---
title: "How to Do an SEO Audit: Step-by-Step Guide"
description: An SEO audit reveals exactly why your site isn't ranking. This step-by-step guide covers technical SEO, on-page, content, and backlinks — and what to fix first.
image: https://conversite.net/hubfs/How%20to%20Do%20an%20SEO%20Audit_%20Step-by-Step%20Guide.png
---

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 October 10, 2026

# How to Do an SEO Audit: Step-by-Step Guide

 By   Conversite  ·   5 minute read

An SEO audit is a systematic review of your website's ability to rank in search engines. It examines every factor that influences your search visibility — technical health, on-page optimisation, content quality, and backlink profile — and identifies what's holding you back.

If your content isn't ranking despite being well-written and relevant, an audit usually reveals the reason: a technical issue blocking indexing, thin content competing with itself, missing metadata, or a weak internal link structure that leaves Google unable to understand your site's priorities.

This guide works through an SEO audit in priority order — technical issues first because they affect everything else, then on-page, then content, then off-page. Fix in this sequence.

 

## Before You Start: Tools You'll Need

**Free tools:**

- Google Search Console (GSC) — the most important SEO tool you have. Free, direct from Google.
- Google Analytics 4 — traffic and behaviour data
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider — free for up to 500 URLs (desktop app)
- Ahrefs Webmaster Tools — free limited access to backlink data

**Paid tools (optional but useful):**

- Semrush — keyword rankings, backlink data, site audit
- Ahrefs — backlink analysis, keyword data

You can complete a thorough audit with free tools alone. The paid tools speed up the process and add depth, particularly for backlink analysis and keyword ranking data.

 

## Step 1: Check Indexing Status

Before auditing content quality, confirm Google can actually access and index your pages. An unindexed page ranks for nothing regardless of how good it is.

**Check in Google Search Console:**

1. GSC → Index → Coverage (or Pages in newer interface)
2. Review the following tabs:

**Valid:** Pages Google has indexed. Cross-check this count against your actual live page count — if the numbers are significantly different, some pages aren't being indexed.

**Excluded:** Pages Google found but chose not to index. The reason matters:

- "Crawled — currently not indexed": Google saw it but didn't think it was worth indexing. Usually a content quality or duplicate issue.
- "Duplicate without canonical tag": You have similar pages and haven't told Google which is the primary one.
- "Noindex tag": A tag on the page is actively blocking Google from indexing it — check if this is intentional.
- "Blocked by robots.txt": Your robots.txt file is blocking Googlebot from the page.

**Action:** Fix any unintentional exclusions. Request indexing for valid pages that haven't been indexed yet via URL Inspection → Request Indexing. 

**Quick check using site: search:** Type `site:yourwebsite.com` into Google. The number of results gives a rough indication of indexed pages — though this number is approximate and often undercounts. 

Publishing consistency matters

I stopped publishing for 14 weeks. Here’s what Google did to my site.

*My site’s indexed keyword count dropped 70%. Pages that were ranking slipped to “Crawled — currently not indexed.” Google hadn’t penalised the content. It had simply decided the site wasn’t active enough to prioritise. The fix wasn’t technical — it was just getting back to publishing consistently.*

 

## Step 2: Technical SEO Audit

Technical issues prevent Google from properly crawling, understanding, or ranking your pages.

### Page Speed

Use Google PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev) on your homepage and 2–3 key pages. Focus on mobile scores — Google uses mobile-first indexing.

**Core Web Vitals to check:**

- **LCP (Largest Contentful Paint):** Under 2.5 seconds — how quickly the main content loads
- **INP (Interaction to Next Paint):** Under 200ms — how quickly the page responds to user input
- **CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift):** Under 0.1 — how stable the layout is during loading

Common issues: unoptimised images, render-blocking JavaScript, no caching, slow hosting. Each PageSpeed report includes specific recommendations.

 

### HTTPS

Your site must use HTTPS (padlock icon in browser). HTTP sites are flagged as "Not secure" and may receive ranking penalties. Check by simply visiting your site — if you see `https://` in the address bar, you're fine.

 

### Mobile Friendliness

Test at search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly. If your site fails, this is a high-priority fix — Google indexes the mobile version of your site first.

 

### Crawl Errors

In GSC → Settings → Crawl Stats, check for crawl errors. Also review Screaming Frog (crawl your site, filter by status code):

- **404 errors:** Pages that don't exist — fix with 301 redirects to relevant live pages
- **301 redirect chains:** Unnecessary hops that slow down crawl — streamline to direct redirects
- **5XX server errors:** Server-side issues requiring developer attention

### Sitemap

Confirm your XML sitemap exists and is submitted to GSC:

- Visit yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml — it should exist and list your key pages
- GSC → Sitemaps → confirm it's submitted and shows no errors
- Ensure your sitemap only includes canonical, indexable pages (no noindex or redirected URLs)

### Canonical Tags

Canonical tags tell Google which version of a page is the "main" one when similar pages exist. Check that:

- Each page has a self-referencing canonical tag
- Paginated pages canonicalise correctly
- You don't have conflicting canonicals (one page pointing to another that points back)

## Step 3: On-Page SEO Audit

With technical issues identified, review on-page elements for each key page.

