In digital marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) plays a pivotal role in determining the online success of businesses and website owners. Achieving higher organic search rankings can transform your online presence. 

Yet, the path to SEO success is a complex maze, with countless methodologies and tools available. Whether you're a small business owner aiming to optimise your website or an SEO agency working with clients, conducting an SEO audit is critical. 

This comprehensive guide will simplify the process by combining insights from two competing sources and our expertise to present ten essential steps for conducting an SEO audit. These steps will help you identify issues and provide actionable solutions, setting your website to organic search dominance.

Understanding SEO Audits

An SEO audit is the process of evaluating how well your website is optimised for search engines. It serves as a comprehensive "health check" for your website, identifying errors that can hinder your rankings and opportunities that can enhance your visibility. 

Typically, an SEO audit covers the following areas:

• Indexing and Crawlability
• User Experience
• Site Architecture
• Competitor Benchmarking
• Keyword Research
• On-Page SEO
• Backlink Profile

These areas are crucial components of your website's SEO performance. To conduct a comprehensive SEO audit, categorise your efforts based on the specific type of audit needed.

Types of SEO Audits

If you have a large website or diverse optimisation needs, it's wise to categorise your SEO audits to allocate resources effectively. Let's explore the primary types of SEO audits, incorporating insights from our competitors:

1. SEO Content Audit

An SEO content audit involves assessing and improving the content's accuracy, recency, and quality on specific pages targeted for increased traffic or ranking improvement. It closely aligns with Google's E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines. This type of audit also identifies opportunities to optimise featured snippets, the "People Also Ask" section and passage ranking.

2. On-Page SEO Audit

On-page SEO auditing focuses on optimising the backend elements of web pages to make them more search engine-friendly. Key tasks include reviewing meta descriptions, meta titles, image alt text, and image compression, among other factors.

3. Off-Page SEO Audit

Off-page SEO auditing involves evaluating external factors that influence your website's ranking. This includes assessing backlinks from other websites considering factors like the quantity, quality, distribution, and recency of these links.

4. Technical SEO Audit

A technical SEO audit primarily addresses performance metrics like site speed and security. It identifies opportunities to fix, eliminate, or reorganise code, enhance security, transition from HTTP to HTTPS, and more.

5. Local SEO Audit

Local SEO practices enhance your business's visibility in local search results. A local SEO audit combines elements from the above audits, including listings (off-page), locally-focused content (on-page), keyword optimisation (on-page), and technical improvements (site speed and security).

Essential SEO Audit Tools

To perform a comprehensive SEO audit, you'll need the right tools. Our competitors recommend specific tools, and we endorse these recommendations:

• SEO Software: Utilise reputable SEO software such as Ahrefs, Moz Pro, or SEMrush. These tools offer site audit or crawl functionality to assess your website's health and performance. They also provide other valuable features like keyword research and backlink profiling.
• Google Search Console: Formerly known as Webmaster Tools, Google Search Console is invaluable for SEO auditing. It assists with keyword analysis, monitoring organic click-through rates, identifying technical issues, Core Web Vitals analysis, and the ability to submit optimised pages for re-indexing.
• Google Analytics: Tracking website traffic is essential for gauging the impact of your SEO efforts. Google Analytics allows you to prioritise actions based on traffic data for each page.
• Page Speed Tools: Tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights and GTMetrix analyse your website's page loading speed and offer recommendations for improvement.

In the next section, we will delve into the ten critical steps of a comprehensive SEO audit, integrating insights from our competitors and providing additional context and recommendations.

The 10-Step SEO Audit Process

Step 1: Check for Indexing Issues

Pages that are not indexed cannot rank in search results. Ensuring your web pages are correctly indexed is fundamental to SEO success. In this step, we will guide you on using Google Search Console to check for indexing issues and resolve them effectively.

1. Using Google Search Console to Check Indexing Status

• Access Google Search Console: Log in to your Google Search Console account and select the property (website) you want to audit.
• Navigate to the "Index" Section: On the left-hand menu, click the "Index" section. Here, you'll find important information about how Google indexes your site.
• Check the "Coverage" Report: Within the "Index" section, click on "Coverage." This report provides an overview of how many pages from your website are indexed and how many might have issues.
• Review Indexing Status: The "Coverage" report will display indexed and non-indexed pages and any errors and warnings that need attention. Pay close attention to the reasons for non-indexed pages, including issues like "Crawl Anomaly" or "Submitted URL not selected as canonical."

