An SEO Audit Example: Report Structure, Method and Checklist

If you already understand the fundamentals of an SEO audit, one highly practical question often remains: what does a real SEO audit report look like—one that helps you decide what to do, in what order, and why? This article presents a specialist reporting model (technical + semantic), complete with example structures, the types of evidence you should expect, and a reusable checklist—without rehashing the main guide.

An SEO Audit Example: A Step-by-Step, Actionable Diagnosis (Technical + Semantic)

A useful example is not a pile of metrics. It should explain what is wrong, why it matters and how to fix it, then translate all of that into a roadmap. This execution-focused approach is common in audit reporting frameworks: an executive summary, a prioritised issue list, URL-level examples, usable technical context and an action plan tied to business goals (source: microestimates.com/fr/blog/seo-audit-report-sample).

What This SEO Audit Example Adds Beyond a General Guide

A guide on how to carry out an SEO audit explains the full method. An example, by contrast, should make the trade-offs visible:

• The expected level of evidence: Search Console screenshots, Analytics exports, HTML snippets, lists of affected URLs, before/after comparisons.
• Granularity: issues grouped by templates rather than page by page—except for key commercial pages.
• Prioritisation: separating errors, warnings and notes so effort is directed at what genuinely moves performance (microestimates).
• Turning findings into decisions: who does what (SEO, content, development), when, and with what acceptance criteria.

Expected Deliverables: Findings, Evidence, Priorities and an Action Plan

An actionable audit deliverable is often a substantial document (examples frequently cite 40 to 50 pages as an average length: seomix.fr/exemples-audit-seo/). But value does not come from volume—it comes from structure and proof. In practice, you should be able to find:

• Findings: plain-language statements (e.g., "Google is discovering non-indexable URLs", "key pages are buried too deep", "several pages compete for the same intent").
• Evidence: Search Console (coverage, URL inspection, performance), Analytics (engagement, conversions) and observable signals (HTTP status, tags, rendering).
• Priorities: scoring and ranking (e.g., the ICE framework—Impact, Confidence, Ease—to sort actions: microestimates).
• Action plan: tasks, owners, dependencies, validation criteria and a measurement window.

The Structure of a Complete SEO Audit: A Report That Makes Decisions Easier

For an audit to be genuinely useful, the report must work for multiple audiences: leadership (impact and risk), marketing (editorial priorities) and product or tech teams (clear, ticket-ready items). Reporting frameworks recommend adapting depth and detail to the intended audience (microestimates).

Executive Summary: Business Impact, Risks and Opportunities

In a strong report example, the executive summary should ideally fit on one to two pages and answer four questions:

• What is blocking growth? (e.g., incomplete indexation, duplication, slow high-intent pages).
• What could deliver a measurable win quickly? (e.g., snippet optimisation to lift CTR, consolidating cannibalising pages).
• What are the risks of doing nothing? (e.g., crawl waste, deindexation, diluted relevance).
• What is the 30/60/90-day roadmap? (execution-led milestones).

To frame the stakes, include orders of magnitude from reliable sources. For example, the number-one organic position on desktop captures 34% of CTR (SEO.com, 2026), while page two drops to 0.78% (Ahrefs, 2025)—two figures referenced in Incremys analyses on SEO audits.

Methodology and Scope: Pages, Templates, Segments and Objectives

A complete audit does not mean auditing everything uniformly. In your example, be explicit about scope:

• Segments: commercial pages (categories, products, service pages), blog, support pages, local pages, and so on.
• Templates: group by page type (listing, product page, article, brand page). Template issues are often the root cause—one template error can affect hundreds of URLs.
• Objectives: specific and measurable. Some audit examples include targets (e.g., +50% organic traffic in six months, +20% SEO conversions in a year), but these should remain hypotheses and be adapted to context (waoo-digital.com/exemple-daudit-seo-comment-faire-un-audit-seo/).

