What To Expect From an SEO Site Audit

Think of an SEO site audit like a physical for your website— a preventative checkup that, instead of checking vitals and labs, analyzes everything about your site to determine issues that could be preventing customers from finding you online.  

Your site’s performance depends on much more than engaging content and a sleek layout. While those both play a part, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes to keep your website visible. If you’re not familiar and regularly checking these invisible cogs in the machine, your website could be hurting your business without you even knowing it. Maybe it loads too slowly, Google can’t find your pages, or your content isn’t answering the questions your customers are actually asking. An SEO audit uncovers these hidden problems and shows you exactly how to fix them.

Technical SEO

Website Performance and Loading Speed

Your website’s speed directly impacts both user experience and search rankings. Research by Google shows that when load times increase from one to five seconds, bounce rates jump by 90%. The speed at which your website loads should be three seconds or less. “Keep in mind that the average page speed of a first-page Google result is 1.65 seconds,” adds WP Rocket.

An audit finds common issues that could be negatively affecting your site performance and load time:

• Unoptimized images consuming unnecessary bandwidth
• Excessive plugins or outdated themes slowing page rendering
• Slow server response times causing delays in content delivery
• Render-blocking scripts that prevent fast page loading

The audit will pinpoint technical fixes that can lead to major improvements in your site’s speed and keep visitors engaged for longer.

Crawlability and Indexing Issues

Google uses little programs called “crawlers” that visit websites and decide what to show in search results. These programs need to easily access and understand your website to rank it properly. A technical SEO audit checks for barriers that prevent Google crawlers from finding your content:

• 404 errors from broken links or deleted pages
• Redirect loops that confuse search engine crawlers
• Robots.txt issues accidentally blocking important pages 
• Missing sitemaps preventing proper content discovery

Fixing these issues is like giving Google a clear, easy-to-follow map of your business so they can recommend you to the right customers.

Mobile-Friendliness and Responsiveness

“Over 64% of website traffic comes from mobile devices in 2025,” shares Exploding Topics. This means your website must be compatible with smaller screens; otherwise, you risk missing out on a lot of potential customers. An audit involves testing your site across different screen sizes to find layout issues, unclickable buttons, or text that’s too small to read, as well as mobile loading speeds, which Google factors heavily in rankings. 

On-Page SEO

Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, and Headers

Your page titles and descriptions are like the headlines in a newspaper—they need to grab attention and clearly explain what you’re offering. These show up in Google search results, so they’re often the first impression potential customers get of your business. An audit reviews these elements for proper length, keyword usage, and engaging messaging. Your pages’ header structure (H1, H2, H3 tags) should be organized logically for both users and search engines. By optimizing your page titles and descriptions, you can dramatically increase the number of people clicking on your website from search results.

Internal Linking and Site Structure

How your pages connect to each other affects how both users and search engines navigate your site. With an on-page SEO audit, you can identify broken connections and isolated pages with no access point on your site. When essential information is easy to find on your site, visitors will stay longer and Google better understands which pages are most important to your business.

Image Optimization and Alt Text

Images without proper optimization can slow down your site and miss opportunities to appear in relevant searches. An audit identifies images that need to be compressed and checks for missing “alt text”—descriptions that help visually impaired visitors and search engines understand what your images show. Properly optimized images load faster, improve user experience, and can even show up in Google Image searches, giving you another way for customers to find you.

Content Analysis

Content Quality and Relevance

Not all content is created equal—some pages attract consistent traffic while others go unnoticed. An SEO page analysis sifts through your content and identifies:

• High-performing pages that attract visitors and keep them engaged
• Thin or outdated content that may be confusing or misleading customers, hurting your authority in the process
• Missing content on topics your customers value
• Duplicate content that confuses search engines on which page to rank for your site

The audit helps you understand which content builds trust with visitors and signals to search engines that your site is a valuable resource in your industry.

Keyword Optimization Opportunities

An audit reveals which keywords you’re already ranking for and identifies missed opportunities to capture more targeted traffic. Key findings typically include:

• Underperforming keywords ranking on page 2 that could be boosted with small tweaks
• Content gaps where competitors rank for valuable terms you’re not targeting
• Customer language insights showing exactly how people search for your services
• Content that misses the mark by targeting the wrong search terms

Going through what is working and what isn’t in your keywords gives you a better idea of what language indicates an intention to buy.

Backlink Profile Analysis

Link Quality Assessment

Backlinks are like online referrals—when other websites link to yours, it’s like they’re recommending your business. But just like in real life, a recommendation from a trusted expert carries more weight than one from a random stranger.

By taking a close look at who’s linking to your website, you can determine whether these connections are helping or hurting your reputation with Google. A link from a respected industry publication will work in your favor, while links from sketchy websites can actually damage your rankings simply by association.

Understanding your link profile with an audit helps you focus on building relationships with reputable sources that can genuinely boost your online credibility.

Toxic Link Identification

As stated before, some backlinks can actually harm your search rankings, especially those from spammy or irrelevant websites. An audit identifies these harmful links and shows you how to “disavow” them, essentially telling Google, “we don’t associate with these sites.” It also spots opportunities to earn new, high-quality links from industry publications, local organizations, or business partners to boost your authority.

User Experience (UX) Evaluation

Navigation and Design Assessment

User experience directly impacts how long visitors stay on your site and whether they become customers. Factors that affect user experience are your site’s navigation structure, menus, calls-to-action, and design elements. The key is to identify where visitors might get lost or frustrated, which is where the site analysis comes in. The end goal is to fix the issues to create a smoother, more intuitive experience that guides users toward your desired actions.

Conversion Optimization Opportunities

Getting visitors to your website is only half the battle—you also need to turn them into customers. To find where people are dropping off in your sales process, it is key to understand user behavior. Examine forms, contact pages, and checkout processes for issues that could be preventing conversions, correct them, and watch for changes.

How to Complete an SEO Site Audit

DIY Approach

If you prefer to conduct an audit yourself, you’ll need several tools to get comprehensive insights:

Free Tools To Get Started:

• Google Search Console for search performance and indexing data
• Google Analytics for traffic and user behavior insights
• Google PageSpeed Insights for loading speed analysis
• Google Mobile-Friendly Test for mobile usability checks

Premium Tools (paid subscriptions):

For more comprehensive analysis, many businesses use paid tools that offer deeper insights:

• SEMrush – Popular all-in-one platform for SEO auditing, keyword research, and competitor analysis
• Ahrefs – Excellent for backlink analysis and technical SEO auditing
• Screaming Frog – Powerful website crawler that finds technical issues
• Moz – User-friendly tools for local businesses and beginners

These tools typically cost $100-600 per month but provide much more detailed analysis and actionable recommendations.

Professional Agency Option

By hiring an experienced SEO agency, you’re bringing in a specialist who can quickly diagnose problems and provide solutions. They have access to premium tools and years of experience, knowing what to look for and how to fix it.

What to expect from a professional audit:

• Comprehensive analysis completed in 1-2 weeks
• Easy-to-understand reports with prioritized recommendations
• Implementation guidance and ongoing support
• Focus on changes that will have the biggest impact on your business

When choosing an agency to perform your site audit, look for clear communication, detailed reporting, and proven results with businesses similar to yours. After asking questions to get to know your business and goals, a qualified agency will walk you through the process to help you understand exactly what needs to be done and why.