How to Carry Out an Effective SEO Audit: A Clear Method and Checklist

How to Carry Out an SEO Audit From A to Z: A Step-by-Step Method for Analysing a Website

If you have already read our main guide to an SEO audit, you will have the big-picture view (scope, signals, quick wins). Here, the aim is more hands-on: to walk you through carrying out an SEO audit end to end, using a method that avoids analysis for its own sake and results in a roadmap you can actually execute.

The 2025–2026 context makes this exercise even more strategic: a significant share of searches now end without a click (60% of "zero-click" searches in 2025 according to Semrush, cited in our SEO statistics), and visibility is increasingly fragmented across surfaces (snippets, AI Overviews, video, and more). In other words, you need to audit not only what exists, but also what deserves strengthening in order to capture the remaining clicks and AI citations.

Define the Objective, Scope and Depth of Your Analysis

Before you open a single report, clarify three decisions: why you are auditing, what you are auditing, and how deep you need to go.

• Objective (business + SEO): de-risk a redesign, explain a traffic drop, build an editorial plan, improve conversion on high-traffic pages, or reduce crawl waste (common on large sites). A useful audit always links symptoms to likely causes, then to actions, then to validation criteria.
• Scope: main domain only? Subdomains? Language folders? SEO pages only, or also accounts, internal search and PDFs? This choice determines how trustworthy your conclusions will be.
• Depth: a broad audit covering the whole site at a medium level of detail, combined with a deep-dive on key pages (those that generate leads or revenue, or that target priority queries). This combination avoids spending hours on low-value URLs.

A useful methodological marker: very comprehensive audits can cover more than 200 criteria (as cited in various market audit methodologies). The goal is not to do as much as possible, but to make the output actionable: a precise, prioritised and sustainable roadmap, as recommended by technical audit best practice. To see what a concrete deliverable looks like, refer to our SEO audit example.

Prepare the Data: Search Console, Analytics and Technical Access

A reliable audit is evidence-led. Prepare your sources and, crucially, establish a repeatable data collection process so you can compare before and after.

• Google Search Console: performance data (clicks, impressions, CTR, positions), indexing (the "Pages" report), mobile usability, Core Web Vitals, manual actions.
• Google Analytics (GA4): organic landing pages, engagement, conversions, user journeys, segmentation by device and country — to understand what users do after the click.
• Technical access: redirect rules, canonicalisation rules, sitemap generation, robots configuration, CMS constraints, and visibility into page templates (categories, product pages, articles, local pages, and so on).

At this stage, also note any major recent events: migration, redesign, structural changes, new product ranges or international expansion. These are classic triggers, and some methodologies explicitly recommend running an analysis following a launch, redesign or significant structural change.

Step 1 – Start With Real Performance Data to Guide the Audit

It is tempting to begin with a crawl. In practice, start with performance: it tells you where impact is most likely and prevents you from fixing details that will not move the needle.

Choose the Right KPIs: Visibility, Clicks, CTR, Conversions and Landing Pages

In Search Console, the "Search results" report provides four core metrics: clicks, impressions, average CTR and average position. Combine these with GA4 (conversions, engagement) to separate visibility from value.

• Impressions: a proxy for semantic coverage and useful indexation.
• CTR: a proxy for snippet appeal and intent match. As a benchmark, position 1 captures 34% CTR on desktop in 2026 (SEO.com, cited in our SEO statistics).
• Organic landing pages: your true SEO entry points. Audit these first, covering technical factors, content and internal linking.
• Conversions: if a page attracts clicks but does not convert, you often have an alignment issue — intent, promise, CTA, proof or speed.

Actionable tip: build a shortlist of 20 to 50 URLs (depending on site size) covering (a) pages with the most SEO clicks, (b) pages with the most impressions, (c) pages with the best conversions, and (d) pages showing the largest declines. These are your pages to dissect.

Segment the Analysis: Brand vs Non-Brand, Country, Mobile vs Desktop

Segment before you interpret. Otherwise, you risk mixing very different realities.

• Brand vs non-brand: brand queries are often stable and high-CTR. Non-brand queries reveal gains and losses in market share.
• Country: useful if you have country or language folders. A hreflang or canonical inconsistency can shift impressions to the wrong market.
• Mobile vs desktop: in 2026, mobile accounts for 60% of global web traffic (Webnyxt, cited in our SEO statistics). A mobile drop can point to usability, performance or template issues.

