The Complete SEO Audit Format Checklist

An SEO audit is like a health check for your website, helping you identify areas for improvement and boost your online visibility. It's a thorough examination of your website's technical, content, and user experience aspects.

To conduct a comprehensive SEO audit, you'll need to follow a structured format. This ensures you don't miss any crucial steps and can effectively address any issues that arise.

The Complete SEO Audit Format Checklist is a must-have for any website owner or marketer. It helps you evaluate your website's performance, identify problems, and develop a plan to improve it.

By following this checklist, you can ensure your website is optimized for search engines and user experience. This, in turn, will drive more traffic, engagement, and conversions.

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An SEO audit is a thorough examination of your website's search engine optimization. To conduct a comprehensive audit, you'll want to assess your on-page SEO elements, including URLs, page titles, meta descriptions, and copy, making sure to include relevant keywords.

Consulting your analytics is a good starting point, reviewing keyword performance to see which keywords are driving the most traffic and leads.

Assessing your content strategy is also crucial, determining how much relevant content you're adding to your website to target those keywords.

A keyword analysis involves three main steps: reviewing keyword performance, assessing your content strategy, and reviewing on-page SEO elements. Here's a breakdown of each step:

You'll also want to analyze your backlink profile, which is still a crucial factor in search engine rankings. A backlink audit involves several key steps, including entering your domain into a backlink analysis tool and reviewing your referring domains and Authority Score.

Before diving into the SEO audit process, it's essential to prepare and gather the right tools. To start, run your website URL through a site audit tool, such as Semrush or Google Search Console, to analyze your site's performance and identify areas for improvement.

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Here are the top two SEO audit tools you'll need: Semrush and Google Search Console. Semrush provides a comprehensive look at your site's performance and helps improve organic search performance, while Google Search Console allows you to monitor and troubleshoot issues related to your website's presence on Google.

You can use the following tools to perform a quality SEO audit: Semrush, Google Search Console, and the Schema Validator. These tools will help you keep track of the most important SEO analytics and ensure your structured data is implemented correctly.

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To perform a thorough SEO audit, you'll need a few essential tools at your disposal. Semrush is a top choice, providing a comprehensive look at your site's performance and helping you improve your organic search performance.

Semrush's Site Audit tool checks for over 140 on-page and technical SEO issues, giving you a clear picture of what needs improvement.

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Google Search Console is another must-have, allowing you to monitor and troubleshoot any issues related to your website's presence on Google.

Here are the two most important SEO audit tools you'll need:

These tools will help you identify areas for improvement and track your progress over time.

Google Search Console is a free tool that helps you understand exactly how Google views your client's website. It measures site crawlability, evaluates how often your client's website shows up on Google searches, and shows existing backlinks.

You can use Google Search Console to check for mobile usability issues, which is crucial for a favorable Google search ranking. Google PageSpeed Insights is another tool that analyzes how fast your client's website runs, assigning a 'speed score' and identifying specific performance issues.

Google Search Console is a must-have tool for any SEO audit, and it's free. To get the most out of it, consider using the AgencyAnalytics Google Search Console dashboard, which consolidates all the information you need without having to run manual searches each time.

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Here are some key features of Google Search Console:

By using Google Search Console, you can gain valuable insights into how your client's website is performing on Google, and make data-driven decisions to improve their SEO.

Deciding on a regular interval for SEO audits is key to making progress. The size of your website is a crucial factor, with larger sites requiring more thorough and regular checkups.

A larger website with extensive page depth and intricacies will need more frequent SEO checkups. This is because there's more to keep track of and optimize.

The frequency of site updates is another important consideration. If your website is changing frequently, you'll need to audit it more often to ensure everything stays on track.

Your client's current website health also plays a role. If their site health score is severely compromised, you may need to schedule more frequent SEO audits until things improve.

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Ultimately, the frequency of SEO audits will depend on your client's long-term goals. If they're prioritizing SEO-related deliverables like blog conversions, they'll likely need more frequent audits.