2. Addressing Indexing Issues

• Fix Errors: If you identify any errors in the "Coverage" report, click on the specific error to learn more about it. Google often guides us on how to fix these issues. Common errors include server errors, redirect errors, and robots.txt issues.
• Address Coverage Warnings: Warnings may indicate issues like "Indexed, though blocked by robots.txt" or "Indexed, not submitted in sitemap." Review these warnings and take appropriate actions. For example, if a page is indexed but blocked by robots.txt, you may need to update your robots.txt file.
• Resolving Crawl Anomalies: If you encounter crawl anomalies, investigate the root causes. These anomalies can result from changes in your website's structure or issues with internal linking. Ensure that your sitemap.xml file is up to date and submitted to Google.
• Request Indexing: If you've made significant changes to a page or resolved issues preventing indexing, you can request indexing in Google Search Console. Click on "URL Inspection" and enter the URL you want to be indexed. Google will then review the page for indexing.

Remember that not all pages on your website need to be indexed, such as admin pages, alternate versions with canonical tags, or pages with redirects. Ensure that the pages you want to rank in search results are indexed.

Step 2: Address Duplicate Versions of Your Site

Multiple versions of your website (e.g., with or without "www," HTTP vs. HTTPS) can cause crawling, indexing, and ranking issues. Search engines may treat these versions as duplicates, potentially diluting your website's authority.

In this step, we'll show you how to address and consolidate duplicate versions of your site.

1. Check for Duplicate Versions

• HTTP vs. HTTPS: First, ensure your website runs on the secure HTTPS protocol. Google prefers secure websites, which are essential for user trust and SEO. You can check this by entering "http://yourdomain.com" and "https://yourdomain.com" into your web browser. You should be automatically redirected to the secure version (https).
• WWW vs. Non-WWW: Similarly, check if your website consistently uses "www" or not. Enter both "www.yourdomain.com" and "yourdomain.com" in your browser. You should be redirected to your preferred version (either with or without "www"). Choose one version and stick with it.

2. Implement Redirects

For the versions you want to eliminate, implement permanent (301) redirects to the preferred versions. 

Here's how:

1. Redirect from HTTP to HTTPS

• Edit Your .htaccess File: If your website uses Apache, you can edit the .htaccess file in your website's root directory. Add the following code to redirect HTTP to HTTPS:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

• Use CMS Settings: If you use a content management system (CMS) like WordPress, plugins (e.g., Really Simple SSL) can handle HTTPS redirection automatically.

2. Redirect from Non-WWW to WWW (or Vice Versa)

• Edit Your .htaccess File: To enforce either "www" or non-" www," add the following code to your .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.yourdomain\.com [NC]

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://yourdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301]

Or

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yourdomain\.com [NC]

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.yourdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301]

• CMS Settings: If you're using a CMS, plugins (e.g., Yoast SEO for WordPress) allow you to configure your preferred domain.

3. Validate Redirects

After implementing these redirects, test them by entering various URL versions in your browser. Ensure that they all redirect to your preferred version (e.g., from HTTP to HTTPS, from non-www" to "www," or vice versa).

4. Update Links and Canonical Tags

In addition to setting up redirects, update all internal links and canonical tags on your website to reflect your preferred version. This ensures that search engines understand your choice and can index your site correctly.

Step 3: Perform a Site Crawl for Technical Issues

A comprehensive site crawl is crucial to identify and address technical issues impacting your website's SEO performance. This step will show you how to perform a site crawl using SEO auditing tools and address common technical issues.

1. Use SEO Auditing Tools

To perform a site crawl effectively, you'll need the assistance of SEO auditing tools like Ahrefs, Moz Pro, SEMrush, or Google Search Console. These tools will help you analyse your website's technical health, identify issues, and provide recommendations for improvement.

2. Steps to Perform a Site Crawl:

1. Set Up Your SEO Auditing Tool: 

If you haven't already, sign up for one of the recommended SEO auditing tools and set up your project or campaign. You'll need to connect your website to the tool to initiate the crawl.

2. Configure Crawl Settings: 

Configure the crawl settings within your chosen tool before starting the crawl. These settings may include specifying the scope of the crawl (e.g., the entire website or specific sections), determining crawl depth, and setting crawl speed.

3. Initiate the Crawl: 

Start the site crawl using the tool's interface. The tool will systematically analyse your website's pages, content, and technical elements.

4. Review Site Audit Results: 

Once the crawl is complete, review the results provided by the tool. 