Prioritisation Table: Effort, Impact, Dependencies and Owners

In an SEO audit example, the most reusable component is often the prioritisation table. A common practice is to classify topics as Errors / Warnings / Notes (microestimates) and add a scoring method (e.g., ICE). The aim is not to optimise for a score—it is to ensure a critical issue does not neutralise the benefit of many smaller improvements.

Useful columns to include (and reuse in your own template):

• Finding
• Type (technical, semantic, UX, authority)
• Evidence (GSC/GA4 link, export, screenshot)
• Estimated impact (crawl/indexation, CTR, conversion)
• Effort (low/medium/high + dependencies)
• Risk (regression, deployment, side effects)
• Recommendation
• Owner
• Validation (how you will confirm it has been fixed)

Post-Audit Tracking: Validating Fixes in Google Search Console and Google Analytics

A robust example also includes a validation plan. Google Search Console (GSC) is the authoritative source for crawling, rendering and indexation (microestimates). Google Analytics complements it by showing what users do after the click.

• In GSC: check coverage and indexation, use URL Inspection for key pages, monitor Core Web Vitals, and analyse Performance by page and URL.
• In Analytics: track engagement and conversions, segmented by organic landing page.

A good habit to document in your example: establish a baseline before making changes, then measure afterwards (microestimates), rather than drawing conclusions from a general impression.

Technical SEO Audit: Typical Findings, Evidence and Recommendations

A technical SEO audit answers one simple question: can search engines crawl, render and index what matters? The example below shows how to document common issues without overwhelming the reader.

Crawling and Indexation: Red Flags and Critical Checks

Red flags commonly cited in audit examples include: discovered but currently not indexed pages, 4XX/5XX errors, duplicate site versions (http/https, www/non-www), and redesigns carried out without redirects—some examples mention nearly 500 errors appearing in GSC after a poorly managed migration (seomix.fr/exemples-audit-seo/).

Robots, Sitemaps, Canonicals and Redirects: Signal Consistency

In a report example, you should demonstrate alignment between:

• robots.txt (crawl access);
• sitemap (URLs that should be indexable);
• canonical tags (the preferred version);
• redirects (direct 301s; avoid chains).

Published audit examples cite issues such as http/https coexistence or poor domain handling that creates multiple versions of the same site (seomix). For redirects, critical 404s should be resolved or removed and, where relevant, redirected with a 301 (leofuchs.fr).

Orphan Pages, Click Depth and Internal Linking

In an audit example, document the cost of weak internal linking: orphan pages that are hard to crawl, important pages buried too deep, and a link distribution that fails to support key commercial pages (seomix). Some checklist frameworks recommend aiming for two to ten internal links per page (waoo-digital).

Performance and Experience: What to Check Without Over-Interpreting

Performance is a classic area where teams can over-interpret results. Two useful reference points:

• Core Web Vitals provide tangible thresholds (e.g., LCP below 2.5 seconds and CLS below 0.1 are benchmarks commonly cited in audit summaries).
• Speed becomes critical when it affects user experience and conversions. Google (2025) cites 53% abandonment when load time exceeds three seconds, and HubSpot (2026) notes a +103% increase in bounce rate with an additional two seconds of loading time (compiled in the SEO statistics resources).

A helpful example therefore shows where the site is slow (commercial pages) and why (root cause).

Speed, Mobile and Stability: Prioritise What Actually Impacts Acquisition

On mobile, the challenge is structural: mobile accounts for 60% of global web traffic (Webnyxt, 2026, via SEO statistics). In your example, avoid chasing scores and instead focus on contextualised, actionable recommendations.

One practical performance reporting example notes that an interactive module (such as a calculator) can increase JavaScript execution time and trigger layout shift; recommendations in that case focus on JS optimisation and preloading key resources, with before/after measurement (microestimates).

