This SEO audit checklist is for a website that’s already live. It covers eight areas, from indexing and crawling to AI crawler access, using only free tools: Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, the free version of Screaming Frog, the Rich Results Test and Bing Webmaster Tools. Each check says how to run it and what good looks like.
Copy the tables into a spreadsheet, add columns for what you found and who fixes it, and you have an audit document. Launching a new site instead? Our technical SEO checklist for new websites covers pre-launch and launch-day checks; this one is for sites with history, where the data tells you what’s actually wrong.
Key takeaways
- Search Console’s Pages, Performance, Core Web Vitals, Links and Manual actions reports answer most audit questions for free.
- Screaming Frog’s free version crawls up to 500 URLs, enough to audit titles, status codes and redirects on most small sites.
- Core Web Vitals pass in field data when LCP is within 2.5 seconds, INP is 200 milliseconds or less and CLS is 0.1 or less.
- Check the live robots.txt and your CDN’s bot settings, because a CDN can block crawlers your own file allows.
- Fix issues in order: indexing blockers first, then quick wins on money pages, then bigger projects.
Which free SEO audit tools do you need?
Five free tools cover a full audit of a small business site, plus GA4 if it’s already tracking key events. Paid suites add convenience and larger backlink databases, but nothing below requires them.
| Tool | What it audits | Limit to know |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search Console | Indexing, search queries, Core Web Vitals, links, manual actions, AI Overviews and AI Mode impressions | Only for sites you’ve verified; the Links report is a sample, not every link |
| PageSpeed Insights | Real-user speed data from the previous 28 days, plus a Lighthouse lab test | Low-traffic pages may fall back to site-wide data, or show none |
| Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free) | Status codes, titles, descriptions, headings, canonicals, directives, redirects, images | 500 URLs per crawl; no saved crawls, JavaScript rendering or custom configuration |
| Rich Results Test | Structured data eligible for Google rich results | One URL at a time; use the Schema Markup Validator for other schema.org types |
| Bing Webmaster Tools | Bing indexing, Site Scan audit, backlinks, citations in Copilot through the AI Performance report | Separate account, though you can import verified sites and sitemaps from Search Console |
How to do an SEO audit, step 1: indexing and crawling
Start here, because nothing else matters for a page Google can’t index. The goal is simple: every page you want found is indexed, and nothing blocks Google from the rest of your important content.
| Check | How to check | Tool | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key pages are indexed | Pages report under Indexing; inspect your top service, product and location URLs | Search Console | Every page you want found shows URL is on Google |
| No accidental noindex | Crawl the site; check the Indexability column and Directives tab | Screaming Frog | Noindex only on pages you chose to hide, such as thank-you pages |
| Robots.txt allows key content | Open the robots.txt report under Settings, and read the live file | Search Console, browser | No Disallow rule covering pages, CSS or JavaScript you need |
| Sitemap is clean | Sitemaps report; upload the sitemap URLs in list mode | Search Console, Screaming Frog | Only canonical URLs returning 200; no redirects, 404s or noindexed pages |
| No broken internal links | Response Codes tab, Client Error (4xx) filter, then the Inlinks tab | Screaming Frog | No internal links pointing to 404 pages |
| Redirects are single hops | Response Codes tab, Redirect Chain filter | Screaming Frog | Old URLs 301 straight to the final page; internal links skip redirects |
| No penalties or hacks | Manual actions and Security issues reports | Search Console | No issues detected in either report |
If important pages are missing from the index, the Pages report names the reason for each one, and those statuses are worth working through before anything else in this audit.
Step 2: technical health, speed and structured data
Technical health means pages that load fast for real users, work on phones, sit on one secure address and carry valid structured data. Judge speed on field data, because a single lab test on your office Wi-Fi says little about customers on mobile networks.
| Check | How to check | Tool | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core Web Vitals pass | Core Web Vitals report; test each main template | Search Console, PageSpeed Insights | At the 75th percentile: LCP within 2.5 s, INP 200 ms or less, CLS 0.1 or less |
| Mobile matches desktop | Live test in URL Inspection, then view the tested page | Search Console | The same content, links and structured data on mobile as on desktop |
| HTTPS everywhere | Crawl and look for http:// URLs; open pages in a browser | Screaming Frog, browser | Every page loads over HTTPS with no mixed-content warnings |
| One preferred address | Type the http, https, www and non-www versions of your domain | Browser | All variants 301 to one version in a single hop |
| Structured data is valid | Test one URL from each template | Rich Results Test | No errors, and the markup matches what’s visible on the page |
Watch out
Google stopped showing FAQ rich results in May 2026, so an FAQ section that no longer earns extra space in results isn’t an audit error. Keep visible FAQs if they help readers. Our guide to fixing slow pages that cost you customers covers LCP, INP and CLS repairs once this audit has found them.
