A Comprehensive SEO Audit Checklist for 2024

Technical SEO

Technical SEO refers to the optimization of a website’s technical aspects to improve its visibility and performance in search engine rankings.

The backend elements of your website are often the most neglected by third-party website designers. Technical SEO focuses on the backend elements of a website, such as website structure, code, and server configurations. These elements ensure that search engines can easily crawl, index, and understand website content.

Technical SEO also involves mobile-friendliness, website speed, HTTPS implementation, crawling, indexing, site errors, redirects, and site architecture.

By auditing these technical aspects, you can identify the factors negatively impacting your website’s visibility, user experience, and search engine rankings.

Check for Mobile-Friendliness

Mobile users continue to steadily increase and have become a significant portion of the overall search volume. All websites should be optimized for mobile and you should monitor your mobile users in Google Analytics and search console.

Evaluating the design, layout, and functionality of your site to ensure it is easily accessible and usable on smartphones and tablets is the first step of an SEO audit. With the importance of mobile users, if your website cannot be optimized for mobile devices, you may need to stop the audit and begin a new website build.

Verify HTTPS

HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is a secure version of HTTP that encrypts data transmitted between a user’s browser and a website. Verifying HTTPS means ensuring that your website has an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate installed, which establishes a secure connection and protects sensitive information shared by users.

Like mobile usability, a site without an SSL certificate cuts you off from potential visitors. With HTTPS your site will not perform in search and browsers will warn users of the dangers of visiting your site.

Essentially you are putting a stop sign in front of your website.

Identify Site Errors

This involves conducting a thorough analysis of your website to identify any technical or functional issues that may negatively impact its performance, user experience, or search engine rankings.

This is a complex process that audits many elements but the core and most common site errors include broken links, server errors, missing pages, or issues with page load speed. Nearly all sites will return errors during an SEO audit.

These quick fixes can help organic search results.

Address Duplicate Content

Duplicate content or substantially similar content appearing on multiple web pages hurts performance.

Pages with similar URLs, page titles, text, and images confuse spiders because there is no clear determination of the most relevant page. This issue can be described as cannibalization where your high-quality is canceling out the value of other pages.

In some cases, pages are duplicated in error. In many cases, a number of blogs about the same keyword have been created by multiple users.

Using Google Analytics and Search Console can identify the highest-performing page. Compile an SEO audit checklist spreadsheet so writers and content creators can optimize content and redirect duplicate content into a single URL.

Review Crawl Errors

Crawl errors occur when search engine bots encounter difficulties accessing and indexing your website’s pages. By reviewing crawl errors, you can identify and address issues that prevent search engines from properly exploring and understanding your site’s content.

Common crawl errors include broken links, server errors, or pages blocked from being crawled in the website’s robots.txt file. Each of these technical issues can be remedied with simple adjustments.

Advanced Technical SEO Audit Checklist

Some SEO audit issues are more difficult to repair. For experienced developers and website designers, these next steps are critical to identifying technical errors that may impact performance in search engines. These techniques require more skills than some domain owners possess.

Evaluate Indexation Issues

When search engines crawl your web pages and add to their data, your site is indexed and able to be retrieved in search results.

Evaluating indexation issues involves assessing whether all desired pages on your website are being properly indexed by search engines.

• Indexing Coverage: Review the coverage of indexed pages on your website. Compare the total number of pages you want to be indexed with the actual number of indexed pages. Identify any discrepancies or missing pages that should be indexed.
• XML Sitemaps: Check if your website has an XML sitemap, which is a file that lists all the important pages on your site. Ensure that your XML sitemap is up to date, contains the correct URLs, and has been submitted to search engines for crawling and indexing.
• Robots.txt: Examine your robots.txt file, a text file that tells search engine crawlers which pages or sections of your website to crawl and index. There should be no restrictions or blocks that may prevent search engines from indexing essential pages. You may have private pages Google should not index; otherwise, your Robots.txt file should allow all pages to be crawled.
• Crawl Errors: Monitor your website’s crawl errors in Google Search Console or other SEO tools like Moz and SEMrush.
  Crawl errors can indicate issues with indexation, such as broken links, server errors, or other factors preventing search engines from accessing and indexing certain pages.
• Canonicalization: Check that each page has a proper canonical tag specifying its preferred version.
  Canonical tags help search engines understand which page to prioritize when there are multiple versions of the same content, avoiding duplicate content issues and ensuring proper indexation. Google Search Console will display alternate canonicalization that may indicate duplicate or similar content.
• URL Structure: Evaluate your website’s URL structure to ensure it is clear, concise, and follows best practices. Clean and optimized URLs improve search engine crawls and indexing.
• Manage Redirects: Review and manage redirects to maintain proper link structure and avoid broken links. As part of an SEO audit, you may plan to redirect pages. When redirects are created, you should replace internal links with the new URL.

On-page SEO

On-page SEO occurs on the front-end elements of your web pages. These are also known as on-page elements because it includes what the users interact with including text, images, videos, and the page titles and meta descriptions that appear in organic search.

