What does an SEO audit check?

An SEO audit checks the technical, content, structural and external factors that influence how a website is crawled, indexed and ranked. It examines whether search engines can access the right pages, understand their purpose and find sufficient evidence that the content is relevant, useful and trustworthy. A good audit also identifies issues affecting visitors, such as slow loading, poor mobile usability, unclear navigation or broken journeys.

The exact scope depends on the website and the audit objective, but a complete review usually covers the following areas.

Crawlability and indexability

The audit checks whether search engine crawlers can discover and access important pages. It reviews crawl directives and technical controls, including:

• Robots.txt rules that may block important sections or allow access to areas that should remain private.
• XML sitemaps, including whether they contain the correct indexable URLs and are kept up to date.
• Meta robots directives and other instructions that control indexing and link following.
• Canonical URLs, which help indicate the preferred version where similar or duplicate pages exist.
• HTTP status codes, redirects and error responses, including pages returning not found or server error responses.
• Unintended noindex directives, redirect chains and redirect loops.
• Orphan pages that are present on the website but cannot be reached through internal links.

This part of the audit distinguishes between pages that exist and pages that can realistically be discovered, crawled and included in search results. It also checks that low-value, duplicate or administrative pages are not consuming unnecessary crawl attention or appearing in search results.

Website structure and internal linking

An audit reviews how information is organised and how link equity and context move through the website. It considers whether the main navigation, category structure, breadcrumbs and contextual links make important pages easy to find for both users and crawlers.

It will usually identify pages that are too deeply buried, sections with weak internal linking and links pointing to redirected or broken URLs. It also checks anchor text, because descriptive wording gives useful context about the destination page. A logical structure should connect related content without creating excessive duplication or forcing users through unnecessary steps.

On-page optimisation

Each important page is assessed for the signals that communicate its subject and purpose. This commonly includes:

• Page titles that accurately describe the content and distinguish the page from others.
• Meta descriptions that summarise the page clearly and support an informed decision to visit.
• The main visible heading and the hierarchy of subheadings.
• URL structure, readability and consistency.
• Use of relevant terminology, entities and supporting topics in a natural context.
• Image file names, alternative text and surrounding content.
• Duplicate, missing, truncated or misleading metadata.

An audit should not treat keyword placement as a standalone objective. It evaluates whether the page satisfies the likely intent behind a search, answers the user’s need clearly and provides enough depth without unnecessary repetition. It may also compare pages targeting similar topics to identify cannibalisation, where several URLs compete for the same search purpose.

Content quality and relevance

The content review examines whether pages are accurate, useful, current and appropriately detailed for their audience. It can highlight thin or incomplete content, outdated information, vague claims, overlapping pages and content that does not match the intent suggested by its target queries.

It also considers whether important claims are supported, whether the organisation’s expertise is clear and whether content demonstrates first-hand knowledge where appropriate. Commercial pages are reviewed for clear products, services, benefits and next steps, while informational content should provide a complete and understandable answer rather than simply directing the reader elsewhere.

Depending on the site, the audit may recommend consolidating pages, improving existing content, creating material for an uncovered topic or removing pages that have no useful search or customer purpose. Any recommendation should account for existing traffic, links, conversions and business value before a page is changed or removed.

Technical performance and user experience

Technical performance affects how easily visitors can use a website and can influence search visibility. An audit checks areas such as:

• Loading performance and the resources that delay the display of useful content.
• Page responsiveness and stability as content loads.
• Mobile rendering, tap targets, font sizes and horizontal scrolling.
• Unnecessary scripts, large media files and inefficient page assets.
• Browser compatibility and key templates across different devices.
• Intrusive interstitials, distracting elements and obstacles to completing important actions.

Performance findings should be interpreted in context. A test result can reveal a technical problem, but the investigation should establish which templates, devices and user journeys are affected before development work is prioritised.

Security, accessibility and reliability

An SEO audit may review HTTPS implementation, mixed content, insecure resources, certificate problems and other issues that could undermine trust or prevent access. It can also identify reliability problems such as downtime, faulty redirects, inconsistent server responses and errors affecting key pages.

Accessibility is relevant because many improvements support both users and search engines. Clear headings, descriptive alternative text, readable content, keyboard-friendly controls and meaningful link text improve understanding and navigation. Accessibility requirements are broader than SEO, so an audit should identify relevant concerns without presenting SEO checks as a complete accessibility assessment.

Structured data

Structured data is checked to determine whether it accurately describes the page and follows the relevant guidelines. The review looks for invalid markup, missing required properties, unsuitable types, inconsistent information and structured data that does not match visible content.

Structured data can help search engines interpret entities such as products, organisations, articles, events or local businesses. It does not guarantee enhanced search results, so it should support clear, visible content rather than being used to make unsupported claims.

Images, video and other media

Media files are assessed for discoverability, relevance, accessibility and performance. This includes checking alternative text, descriptive filenames, image dimensions, compression, responsive delivery and whether important visual information is available in an accessible text form.

For video and other embedded formats, the audit may examine indexing support, surrounding explanatory content, transcripts, loading behaviour and whether the media works across devices. Media should add useful information rather than create a barrier to accessing the main page content.

Backlinks and off-page signals

An audit can review the website’s backlink profile to identify links pointing to important pages, lost links, referring domains, suspicious patterns and links that may require closer investigation. It also considers whether external references support the website’s authority within its subject area.

Backlink analysis should not focus only on volume. Relevance, editorial context, destination pages and the quality of the referring source are more useful considerations. Potentially harmful links should be assessed carefully; removing or disavowing links is not an automatic response to every low-quality or unexpected reference.

International, local and ecommerce elements

Where relevant, an audit includes specialist checks for the website’s business model. International websites may need review of language and regional targeting, alternate versions and location signals. Local websites may need consistent business details, location pages, local landing page content and profile information. Ecommerce websites require additional checks for product, category and filter URLs, stock status, faceted navigation, product variants, reviews, feeds and structured data.

These checks help prevent the same technical issue from being assessed in isolation. For example, a filter may improve product discovery for a visitor but create a large number of near-duplicate URLs for crawlers if it is not managed properly.

Analytics, search data and conversion paths

Where access is available, the audit compares technical findings with search performance and user behaviour. Search data can show which pages receive impressions but attract few visits, which queries have changed, and where visibility is being lost. Analytics and conversion data help establish whether a page attracts valuable visitors and whether technical or content issues affect important actions.

Tracking implementation is also worth checking. Incorrect analytics configuration, missing conversions, duplicated tags or inconsistent consent handling can make otherwise sound SEO decisions unreliable. Search data should be interpreted alongside business priorities rather than treated as the only measure of success.

How audit findings are prioritised

An audit is most useful when it turns observations into a practical action plan. Each finding should explain the affected URLs or templates, the evidence behind the issue, the likely SEO or user impact and the recommended resolution. Priorities are normally based on the seriousness and scale of the problem, the value of the affected pages, implementation effort and the availability of supporting evidence.

Critical access or indexing problems generally require attention before lower-impact metadata refinements. However, the order can change according to the website’s objectives. A high-value commercial template, for example, may warrant earlier work than a wider but less important set of informational pages.

SEO audits do not guarantee rankings and cannot replace ongoing testing, content improvement or technical maintenance. They provide a structured diagnosis of the conditions affecting organic search performance. Rechecking the affected pages after implementation confirms whether the intended changes were applied, while continued monitoring shows whether they produced the expected improvement.