Step 3: on-page and content quality checks
Site-wide, you’re looking for pages that are missing basics, duplicate each other or don’t earn their place. The crawl finds the missing basics; Search Console finds the pages nobody sees.
| Check | How to check | Tool | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unique titles | Page Titles tab, Missing and Duplicate filters | Screaming Frog | Every indexable page has its own title, main topic first |
| Meta descriptions | Meta Description tab, same filters | Screaming Frog | A specific description on every page that earns search traffic |
| One clear H1 | H1 tab, Missing and Duplicate filters | Screaming Frog | Each page’s main heading states its topic |
| Canonicals agree | Canonicals tab; Google-selected canonical in URL Inspection | Screaming Frog, Search Console | Indexable pages point to themselves, and Google agrees |
| Images | Images tab, Missing Alt Text and Over 100kb filters | Screaming Frog | Meaningful images described; large files compressed |
| Pages with no impressions | Performance report, Pages tab, longest date range | Search Console | Every indexed page earns impressions or has a clear reason to exist |
| Cannibalization | Filter by a main query, then open the Pages tab | Search Console | One main page per topic, not three splitting the clicks |
| Declining pages | Compare the last three months with the same period a year earlier | Search Console | Losing pages identified for a refresh |
For each weak page, decide one of four actions: keep it as it is, improve it, merge it into a stronger page with a 301 redirect, or remove it with a 404 or 410 status. Page-by-page optimization, such as what a service page or product page should contain, belongs in our on-page SEO checklist for every page type.
Step 4: internal links, backlinks and local signals
Links show search engines which pages matter most, on your site and across the web. Audit internal links for gaps you can fix today, and backlinks for risks and opportunities.
| Check | How to check | Tool | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Money pages get internal links | Inlinks count per URL; internal links in the Links report | Screaming Frog, Search Console | Service and product pages are among your most-linked pages |
| No orphan pages | Compare the sitemap URLs with the pages your crawl found | Screaming Frog | Every sitemap URL is reachable through a normal link |
| Backlink profile | Links report: top linking sites, top linked pages, top linking text | Search Console | Links from real, relevant sites; anchor text mostly your brand or topic |
| Competitor gap | Backlinks tool; compare your profile with up to two other sites | Bing Webmaster Tools | A list of sites linking to competitors that could link to you |
Don’t rush to disavow odd-looking links. Google says most sites won’t need its disavow links tool, and that you should disavow only when you have a considerable number of spammy or artificial links and they have caused, or likely will cause, a manual action.
Local signals, if you serve customers in an area
- Your Google Business Profile is verified, uses the right primary category and links to the matching page on your site.
- Name, address and phone on your site match the profile exactly, as text rather than an image.
- LocalBusiness structured data on the contact or location page passes the Rich Results Test.
- Reviews are arriving steadily, and recent ones have replies.
Step 5: the 2026 SEO audit checklist for AI crawler access
AI search features only cite content their crawlers can reach. Google says its AI Overviews and AI Mode use publicly accessible, crawlable content and need no special files, so this part of the audit is about access, not new markup.
| Check | How to check | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Search crawlers allowed | Read the live file at yourdomain.com/robots.txt | Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot aren’t disallowed |
| Training opt-outs are deliberate | Look for GPTBot and Google-Extended rules | Blocked or allowed as a business decision; Google says Google-Extended doesn’t affect inclusion or ranking in Search |
| CDN bot settings match your intent | In Cloudflare, open Security Settings, then Configure AI bot policies | Search bots allowed; Training and Agent settings chosen on purpose |
| Live robots.txt matches your CMS file | Compare the live file with the one your CMS or SEO plugin manages | No surprise rules added by a CDN or plugin |
| AI visibility is measured | Generative AI performance report; Bing AI Performance report | Pages earning AI impressions and citations noted in your audit |
The CDN check matters more in 2026. Cloudflare sorts AI bots into Search, Agent and Training categories, and from September 15, 2026 its defaults for new domains block Training and Agent bots on pages that display ads while keeping Search allowed. Its managed robots.txt option also adds rules in front of your own file, which is why you audit the live version. OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot won’t be shown in ChatGPT search answers.