Quality at Scale: Group Issues by Templates and Root Causes

A strong technical audit does not list 300 pages with the same issue. It groups by template and quantifies the scale. Large-scale audit examples cite pages without H1s, missing meta descriptions, duplicate H1s, or poor text-to-HTML ratios (leofuchs.fr). The logic to apply: one template diagnosis leads to one fix that improves dozens or hundreds of URLs.

How to Present Findings: Problem, Proof and Fix

A simple, repeatable format aligned with execution-focused frameworks (microestimates):

• Problem: "X prevents indexation of Y pages"
• Evidence: GSC export + three URL examples + code or render snippet
• Root cause: template issue, redirect rule, noindex tag, inconsistent canonical…
• Fix: technical action + owner + deadline
• Validation: how to confirm resolution in GSC (inspection, coverage, performance)

Semantic Audit: Keyword Mapping and Search Intent Alignment

A semantic audit is not simply about adding keywords. It is about clarifying each URL's primary intent, covering the sub-topics users expect to see in the SERP, and avoiding cannibalisation.

Keyword Mapping: Organising Queries by Themes and Intent

A good mapping example follows a simple logic: group queries by themes, then by intent (informational, commercial, transactional, navigational). Audit feedback consistently highlights common mistakes such as targeting overly generic keywords, off-topic terms, or queries that are simply unattainable (seomix).

What to document in your example:

• Which pages target which intent—and which pages have no clear intent at all?
• Which adjacent topics are missing for the content to be considered genuinely useful and complete?
• Which pages are ranking for non-strategic queries?

Deciding What to Create, Consolidate and Re-Optimise

In an audit example, avoid the generic recommendation to "publish more content". Use a clear decision typology instead:

• Create a page if an important intent has no clear destination.
• Consolidate (merge) if several pages compete for the same intent and cannibalise one another.
• Re-optimise if the page exists but lacks coverage, structure or the elements users expect.

In GSC use cases, a page may remain "Discovered – currently not indexed" when the content is deemed too thin. One corrective approach is to add genuinely useful sections (including an FAQ), then request reindexing, with traffic returning within a few weeks (microestimates). The key takeaway is methodological: connect useful content with indexation and performance.

Detecting Cannibalisation and Clarifying Each URL's Role

Cannibalisation is rarely visible in a single metric. In an example, demonstrate:

• two URLs alternating for the same query in GSC (Performance tab);
• similar title tags or H1s, or editorial angles that overlap too closely;
• internal linking that sends conflicting signals (anchors pointing to multiple "reference" pages).

The fix is not always deletion: it may involve merging pages, differentiating intent, or recalibrating internal linking.

Content Analysis: Practical Criteria (Coverage, Angle, Quality, SERP Fit)

A content analysis example should be grounded in the real SERP: observe the formats and expectations in play (guide, category page, comparison, definition) and adapt accordingly. Some manual audit examples recommend checking positions and competitors directly in Google (ideally in a private browsing window) and keeping a clear distinction between what is observed and what is estimated (lecarillondigital.fr/audit-seo-hotel-exemple/).

On quality, published diagnostics highlight a common trap: generic copy that could apply to any business lacks semantic signals and genuine added value (seomix). Your example should show how to rewrite with specific sections, proof points, concrete examples and direct answers.

Editorial Recommendations: Titles, Headings, Missing Sections and Internal Linking

In an audit example, editorial recommendations should be verifiable. Commonly audited items include:

• Title tags and meta descriptions: missing, duplicated or poorly sized. Common guidelines cite 60 characters for title tags and 160 for meta descriptions (leofuchs.fr). An optimised meta description is associated with a +43% uplift in CTR (MyLittleBigWeb, 2026, via SEO statistics).
• Heading structure: one H1 and a logical hierarchy. Published audits show examples of pages with no H2s or poorly placed H1s, which harms both readability and SEO signals (lecarillondigital).
• Internal linking: links to strategic pages, varied anchor text, and reduced click depth.

