How to Do an SEO Audit in 2026: A Step-by-Step Checklist

Why You Need an SEO Audit

I talk to site owners every week who are frustrated with their traffic. They have been publishing content, building links, tweaking meta tags. But they have never actually sat down and audited their site from top to bottom.

An SEO audit is the diagnostic step most people skip. It tells you exactly what is broken, what is holding you back, and where to focus your time for the biggest gains.

You do not need to hire an expensive agency for this. You can do a solid SEO audit yourself if you know what to look for. This checklist walks you through the entire process.

Step 1: Crawl Your Site

Before you look at anything else, you need to know what Google sees when it crawls your website.

Use a crawling tool like Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs) or Sitebulb. Run a full crawl and look for:

Broken pages (404 errors): Every broken link is a dead end for both users and Googlebot. Fix or redirect them.

Redirect chains: If page A redirects to B which redirects to C, collapse that into A redirecting straight to C.

Orphan pages: Pages with no internal links pointing to them. If even you are not linking to a page, Google probably will not find it valuable either.

Duplicate content: Multiple URLs serving the same content. Usually caused by missing canonical tags or parameter URLs.

This step alone usually uncovers a dozen issues people had no idea existed.

Step 2: Check Your Indexing

Go to Google Search Console and look at the "Pages" report under Indexing. This tells you exactly which pages Google has indexed and which ones it has excluded.

Common problems you will find:

Pages blocked by robots.txt: Make sure you are not accidentally blocking important pages.

Noindex tags on pages you want indexed: This happens more often than you would think, especially after site migrations.

"Crawled - currently not indexed": Google found the page but decided not to index it. Usually a quality signal. The page either has thin content, is too similar to another page, or Google just does not think it is worth indexing.

Missing from sitemap: If important pages are not in your XML sitemap, add them. The sitemap is not a ranking factor but it helps Google discover pages faster.

Step 3: Audit Technical SEO

Technical SEO is the foundation everything else sits on. If the foundation has cracks, nothing else works as well as it should.

Site Speed and Core Web Vitals

Run your key pages through BulkAudit to check Performance scores across multiple URLs at once. You are looking for three Core Web Vitals metrics:

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): Should be under 2.5 seconds. This is how fast the main content loads.

CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): Should be under 0.1. This measures visual stability. If elements jump around as the page loads, users hate it and Google notices.

INP (Interaction to Next Paint): Should be under 200ms. This replaced FID and measures how responsive the page feels when users click or tap.

If any of these are failing, fix them before worrying about content or links. A slow, janky site undermines everything.

Mobile-Friendliness

Google uses mobile-first indexing. Pull up your site on an actual phone, not just browser dev tools. Check that:

Text is readable without pinching to zoom

Buttons and links are easy to tap

Nothing overflows the screen horizontally

Forms work properly on mobile

Pop-ups do not cover the content

HTTPS

Your entire site should be on HTTPS. Mixed content (HTTPS pages loading HTTP resources) still causes issues. Check for mixed content warnings in your browser console.

Structured Data

Check if you have schema markup on your key pages. Use Google's Rich Results Test. At minimum, you want:

Article schema on blog posts

FAQ schema on FAQ pages

Organization schema on your homepage

Product schema on product pages (if applicable)

Structured data does not directly boost rankings, but it can earn you rich snippets which dramatically improve click-through rates.

Step 4: Audit On-Page SEO

This is the stuff most people think of when they hear "SEO audit." Go through your important pages and check:

Title Tags

Every page should have a unique title tag

Include your target keyword near the beginning

Keep it under 60 characters so it does not get truncated

Make it compelling enough that people want to click

Meta Descriptions

Every page should have a unique meta description

Include your target keyword naturally

Keep it under 155 characters

Write it like ad copy. This is your pitch in the search results.

Heading Structure

One H1 per page that includes your primary keyword

Logical hierarchy: H2s for main sections, H3s for subsections

Do not skip levels (going from H1 straight to H3)

Headers should be descriptive, not clever. "How to Fix Slow Loading" beats "The Need for Speed."

