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SEO audits are essential for keeping your website competitive and performing at its best. Performing regular SEO audits improves search rankings and user experience. Audits help find problems before they negatively impact your visibility.
Neglecting SEO audits result in missed opportunities, declining traffic, and loss of potential customers. Staying proactive makes sure your site remains aligned with search engine guidelines and user expectations.
Want to know how an SEO audit keeps you ahead of competitors and how to perform a complete SEO audit? Read on and discover how SEO audits save time, money, and effort while driving your website to success.
What is an SEO audit?
An SEO audit is a complete analysis of all factors that affect a website’s visibility in search engines. It identifies issues that impact visibility, rankings, and user experience. An SEO audit examines technical factors, content quality, backlink health, and on-page and off-page factors.
A thorough SEO audit shows how well a site follows best practices. It highlights errors that prevents a website from reaching its full potential in search rankings. Doing an audit helps website owners create a plan for improvement, supporting long-term success in organic search results.
For those who want their website to rank high on Google, an SEO audit is a detailed review of your website’s performance and visibility to improve results.
How to perform an SEO audit
An SEO audit is essential for maintaining and improving the website’s search engine performance. By systematically analyzing technical and content-related aspects, one can identify issues that are hindering your rankings and make adjustments. This guide walks you through the key steps of performing an SEO audit and make sure your website remains optimized for search engines.
1. Run a crawl and check if your website appears on Google
A crawl is when Google’s bots (crawlers) scan and index a website’s pages to understand its content. Before performing an SEO audit, it’s important to confirm that your website is indexed by Google. To do this, type “site:yourdomain.com” into Google’s search bar.
If your website does not appear in the search results, there may be an issue preventing it from being indexed. This could be due to problems such as a robots.txt file blocking search engines, a noindex meta tag, or technical errors in Google Search Console. Identify and fix the issue before continuing.
Google Search Console is an essential tool for monitoring how search engines interact with your website. Use it to check for errors, such as crawl issues, indexing problems, and security concerns. If Google struggles to access your site, it won’t be able to rank properly. Fixing errors reported in Search Console is crucial to maintaining your site’s visibility.
2. Identify organic traffic drops and content decline
A sudden drop in traffic is crucial. Google updates its algorithms all the time, and a sudden traffic drop happens for many reasons. Regularly analyzing your website’s traffic helps you spot sudden drops that indicate underlying issues. Use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to identify pages that have lost rankings.
Do you notice a decline in content, such as a specific blog post or category page? Consider updating and optimizing it to reclaim rankings. Look at competitors who have overtaken your positions and analyze what improvements they have made.
See in Morningscore how you and your competitors have ranked historically. Spot sudden traffic drops that help you identify the issue.
3. Analyze your site with an SEO tool
By analyzing your site with an SEO tool, you gain a clear understanding of what needs to be done to improve your ranking on Google. Many tools are out there, and they help you with different elements of the SEO audit at different levels of expertise. Make sure to find the best match for you and your busniess. Read the article about the 20 best SEO tools.
4. Check for duplicate versions of your website
It’s important to make sure that your website does not have multiple accessible versions, such as “http://yourdomain.com”, “https://yourdomain.com”, “www.yourdomain.com”, and “(non-www).yourdomain.com”. If these versions exist without proper redirects, search engines might treat them as separate websites, causing duplicate content issues. Make sure that all variations properly redirect to a single preferred version using 301 redirects.
5. Test your website’s speed and optimize performance
Page speed is a crucial ranking factor that directly affects user experience. Test your website’s loading speed by using Google PageSpeed Insights or with Morningscore’s website speed test. Check if your pages are too slow. If your site is slow, consider optimizing images by compressing file sizes and using formats like TinyPNG. Minimize HTTP requests, leverage browser caching, and use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to improve load times.
Perform a page speed test with Google PageSpeed Insight. Insert your website and see the results.
A fast website makes your bounce rates lower and provides better engagement.
6. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly
Mobile devices are accounting for a significant portion of internet traffic (62% in Feb 2025), so it’s essential to make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Responsive design, touch-friendly buttons, and properly scaled images all contribute to a better mobile experience, improving your rankings and user satisfaction. Use Google’s Lighthouse tool to check for issues.
- Download the Lighthouse in Google Chrome.
- Go to the website you want to check.
- Open the tool in the top right corner.
- Check how mobile-friendly your website is.
7. Verify secure connection with HTTPS
Security is another critical factor for SEO. Google prioritizes safety for its users. Make sure your site uses HTTPS, which encrypts data and protects user information. If your site is still running on HTTP, install an SSL certificate and update all internal links accordingly.
Websites without an SSL certificate appear as “Not Secure” in browsers, which deter visitors. It is important to make sure your site is safe for both users and search engines.
Check for missing SSL protocol or missing SSL redirects in Morningscore.
- Identify the landing pages with issues.
- Get a guide to fix the issue.
8. Analyze your sitemap and make sure it’s error-free
A sitemap is a structured list of a website’s pages and content hierarchy for easy navigation. Sitemaps helps search engines understand your website’s structure. However, it should not contain broken links, redirected pages, or non-canonical URLs. Inspect your sitemap in Google Search Console to make sure it’s correctly configured and free of errors. A well-structured sitemap improves indexing efficiency and make sure all important pages are discoverable.
Morningscore shows you which landinpages are missing a sitemap, missing SSL redirect. 404-pages etc. Get a guide on how to fix the issue as well.
9. Optimize your on-page SEO
On-page SEO optimizes individual web pages to improve search visibility and user experience. The goal is to make the page more search engine-friendly and improve its visibility in search results. On-page SEO elements significantly impact your rankings. The following on-page elements are important:
- A unique and descriptive title tag (within 50-60 characters).
- A compelling meta description (around 150-160 characters).
- Use headings (H1, H2, etc.) to structure content logically.
- Include relevant keywords naturally.
- Use internal links to distribute link equity, guide users, and help search engines understand your site’s structure.
- Use of external links to relevant and authoritative sites.
- Create original, helpful, and valuable content for readers.
- Alt tags to provide context for images.
- A meaningful and relevant URL structure.
Read more about on-page SEO in the article.
10. Improve website navigation and user experience
The most important thing for Google is that its users find what they are looking for. Therefore, your website must deliver on that point. A well-structured website is easier for both users and search engines to navigate.
A high bounce rate or a generally poor experience causes your site to lose relevance for Google. It is very important that user experience complies with standards and aligns with search intent.
Make sure your main menu is clear, and that important pages are easily accessible. If visitors struggle to find what they’re looking for, they are more likely to leave, increasing bounce rates and negatively impacting SEO.
To check if your website is well-structured, use Google Analytics to track bounce rates, page views, and improve high-bounce pages. Test mobile-friendliness with Google Lighthouse and make sure your navigation is clear and easy to use.
Check site speed with Google PageSpeed Insights and fix issues like image compression. Use an SEO tool like Morningscore to find broken links, and confirm your site is properly indexed in Google Search Console.
11. Fix broken links
Broken links are URLs that point to a website that no longer exist or return an error. Fixing broken links is important because they negatively impact user experience, leading to frustration and higher bounce rates. They harm SEO, as search engines view broken links as a sign of neglect or poor site quality. Broken links prevent search engines from properly crawling and indexing your site, which reduces its visibility in search results.
Use tools like Google Search Console – or your preferred SEO tool to find broken links on your site. Either remove or replace them with relevant working links. If a page has been permanently removed, set up a 301 redirect to a related page to preserve link equity.
Check broken external links and broken internal links in Morningscore. Fix your broken links and improve user experience.
12. Build high-quality backlinks
Backlinks are links from an external website linking to your website. Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors in SEO. Getting links from authoritative and relevant websites will significantly boost your rankings. Focus on earning high-quality links through guest blogging, digital PR, outreach campaigns, and high-value content creation.
