SEO Audit Checklist

Indexing & crawl

0/5

Check Search Console's coverage report for pages excluded or flagged with errorsThis is the ground truth for what's actually indexed, not what you assume is indexed.
Confirm robots.txt allows crawling of everything meant to be foundAn overly broad Disallow rule silently removes pages from consideration with no error anywhere else.
Verify the XML sitemap is current, lists only indexable URLs, and is referenced in robots.txtA stale sitemap wastes crawl budget on dead URLs and can omit new ones entirely.
Look for orphan pages with no internal links pointing to themSearch engines rely heavily on internal links to discover pages — an orphan page may never get crawled.
Check crawl stats for a spike in errors or a drop in pages crawled per daySudden crawl-budget changes often point to a server issue or a bot trap search engines are hitting.

0/5

Confirm every page has one clear H1 that matches its search intentThe H1 is one of the strongest on-page relevance signals still available to a page.
Check title tags and meta descriptions are unique and under typical display limitsTruncated or duplicate titles hurt both click-through rate and how distinctly pages rank.
Verify heading structure is hierarchical (H1 then H2 then H3), not chosen for font sizeA broken heading order confuses both screen readers and how search engines parse page structure.
Check target keywords appear naturally in the title, first paragraph, and at least one headingRelevance signals concentrated where they're expected still matter, without tipping into stuffing.
Confirm internal links use descriptive anchor text rather than 'click here'Anchor text is a ranking signal for the linked page — generic text wastes it.

0/5

Run Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) on real pages, not just the homepagePage-experience signals are evaluated per page, and a fast homepage can hide a slower template underneath.
Confirm the site serves HTTPS everywhere with no mixed-content warningsHTTPS is a baseline ranking factor and mixed content can outright break parts of a page.
Check for duplicate content across HTTP/HTTPS, www/non-www, or trailing-slash variantsEach unresolved variant can be indexed separately and split ranking signal across copies of the same page.
Verify structured data (schema.org markup) validates and matches what's visibly on the pageInvalid or mismatched structured data can get a site's rich results disabled entirely.
Test mobile rendering directly, since indexing is mobile-firstGoogle indexes the mobile version of a page by default — a desktop-only issue can still hurt rankings.

0/5

Identify thin or near-duplicate pages that add little unique valueThin content spread across many pages can hold back the whole site's perceived quality, not just those pages.
Check top pages still answer the search intent they originally targetedSearch intent for a query shifts over time — content that matched two years ago may not today.
Look for outdated statistics, screenshots, or references that need refreshingVisibly stale content signals to both readers and algorithms that the page isn't maintained.
Confirm important pages are internally linked from relevant, high-traffic pagesInternal links pass authority around the site — orphaning good content limits how well it can rank.
Review pages with declining traffic for a content, intent, or competitive causeA ranking drop usually has a specific cause — matching it to the right fix beats a blanket rewrite.

0/4

Audit the backlink profile for a sudden spike of low-quality or spammy linksAn unnatural link spike can trigger a manual action or algorithmic devaluation.
Check that high-value existing backlinks still point to a live, relevant pageA backlink to a 404 or a redirected-away page stops passing any value at all.
Confirm business name, address, and phone number are consistent across major listingsInconsistent NAP data undermines local search relevance and can confuse map-pack results.
Look for easy, legitimate link opportunities: partners, suppliers, and press already mentioning the brand unlinkedUnlinked mentions are the lowest-effort backlinks available — they already chose to mention you.