs. There are many technical seo audit services providers that can assist you with your website’s performance in the search results.
What’s next after an SEO page audit?
The next step after an SEO page website audit service is the implementation of necessary improvements and constantly monitoring its performance to make sure it stays optimized for the search engine. These improvements include your website’s technical issues, content, structure, and analyzing competitor strategies.