Pay particular attention to the following categories of issues:

• Crawlability Issues: Check for pages with 4xx or 5xx HTTP status codes, which indicate server errors or missing pages.
• Redirect Issues: Identify redirect chains or loops that can slow page load times and affect SEO.
• Sitemap Issues: Ensure that your sitemap is correctly configured and up to date. Address any discrepancies between your sitemap and the actual website structure.
• HTTPS Issues: Verify that your SSL certificate is correctly installed and that all pages are served over HTTPS.
• Internal Link Issues: Look for broken internal links or links that point to non-existent pages.
• On-Page SEO Issues: Check for missing or duplicate meta titles, meta descriptions, and header tags (H1, H2, H3).
• Markup Issues: Review structured data markup (schema.org) and ensure it complies with Google's guidelines.
• Performance Issues: Identify pages that load slowly and take steps to optimise them for speed.
• Mobile Usability: Address any mobile usability issues that may affect the user experience on mobile devices.
• Core Web Vitals: Examine metrics such as Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) to assess user experience.

Step 4: Check for Manual Actions and Ensure Mobile-Friendliness

In this step, we'll cover two critical aspects of your SEO audit: checking for manual actions imposed by search engines and ensuring your website is mobile-friendly. These factors can significantly impact your search rankings and user experience.

1. Check for Manual Actions:

Manual actions are penalties imposed by search engines like Google when they discover that a website violates their guidelines. These actions can result in a significant drop in search rankings. 

To check for manual actions, follow these steps:

a. Use Google Search Console: 

Google Search Console is a valuable tool for monitoring your website's performance and identifying manual actions. 

Here's how to check for manual actions:

• Log in to Google Search Console.
• Select your property (website) from the dashboard.
• In the left-hand menu, navigate to "Security & Manual Actions" and click "Manual Actions."
• If there are any manual actions on your site, Google will provide details about the issue, including a description of the problem and steps to fix it.
• If necessary, address the issues according to Google's recommendations and submit a reconsideration request.

b. Addressing Manual Actions: 

The process of addressing manual actions depends on the nature of the penalty. Common reasons for manual actions include spammy backlinks, thin content, and keyword stuffing. Follow Google's guidelines and best practices to rectify the issues. Once the issues are resolved, you can submit a reconsideration request through Google Search Console.

2. Ensure Mobile-Friendliness:

As mobile devices dominate internet usage, having a mobile-friendly website is crucial. Google considers mobile-friendliness a ranking factor and a poor mobile experience can lead to a drop in rankings.

Here's how to ensure your website is mobile-friendly:

a. Use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test:

• Go to Google's Mobile-Friendly Test tool (search for it on Google).
• Enter your website's URL and click "Test URL."
• Google will analyse your site and report its mobile-friendliness, including any issues detected.
• Address any issues highlighted in the report. Common problems may include text too small to read on mobile screens, mobile viewport issues, and clickable elements too close together.

b. Responsive Web Design: 

Ensure your website uses responsive web design techniques. Responsive design automatically adjusts the layout and content to fit various screen sizes, providing an optimal user experience on desktop and mobile devices.

c. Page Load Speed: 

Mobile users often have slower connections, so optimising your website for fast loading on mobile devices is crucial. Compress images, minimise code, and use content delivery networks (CDNs) to improve page load speed.

d. Test on Real Mobile Devices: 

In addition to using testing tools, testing your website on real mobile devices is essential to ensure that it functions correctly and provides a seamless user experience.

Step 5: Analyse Page Speed and Core Web Vitals

In this step, we'll focus on two critical aspects of your website's performance: page speed and Core Web Vitals. These factors are crucial for SEO and user experience, as slow-loading pages can lead to higher bounce rates and lower search engine rankings. 

Here's how to analyse and improve your website's page speed and Core Web Vitals:

1. Analyse Page Speed:

a. Use Google's PageSpeed Insights:

• Go to Google's PageSpeed Insights tool (search for it on Google).
• Enter your website's URL and click "Analyse."
• Google will assess your page and provide a PageSpeed score for your site's mobile and desktop versions. It will also offer suggestions for improving your page speed.
• Pay attention to the recommendations provided by Google, which may include optimising images, leveraging browser caching, and minimising JavaScript and CSS.

b. Optimise Images and Multimedia: 

Images and multimedia files often contribute to slow page loading times. Use image compression techniques and consider lazy loading for multimedia elements to improve load times.

c. Minimise HTTP Requests: 

Reduce the number of HTTP requests your web pages make by combining CSS and JavaScript files and minimising unnecessary elements.

d. Use Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): 

CDNs distribute your website's content across multiple servers worldwide, delivering content to users from the nearest server. This significantly improves loading times, especially for users in different geographic locations.

e. Implement Browser Caching: 

Browser caching allows repeat visitors to load your website faster by storing cached copies of static resources on their devices.