Avoid spammy or low-quality backlinks, as they can lead to penalties. Read more about backlinks here.
Morningscore provides a full overview of your backlinks. Check your backlinks and their value, see competitors’ backlinks and new & lost links. See also our free link inspiration series.
13. Keep an eye on competitors
Monitoring competitors is essential for your SEO strategy. By analyzing their keyword targeting, backlink profile, content quality, and technical SEO (such as site speed and mobile optimization). Uncover areas to improve.
Additionally, reviewing their local SEO presence, including their Google My Business profile, provides insights into how you improve your own local rankings. Keeping track of factors helps you stay competitive and adjust your strategy accordingly.
14. Set up Google My Business for local SEO
If you operate a local business, having a Google My Business profile is crucial. Make sure your address, phone number, business hours, and categories are accurate and consistent across all online listings. Encourage customers to leave positive reviews, as they impact local search rankings.
15. Track and analyze traffic data
SEO is ongoing and not just a one time thing. Tracking performance are essential. Use Google Analytics, Google Search Console or other SEO-tracking tools to monitor traffic trends, identify top-performing pages, and assess the impact of changes made during your audit. Consistently analyzing data helps you to make informed decisions to improve your SEO strategy over time.
16. Schedule regular SEO audits
Performing an SEO audit regularly helps maintain your website’s health and search visibility. Systematically checking indexing, technical performance, on-page SEO, and backlinks, helps you to address any issues before they affect your rankings. Implementing practices makes sure your site remains competitive and well-optimized for search engines.
Why is SEO audits important?
An SEO audit identifies problems that prevent pages from appearing in search results. An SEO audit helps achieve higher rankings, more website traffic, and greater user engagement. Fixing issues improves site speed, indexing, and mobile usability.
Search engine algorithms prioritize well-optimized websites that provide a seamless user experience. By identifying technical, content, and backlink issues, an SEO audit helps maintain a website’s relevance and authority. Regular audits allow businesses to stay competitive in search rankings, adapt to algorithm updates, and improve their digital presence.
When to perform an SEO audit?
Perform an SEO audit every three to six months or whenever you notice warning signs such as:
- A sudden drop in organic traffic.
- An unusually high bounce rate.
- Lower conversion rates.
- A decline in Google rankings.
If you’re facing any of these issues and haven’t performed an SEO audit in the last six months, it’s a good time to run one.
Regular audits help maintain your website’s health and search visibility.
Types of SEO audits
- Crawlability & indexing audit: Verifies search engines can access and index the site correctly. It detects crawl errors, blocked pages, and duplicate content issues, preventing ranking problems. It reviews robots.txt, meta robots tags, and canonical tags to make sure proper indexing and prevent duplicate content.
- Technical SEO audit: Reviews website’s technical elements, such as site speed, mobile-friendliness, structured data, and HTTPS security. It checks if search engines can crawl and index the site properly. Fixing technical issues improves rankings and user experience.
- On-page SEO audit: Identifies areas for improvement on individual pages. Shows what to optimizing on individual pages for better search visibility. It reviews title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and keyword usage. The audit verifies that content is high quality and properly structured, improving relevance, user experience, and load speed.
- Backlink & off-page SEO audit: Analyzes the quality of external links pointing to your site, helping identify harmful or low-quality backlinks. Helps uncovering opportunities for link building through high-quality links. It reviews competitor backlinks, brand mentions, and digital PR to improve online authority and improve link-building efforts.
- User experience (UX) audit: Evaluates website usability to improve navigation, engagement, and conversions. Checks if it’s mobile-friendly and fast. A great UX reduces bounce rates and increases session duration, conversions, and engagement. Improving UX will improve your SEO performance.
- Local SEO audit (if applicable): Focuses on optimizing the website for local search results. It reviews Google My Business, local citations, and NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistency. It evaluates reviews and local search signals for better local rankings.