Turning Semantic Findings Into Production-Ready Briefs

A production-focused example ends with actionable briefs:

• Target intent and the promise of a clear answer
• Structure (H2/H3) aligned to the SERP
• Proof elements to include (examples, data, FAQ)
• Pages to link to (internal linking) and suggested anchor text
• Validation criteria (indexation, impressions, CTR, conversions)

SEO Audit Checklist: A Practical Control List

A checklist makes an audit repeatable and manageable: it turns a complex analysis into clear steps, helps you document results and organise reviews (microestimates). Below is a three-level template designed to be used as-is.

Quick Checklist (30 Minutes): Urgent Signals

• GSC: unusual drop in clicks or impressions on key pages (Performance tab).
• GSC: increase in crawl errors (Coverage/Pages).
• URL Inspection for five commercial pages: indexed? canonical selected? render correct?
• Mobile: key pages usable on a smartphone (navigation clear, CTAs visible).
• HTTP: quickly check critical 404s (pages that previously drove traffic).

Standard Checklist (One to Two Days): Technical + Content

• Indexation: robots.txt, sitemap, consistency of indexable URLs.
• Redirects: chains, loops, http/https and www/non-www inconsistencies.
• Internal linking: orphan pages, click depth, links to high-value pages.
• Performance: Core Web Vitals on mobile for commercial pages (prioritise what matters most).
• Content: ten key pages—check intent, coverage, heading structure, title tags and snippets.
• Cannibalisation: identify five query groups where multiple URLs appear in alternation.
• Measurement: establish a baseline (impressions, CTR, position, conversions) before making fixes.

Advanced Checklist (One to Two Weeks): Template-Led Audit and KPI Management

• Template analysis: identify repeated issues (tags, content, links, canonicals).
• Full topic mapping: pages to create, consolidate and re-optimise.
• Prioritisation scoring (e.g., ICE): Impact/Confidence/Ease (microestimates).
• Batch deployment plan: quick wins versus structural projects.
• Ongoing monitoring on critical pages (particularly useful for dynamic sites): alerting when regressions appear (microestimates).

On frequency: multiple sources converge on at least two audits per year, and a full quarterly audit is often cited as the best rhythm for detecting new gaps (leofuchs.fr; waoo-digital). This matters all the more given that Google makes 500 to 600 algorithm changes per year (SEO.com, 2026, via SEO statistics).

Case Study: Illustrating an Audit With Jardindeco

To ground the method in reality, here is how to narrate an audit without sharing non-public data: focus on process, prioritisation and the evidence you would expect. The Jardindeco case study highlights, in particular, a UX and SEO redesign context, an impact-led prioritisation approach, and progressive improvements to site architecture (customer testimonial).

Context, Goals and Scope

In the case study, the redesign is a typical moment where an audit becomes a risk-management tool: the goal is to avoid fixing things in the wrong order and to move in stages, prioritising what unlocks visibility. An example scope suited to this context:

• Commercial pages (categories and products) affected by the redesign
• Information architecture and internal linking (before and after)
• Pages already generating clicks in GSC that need to be protected

Observable Technical Findings and Evidence

In a case-style report, the priority is to document proof—even as the site evolves. At a minimum:

• GSC exports before and after (pages, queries, errors, indexation).
• A list of changed URLs and a 301 redirect mapping (where URLs have changed).
• A sample of key URLs inspected (indexation, canonical, rendering).

Redesigns carried out without a redirect plan are a well-documented cause of traffic drops and can generate numerous errors in GSC (examples described in seomix). In a report example, the value lies in showing how you would frame the risk and how you would validate the fix.

Semantic Findings: Mapping Opportunities and Consolidation

The Jardindeco testimonial emphasises an approach to the site as a global system—both technical and semantic—and the ability to identify issues quickly in order to move forward efficiently. In a semantic example connected to a redesign, you would typically look for:

• Essential pages that are under-supported (with few internal links pointing to them).
• Content clusters to consolidate in order to clarify intent.
• Pages to enrich with genuinely useful sections (including FAQs) to support both indexation and relevance.