2. Analyse Core Web Vitals:

a. Use Google Search Console:

• Log in to Google Search Console.
• Select your property (website) from the dashboard.
• In the left-hand menu, navigate to "Enhancements" and click "Core Web Vitals."
• Google will provide data on how your pages perform in terms of Core Web Vitals, including metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).
• Review the data to identify pages with poor Core Web Vitals performance.

b. Improve LCP, FID, and CLS:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This metric measures how quickly the largest content element on a page loads. To improve LCP, optimise images and ensure your server delivers content efficiently.
• First Input Delay (FID): FID measures the delay between a user's first interaction (e.g., clicking a link) and the browser's response. To improve FID, minimise JavaScript execution and use asynchronous loading for scripts.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): CLS quantifies how much a page's layout shifts during loading. To improve CLS, ensure that page elements have predefined dimensions and avoid inserting content dynamically that pushes existing content down.

c. Monitor Progress: 

Use Google Search Console to monitor the progress of your Core Web Vitals improvements over time. Google provides guidance and thresholds for good performance in these metrics.

Step 6: Analyse and Optimise Internal Links

In this step, we'll analyse and optimise your website's internal links. Internal links play a crucial role in SEO for several reasons:

• Crawling and Indexing: Internal links help search engine crawlers discover and index all the pages on your website. They create a hierarchy of importance, indicating which pages are more critical.
• User Navigation: Internal links assist users in navigating your website, making it easier for them to find relevant content and stay engaged.
• Link Equity Distribution: Internal links distribute link equity (also known as "authority" or "link juice") from one page to another within your website. This can help boost the rankings of important pages.

Here's how to analyse and optimise your internal links for SEO:

a. Set Up a Site Audit:

If you haven't already, set up a comprehensive site audit using an SEO tool like SEMrush or Ahrefs. These tools will crawl your website and identify various issues, including those related to internal links.

b. Access the Internal Linking Report:

After completing the site audit, navigate to the tool's internal linking or internal links report. This report will provide insights into your website's internal linking structure.

c. Analyse Internal Link Metrics:

Review the following metrics related to your internal links:

• Number of internal links pointing to each page.
• Page authority (or similar metric) of the pages with the most internal links.
• Pages with the least internal links.
• The anchor text is used in internal links.

d. Identify Linking Opportunities:

• Identify pages on your website that could benefit from more internal links. These may include cornerstone content, product/service pages, or pages with valuable information.
• Consider creating new content or optimising existing content to provide opportunities for internal linking.
• Implement best practices for internal linking.

Step 7: Monitor Your Organic Traffic and Rankings

After performing an SEO audit and implementing necessary improvements, it's crucial to monitor the impact of your efforts on your website's organic traffic and search engine rankings. This step involves regularly tracking and analysing data to assess the effectiveness of your SEO strategy. 

Here's how to do it:

Use Google Search Console:

a. Monitor Search Performance:

In Google Search Console, navigate to the "Performance" section. 

Here, you can track key metrics related to your website's performance in Google Search.

Review metrics such as:

• Total clicks: The number of times users clicked on your website's search results.
• Total impressions: The number of times your website's search results were displayed to users.
• Average click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of users who clicked on your results after seeing them.
• Average position: The ranking of your website's pages in search results.

b. Analyse Queries and Pages:

• Examine the queries that are driving organic traffic to your website. Identify which keywords are performing well and which ones may need optimisation.
• Review the pages that receive the most clicks and impressions. Ensure these pages are well-optimised and continue to provide value to users.

c. Set Up Performance Alerts:

• Google Search Console allows you to set up performance alerts. Create alerts for significant clicks, impressions, CTR, or average position changes to stay informed about sudden fluctuations.
• Track keyword rankings.

Step 8: Enhance Your Content and User Experience

Continuously improving your website's content and user experience is fundamental to a successful SEO strategy. In this step, we'll delve into strategies for enhancing your content and providing a better user experience, which can positively impact your search engine rankings. 

