SEO audit

An SEO audit is a systematic check of a website for everything that holds back its visibility in search engines and for potential that is not yet used: technology, content, internal links, backlinks and, increasingly, visibility in AI answers. The result is a prioritised list of actions, not just a report full of warnings.

What a technical check of 1,914 websites shows

On 11 November 2026 we automatically fetched the homepage, robots.txt and sitemap of 2,087 active publisher domains from our marketplace catalogue, which amounts to a technical mini audit at scale. 1,914 websites answered, and the HTML figures refer to 1,898 homepages. The result shows where the basics are usually in place and where an audit most often finds something:

• Almost always fine: HTTPS on 99.9%, a mobile viewport on 96.6%, a robots.txt on 94.0% and a findable sitemap on 89.1%.
• Usually present: 84.8% have a meta description and 82.8% a canonical tag.
• Where audits find most: 33.3% of page titles are longer than 60 characters and may be cut off in search results, 18.1% of meta descriptions are longer than 160 characters, and 30.1% use no JSON-LD structured data on the homepage.

The lesson for your own audit: check the fundamentals that can block everything first, then go through the details that decide how your pages look in search results just as carefully. The limits: a snapshot of homepages, not a check of every subpage.

What an SEO audit includes

• Crawling and indexing: may Google fetch all important pages according to robots.txt and meta robots? Are they in the sitemap, indexed and set with the right canonical? Are there 404 errors, redirect chains or server errors? More under indexing.
• Speed and mobile: Core Web Vitals from real user data and how the pages display on a smartphone.
• On-page and content: does every page match the search intent of its main keyword? Are titles, meta tags and headings clear? Are there thin pages or duplicate content?
• Internal links: are the most important pages well linked, and are there pages without a single internal link?
• Backlinks: how many different websites link to you, to which pages and with which anchor texts? And which links do your competitors have that you are missing? Your backlink profile belongs in every audit.
• AI visibility: may the search crawlers of ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity read your pages, and is your brand named in AI answers? More under AI visibility.
• Local signals, if relevant: business profile, consistent company details and reviews.

How to do an SEO audit step by step

1. Set the goal: more enquiries, more sales, a relaunch without losses? The goal decides which pages you check first.
2. Collect the data: Search Console, your analytics tool, a crawl of the site and speed measurements. Write down the starting values.
3. Find the problems: work through the areas above in order, from technology to backlinks.
4. Prioritise: rate every finding by impact and effort. A blocked category weighs more than a hundred missing alt texts.
5. Create an action plan: who does what by when? Quick wins first, bigger changes after.
6. Measure again: after a few weeks, check whether indexing, positions and clicks have moved.

Free tools for your SEO audit

• Google Search Console: indexing, search queries, clicks, Core Web Vitals, links and manual actions, straight from Google's point of view.
• PageSpeed Insights: loading performance of single pages with real user data and a lab test.
• Ahrefs Free (formerly Ahrefs Webmaster Tools): a free technical audit and your own backlink data for websites whose ownership you have verified.
• Rich Results Test: shows whether Google can read your structured data.
• Linkbroker Linkfinder AI: compares your competitors' backlinks with our marketplace and shows suitable sites that link to them but not yet to you. The tool is free.

Google's own view of the basics is summed up in its SEO Starter Guide, a good cross-check for any checklist.

When an SEO audit pays off

Before and after every relaunch or domain move, when visitors or rankings drop for no obvious reason, after major Google updates and otherwise about once a year as a basic check. In between, a regular look at Search Console is enough to catch new errors early.

Conclusion

A good SEO audit answers three questions: what stops Google from finding and understanding your pages, where content does not match search intent, and where you lack recommendations from other websites. Putting the answers in a clear order is the real value, because only the implementation moves rankings. If the audit shows that your strongest pages lack links from relevant sites, the Linkbroker marketplace lets you compare publishers by topic, traffic and Domain Rating.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an SEO audit cost?

With free tools it mainly costs your time. Paid crawlers and SEO suites charge licence fees, and when you hire help, the price depends on the size of the website and the depth of the check.

What is the difference between an SEO audit and an SEO check?

An SEO check is usually an automated test that returns a score and a list of errors. An SEO audit evaluates those findings, adds content and backlinks and turns everything into an action plan ordered by impact.

Can ChatGPT do an SEO audit?

It can help you structure findings and explain issues, but it cannot see your Search Console data, a full crawl or real backlink data unless you provide them. Treat its suggestions as a starting point and check them against your own data.

How long does an SEO audit take?

From a few hours for a small website with free tools to several weeks for a large shop. A thorough audit about once a year is enough for most sites, with Search Console covering the time in between.

Related terms: URL structure · Keyword research · Off-page SEO · Disavow links