Actionable tip: identify three non-brand queries where you sit in positions 6 to 15 with meaningful impressions. These are often the best quick-win candidates, combining content improvements, internal linking and snippet optimisation.

Spot Early Signals: Drops, Plateaus and Quick Opportunities

Three signals should steer what you do next:

• Clicks down but impressions stable: often a CTR issue — a less compelling snippet, a richer SERP or AI Overviews. Question-style titles can increase average CTR by 14.1% (Onesty, 2026, cited in our SEO statistics).
• Impressions down: likely an indexation, canonicalisation or crawl issue, or a loss of relevance.
• Positions flat but impressions up: the page appears for more queries but does not convince — content gaps, weak structure, lack of proof or insufficient internal linking.

Actionable tip: for each key page, write one testable hypothesis — for example, "CTR is low because the title is too generic", "impressions dropped because the page became non-indexable", or "cannibalisation with a sibling page". This prevents audits from becoming mere lists of issues without diagnosis.

Step 2 – Check Indexability Before Optimising: The Priority Technical Issues

There is no point optimising content that cannot be indexed. First, ensure Google can crawl, understand and retain your important pages.

Check robots.txt, Meta Robots Directives and Server Access

Start with simple blockers: an overly restrictive robots.txt, a noindex tag inherited from a staging environment, or server access rules that prevent Googlebot from loading resources.

• Confirm that strategic directories are not disallowed.
• Identify page templates carrying inconsistent meta robots directives.
• Check that the sitemap is declared (often within robots.txt) and points to genuinely indexable URLs.

Actionable tip: keep one rule in mind — if a page is meant to perform in SEO, it must be accessible, indexable, canonical and internally linked. Any exception should be documented.

Validate Index Coverage and Fix Priority Exclusions

In Search Console, use "Indexing → Pages" to understand why certain URLs are excluded. Not all exclusions are problems: it is entirely normal for alternate pages with canonicals, redirected pages or admin pages not to be indexed.

However, prioritise the following:

• Important pages not indexed (errors, "crawled — currently not indexed", "discovered — currently not indexed").
• 404 errors on URLs that receive internal or external links, or that previously had traffic.
• Redirect loops or redirect chains that complicate crawling.

Actionable tip: after resolving issues, use "Validate fix" in Search Console. If a page has been substantially improved, you can also use "Request indexing".

Lock Down Canonicals to Avoid Conflicting Signals

Canonical tags and redirects must tell the same story. Conflicting signals — canonical pointing to A, redirect going to B, sitemap listing C — create ambiguity that harms performance.

What to check:

• Multiple versions (www vs non-www, http vs https): only one version should be indexed; the others should 301 redirect to the preferred version.
• URL parameters, trailing slashes and e-commerce filtered pages: ensure canonicalisation reflects your strategy, whether that means indexing or not.
• Pages declaring a canonical to a non-existent or redirected URL.

Actionable tip: when in doubt, start with the user need — which URL should be found and shared — then align redirects, canonicals, sitemap and internal linking to that URL.

Step 3 – Run a Technical Audit Focused on SEO Blockers

The aim is not to accumulate warnings. It is to identify what prevents crawling, indexation, rendering or signal consolidation.

Define the Crawl: Scope, Depth and Orphan Pages

An effective technical audit begins with a URL inventory, mirroring the way a bot traverses a site. To keep things manageable and avoid scope creep, define:

• The scope: domains, subdomains, folders and parameters.
• The crawl depth, which is useful for identifying pages that are buried too deep.
• Detection of orphan pages: important URLs present in the sitemap or generating impressions, but with no internal links pointing to them.

For a deeper look at the approach and its goals, see our guide to SEO crawling.

Actionable tip: compare three lists — (1) sitemap URLs, (2) pages receiving impressions in Search Console, (3) pages actually linked within the site. The gaps often surface real issues: orphan pages, accidentally indexed pages and low-value pages receiving links they should not.

