When did you last audit your site’s SEO health?
An SEO audit checklist is an effective way to knock it out of the park.
Search engines like Google roll out search updates frequently. Without a way to proactively find threats to your site’s visibility, an algorithm shakeup might leave it at rock bottom, overnight.
Imagine waking up to lower visibility, reduced traffic, and skimpier earnings.
Don’t risk it in 2024.
Luckily for you, this 13-step SEO audit checklist can help.
Think of an SEO audit checklist as your website's buddy, ensuring it stays in perfect SEO shape. With tools like Google Analytics and LinkStorm, you can proactively spot SEO issues.
Addressing them early prevents potential damage to your website. Use this 13-step SEO audit checklist to conduct a thorough audit of your website.
Crawlability ensures easy navigation for search bots, while indexability gauges the likelihood of your pages appearing in search results.
Checking for issues related to these is a vital step in your 2024 SEO audit checklist.
It makes pages eligible to appear in search results.
Use SEO audit tools like Lumar, Screaming Frog, or Semrush to analyze your entire site. They identify crawlability and indexability issues and produce a site health score report.
Take a look at the example below showing a crawlability and indexability analysis by Semrush.
Image via Semrush
So, how do you keep these two components in check?
Here are some tips:
Your audience is an impatient lot.
That’s why site speed remains one of the most significant ranking factors, especially for measuring real-world user experience (UX).
According to Portent, a 0-4 second load speed is best for optimum conversion rates. If it goes over five seconds, conversion rates drop significantly.
Leverage website speed test tools like Google Analytics and PageSpeed Insights for page-by-page load time analysis.
Check this example of Google Analytics in action.
Image via Loves Data
Boost your site speed and performance through:
Trimming even a few seconds off page load times can make a huge difference.
The dreaded 404 error from broken or dead links can frustrate your visitors and confuse search bots.
That's why auditing internal and external links should be on every SEO checklist.
Use website audit tools like Semrush, Screaming Frog, or Majestic to visually map your current link landscape and analysis through:
If you use Semrush, for example, you’ll get a backlink audit report like this.
Image via Semrush
The right linking strategy strengthens organic search visibility; so a backlink audit is a must-have step on your SEO audit checklist.
Unlike spinning straw into gold, a mere SEO audit won't miraculously enhance poor content. You may have to run it through various readability checkers, plagiarism checkers, and AI content detectors to ensure what you publish is of high quality.
Your SEO audit checklist should prioritize evaluating your content’s quality.
To achieve this goal consider a comprehensive content quality audit that involves the following tasks:
For instance, Hemingway examines each sentence by evaluating its length, structure, and word order. The tool determines if it follows principles of proper sentence construction, including correctness, readability, and style consistency.
Image via Hemingway
Sharing high-quality content is one of the best customer retention strategies that builds loyalty and encourages repeat visitors.
Over 95% of the global population can access the internet via mobile. Moreover, as of November 2023, mobile search constitutes 56% of all organic traffic.
Ensuring excellent mobile UX is non-negotiable.
However, Google discontinued its Mobile Friendly test starting December 1, 2023.
Alternative testing tools, such as Website Grader, MobiReady, and WebPage Test will help you complete the following:
Here’s a sample report provided by Website Grader on Google.
Image via Website Grader
An excellent mobile experience matters to reach today's predominantly mobile searchers and site visitors.
Alarmingly, 60% of customers abandon their purchases due to poor UX.
Google values sites that provide good UX aligned with user intent.
Here’s a checklist of things to do when you conduct an SEO audit of your website to test its UX:
The following image shows some UX metrics to keep an eye out for during your next SEO audit.
Image via Search Engine Land
Are you aware that your site is attacked on average 172 times daily?
It’s important to address hacking threats, especially with the expansion of Core Web Vitals in 2021.
Unless you’ve got $ 4.45 million to spare, you need to add a security audit to your SEO audit checklist:
Here’s an example of a site security audit report.
