An SEO audit checks whether search engines can find your pages, index them and match them to real searches. A small site can be checked in an afternoon with free tools.
To run a basic SEO audit, verify your site in Google Search Console, check that nothing blocks search engines and that your key pages are indexed, review titles and headings, test speed and mobile display, find broken links, then rank the problems by how many pages they affect and fix the biggest first.
What a basic SEO audit covers
An SEO audit is a structured check of whether search engines can reach your pages, whether the right pages are in their index, and whether those pages match what people search for. A basic SEO audit does the first pass of that work yourself, with free tools. On a small site it takes an afternoon. It will not replace a specialist review of a large or troubled site, but it finds problems that are common, cheap to fix and easy to miss.
The article on signs your website needs a technical SEO audit helps you decide when to call a specialist. This guide covers the work you can do yourself, in an order that puts the most serious problems first.
Before you start, open a spreadsheet and list the ten or so pages that matter most: the home page, your main service or product pages and any page that already brings visitors. Write today's date at the top, because you will compare against it later.
Free tools for an SEO audit
All of these are free from the companies that run them. Each shows a different part of the picture.
- Google Search Console shows which of your pages Google has indexed and why others are not, which searches bring impressions and clicks, if your sitemap was read, and how groups of pages score on Core Web Vitals where there is enough data. It is the most useful free tool for this job.
- PageSpeed Insights tests one page at a time. It shows how real visitors experienced the page, where Google has enough data, and a lab test with a list of what slows the page down.
- Bing Webmaster Tools gives a similar view for Bing and can import your site from Search Console. It is optional and quick to set up.
- The Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator check structured data, if your site uses any.
- Your browser lets you view a page's source to read its title, headings and any noindex instruction, and a phone shows you the mobile experience.
- A free website crawler scans your pages for broken links, missing titles and redirects. Several desktop crawlers have free versions that limit how many pages they check, which is fine for a small site.
Paid tools add more data, but none is needed for a first audit.
SEO audit checklist, steps 1 to 3: access and indexing
Step 1: Set up Search Console
Add your site as a property and verify ownership. A Domain property covers every version of your address and is verified with a DNS record. A URL-prefix property covers one exact address and offers more ways to verify, such as an HTML tag. Some reports take a few days to fill after verification, so do this step first.
Step 2: Check that nothing blocks search engines
- Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt in a browser. A line reading "Disallow: /" under "User-agent: *" blocks all crawling. It is often left over from the build stage.
- View the source of your home page and a few other pages and search for "noindex". A robots meta tag containing noindex tells search engines to leave the page out. The same instruction can be sent as an HTTP header, which the source does not show, so use the URL Inspection tool on key pages. It reports whether indexing is allowed.
- Type your address four ways: with http and with https, with www and without it. All four should end at one https address. If two versions load separately, search engines may treat them as duplicates.
Step 3: Check what is indexed
Open the Page indexing report in Search Console. Note how many pages are indexed and compare that with the pages you expect to be there. Then read the reasons listed for pages that are not indexed. Common labels are "Excluded by 'noindex' tag", "Blocked by robots.txt", "Not found (404)", "Page with redirect", "Crawled - currently not indexed" and "Discovered - currently not indexed".
Some of these are normal. A redirect is not a fault, and a duplicate page being left out is Google working as intended. Others need action: a main service page in the noindex or not found list is a fault. For "Crawled - currently not indexed", Google's help text says the page may or may not be indexed in future and that there is no need to resubmit it. Sensible responses are to make the page more useful and to link to it from related pages.
Paste an important address into the URL Inspection tool. It shows whether the page is on Google, when it was last crawled, whether indexing is allowed, and which address Google treats as the main version.
Then open the Sitemaps report. Submit the address of your sitemap, usually yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml, and check that the status reads Success. The sitemap should list pages you want indexed, not deleted pages, redirected pages or pages marked noindex.
Steps 4 and 5: match pages to searches and check the key pages
Step 4: Match pages to searches
Open the Performance report and set the date range to the last three months. Look at the Queries tab and the Pages tab.
- For each main service or product, check that one page is meant to answer that search. If two of your pages appear for the same search, choose one as the main page and make the other support it, because similar pages compete.
- Find pages with many impressions but few clicks. Their title or description may not look relevant or inviting.
- Find searches where your average position is just past the first page. A clearer answer on the page, or a link from a related page, may lift them.
Record the totals for clicks, impressions and indexed pages. These are your baseline.
Step 5: Check the key pages
Go through your ten pages one at a time and note the result of each check below. Use the checks as columns in your spreadsheet, with one row per page.
| Check | Where to look | A good result |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Browser tab or page source | Unique, describes the page, has the main phrase near the start and is short enough not to be cut off in results |
| Meta description | Page source | Unique and accurate, written for the person reading the result |
| Main heading | Page source or the page itself | One clear H1 that names the topic |
| Subheadings | The page | Describe each section, in a logical order |
| Content | Read it as a visitor | Answers the search clearly, is up to date and is not copied from another page or site |
| Images | Page source | Meaningful alt text on images that carry information, and sensible file sizes |
| Internal links | The page and the menu | Linked from at least one relevant page, and linking to related pages with descriptive wording |
| Address | Address bar | Short, readable and matching the topic, with no stray parameters |
| Canonical tag | Page source | Points to the page's own preferred address |
A free crawler lists every title and heading in one table, which makes duplicates and missing items easy to spot. Also compare your sitemap with your menu. A page that nothing links to is hard for visitors and crawlers to find.