Fix Crawl Errors: 404s, 5xx and Rendering Anomalies

Prioritise issues that break access:

• 404s: they harm user experience and can remove pages from the index. Apply a 301 redirect to a relevant, live page (not automatically the homepage), and fix any internal links still pointing to the old URL.
• 5xx errors: they can block crawling and erode technical trust. Treat them as incidents, not routine SEO tickets.
• Rendering anomalies: particularly relevant if your site relies heavily on JavaScript. Ensure critical content and internal links exist in the rendered HTML; otherwise, indexation can be delayed or partial.

Actionable tip: if you need to choose between 20 fixes, start with those affecting your SEO landing pages — the pages that generate clicks. Gains will be faster and easier to measure.

Manage Redirects: Chains, Loops and http/https Consistency

Redirects are necessary, but chains and loops are costly: they consume crawl budget and slow signal consolidation across links, relevance and historical data.

• Remove chains: use a single, direct redirect to the final URL.
• Remove loops: they block crawling and generate errors.
• Ensure http to https consistency: serve only the secure version, with no mixed content.

Actionable tip: review internal linking as well — ideally, internal links should point directly to the final URL, not to a URL that itself redirects.

Check the Sitemap: URL Quality, Structure and Consistency With Indexation

A sitemap is not a list of everything on your site — it is a list of what you want indexed. Technical audit methodologies recommend checking:

• That the sitemap contains only 200-status, indexable, canonical URLs.
• That it excludes redirected pages, noindex pages and unwanted parameter variants.
• That it aligns with Search Console exclusions; otherwise, you send conflicting signals.

Actionable tip: on large sites, segment sitemaps by content type (categories, products, articles, local pages). This makes diagnosis far easier when a template starts to malfunction.

Step 4 – Audit Architecture and Internal Linking to Distribute Authority More Effectively

A clear architecture and coherent internal linking strategy help crawling, communicate your priorities and channel authority towards the pages that matter most.

Map the Structure: Depth, Hubs and Strategic Pages

Answer these questions:

• Are your strategic pages reachable within a few clicks from the homepage or from hub pages?
• Do you have hubs — pages that connect a broad topic to its subtopics?
• Are entire sections buried too deep, and therefore under-crawled?

Actionable tip: identify five to ten hubs per product line or service area. These are powerful levers for redistribution: adding contextual links from hubs to pages sitting in positions 6 to 20 can meaningfully accelerate their progress.

Optimise Internal Links: Anchor Text, Context and Priorities by Page Type

A good internal link has three qualities: it originates from a relevant page, sits within a useful semantic context, and uses anchor text that describes the destination without over-optimisation.

• Anchors: vary them naturally and avoid mechanical repetition.
• Context: favour links placed within the main body content, which are generally more meaningful than links buried in large footers.
• Priorities: set rules by page type — article to pillar page, category to subcategory, product to usage guide, local page to local offers.

Actionable tip: on each key page, add three to eight editorial outbound internal links to complementary content, and ensure the page also receives links from already-strong pages such as hubs and high-traffic pages.

Identify Cannibalisation and Decide: Merge, Differentiate or Redirect

Cannibalisation occurs when multiple pages compete for the same search intent. Common signs include a query in Search Console switching between associated URLs, or pages alternating in the rankings without ever stabilising.

Possible courses of action:

• Merge two similar pages into a single, more comprehensive reference.
• Differentiate clearly, using distinct intents, angles and structures.
• Redirect if a page no longer has a reason to exist, using a 301 to the target page.

Actionable tip: for each case of page A versus page B, document the target intent, the promise, the unique sections and the chosen canonical page. Then align internal links, titles and any necessary redirects accordingly.

Step 5 – Run a Semantic Audit: Keyword-to-Page Mapping, Intent and Content

The semantic component ensures each page targets a clear intent, with structure and depth aligned to what Google rewards for the topic. For a deeper treatment of the method, see our dedicated resource on semantic audit.

Validate Keyword-to-Page Mapping: Assign Each Query to a Target URL

Query-to-URL mapping prevents two expensive mistakes: creating a new page when one already exists, or diluting relevance across multiple URLs.

• List your priority non-brand queries and assign a reference URL to each.
• Check in Search Console whether Google already associates the query with a different page — a sign of inconsistency.
• For queries in positions 6 to 20, prioritise optimising an existing page rather than creating an additional one, unless the intent is genuinely distinct.

