How to Perform a Website Audit for SEO

A website audit can be one of the most effective steps for any small business looking to improve its online visibility. By auditing your site, you’ll uncover issues holding back your SEO, see where you can improve user experience, and ultimately help your site rank higher in search engine results. This guide walks you through the essential steps for an SEO-focused website audit, including technical checks, content analysis, and strategies to track and boost organic traffic.

Let’s get started with a comprehensive look at auditing your website for SEO success.

Why Perform a Website Audit?

For small businesses, an SEO website audit is like a health check-up for your online presence. It reveals technical SEO issues, highlights content gaps, and shows which keywords bring visitors to your site. An effective audit improves your site’s structure, content, and search engine performance, making it easier for your target audience to find you.

A regular audit also keeps you competitive, as SEO is constantly changing. With tools like SEMrush, Screaming Frog, and Ahrefs, you can spot and address SEO issues before they affect your rankings.

Step 1: Check Site Performance and Speed

Site speed directly impacts user experience and is key to search engine rankings. Slow loading times can increase bounce rates, which signals to search engines that users aren’t finding what they need on your site. Google’s Core Web Vitals, which measure page loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, have become essential metrics for SEO.

Start with Google’s PageSpeed Insights to evaluate your site speed. If you find issues, consider optimising images, browser caching, and minifying CSS and JavaScript. Tools like Screaming Frog and SEMrush offer deeper insights into page load speeds, helping you understand where you need improvements.

Step 2: Analyse Your Site’s Technical SEO

Technical SEO ensures that your website meets the requirements of search engines and functions smoothly for users. This includes checks for meta tags, alt text on images, schema markup, and internal links. For example, you need more optimised meta tags to ensure your site appears in relevant searches.

Using Screaming Frog’s SEO Spider tool, crawl your website to detect missing or duplicate meta tags, broken links, and other technical SEO issues. The tool will also help you spot problems with header tags (H1, H2, etc.), which organise your content and improve readability. A well-structured site enhances user experience and helps search engines understand your content.

Step 3: Audit Your Content for Relevance and Quality

Content plays a critical role in SEO. If your site has outdated or irrelevant content, it may need help to rank well on search engines. Start by assessing which pages are performing well and which aren’t. Look at metrics like bounce rate, average time on page, and click-through rate (CTR) to understand what resonates with users.

Tools like Ahrefs and Google Analytics can help with content analysis, showing which pages drive organic traffic and which keywords work for you. From here, create a plan to update or improve underperforming pages. A content audit helps ensure that each page aligns with search intent and offers value to your audience.

Step 4: Review and Improve On-Page SEO Elements

On-page SEO refers to title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and images. These components help search engines understand your content and decide where it should rank. Reviewing and optimising these elements is a critical part of an SEO audit.

Ensure your title tags and meta descriptions are unique, relevant, and keyword-optimized. Tools like SEMrush and Screaming Frog can help identify missing or duplicated meta descriptions. Adding descriptive alt text to images not only improves accessibility but also helps search engines understand visual content on your page, which can improve your SEO.

Step 5: Evaluate Your Backlink Profile

Backlinks, or links from other websites pointing to your site, remain an essential ranking factor. High-quality backlinks from reputable sites signal to search engines that your content is valuable and credible. A backlink audit will help you understand your link profile and spot low-quality links that might harm your SEO.

Using Ahrefs or SEMrush, examine your backlink profile. Look for high-authority links and identify any low-quality or spammy links which may need disavowing. Competitor analysis is also helpful here—seeing which sites link to your competitors can provide opportunities for your link-building efforts.

Step 6: Analyse User Experience and Mobile Compatibility

User experience (UX) is another crucial factor in SEO, as search engines consider how visitors interact with your site. A good UX is essential for mobile compatibility, readability, and easy navigation. Sites that offer a positive experience are more likely to rank higher.

Check if your site is mobile-friendly by using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. This is crucial, as mobile search now units for over half of all searches. If your site isn’t optimised for mobile, you could miss out on a large chunk of potential traffic. A tool like Screaming Frog can also identify UX issues, ensuring your site is accessible and easy to use.

Step 7: Review Internal Links

Internal links guide users to other relevant pages on your site and help search engines crawl and index your pages more effectively. During an audit, check for broken internal links and ensure your most important pages have plenty of internal links pointing to them.

A good internal linking strategy helps improve user experience and keeps visitors on your site longer. For example, if you run an e-commerce site, linking from a blog post about “choosing the right product” to your product category page can encourage users to explore further.

Step 8: Set Up Tracking and Measure Performance

Tracking your SEO progress is essential to understanding the impact of your changes. Google Analytics and Google Search Console provide valuable data on your site’s performance, including organic traffic, CTR, and bounce rates. SEMrush also offers SEO tracking features, letting you monitor your rankings and spot areas for improvement.

Set up regular tracking for your target keywords and review your performance monthly. This ensures you stay on top of the trend and make adjustments.

• Pro Tip: Schedule a quarterly review to reassess your SEO efforts. A regular checkup can help you catch and address issues before they impact your rankings.

Step 9: Identify Content Gaps and New Opportunities

A website audit often reveals content gaps—topics or keywords you haven’t covered that could bring valuable traffic. Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs show what keywords competitors rank for that you don’t, giving you ideas for new content.

Create a content plan to address these gaps. This could involve adding new blog posts, improving existing content, or eventing a FAQ page that answers common customer questions. Filling content gaps attracts more traffic and establishes your site as an authority in your industry.

Building an Effective SEO Strategy with Regular Audits

A thorough SEO website audit helps you understand your site’s strengths and weaknesses, from technical issues to content quality. Regular audits optimise your site for engines and users, ensuring you can attract more traffic and grow your business.

SEO tools like Screaming Frog, SEMrush, and Ahrefs make the audit process more accessible and practical, giving you the insights needed to make informed decisions. Focusing on technical SEO, content quality, and user experience creates a strong foundation for your site to rank higher, engage visitors, and achieve lasting growth.