The goal of the on-page SEO audit phase focuses on appealing to search engines and users. On-page SEO factors include keyword research and usage, meta tags (such as title tags and meta descriptions), header tags, content optimization, internal linking, image optimization, and URL structure.

Check Keyword Usage

There are many variations of keywords even with the specific industry and market you serve. For instance, transactional keywords show commercial intent while informational keywords appeal to users in a research or discovery phase.

Your content needs to be keyword rich and focused, not the specific search intent of your target audience.

Checking keyword usage involves analyzing how effectively and appropriately keywords are incorporated into your website’s content. This process helps ensure that relevant keywords are strategically used in various elements of your web pages to optimize their visibility in search engine results.

Optimize Title Tags

“Title tag” tags are HTML elements that define the title of a web page. Optimizing title tags involves creating unique and highly descriptive copy.

Each title should include the exact keyword phrase for each page on your website. This helps search engines understand the topic and relevance of your content and can improve click-through rates from search engine results pages (SERPs).

You should never have the same title tag used on duplicate pages.

Craft Compelling Meta Descriptions

“Meta description: descriptions are HTML attributes that provide a preview of your web page’s content.

To stand out in search, craft compelling meta descriptions. Writing concise and engaging descriptions that accurately represent the page’s content and entice users to click on the search result is valuable with your SEO audit.

Well-crafted meta descriptions can improve click-through rates and drive more organic traffic to your website. Missing meta-descriptions may result in penalization by algorithms and failure to compete. Even if your page earns a high rank in Google and other search engines, users will likely choose one of the first page results with the best descriptions.

Use Header Tags Appropriately

Even the most experienced copywriters can make errors in header tags.

Header tags, such as H1, H2, H3, etc., are HTML elements that structure the headings and subheadings of a web page.

Using header tags appropriately involves organizing your content hierarchy with clear and descriptive headings. This helps both users and search engines understand the structure and context of your content, improving readability and SEO.

An SEO audit checklist spreadsheet should account for all instances of header errors.

Include Image Alt Attributes

Image SEO is often overlooked.

Image alt attributes, also known as alt tags, are HTML attributes that provide alternative text for images. Including image alt attributes involves describing the content or purpose of an image using relevant keywords.

Image SEO has become an essential part of SEO audits to improve accessibility for visually impaired users and contributes to overall SEO optimization.

Internal linking

Internal linking refers to linking relevant pages within your own website. While technical SEO audits check the state of existing internal links, on-page SEO audits review the number of links on your site and identify opportunities to improve linking.

Implementing internal linking involves strategically placing links to other pages on your website to improve navigation, distribute link authority, and establish contextual relationships between content. Internal links help search engines discover and index your web pages more effectively, enhancing the overall visibility and structure of your website.

Advanced On-Page SEO

Like technical SEO audits, an on-page SEO audit checklist can include more advanced techniques. This largely includes the external links you add to your site. There are some clear risks when adding outbound links that should be considered and monitored in all subsequent audits.

Manage Outbound Linking

Outbound linking is an important aspect of SEO that involves carefully selecting and managing the links that point from your website to other external websites.

Here’s how it relates to your SEO audit:

• Quality and Relevance: Ensure that the outbound links from your website are of high quality and relevant to your content. Linking to reputable and authoritative sources can enhance your website’s credibility and provide additional value to your visitors.
  An SEO audit should identify external links that are not competitors and are accepted as trustworthy sources. Common high authority sites are .edu and .gov domains.
• Avoid Broken Links: Regularly check your outbound links to ensure they are not broken or leading to non-existent pages. Broken links can negatively impact user experience and signal to search engines that your website may not be well-maintained.
• Nofollow Attribute: Consider using the “nofollow” attribute for certain outbound links when appropriate. The nofollow attribute tells search engines not to pass authority or “link juice” to the linked website. During an SEO audit, you may identify existing outbound links that may be interesting to users and relevant to your website content. However, if a site is not high authority, a “nofollow” attribute reduces your risk. Generally, when in doubt, do not include an outbound link.
• Anchor Text: Use descriptive and relevant anchor text when linking to external websites. Anchor text helps search engines understand the context and relevance of the related content. This is also exceptionally helpful for users so they know they are leaving your site. Avoid generic phrases like “click here” and “for more information.” Instead, use keywords that accurately describe the destination page.

Ensure Content Quality

The second advanced on-page SEO audit phase is content quality control. Users and search engines reward high-quality content.

A straightforward example is outdated content that references an earlier period. For instance, “Top 10 Places to Visit in 2019” should be refreshed yearly.

Content quality is a crucial aspect of SEO that focuses on creating valuable, informative, and engaging content for your website visitors.