Actionable tip: maintain a living table covering query, intent, target URL, cannibalising URLs, decision and status. It is a simple document, but it underpins the coherence of your entire content plan.

Match Search Intent to the Page: Avoid "Kitchen Sink" Content

Intent is visible in the SERP: dominant formats (guide, list, category, definition), expected depth and types of evidence (figures, steps, comparisons). If the SERP favours comprehensive guides and you publish something very thin, you start at a disadvantage.

Length benchmarks (to be adapted to the topic): the average top-10 article is 1,447 words long in 2026 (Webnyxt, cited in our SEO statistics), and pillar guides typically fall between 2,500 and 4,000 words (Backlinko, 2026, cited in the same source).

Actionable tip: open each page with the most useful answer — a definition, a method or a checklist — then expand through H2 and H3 sections. Well-structured content is more likely to be understood and reused, including by generative AI systems.

Structure Into Clusters: Pillar Pages, Supporting Pages and Long-Tail

Organise your content into thematic clusters:

• Pillar page: an overview that satisfies the primary intent.
• Supporting pages: sub-intents such as common mistakes, CMS-specific checklists and use cases.
• Long-tail: specific questions. In 2026, 70% of searches contain more than three words (SEO.com, cited in our SEO statistics), which strengthens the case for granular coverage.

Actionable tip: create a systematic internal linking rule: each supporting page should link back to the pillar page, and the pillar page should link out to the supporting pages that are most authoritative on each subtopic.

Identify Gaps: Missing Topics, Outdated Content and Duplication

A strong semantic audit goes beyond keywords — it addresses quality and maintenance.

• Missing topics: essential pages that do not yet exist, often surfaced by queries where you receive impressions but very few clicks.
• Outdated content: pages that still receive impressions but are losing positions — these need updating, expanding and sourcing.
• Duplication: overly similar content, page variants and auto-generated pages (filters, tags). Duplication creates indexation conflicts; canonicalisation or merging is usually more effective than a cosmetic rewrite.

Actionable tip: before producing new content, plan a wave of re-optimisation on existing pages. Gains are often faster because the page already has an established history.

Step 6 – Assess Authority: Link Building Audit, Backlinks and Risk

Authority remains a fundamental pillar. 2026 data highlights that 94 to 95% of pages have no backlinks whatsoever (Backlinko, cited in our SEO statistics). That finding changes the diagnosis: for many sites, the missing piece is not slightly more optimisation — it is building pages worth linking to and reinforcing those that drive the business.

For a comprehensive approach, see our resource on link building audit.

Evaluate Backlink Quality: Relevance, Diversity and Target Pages

Do not judge a link profile on raw volume alone. Analyse:

• Topical relevance: does the link come from a coherent and related industry?
• Diversity: breadth of referring domains, which is often more meaningful than the total number of links.
• Target pages: do links point only to the homepage, or do they also support deeper pages such as offers, guides and local pages?

Actionable tip: identify five pages to strengthen — business-critical pages with solid content foundations. Effective link building starts with strong targets, not a volume race.

Spot Unusual Signals: Spikes, Over-Optimised Anchors and Low-Trust Links

Monitor the following:

• Acquisition history: a sudden spike can signal an uncontrolled campaign or toxic links.
• Anchor text: excessive repetition of a commercial anchor text increases spam risk signals.
• Low-trust links: poor-quality sites, non-indexed sites and obvious link networks.

Actionable tip: if you identify a risk, document it page by page, noting the source, anchor, target and rationale. If necessary, Google provides a disavow mechanism, but it requires care and thorough traceability.

Connect Link Building to Content: Which Pages to Strengthen First

Link building is not a standalone workstream; it serves an editorial strategy. A useful marker: the page in position 1 earns on average 3.8 times more backlinks than pages in positions 2 to 10 (Backlinko, 2026, cited in our SEO statistics).

Actionable tip: prioritise a pillar-plus-supporting-pages duo. Strengthen the pillar as the primary target for external links, then redistribute authority via internal linking to supporting pages that capture long-tail demand.

Step 7 – Turn Diagnosis Into an Action Plan: Prioritising Fixes

An audit only creates value when it becomes a prioritised backlog that marketing can understand and that development and content teams can deliver.

