SEO Audit Checklist: 10 Essential Checks

Search engine optimization can feel overwhelming. With thousands of potential factors affecting your rankings, where do you even start? The answer is a systematic SEO audit.

This checklist covers the 10 most impactful SEO elements to review on your website. Each check includes what to look for, why it matters, and how to fix common issues.

1. Meta Title Tags

The title tag is one of the most important on-page SEO elements. It appears in search results as the clickable headline.

What to check:

• Every page has a unique title tag
• Titles are 50-60 characters (optimal display length)
• Primary keyword appears near the beginning
• Titles are compelling and encourage clicks

Common issues:

• Duplicate titles - Multiple pages with identical titles confuse search engines
• Too long - Titles over 60 characters get truncated
• Missing keywords - Title doesn't include terms users search for
• Generic titles - "Home" or "Untitled" provide no SEO value

How to fix:

Write descriptive, keyword-rich titles for each page. Include your brand name at the end if space allows.

Tool: Use our Meta Tag Analyzer to check any page's title tag.

2. Meta Descriptions

While not a direct ranking factor, meta descriptions influence click-through rates from search results.

What to check:

• Every page has a unique meta description
• Descriptions are 150-160 characters
• They accurately summarize page content
• They include a call-to-action or value proposition

Common issues:

• Missing descriptions - Search engines auto-generate one (often poorly)
• Duplicate descriptions - Same description across multiple pages
• Too long - Gets cut off in search results
• Keyword stuffing - Reads unnaturally

How to fix:

Write compelling descriptions that make users want to click. Include target keywords naturally.

Tool: The Meta Tag Analyzer also checks your meta descriptions.

3. Canonical Tags

Canonical tags tell search engines which version of a page is the "official" one, preventing duplicate content issues.

What to check:

• Every page has a canonical tag
• Canonicals point to the correct URL
• HTTPS pages don't canonical to HTTP
• Paginated pages handle canonicals properly

Common issues:

• Self-referencing errors - Page canonicals to a different URL
• HTTP/HTTPS mismatch - Canonical doesn't match actual URL protocol
• Missing canonicals - No canonical tag present
• Chain canonicals - A canonicals to B, B canonicals to C

How to fix:

Each page should have a self-referencing canonical (pointing to itself) unless intentionally consolidating duplicate content.

Tool: Our Canonical Tag Checker validates canonical implementation.

4. Heading Structure

Headings (H1-H6) help search engines understand page structure and content hierarchy.

What to check:

• Every page has exactly one H1 tag
• H1 includes the primary keyword
• Headings follow logical hierarchy (H1 → H2 → H3)
• No skipped heading levels

Common issues:

• Multiple H1s - Confuses page topic
• Missing H1 - No clear main heading
• Skipped levels - H1 followed by H3
• Styling abuse - Using headings purely for visual formatting

How to fix:

Structure content with one H1 (your main title), H2s for major sections, and H3s for subsections.

5. Image Optimization

Images impact page speed and provide additional SEO opportunities through alt text.

What to check:

• All images have descriptive alt text
• File sizes are optimized
• Modern formats (WebP) are used
• Images have appropriate dimensions

Common issues:

• Missing alt text - Search engines can't understand image content
• Large file sizes - Slow page loads hurt rankings
• Generic filenames - "IMG_1234.jpg" provides no context
• Oversized dimensions - Loading 2000px images for 300px displays

How to fix:

Add descriptive alt text, compress images, and use responsive image techniques.

6. Mobile Friendliness

Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning the mobile version of your site is what gets evaluated.

What to check:

• Site is responsive across device sizes
• Text is readable without zooming
• Buttons and links are tap-friendly
• No horizontal scrolling required

Common issues:

• Non-responsive design - Separate mobile site or no mobile optimization
• Tiny tap targets - Links too close together
• Flash content - Doesn't work on mobile
• Blocked resources - CSS/JS blocked from mobile crawlers

How to fix:

Implement responsive design. Test on actual mobile devices, not just browser dev tools.

7. Page Speed

Page speed is a confirmed ranking factor and significantly impacts user experience.

