Last week, a client came to me frustrated. They'd been "doing SEO" for 18 months. Hired an agency, published content, built links. Rankings? Terrible. Traffic? Flat.
We ran an SEO audit. Within 20 minutes, I found the problem: their entire site was accidentally set to "noindex." Google couldn't see any of their pages. Eighteen months of work, completely invisible to search engines.
That's why you need proper SEO audits. Not the automated rubbish that scans your site and spits out 300 "issues" (most of which don't matter). A real audit that finds the problems actually hurting your rankings.
What Is an SEO Audit (And What It Isn't)
An SEO audit is a systematic review of everything that affects your search engine rankings. Think of it like an MOT for your website—checking that all the critical systems work properly.
A Good SEO Audit Covers:
- •Technical SEO: Crawlability, indexing, site speed, mobile optimization
- •On-Page SEO: Content quality, keyword optimization, internal linking
- •Off-Page SEO: Backlink profile, domain authority, brand mentions
- •User Experience: Core Web Vitals, mobile usability, navigation
- •Competitive Analysis: What your competitors rank for that you don't
What it's NOT: a list of every minor technical imperfection. Most automated tools flag hundreds of "errors" that have zero impact on rankings. A good audit prioritizes issues by actual impact.
Step 1: Technical SEO Audit
Technical issues are the silent killers. Your content might be brilliant, but if Google can't crawl your site properly, you won't rank.
Critical Technical Checks:
1. Crawlability & Indexability
- • Check robots.txt isn't blocking important pages
- • Verify no "noindex" tags on pages you want ranked
- • Review XML sitemap (is it submitted to Google Search Console?)
- • Check for orphan pages (no internal links pointing to them)
2. Site Speed & Core Web Vitals
- • LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): Under 2.5 seconds
- • FID (First Input Delay): Under 100ms
- • CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): Under 0.1
- • Overall page load time: Under 3 seconds
3. Mobile Optimization
- • Mobile-friendly test (Google's tool)
- • Responsive design across all device sizes
- • No intrusive interstitials or popups
- • Touch elements properly sized and spaced
4. HTTPS & Security
- • SSL certificate valid and properly configured
- • All pages redirect HTTP to HTTPS
- • No mixed content warnings
- • Security headers properly set
5. URL Structure & Redirects
- • Check for broken links (404 errors)
- • Audit redirect chains (should be direct 301s)
- • Ensure clean, descriptive URLs
- • Verify canonical tags point correctly
Use Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights for most of this. Free tools that show you exactly what Google sees.
Step 2: On-Page SEO Audit
On-page SEO is about making sure each page is optimized for its target keywords. Most sites do this terribly—or not at all.
On-Page Optimization Checklist:
1. Title Tags & Meta Descriptions
- • Unique title tag for every page (50-60 characters)
- • Target keyword in title, preferably near the beginning
- • Compelling meta description (150-160 characters)
- • No duplicate titles or descriptions across pages
2. Heading Structure
- • One H1 per page (includes target keyword)
- • Logical H2, H3 hierarchy
- • Keywords naturally incorporated in subheadings
- • Headings improve scannability and readability
3. Content Quality & Optimization
- • Sufficient content depth (1,500+ words for competitive keywords)
- • Target keyword appears naturally throughout
- • LSI keywords and semantic variations included
- • Content answers user intent completely
- • Updated regularly (check dates on old content)
4. Internal Linking
- • Links to relevant related content
- • Descriptive anchor text (not "click here")
- • Important pages linked from homepage
- • No orphan pages (every page has inbound links)
5. Images & Media
- • All images have descriptive alt text
- • Images compressed for fast loading
- • File names are descriptive (not IMG_1234.jpg)
- • Videos have transcripts or captions
Common mistake: keyword stuffing. Don't force your keyword into every sentence. Write naturally, for humans. Google's algorithm is smart enough to understand context.
Step 3: Backlink Profile Audit
Backlinks are still one of the most important ranking factors. But quality matters way more than quantity. I've seen sites with 10,000 backlinks rank below sites with 200—because those 200 were from authoritative sources.
Backlink Audit Checklist:
1. Overall Backlink Profile Health
- • Total number of referring domains
- • Domain authority of linking sites (aim for DA 40+)
- • Ratio of dofollow vs nofollow links
- • Diversity of linking domains (not all from one source)
2. Toxic Links to Disavow
- • Links from spam sites or link farms
- • Unnatural anchor text patterns (over-optimized)
- • Links from irrelevant or low-quality sites
- • Sudden spikes in backlinks (possible negative SEO)
3. Link Gap Analysis
- • Compare your backlinks to top competitors
- • Identify sites linking to competitors but not you
- • Find opportunities for link building outreach
- • Analyze competitor's best-performing content
Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz for backlink analysis. Google Search Console also shows some backlink data, but it's incomplete.
Step 4: Competitive Analysis
Your competitors are already ranking. Find out why, then do it better.
What to Analyze:
- •Keywords they rank for that you don't: Low-hanging fruit opportunities
- •Their top-performing content: What topics and formats work?
- •Backlink sources: Where are they getting quality links?
- •Content gaps: Questions they're NOT answering that you could
- •Technical advantages: Is their site faster? Better structured?
Don't just copy what competitors do. Find their weaknesses and exploit them. If they rank with thin 500-word articles, you publish comprehensive 3,000-word guides.
Step 5: Prioritize and Execute
You've found 50+ issues. Now what? Don't try fixing everything at once. Prioritize by impact.
Priority Framework:
Critical (Fix Immediately):
- • Site not indexed or blocked by robots.txt
- • Critical mobile usability issues
- • Security problems (no HTTPS, hacked content)
- • Massive site speed issues (10+ second load time)
High Priority (Fix This Month):
- • Missing or duplicate title tags/meta descriptions
- • Core Web Vitals failing
- • Thin or duplicate content on important pages
- • Broken internal/external links
Medium Priority (Fix This Quarter):
- • Improving content depth and quality
- • Optimizing images and media
- • Fixing internal linking structure
- • Schema markup implementation
Low Priority (Nice to Have):
- • Minor formatting improvements
- • Updating old blog posts
- • Adding breadcrumb navigation
- • Optimizing for featured snippets
Fix the critical issues first. They're often quick wins that unlock significant improvements. Then work your way down the priority list.
The Bottom Line on SEO Audits
An SEO audit isn't something you do once and forget. Google's algorithm changes constantly. Your competitors improve. Your site develops new issues.
Run a comprehensive audit every 6 months. Quick health checks monthly. Anytime you see rankings drop unexpectedly, audit immediately—something broke.
Most businesses skip audits entirely. They just keep publishing content and building links, hoping for results. That's like driving without checking if your engine has oil. Eventually, something breaks catastrophically.
Whether you run the SEO audit yourself using this guide or hire specialists at Epic Edits, just make sure it gets done properly. Your rankings depend on it.
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