- Analytics & monitoring audit: Tracks and analyzes SEO performance to refine strategies for better results.Using Google Analytics and Search Console. It checks organic traffic, keyword rankings, conversion rates, and identifies technical errors. Data insights help refine SEO strategies for better results.
Which SEO tool is best?
Using an SEO tool is essential for efficiently analyzing and improving your website’s performance. SEO tools provide valuable insights into your site’s health, help identify issues, track rankings, and optimize content.
They save time by automating complex tasks like keyword research, backlink analysis, and technical audits, allowing you to focus on implementing data-driven strategies. Stay ahead of competitors with the right SEO tool and make sure your site ranks higher in search results.
Popular SEO tools include Morningscore.io, Google Search Console, Ahrefs, and SEMrush, each offering features to support your SEO work.
Read our article on the best SEO tools.
Optimize content for LLM
Optimizing content for Large Language Models (LLMs) has become more and more important. AI tools like ChatGPT affect search behavior. Making content easy to understand for LLMs increases visibility.
LLM optimization (LLMO) helps content rank in AI-driven responses. However, traditional SEO methods remain important for long-term search success. Combining both strategies help businesses stay competitive in an AI-driven digital landscape.
Read a ChatGPT ranking checklist here.
SEO Audit Checklist
Follow the SEO audit checklist. Perform an complete SEO audit, and improve your rankings in Google.
- Check if your website is indexed.
- Monitor drops in organic traffic.
- Use an SEO tool for analysis.
- Check for duplicate versions of your website.
- Test your website’s speed and optimize performance.
- Make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
- Verify a secure connection with HTTPS.
- Analyze your sitemap and make sure it’s error-free.
- Optimize your on-page SEO.
- Improve website navigation and user experience.
- Fix broken links.
- Build high-quality backlinks.
- Keep an eye on competitors.
- Set up Google My Business for local SEO.
- Track and analyze traffic data.
- Schedule regular SEO audits.
All-in-one SEO tool
Morningscore is an intuitive SEO tool that simplifies website audits by identifying technical issues, broken links, and optimization opportunities. Track keyword rankings, analyze competitors, and improve your site’s SEO health with the tool. Perfect to make sure your website stays optimized and competitive.
FAQ
What is an SEO audit?
An SEO audit is a complete analysis of your website to identify issues that affect its performance in search engine rankings. It covers technical aspects, content quality, backlinks, and user experience.
Why is an SEO audit important?
An SEO audit uncovers issues that harm your rankings. By addressing these, you improve visibility, drive more organic traffic, and make sure your website is optimized for search engines.
How often should I perform an SEO audit?
It’s recommended to perform an SEO audit at least once every 3 to 6 months, but if your website undergoes significant changes or sees traffic drops, a more frequent audit is necessary.
What should I check first during an SEO audit?
Start by checking if your website is indexed by Google and if there are any crawl errors. Making sure Google can access and index your site is crucial for SEO success.
What role do onpage SEO play in an SEO audit?
Meta tags, such as title tags and meta descriptions, are essential for SEO. They help search engines understand the content of your pages and improve click-through rates from search results. An audit makes sure they are properly optimized for relevance and length.
How does content quality affect SEO rankings?
Content quality is a major factor in SEO. Search engines prioritize valuable, well-written, and relevant content. An SEO audit helps identify underperforming content that needs updating or optimization to rank higher.
How do I identify and fix crawl errors in an SEO audit?
Crawl errors prevent search engines from accessing your site’s pages. Tools like Google Search Console help identify these errors. Fixing them involves resolving server issues, correcting broken links, or updating robots.txt files to allow proper crawling.
What’s the impact of keyword optimization in an SEO audit?
An audit checks whether your target keywords are properly integrated into your content, headings, and meta tags. Over or underuse of keywords affects your rankings. The audit helps strike the right balance for effective SEO.
What is the significance of backlinks in an SEO audit?
Backlinks are important for SEO. They signal authority and trustworthiness. An SEO audit helps identify bad backlinks that harm your rankings and opportunities for acquiring high-quality backlinks to boost your site’s credibility.