Internal Links

Internal linking is the most underused SEO tactic. Check that:

Every important page has at least 3-5 internal links pointing to it

You are using descriptive anchor text, not "click here"

Your most authoritative pages link to pages you want to boost

You have a clear topical cluster structure

Image Optimization

All images have descriptive alt text

Images are compressed and in modern formats (WebP, AVIF)

Images are properly sized for their container (not loading a 3000px image in a 300px container)

Large images use lazy loading

Step 5: Audit Content Quality

Google's helpful content system has made content quality more important than ever. For each of your key pages, ask:

Does this page actually answer the search query? Read the page as if you just Googled the target keyword. Does it deliver what you were looking for?

Is the content comprehensive? Not padded with fluff, but genuinely thorough. Does it cover the topic better than the pages currently ranking?

Is it original? Does it offer unique insights, data, examples, or perspectives? Or is it just a rewrite of what everyone else says?

Is it current? Outdated statistics, old screenshots, or references to "2023 trends" make your content look stale.

Does it demonstrate experience? Google's E-E-A-T guidelines emphasize first-hand experience. Show that you actually know what you are talking about.

Look for thin content too. Pages with less than 300 words of unique content rarely rank well. Either beef them up or consolidate them into a stronger page.

Step 6: Audit Your Backlink Profile

Backlinks remain one of Google's strongest ranking signals. You need to understand what your link profile looks like.

Use Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush to pull your backlink data. Look for:

Total referring domains: More important than total backlinks. One link from 100 different sites beats 100 links from one site.

Link quality: Are your links coming from relevant, authoritative sites? Or from random directories and spam blogs?

Anchor text distribution: If a huge percentage of your anchor text is exact-match keywords, that is a red flag. Natural link profiles have diverse anchor text.

Toxic links: Spammy or irrelevant links can hurt you. Consider disavowing the worst offenders through Google Search Console.

Lost links: Check for recently lost backlinks. If a high-quality link disappeared, it might be worth reaching out to see if it can be restored.

Also compare your backlink profile against competitors ranking for your target keywords. If they have 3x more referring domains, you know link building needs to be a priority.

Step 7: Check Local SEO (If Applicable)

If you serve specific geographic areas, check your local SEO:

Google Business Profile is claimed, verified, and fully filled out

NAP (Name, Address, Phone) is consistent across all citations

You have reviews and are responding to them

Local keywords appear naturally in your content

You have location-specific landing pages if you serve multiple areas

Step 8: Review Analytics and Search Console Data

Numbers do not lie. Dig into your data to find patterns:

Pages losing traffic: Sort by biggest traffic declines over the past 3-6 months. These are your urgent priorities.

High-impression, low-click pages: These pages are showing up in search results but people are not clicking. Usually a title tag or meta description problem.

Pages ranking on page 2: Positions 11-20 are your biggest opportunities. These pages are close to page 1 and often just need a push.

Bounce rate outliers: Pages with unusually high bounce rates might have a content mismatch, slow loading, or poor mobile experience.

How Often Should You Do an SEO Audit?

A comprehensive audit like this should happen quarterly. But you should be monitoring the basics continuously:

Core Web Vitals: Monthly, using a tool like BulkAudit

Indexing issues: Weekly check in Search Console

Broken links: Monthly crawl

Content freshness: Review top pages every quarter

The sites that rank consistently are the ones that treat SEO as ongoing maintenance, not a one-time project.

SEO Audit Checklist Summary

Here is the condensed checklist you can reference each time:

Technical

Run full site crawl

Fix broken links and redirect chains

Check indexing status in Search Console

Test Core Web Vitals (LCP < 2.5s, CLS < 0.1, INP < 200ms)

Verify mobile-friendliness

Confirm HTTPS everywhere

Validate structured data

On-Page

Unique, keyword-rich title tags under 60 characters

Unique meta descriptions under 155 characters

Proper heading hierarchy with one H1

Strong internal linking (3-5+ links per important page)

Optimized images with alt text

Content

Content matches search intent

Comprehensive and original

Current and accurate

Demonstrates first-hand experience

No thin or duplicate pages

Backlinks

Healthy referring domain count

Quality over quantity

Natural anchor text distribution

Toxic links identified and disavowed

Competitor gap analysis

Analytics

Identify declining pages

Find high-impression, low-click opportunities

Target page 2 rankings for promotion

Investigate bounce rate outliers