This SEO audit process can take an extended period but can be split into steps:

• Grammar and Accuracy: This sounds obvious but many websites feature major grammar and spelling issues on primary service pages. With plugins like Grammarly and AI-assisted proofreading, you can easily identify poor grammar and spelling errors. Error-free content improves user experience and credibility. Proofread your content before publishing to ensure accuracy and check during your audits.
• Relevance and Value: Ensure your content is relevant to your target audience and provides value. Out-dated, thin, and irrelevant content should be added to your SEO audit checklist spreadsheet. Optimizing content should be part of your ongoing SEO campaign.
• Originality and Uniqueness: Old copy may not represent your current brand. Create original and unique content that distinguishes you from competitors. It is evident that all websites must avoid duplicating content from other sources. Search engines prioritize original content and penalize duplicate or plagiarized content. While this is important, the originality of your content, including meta tags, images, video, and copy, earn attention and engagement from visitors.
• Readability and Structure: Ensure your content is easy to read and understand. Use proper formatting, headings, paragraphs, and bullet points to improve readability. Break down complex topics into digestible chunks and use clear language.
  As more users access the internet through mobile devices, consider how content appears on mobile devices.
• Multimedia Elements: Enhance your content with relevant images, videos, infographics, or other multimedia elements.
  Visuals can improve user engagement and make your content more visually appealing. Great infographics are shareable content that will likely earn your site backlinks. Dynamic images are valuable for image searches. Likewise, video search is vital for many businesses.
• User Intent: Align your content with user intent by understanding what your target audience is searching for. Conduct keyword research and create content that satisfies user queries and provides the information they seek.

A key ranking factor for all of your web pages is the value of your content. On-page audits identify opportunities for your content team to improve your page performance. Instead of guessing what pages to refresh, your SEO campaign will have a clear and data-driven strategy.

Off-page SEO

The objective of building high-quality backlinks and building brand exposure across the internet encompasses off-page SEO.

The most vital part of off-page SEO audits is protecting your online reputation and social media engagement. Common off-page SEO strategies include link building, social media marketing, guest blogging, influencer outreach, online reputation management, and participation in relevant online communities and forums.

The efforts of your off-page SEO campaign should be monitored regularly as part of your audit process. Potential customers and search engines understand the credibility, popularity, and relevance of your website through these factors. Poor reviews, negative comments, low-quality backlinks, and issues can have adverse effects on your domain authority.

Check Backlinks

Checking backlinks involves analyzing the quantity, quality, and relevance of the various external links and websites that link to your website. Backlinks play a crucial role in SEO as they signal to search engines the credibility and authority of your website.

During your SEO audit assessing your backlink profile identifies opportunities to build high-quality links and address any issues that may be negatively impacting your SEO efforts.

The second stage of your backlink audit is to schedule outreach. Identifying broken links on relevant sites can help earn backlinks to your related content. Sharing blog post topics with press and media can earn new opportunities.

Monitor Social Media Mentions

Social media is typically considered a unique marketing channel. However, the reputation of your social media profiles has impacts on search engine optimization.

Monitoring social media mentions involves keeping track of when your brand, website, or content is mentioned on various social media platforms. This helps you stay informed about conversations surrounding your brand and allows you to engage with users who are discussing or sharing your content.

Monitoring social media mentions can provide valuable insights into brand sentiment, user feedback, and opportunities for interaction and promotion.

Assess Press Mentions

Small businesses and many industries may not appear in the press and media. Other businesses regularly interact with public media outlets. Assessing press mentions involves monitoring and evaluating instances where your business, website, or content is mentioned in press releases, news articles, or other media outlets.

Press mentions can contribute to your online reputation, brand exposure, and SEO. During a SEO audit, you can identify opportunities for PR outreach, reputation management, and building relationships with journalists or influencers in your industry.

Verify Directory Listings

Verifying directory listings and citations across the internet. This involves reviewing the accuracy and consistency of your business information across various online directories and local listings.

Directory listings play a role in local SEO, helping search engines understand your business’s location, contact details, and industry relevance. All your name, address and phone numbers should be accurate in all online directory listings. This improves your visibility in local search results and enhances your overall online presence.

Evaluate Social Media Engagement

Evaluating social media engagement involves assessing the level of interaction, participation, and response generated by your social media activities. It includes metrics such as likes, comments, shares, and follower growth.

By analyzing social media engagement, you can gauge the effectiveness of your social media strategy, identify content that resonates with your audience, and make informed decisions to optimize your social media presence.

A lot of on-page content like blogs are shareable content on social media. Adapting a traditional blog post for social media platforms may not boost search results but the long term benefits to increasing user engagement is fruitful.

Findings and Write-Up

At the completion of this SEO audit, you will need to interpret the data finding and make recommendations moving forward. SEO audit tools can help but your SEO campaign should be customized to the problems and opportunities you identify.

Every SEO audit will identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to your unique business goals. Develop an action plan based on your findings that suits your capabilities and capacity to execute work.

Prioritize improvements and allocate resources accordingly because you need to complete tasks effectively. Many of the companies we work with at Valve+Meter identify issues within their digital marketing but cannot execute fixes and create new content. Working with a professional marketing agency helps to optimize your site and other channels for SEO.

Ultimately, whether you work with an agency or perform an SEO campaign internally, an SEO audit is only effective if it is followed by subsequent action.