This example lets search crawlers in while opting out of model training:
# Example: allow search and AI search crawlers, opt out of AI training
User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /
User-agent: Google-Extended
Disallow: /
User-agent: *
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xmlSearch Console’s Generative AI performance report, rolled out to all sites on August 31, 2026, shows AI Overviews and AI Mode impressions by page, country and device. Record the baseline now so your next audit can compare.
How do you prioritize SEO audit fixes?
Sort every finding by impact and effort, then work from the top. Anything that blocks indexing or damages trust comes first, whatever the effort.
| Priority | Type of issue | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Fix now | Blocks indexing or signals a penalty | Noindex or robots.txt blocks on key pages, a manual action, hacked content, the site returning server errors |
| 2. Quick wins | High impact, low effort | Duplicate titles on money pages, broken internal links, redirect chains, sitemap errors |
| 3. Planned projects | High impact, high effort | Core Web Vitals failures on main templates, merging thin or overlapping pages, restructuring navigation |
| 4. Batch or skip | Low impact | Alt text on decorative images, description length warnings on pages with no search traffic |
Run this full audit once a year, after a redesign or migration, and whenever organic traffic drops without an obvious reason. In between, a monthly look at the Pages, Performance and Core Web Vitals reports catches most problems early. Our 90-day SEO plan for small businesses shows how to turn the fix list into scheduled work.
How TechZone can help
TechZone audits live websites, whether they run on WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce or custom code, for clients at home in Pakistan and abroad in the UK, the UAE, North America and Australia. We work through this checklist with your Search Console, Bing and analytics data, then deliver a fix list ranked by impact and effort, with the reason behind each item. If you want us to make the fixes too, our SEO services cover technical, content and local work. If you want a prioritized fix list first, start with an SEO audit. Book a free 30-minute consultation to walk through your first findings.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an SEO audit take?
The time an SEO audit takes depends on the number of URLs, page templates and issues found. A small brochure site is quick to crawl and review, while a large store with filters and thousands of product URLs takes far longer. Plan extra time after the audit too: fixes only show in Google once pages are recrawled, which Google says can take days to weeks.
How much does an SEO audit cost?
SEO audit prices vary with site size, platform and depth, from automated reports that cost little to manual audits priced by the day. The free tools in this checklist cost nothing but your time. When comparing paid SEO audits, ask for a sample report, whether fixes are prioritized, and whether the price includes a call to explain the findings.
Can I do an SEO audit myself?
Most business owners can run the first half of an SEO audit themselves: checking the Search Console reports, running PageSpeed Insights and crawling up to 500 URLs with the free Screaming Frog version. Interpreting canonical conflicts, JavaScript rendering, redirect mapping and Core Web Vitals causes takes more experience, so many owners run the checks and bring in help for the diagnosis.
What is the difference between an SEO audit and a website audit?
An SEO audit checks how well search engines can crawl, index, understand and rank a website, and how it compares with competitors in search. A broader website audit also covers design, usability, accessibility, security, conversion rates and content accuracy. The two overlap on speed and mobile usability, and many agencies combine them when planning a redesign.
Are automated SEO audit scores worth trusting?
Automated SEO audit scores are useful for spotting technical issues such as broken links and missing titles, but the score itself is a tool vendor’s own calculation, not a Google metric. A site can score highly and still rank poorly, or score low because of harmless warnings. Judge the audit by what Search Console shows about indexing, queries and clicks.
Sources and further reading
- About PageSpeed Insights – Google for Developers
- Web Vitals – web.dev
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider Website Crawler – Screaming Frog
- Generative AI performance report (Search) – Search Console Help
- Google's guide to optimizing for generative AI features on Google Search – Google Search Central
- Block AI Bots – Cloudflare bot solutions docs