Steps 6 to 8: speed, errors and business details
Step 6: Test speed and mobile display
Run PageSpeed Insights on three kinds of page: the home page, a main service or product page, and an article. Read the mobile result first. Look at the real-user data if it appears, then at the list of opportunities and diagnostics, which names the biggest causes, such as oversized images or scripts that delay display. In Search Console, the Core Web Vitals report groups your pages as good, needs improvement or poor where there is enough data. The guide to checking and improving website speed goes further.
Then do the human test. Open the site on an ordinary phone on mobile data and try the main task. Note anything awkward, such as tiny text, buttons that are hard to tap or a pop-up covering the content.
Step 7: Find broken links and redirect problems
Use a free crawler, or click through the site, to find broken internal links and pages that return errors. In the Page indexing report, any page listed as "Not found (404)" that you still link to needs a decision. Restore it, link to the right page instead, or redirect the old address to the closest relevant page. Shorten redirect chains so that an old address goes straight to the final page. After a redesign or a move, compare the old addresses with the new ones. Missing redirects are a common reason for a sudden loss of visitors.
Step 8: Check business details and structured data
Check that your business name, address, phone number, opening hours and services match on the site and on your listings. Confirm that the contact, About and privacy policy pages exist and are linked from every page. If you use structured data, run key pages through the Rich Results Test and fix any errors it reports.
Step 9: rank the findings and record the numbers
Sort every finding into one of three groups.
- Problems that stop pages being found: noindex tags, a blocking robots.txt, broken redirects and key pages that return errors. Fix these first.
- Problems that affect many pages: duplicate titles, weak internal links, slow page templates and oversized images. Fix these over the next few weeks.
- Single-page polish, such as improving one description or adding alt text. Queue these.
Write the date, your baseline numbers and the fixes you made in the spreadsheet. After the changes, wait a few weeks before judging, because search engines need time to recrawl. For a few key pages you have fixed, you can ask Google to recrawl them from the URL Inspection tool. Then open the same reports again and compare.
The most common SEO problems on small sites
- A noindex tag or a blocking robots.txt rule left over from the build.
- Several versions of the home page loading separately, such as http and https, or with and without www.
- The same title or description on many pages.
- Thin pages that say little, or near-duplicate pages written for different place names.
- Pages that no other page links to.
- Large images that slow the page on mobile data.
- Broken links and missing redirects after a redesign or a change of address.
- A sitemap that is missing, out of date or full of addresses that no longer work.
How often to run an SEO audit
Run the full pass once or twice a year on a site that changes slowly. Run steps 2, 3 and 7 straight after any large change: a redesign, a move to another platform, a new domain, changed page addresses or a new section of the site. Those events cause the most sudden problems. Between audits, look at the Page indexing and Performance reports when you publish something new.
When to hire someone to audit your site
A basic audit has limits. Consider paid help in these situations.
- Traffic fell sharply after a redesign, a migration or a change of platform, and you cannot find the cause.
- Search Console reports a manual action or a security issue.
- Important pages are missing from the index and the listed reasons do not explain why.
- The site has thousands of pages, several languages or regions, or content that only appears after scripts run.
- You have fixed the basics and still see no movement after a few months.
Ask any provider to list findings in order of effect, to show the evidence from Search Console, and to say which fixes they will make and which are yours. Liftup does SEO work, described on the SEO service page.
Questions and answers
How do I do a basic SEO audit myself?
Verify your site in Google Search Console, then check that nothing blocks search engines, that your important pages are indexed and in the sitemap, and that titles, headings and content on your main pages match what people search for. Test speed and mobile display, fix broken links and rank the findings by how many pages each affects.
Which free tools can I use for an SEO audit?
Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, Bing Webmaster Tools, the Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator are free, as are your browser's page source view and the free versions of several desktop crawlers. Search Console is the most useful, because it shows what Google has indexed and why pages were left out.
How often should I audit my site?
Once or twice a year is enough for a site that changes slowly. Run the access, indexing and broken-link checks straight after a redesign, a platform move, a new domain or changed page addresses, since those changes cause most sudden drops. Glance at Search Console when you publish new pages.
What are the most common SEO problems?
Leftover noindex tags or robots.txt rules, several versions of the home page loading separately, duplicate titles, thin or near-duplicate pages, pages with no internal links, oversized images, broken links after a redesign and a missing or out-of-date sitemap. Most can be found with Search Console and a free crawler.
When should I hire someone to audit my site?
Hire help when traffic falls after a redesign or migration and you cannot find the cause, when Search Console reports a manual action or security issue, or when important pages stay out of the index. Large, multilingual or script-heavy sites also need specialist review. Ask for findings ranked by effect.
How long does a DIY SEO audit take?
On a small site, an afternoon covers the checks, plus time to write up the findings. Larger sites take longer because there are more pages to review. Fixing the problems takes additional time, and the results show only after search engines have recrawled the changed pages.
Do the scores from automated SEO tools mean much?
Treat them as a prompt to look, not a verdict. Tools weigh issues differently, and a high score can sit alongside an important page that is not indexed, so act on the specific findings, not the number. Check Search Console for what Google has actually indexed.