Here are some general guidelines to consider:

To conduct an SEO audit, start by running your website URL through a site audit tool. This will help analyze how your site is performing and provide specific recommendations.

You can use tools like Screaming Frog or Semrush's Site Audit to crawl your site and identify issues. For example, Screaming Frog can help you identify broken links, understand your website's architecture, and more, while Semrush's Site Audit can assess your site for over 140 issues, including site performance issues and internal linking optimization.

Here's a breakdown of the steps to follow:

Once you've identified the issues, prioritize your fixes by focusing on errors first, then warnings, and finally notices. This will help you get the most out of your SEO audit and improve your website's overall health.

If you have a large website, you may want to consider the different types of SEO audits to prioritize accordingly. This will help you tackle the most critical issues first and make the most of your time.

Two types of SEO audits are worth mentioning: technical SEO audits and on-page SEO audits. Technical SEO audits look for broader issues, such as those that affect how search engines crawl, index, and rank your website.

On-page SEO audits, on the other hand, focus on optimizing specific keywords and phrases. This includes keyword density, semantic keyword variations, and other elements that help Google understand what a specific page is about.

To get started, you can use an SEO audit tool to do a site-wide audit and identify common errors. This will give you a good idea of where to focus your efforts.

Here are the two main types of on-page SEO optimization:

By addressing technical SEO issues first, you can ensure that your on-page optimizations are not hindered by broader issues. This will give your client the best chance at ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).

A competitive website audit is a crucial part of the audit process, allowing you to track your competitors and their online strategies to identify opportunities your brand may be missing out on.

To start, perform a SWOT analysis on a competitor's website, tracking their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Consider their website's navigation, page loading times, and tools they use to streamline their processes.

During the audit, analyze your competitors' best keywords using tools like Semrush, and check out the pages that are ranking for those terms. Look for commonalities in the content that works best in your niche.

Analyze your competitors' backlink profiles to see what kinds of websites already link to the kind of content you might want to create. This can help you discover new ways to run your site more efficiently and make it more accessible for consumers.

A keyword and competitor optimization is also key to the audit process. Identify your client's target audience and their pain points, needs, and expectations by analyzing what search queries people are using to find their business.

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Use a customizable Keyword Ranking Report Template to automatically create and send client reports in minutes. Consider using a tool like AgencyAnalytics to track your keyword rankings and identify opportunities to improve them.

In the audit process, find keywords you're missing out on by using a tool like the Keyword Gap tool. Compare your domain and up to four competitor domains, and look at the "Missing" and "Weak" tabs to reveal hidden keyword opportunities.

Here's a breakdown of the audit process:

Analyzing Core Web Vitals is a crucial step in your website audit process. Google's Core Web Vitals are a collection of three metrics that assess the overall user-friendliness of your site. They're largely related to speed, but checking these metrics should be part of your technical SEO audit because they affect rankings.

Here's a closer look at what the specific metrics are:

To check your site's Core Web Vitals, head to the "Core Web Vitals" report in your Site Audit dashboard. You'll see a breakdown of each metric, including Total Blocking Time as an approximation for INP. If you scroll down, you'll see a table labeled "Analyzed Pages", which lists all the metrics for each of your analyzed pages.

You can also check these metrics using Google Search Console. Head to the "Core Web Vitals" report under the "Experience" section in the left menu. You'll see both "Desktop" and "Mobile" reports listing all the issues and the affected pages.

It's essential to address any issues you find, as they can significantly impact your site's user experience and search engine rankings. By following the instructions on how to fix them, you can improve your site's Core Web Vitals and provide a better experience for your users.

Majestic is a powerful tool that can help you understand how your client's backlinks are performing.

You can use the Majestic SEO integration to quickly access a backlink analysis, referring domains, website authority metrics, and new or broken links.

Majestic SEO is a platform that can help you identify new opportunities in your backlink profile.

It's a good idea to use Majestic SEO if you want to get a better understanding of how your website is performing in terms of backlinks.

Consider reading: Why Backlinks Are Important

You can use Majestic SEO to analyze your website's referring domains, which is the number of different websites that link to you.