What to check:

• Core Web Vitals pass (LCP, FID, CLS)
• Time to First Byte under 200ms
• First Contentful Paint under 1.8s
• Total page size reasonable (under 3MB)

Common issues:

• Unoptimized images - Largest culprit of slow pages
• Render-blocking resources - CSS/JS blocking initial render
• No caching - Browser downloads same resources repeatedly
• Too many requests - Dozens of files to load

How to fix:

Optimize images, enable compression, implement caching, minimize HTTP requests.

8. URL Structure

Clean, descriptive URLs help both users and search engines understand page content.

What to check:

• URLs are readable and descriptive
• Keywords included where relevant
• No excessive parameters or session IDs
• Consistent structure across the site

Common issues:

• Dynamic parameters - ?id=123&session=abc
• Excessive length - URLs hundreds of characters long
• Missing keywords - /page-1 instead of /seo-audit-checklist
• Inconsistent patterns - Different structures for similar content

How to fix:

Use short, descriptive URLs with relevant keywords. Maintain consistent patterns.

9. Internal Linking

Internal links help search engines discover content and understand site structure.

What to check:

• Important pages are linked from multiple locations
• Anchor text is descriptive (not "click here")
• No orphan pages (pages with no internal links)
• Navigation includes key pages

Common issues:

• Orphan pages - Content that's unreachable via links
• Poor anchor text - Vague or generic link text
• Broken internal links - Links to pages that no longer exist
• Excessive links - Pages with hundreds of links

How to fix:

Create a logical linking structure. Link related content together. Use descriptive anchor text.

10. Indexation

If search engines can't index your pages, nothing else matters.

What to check:

• Important pages are indexable
• Robots.txt isn't blocking important content
• No accidental noindex tags
• XML sitemap exists and is valid

Common issues:

• Noindex tags - Accidentally blocking pages
• Robots.txt blocking - Disallowing important URLs
• Missing sitemap - Search engines miss pages
• Crawl errors - Pages returning 404 or 500 errors

How to fix:

Verify indexation in Google Search Console. Fix any errors in robots.txt or meta robots tags.

Running Your SEO Audit

Step 1: Gather Data

Start by collecting information about your site:

• How many pages do you have?
• Which pages get the most traffic?
• What keywords are you targeting?

Step 2: Check Each Item

Go through this checklist systematically. For each check:

1. Test your homepage
2. Test your most important pages
3. Test a sample of other pages

Step 3: Prioritize Issues

Not all issues are equal. Prioritize by:

• Impact - How much will fixing this improve rankings?
• Effort - How difficult is the fix?
• Scope - How many pages are affected?

High impact, low effort, wide scope = fix first.

Step 4: Fix and Verify

Make changes and verify they worked:

• Re-test pages after fixes
• Monitor rankings and traffic
• Document what changed

Step 5: Schedule Regular Audits

SEO isn't a one-time task. Schedule audits:

• Monthly for high-traffic sites
• Quarterly for most businesses
• After any major site changes

Free Tools for Your Audit

Here are free tools to help check each item:

Check	Free Tool
Meta tags	Meta Tag Analyzer
Canonicals	Canonical Tag Checker
Mobile	Google Mobile-Friendly Test
Page speed	Google PageSpeed Insights
Indexation	Google Search Console

Beyond the Basics

This checklist covers foundational SEO. Once you've addressed these basics, consider:

• Content quality - Is your content comprehensive and valuable?
• Backlinks - Are authoritative sites linking to you?
• User experience - Do visitors engage with your content?
• Structured data - Are you using schema markup?
• Local SEO - Is your Google Business Profile optimized?

Common Audit Mistakes

Mistake 1: Fixing everything at once

Make changes incrementally so you can measure impact.

Mistake 2: Focusing on minor issues

Fixing 100 small issues won't help if you ignore major problems.

Mistake 3: Ignoring user experience

Rankings mean nothing if users immediately leave your site.

Mistake 4: Not measuring results

Always track metrics before and after changes.

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Start Your SEO Audit Now

Begin with the tools that make auditing easy:

• Meta Tag Analyzer - Check titles and descriptions
• Canonical Tag Checker - Verify canonical implementation

For ongoing monitoring and automated checks, Browzey can help you build custom SEO monitoring workflows that run on schedule and alert you to issues.