Here's what you need to do:

1. Content Quality and Relevance:

a. Content Audit:

• Conduct a thorough content audit to evaluate your existing content's quality, relevance, and performance. Identify pages that need improvement, updates, or removal.
• Focus on content that drives organic traffic and high-traffic landing pages.

b. Keyword Optimisation:

• Ensure that your content is optimised for relevant keywords. Conduct keyword research to identify new keywords and phrases to target.
• Update existing content to incorporate newly discovered keywords and improve keyword placement.

c. High-Quality Content:

• Create high-quality, informative, and engaging content that provides value to your audience. Aim to answer user queries comprehensively.
• Use clear headings, subheadings, and formatting to make your content easy to read and navigate.
• Improve UX. 

Step 9: Build High-Quality Backlinks

Building high-quality backlinks is a critical aspect of SEO. Backlinks, or inbound or incoming links, are links from other websites that point to your site. Search engines view these links as votes of confidence, indicating that your content is valuable and authoritative. 

Here's how to effectively build backlinks:

1. Link Quality Over Quantity:

• Focus on acquiring links from authoritative and relevant websites within your industry or niche.
• Avoid low-quality and spammy backlinks, as they can harm your SEO efforts.
• Aim for a diverse backlink profile with a mix of link types, including editorial, guest posts, resource links, and more.

2. Content Quality:

• Create high-quality, informative, and shareable content that naturally attracts backlinks.
• Content that provides unique insights, data, or solutions is more likely to earn links.
• Promote your content through various channels, including social media and email outreach.

3. Competitor Analysis:

• Analyse the backlink profiles of your top competitors to identify potential link-building opportunities.
• Look for websites that link to your competitors but not to your site, as these can be valuable prospects.

4. Guest Blogging:

• Contribute guest posts to authoritative websites within your niche.
• Ensure your guest posts are well-researched, valuable, and relevant to the host site's audience.
• Include a link back to your website within the guest post's author bio or content, where relevant.

5. Broken Link Building:

• Identify broken links on other websites, particularly those that were previously linked to content similar to yours.
• Reach out to the website owner or webmaster and suggest replacing the broken link with a link to your relevant content.

6. Outreach and Relationship Building:

• Build relationships with influencers, bloggers, and webmasters in your industry.
• Outreach to relevant websites and offer to collaborate, contribute content, or provide expert insights.
• Personalise your outreach emails and focus on mutual benefits.

7. Social Media Promotion:

• Share your content on social media platforms to increase its visibility.
• Engage with your audience and encourage social sharing, which can lead to more backlinks.

8. Resource Pages:

• Identify resource pages or link roundups that list useful websites and content in your niche.
• Reach out to the page owner and suggest adding your website or content as a valuable resource.

9. Local and Niche Directories:

• List your business in local and niche directories relevant to your industry.
• Ensure that your business information is accurate and consistent across all directories.

10. Monitor Backlinks:

• Regularly monitor your backlink profile using tools like Semrush or Ahrefs to identify new links and potential issues.
• Disavow toxic or spammy backlinks to prevent them from negatively affecting your SEO.

11. Anchor Text Diversity:

• Use various anchor text to maintain a natural and diverse link profile when building backlinks.
• Avoid over-optimised anchor text that may raise red flags with search engines.

12. Internal Linking:

• Implement internal linking strategies to connect related pages within your website.
• Use descriptive anchor text to guide users and search engines to valuable content.

13. Earning Press Coverage:

• Create newsworthy content or events within your industry that may attract press coverage and backlinks.
• Reach out to journalists and publications with press releases or story pitches.

14. Content Syndication:

• Syndicate your content on reputable platforms such as Medium or LinkedIn to reach wider audiences and gain backlinks.

15. Analyse Backlink Performance:

• Assess the impact of acquired backlinks on your website's rankings and traffic.
• Track referral traffic from backlinks and monitor keyword rankings.

16. Avoid Black Hat SEO:

• Do not use black hat SEO practices like buying links or participating in link schemes. These can lead to penalties from search engines.

Step 10: Measure and Analyse Your SEO Results

Once you've implemented the various SEO strategies and optimisations, it's essential to measure and analyse the results of your efforts. SEO is an ongoing process, and tracking your progress helps refine your strategies and improve rankings over time. 

Final Thoughts

Conducting a successful SEO audit requires a systematic approach that covers various aspects of your website. By following our 10-step checklist, you'll be equipped to uncover issues, optimise your site, and achieve higher organic search rankings. Remember that SEO results may take time, so patience is key. Regularly reviewing and adapting your strategies based on data and performance metrics is crucial for long-term SEO success.