Score Each Action: SEO Impact, Business Impact, Effort and Dependencies

For each recommendation, assign a simple score — even on a 1 to 5 scale — across the following dimensions:

• SEO impact: crawling, indexation, rankings, CTR.
• Business impact: leads, revenue, converting pages, offer pages.
• Effort: complexity, time required, number of templates affected.
• Dependencies: release cycles, teams involved, regression risk.

Actionable tip: group actions into "blockers" (to resolve before content work), "accelerators" (internal linking, snippet optimisation, performance on key pages) and "structural" work (architecture overhaul, international setup, template refactors).

Organise Priorities: Quick Wins, Structural Work and Continuous Optimisation

A proven approach is to tackle issues in the following order:

1. Errors: anything that breaks crawling and indexation — 5xx responses, loops, accidental noindex directives, inconsistent canonicals.
2. Warnings: anything that reduces efficiency — redirect chains, orphan pages, an inconsistent sitemap, obvious duplication.
3. Optimisations: anything that improves performance — CTR improvements, semantic enrichment, refined internal linking, cluster consolidation.

Actionable tip: use quick wins to deliver measurable results and bring stakeholders on board, then invest in the structural work that secures long-term growth.

Define Deliverables: Backlog, Specifications, Checklists and Acceptance Criteria

A robust deliverable includes:

• Prioritised backlog with scores, owners and deadlines.
• Specifications for the development team: redirect rules, canonicalisation logic, sitemap generation and template requirements.
• Checklists for content production: structure, evidence, internal linking and metadata.
• Acceptance criteria: for example, "the final URL returns a 200 status, is canonical, appears in the sitemap, receives a defined number of internal links and is indexable".

Actionable tip: add an "expected evidence" column — a Search Console screenshot, an Analytics extract or a technical check. This prevents fixes from being marked as done without being properly verified.

Step 8 – Put Ongoing Monitoring in Place So You Never Start From Scratch Again

The evidence is clear: an SEO analysis is not a one-off event. Algorithms evolve — Google makes 500 to 600 updates per year according to SEO.com 2026, cited in our SEO statistics — sites change and issues return.

Build a Review Routine: Indexation, Errors, Performance and Content

Establish a simple cadence:

• Weekly: monitor significant click and impression swings on key pages; flag major indexation errors.
• Monthly: review CTR and opportunity queries (positions 6 to 20); identify content in need of updating.
• Quarterly: run a more comprehensive technical review (some market recommendations suggest a full technical audit every quarter).

Actionable tip: document all changes — deployments, template updates, new sections. Without a changelog, correlations become unreliable.

Set Alerts and Thresholds: Technical Anomalies and Traffic Variations

Define clear thresholds: for example, an X% drop in clicks on a business-critical page, a rise in excluded URLs, or an increase in 404s on internally linked pages. Thresholds should reflect your site's seasonality and traffic volume.

Actionable tip: pair each alert with a short diagnostic playbook — where to check in Search Console, which pages to inspect and which hypothesis to test first. You will move far faster when an incident occurs.

Measure Impact: Validate in Search Console, Analytics and Track Gains

Measure after each batch of changes:

• Search Console: use "Validate fix", monitor impressions and clicks, and check whether the URL associated with a query has stabilised, indicating reduced cannibalisation.
• Analytics: track conversion and engagement changes on organic landing pages.

A useful performance benchmark: Think With Google indicates that increasing load time from one to three seconds raises the probability of a user bouncing by 32%, and from one to five seconds by 90%. Use these figures to justify performance work when it affects business-critical pages.

Automate the Audit and Execution With Incremys: SEO Management, Content and ROI

Centralise Search Console and Analytics via API for Operational Management

As organisations grow, the constraint is rarely a lack of ideas — it is scattered data and the difficulty of moving from diagnosis to execution. Incremys positions itself as a 360° SEO platform that centralises Google Search Console and Google Analytics via API, consolidating technical, content and performance signals to enable consistent, operational management.

Industrialise Analysis: Opportunities, Briefs, Planning and Rank Tracking

In an audit-to-decisions-to-production workflow, the challenge is turning findings into repeatable actions: keyword opportunities, query-to-URL mapping, content briefs, editorial planning and rank tracking. This is the logic underpinning the 360° SEO Audit module and, from a methodology standpoint, our content on SEO audit tools and SEO content strategy.