According to Example 4, Majestic SEO can help you quickly access referring domains, website authority metrics, and new or broken links.

Majestic SEO can also help you identify potentially harmful backlinks, which can be a normal part of any link profile.

However, if you notice that most of your links are from shady sites, you might want to disavow those links.

Here are some key features of Majestic SEO:

You can use these features to get a better understanding of how your website is performing in terms of backlinks.

A 404 error, also known as a "page not found" error, is a common issue that can arise from broken links and images within your site.

To identify these errors, you can use a website auditing tool, such as Site Audit, which is part of Semrush's SEO suite. This tool will assess your site for over 140 issues, including site performance issues, internal linking optimization, and international SEO.

The tool will also provide a "Site Health" score, which is an overall indicator of your website's SEO health based on the number of issues found and their severity.

Here are some common types of site errors you might encounter:

By identifying and fixing these errors, you can improve your site's crawlability, user experience, and search engine rankings.

Assessing your website's content is a crucial part of the audit process. It helps you evaluate how well your content is performing and identify areas for improvement.

To start, you'll want to review your website's content, including blogs, landing pages, and product/service pages. This will help you understand how your current pages are stacking up and identify areas for improvement.

During an audit, you should consider how your content targets readers at every stage of the buyer's journey. This means thinking about how your content is structured to meet the needs of your audience.

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A good starting point is to review meta descriptions and image alt text. These elements can greatly impact how your content appears in search engine results pages.

You should also ask yourself if your content is ranking well in search engines and if your on-page SEO and performance are aligned with your traffic numbers.

In terms of specific page types, you may want to consider the following:

By reviewing these page types and considering how they contribute to your overall content strategy, you can identify opportunities to improve your content and drive more traffic to your website.

Internal linking is a crucial aspect of SEO, and analyzing your internal links can help you identify areas for improvement. You can use a tool like Site Audit to get a list of issues related to internal links and tips on how to fix them.

Internal links help search engines crawl your website, users navigate your website, and direct PageRank to the most important pages. They also help avoid "orphaned pages" by making it easier for search engines and users to find your content.

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A report in Site Audit dedicated to internal linking issues will give you a useful overview of your pages based on Internal LinkRank (ILR) - a metric that measures how strong your interlinking is for different pages. This will help you identify important pages that don't get enough internal links and pages with good ILR scores.

Here are some key things to look for when analyzing your internal links:

To internal link the right way, make sure you link to high-priority pages as much as possible. Aim for at least 5+ relevant internal links per page, and ideally, every page should have at least one relevant internal link pointing to it. This will help minimize your website's crawl or click depth, which is the number of clicks it takes for a reader to get from your homepage to any given post or page on your site.

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You can optimize your website performance by evaluating its content and technical performance. This includes inspecting the robustness of your website's technical framework and infrastructure, as well as determining how friendly your website is to search engines and users.

A thorough SEO audit can help identify areas for improvement, including technical SEO, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO. Technical SEO involves assessing crawling, indexing, security, page speed, Core web vitals, site hierarchy, and other technical aspects. On-page SEO includes evaluating content, user experience, and metadata, while off-page SEO focuses on backlinks, domain authority, and local SEO.

To optimize your website, start by identifying your 5 most important pages and focus on optimizing them first. This can be done by including the target keyword in the title tag, adding 5+ external links, and using helpful, SEO-optimized images. Additionally, consider optimizing for UX signals, such as clicks and user satisfaction, to improve your rankings in search results.

Here are some key on-page optimization checks to include in your SEO audit:

Optimizing your website's performance is crucial for a better user experience and higher search engine rankings. You can start by conducting a website audit to evaluate your site's content and technical performance.

A website audit will give you a chance to inspect the robustness of your website's technical framework and infrastructure. It will also evaluate how friendly your website is to search engines and determine how easy it is for users to navigate your website to find the content they are looking for.

To optimize your website's performance, you can follow these steps:

Here are some common issues that can affect your website's performance:

By addressing these issues and following the steps outlined above, you can improve your website's performance, user experience, and search engine rankings.