Image via Asper Brothers
A secure website is a trusted website, so make sure you do your best to improve your site’s security
Make time for XML sitemaps and robots meta tags in your SEO audit checklist.
XML site maps list all important pages to be indexed, while robot files guide search bots. Double-checking these components boosts your site’s visibility in Google search results.
Look at this example of a robots.txt audit report.
Image via Search Engine Roundtable
Auditing for XML Sitemaps and robots.txt files is as simple as:
Use SEO software like LinkStorm and Google Analytics to gain insights to streamline this task on your checklist.
Did you know that 61.4% of the global population are active social media users?
And 82% of Gen Z use social media to discover brands?
That’s why it’s important to seamlessly integrate your social media accounts with your website.
As an integral part of the SEO audit checklist, auditing social media integration involves:
Check out the various social media platforms you can integrate into your site.
Image via InfoTrust
Leverage some good social media management tools to streamline this process.
According to estimates, Google processes nearly 99,000 search queries per second, translating to 8.5 billion searches daily. Before customers visit your physical store or call, they’ll research your brand online.
GBP is a crucial local SEO tool for local businesses, hence including it in the SEO audit checklist is a must.
See what an optimized GBP looks like; notice all the important business information it provides.
Image via Google
Here are the steps you need to complete as part of your GBP audit checklist:
Internal search optimization is an integral part of a modern SEO audit checklist.
It identifies your readers’ needs and preferences and content development opportunities. It reveals the search terms visitors used and their path through your site, showing how well search results drove engagement.
This Google Analytics search report displays, among other results, the search terms users entered on the sample website.
Image via Tracking Success
Use Semrush, Google Analytics, or your site’s internal search function to initiate an audit. Here’s what you need to do:
Fine-tune things so visitors can easily find helpful content on your site.
Let's delve into the most important step on any SEO audit checklist—the on-page audit.
Tools like Semrush or On-page SEO Checker can help you audit key landing pages and blog posts.
The tasks involved in a complete on-page SEO audit checklist include:
Here’s an example of a detailed on-page audit report.
Image via Slide Geeks
Overlooking on-page SEO can lead to visibility drops, a strong reason to include it in your 2024 SEO strategy and SEO audit checklist.
Duplicate content can be a ranking roadblock. It often confuses search engines on what to prioritize.
Whether accidental or repurposed, duplication dilutes your content and authority.
Besides, Google values unique information.
Image via Backlinko
So, make sure you include a duplicate content audit in your SEO audit checklist:
Remember, a timely check on duplicates can safeguard your rankings.
Q1. Why is an SEO audit checklist necessary?
A. This SEO audit checklist will help you:
Q2. Can I execute the 15-step SEO audit checklist independently, or should I hire a professional?
A. Yes, you can use this checklist to conduct an SEO audit for your website, without requiring professional help. You will, however, need SEO audit tools to carry out the various steps in the checklist.
Q3. Will this SEO audit checklist remain effective as search engine algorithms change?
A. Yes, it’s adaptable, focusing on the core elements that impact search engine rankings. This adaptability helps future-proof your website and content against search engine updates.
Q4. Are the steps in this SEO audit checklist applicable to any type of website?
A. Yes. This SEO audit checklist is versatile, catering to different types of content, websites, and industries. You might, however, need to customize the checklist based on your specific business needs and SEO goals.
Q5. How frequently should I use the SEO audit checklist?
A. Given the constant changes, quarterly audits ensure you're in the SEO health loop. This helps to make timely adjustments to align with updates and maintain organic search prowess.
You now have a comprehensive 13-step SEO audit checklist to optimize your site for the latest standards and adapt to evolving trends.
Use this checklist to make sure your site is all set to rank high on Google SERP.
And when SEO audits get technical, our search engine optimization services are at your disposal. Attrock’s SEO experts are ready to help you use this SEO audit checklist and elevate your 2024 SEO strategy.
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