Link Actions to ROI: Data-Driven Prioritisation and Actionable Reporting

To structure trade-offs effectively, connect every action to a measurable outcome: visibility, CTR, conversions or leads. Ecosystem benchmarks can help contextualise decisions, including our SEO statistics, SEA statistics (useful for comparing the attractiveness and conversion rates of paid versus organic search) and GEO statistics (useful for incorporating visibility in generative search engines).

FAQ: Common Questions About Carrying Out an SEO Audit

Where should you start when auditing a site and prioritising the first actions?

Start with real performance data from Search Console and Analytics to identify organic landing pages and business-critical pages. Then check indexability: robots directives, noindex tags, canonicals and Search Console exclusions. This sequencing prevents you from spending time on technical details affecting pages with no commercial value, and quickly produces a shortlist of high-impact actions.

How long should you plan for a complete audit?

Timing depends primarily on scale (number of URLs) and complexity (JavaScript, international setup, faceted e-commerce). A site-plus-key-pages-plus-action-plan audit can take anything from a few days to several weeks. The impact of fixes is typically measured over several months, covering indexation, re-evaluation and signal consolidation — which is precisely why ongoing monitoring matters.

Which technical issues most commonly surface during an SEO analysis?

The most frequent and damaging issues affect crawling and indexation: 404 errors, 5xx responses, redirect chains or loops, sitemaps containing non-indexable URLs, inconsistent robots or meta robots directives, and contradictory canonicalisation where sitemap, internal links, canonical tags and redirects do not all point to the same URL.

How do you get keyword-to-page mapping right and avoid cannibalisation?

Build a mapping from primary query to reference URL and check in Search Console whether Google already associates that query with a different page. If two pages target the same intent, decide whether to merge them, differentiate them clearly with distinct intents and structures, or redirect one to the other. Finally, align internal linking and title tags to reinforce the chosen URL.

What should you do if pages are crawled but not indexed?

First confirm whether those pages should be indexed — some URLs should not be, including alternate pages with canonicals, redirected pages and technical pages. If the page is strategic, check content quality and uniqueness, duplication signals, canonical tags, internal linking (does the page receive meaningful internal links?) and sitemap consistency. After making changes, use "Validate fix" in Search Console and, if appropriate, "Request indexing".

How can you quickly tell whether canonicals or redirects are the root cause of an issue?

For a sample of strategic URLs, compare five elements: (1) the requested URL, (2) the final URL after redirects, (3) the canonical declared on the page, (4) the URL listed in the sitemap, and (5) the URL Google uses in Search Console. If these five do not converge, you have a likely source of conflicting signals.

How do you know whether internal linking is holding rankings back?

Check whether your strategic pages — offers, categories, pillar pages — receive enough contextual internal links from strong pages such as hubs and high-traffic pages. A common sign is a page with healthy impressions that stalls in position and receives links only from navigation menus or footers. Strengthen editorial links within the body content and clarify the cluster hierarchy from pillar to supporting pages.

What should you look at first in a backlink profile?

Start with quality and coherence: diversity of referring domains, topical relevance, anchor text and destination pages. Then review unusual signals such as acquisition spikes, over-optimised anchors and low-trust links. Finally, connect the link building picture back to the pages that drive business outcomes and deserve reinforcement.

How often should you update a site's ongoing monitoring routine?

For a B2B site, a light weekly routine covering major variations and errors, a monthly review of CTR, opportunity queries and content updates, and a more thorough quarterly technical checkpoint form a solid baseline. What matters most is consistency: detect issues early, fix them and measure the outcome.

How do you connect an audit to lead and revenue objectives in a B2B context?

Link each recommendation to a specific page and a business metric: SEO landing pages that convert, highly visible pages that are under-clicked (CTR work), and pages that convert well but lack impressions (content, internal linking and authority work). To contextualise the role of SEO in acquisition, some B2B studies indicate that 57% of B2B marketers believe SEO generates more leads than other initiatives, and that SEO may be the most effective channel for generating MQLs (59.3%) and converting them into customers (45.8%).

To continue exploring complementary guides on SEO, GEO and digital marketing, visit the Incremys blog.