Finding missing keywords is a crucial step in optimization and improvement. It's a chance to discover new opportunities and stay ahead of your competitors.

A great tool to help you find missing keywords is the Keyword Gap tool. Enter your domain and up to four competitor domains, and click "Compare." This will give you a list of keywords your competitors rank for, but you don't.

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The list will likely reveal some hidden keyword opportunities you may not have considered. For example, you can check the "Missing" tab to see keywords your competitors rank for, but you don't. You can also check the "Weak" tab to see keywords your competitors rank for higher than you do.

Here are some key things to look for in the list:

By finding these missing keywords, you can improve your SEO strategy and stay competitive. It's also a good idea to keep an eye on your competitors' keywords, as this can help you understand their pain points, needs, and expectations.

Missed Backlink Opportunities are a treasure trove for SEO. You can use the Backlink Gap tool to find them.

The tool works by comparing your domain with up to four competitors. It shows you a list of domains that link to your competitors but not to you.

These domains are likely to link to your website since they're already linking to similar sites. You can try to replicate these backlinks to get a boost in your SEO.

The Backlink Gap tool will show you specific pages that link to your competitors, including the anchor text and target URLs. This information can be a goldmine for your link building efforts.

Here are the steps to find and replicate Missed Backlink Opportunities:

Fixing Broken Links is a crucial step in optimization and improvement. Broken links can hurt user experience, which can ultimately affect your SEO.

Google may not "lose sleep" over broken links, but it's still essential to fix them. According to Google, broken links can negatively impact user experience, which can hurt your SEO.

You can use a free tool like Broken Link Check to identify broken links on your site. Alternatively, you can use crawling software like Screaming Frog or Semrush Site Audit to find and fix broken links.

Some examples of low-hanging SEO fruit include fixing broken internal links. This is a quick and easy fix that can improve user experience and help with SEO.

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Here are some common types of broken links and how to fix them:

By fixing broken links, you can improve user experience and potentially boost your SEO.

A website audit report is a crucial tool for identifying and prioritizing website issues. It should clearly communicate the site's problems and provide recommended fixes. HubSpot's Website Grader and Semrush's Site Audit Tool are two options for generating a website audit report.

To make the most of your website audit report, prioritize the recommendations based on the input you collected. This can be done by assigning a priority to each task based on the resources it will take, the impact it will have, and more.

A template for SEO audits can streamline SEO processes and client reporting. This template can provide structure and standardize the audit procedures, adding value to client reporting.

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Creating a report is a crucial step in the analysis and reporting process. You can use tools like HubSpot's Website Grader to quickly generate a report after entering the web address you want to have crawled along with an email address.

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Having a full website audit report in your hands enables you to start making improvements yourself or to efficiently send the information to the appropriate teams within your organization. The report should provide a clear display of important website categories, such as SEO performance and the effectiveness of your security measures.

You can use a template to add to existing SEO processes and inform client reports, giving tremendous value by standardizing the audit procedures. This can also add another dimension to client reporting, especially if you use more than one SEO audit tool.

Preeti Gupta, a B2B SaaS SEO consultant, recommends prioritizing recommendations based on the input you collected, assigning priority to each task based on the resources it will take, the impact it will have, and more. This can help you efficiently send the information to the appropriate teams within your organization.

You can also use AgencyAnalytics to share SEO audit findings with your clients. This can be done in various formats, such as a downloadable PDF file or an Excel file that can be transferred into Google Sheets for a more collaborative experience.

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Analyzing your topical authority is a crucial step in establishing your website's credibility and ranking well in search engines. Topical authority refers to making it clear to users and Google that you're a trustworthy authority on a given topic.

You can check your website's topical authority with a handy spreadsheet created in collaboration with Graphite, which automatically pulls information from your Google Search Console property. This breakdown of keywords and phrases will help you understand where your topical authority lies.

Having a clear understanding of your topical authority will help you identify areas where you can expand or exploit your authority.