### Title Tags

Check every page's title tag in Screaming Frog (export to spreadsheet and review):

| Issue | Action |
| --- | --- |
| Missing title tag | Write a descriptive, keyword-rich title under 60 characters |
| Duplicate title tags | Each page must have a unique title |
| Title too long (60+ chars) | Google truncates long titles — rewrite to under 60 characters |
| Keyword not in title | Include your primary keyword naturally in the title |

### Meta Descriptions

Same process — export from Screaming Frog and review:

- Missing: write one for every page (150–160 characters)
- Duplicate: every page should have a unique description
- Too long: trim to under 160 characters

For how to write high-CTR meta descriptions, see our [meta description guide](https://conversite.net/blog/how-to-write-meta-description).

### Heading Structure

Each page should have:

- One H1 (the main topic — usually the page title or post headline)
- Multiple H2s (main sections)
- H3s for subsections within H2s

Common issues: multiple H1s on one page, no H1, keyword-stuffed headings, skipped heading levels (H1 → H3 with no H2).

### Keyword Targeting

For each key page, confirm:

- Primary keyword appears in H1, first paragraph, at least one H2, and URL
- Keyword is not stuffed unnaturally (this hurts rankings)
- Page is targeting one clear primary keyword, not competing with other pages on your site for the same term

### URL Structure

Good URLs are short, descriptive, and keyword-inclusive. Audit for:

- URLs with parameters, session IDs, or auto-generated strings (e.g. /page?id=12345)
- Very long URLs with unnecessary words
- URLs containing uppercase letters or special characters
- URLs that don't reflect the page's content

Check out the full [On-page SEO checklist](https://conversite.net/blog/on-page-seo-checklist) for further optimization.

 

## Step 4: Content Audit

### Content Quality Check

Review your 10 lowest-performing pages (by traffic in GA4 or impressions in GSC). For each, ask:

- Does this page comprehensively answer its target keyword's search intent?
- Is it substantially more useful than the top 3 pages currently ranking for the same keyword?
- Is it outdated — containing statistics, tools, or references more than 2 years old?

**Action options:**

- **Update and improve:** Rewrite thin sections, add depth, update outdated content
- **Consolidate:** Merge two similar posts into one stronger article with a 301 redirect from the old URL
- **Remove:** Delete pages with no traffic, no rankings, no backlinks, and no path to improvement — redirect to a relevant live page

### Duplicate and Thin Content

Screaming Frog's duplicate content filter highlights pages with very similar or identical content. Common causes:

- Tag and category pages with duplicate post lists
- Printer-friendly page versions
- HTTP and HTTPS versions both being indexed
- www and non-www both accessible

Resolve with canonical tags, noindex tags, or by blocking duplicates in robots.txt.

 

### Keyword Cannibalisation

Cannibalisation occurs when multiple pages on your site target the same keyword, causing them to compete against each other in Google's index. Signs: two of your pages appear in search results for the same query, rankings for a keyword fluctuate between two of your URLs.

**Fix:** Consolidate competing pages into one stronger page, or reorient each page to target a distinct variation of the keyword.

 

## Step 5: Internal Linking Audit

In Screaming Frog, check the **Inlinks** tab for each page. Look for:

**Orphan pages:** Pages with zero internal links pointing to them. Google may not crawl or index these regularly. Fix by adding links from related posts.

**Pages with too few internal links:** Important pages (product pages, high-value posts) should have multiple internal links from other pages.

**Pages with too many internal links:** Distributing links across 200+ destinations dilutes authority. Prioritise the most important pages.

**Anchor text review:** Are your internal links using descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text, or generic phrases like "click here" and "read more"?

 

## Step 6: Backlink Audit

Use Ahrefs Webmaster Tools or Semrush's Backlink Analytics to review your link profile.

**Check for:**

- **Total referring domains:** How many unique sites link to you? (Quality matters more than quantity)
- **Toxic backlinks:** Links from spam sites, link farms, or irrelevant foreign directories. Flag for disavow if numerous.
- **Anchor text distribution:** A natural backlink profile has varied anchor text. If most of your links use exact-match keyword anchor text, this is a red flag that can trigger penalties.
- **Lost backlinks:** Links that have recently disappeared — worth investigating whether they were removed intentionally or accidentally.

## Audit Priority: What to Fix First

| Priority | Issue | Impact |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Indexing errors (pages blocked or excluded) | Critical — unindexed pages rank for nothing |
| 2 | Crawl errors and broken pages | High — affects both rankings and user experience |
| 3 | Missing or duplicate title tags | High — direct ranking impact |
| 4 | Core Web Vitals failures | High — Google ranking factor |
| 5 | Thin or outdated content | Medium — content quality affects all rankings |
| 6 | Internal linking gaps | Medium — affects authority distribution |
| 7 | Backlink quality issues | Medium — slow to fix, worth addressing over time |

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