Reporting: Prioritisation, Planning and Tracking Gains

What is expected in this type of scenario goes beyond simply listing fixes—it requires planning. A strong example plan links:

• Quick wins (snippets, title tags, internal links to commercial pages)
• Structural work (architecture, templates, redirects)
• Measurement: a baseline, then monitoring over four to eight weeks (indexation, impressions, CTR, conversions)

Worth noting: when teams are arbitrating between SEO and SEA in parallel, some track these signals jointly to invest in the right area. If that is relevant to you, Incremys resources provide useful benchmarks in SEA statistics and SEO statistics. To add the LLM dimension and generative visibility, you can also consult our GEO statistics.

A Reusable SEO Audit Template: Tables, Sections and Quality Criteria

The goal of a template is not to impose a single format, but to ensure repeatability and clarity. Reporting frameworks recommend adjusting depth for the audience (senior leadership versus developers) and providing URL-level detail for implementation (microestimates).

Report Template: Essential Sections and Reading Order

• 1. Executive summary (expected gains, risks, top five priorities)
• 2. Methodology & scope (data sources, samples, limitations)
• 3. Technical audit (crawling, indexation, performance, structure)
• 4. Semantic audit (mapping, intent, cannibalisation, content)
• 5. Authority / link building (link profile, quality, risks)—calibrate to your sector
• 6. Prioritisation table (30/60/90-day roadmap)
• 7. Measurement plan (KPIs, baseline, timeline)

Recommendation Table Template: Columns and Scoring Rules

To avoid decisions made on gut feeling, a simple scoring method helps. One widely recognised example in execution-led reporting is ICE (Impact, Confidence, Ease) (microestimates). A practical rule to document in your template: a critical error (e.g., a 404 on a high-converting page) takes precedence over a minor optimisation (e.g., a missing alt attribute on an old article).

Writing Best Practices: Precision, Traceability and No Repetition

• Precision: cite specific URLs, templates and sections—avoid vague generalisations.
• Traceability: every recommendation should point to evidence (GSC, Analytics, HTML observation).
• No repetition: group findings by root cause; do not repeat the same issue across dozens of pages.
• Measurability: define a validation criterion (e.g., page indexed, fewer crawl errors, higher CTR).

Automating Audits, Mapping and Prioritisation With Incremys

Centralise Data, Produce Briefs and Track ROI in One Workflow

Incremys offers the SEO 360° Audit module, designed to centralise technical and semantic analysis with mapping and impact-led prioritisation built in. The platform connects to Google Search Console and Google Analytics via API (a 360° SEO SaaS approach) to reduce disconnected spreadsheets and make it easier to produce actionable briefs, plan work and track results over time.

FAQ: SEO Audit Examples, Templates and Checklists

How Do You Present SEO Audit Results Clearly and in an Actionable Way?

Use (1) an executive summary geared towards decisions, (2) a prioritised list (Errors/Warnings/Notes), (3) evidence (GSC/Analytics + URL examples), and (4) a dated roadmap with owners and validation criteria. Execution-led reporting frameworks consistently prioritise clarity and sequencing over data overload (microestimates).

Is There a Reusable Template for Different Types of Websites?

Yes, but it should remain adaptable. The structure "executive summary → methodology → technical → semantic → prioritisation → measurement" works for most sites, while the level of detail and sampling changes with scale (an e-commerce catalogue versus a brochure site, for instance). Examples also stress that recommendations vary by sector and keyword ambition (seomix).

What Should You Check First in an SEO Audit Checklist?

Start with crawling and indexation (robots, sitemap, noindex, canonicals, 4XX/5XX errors), then internal linking and click depth, then performance on commercial pages. After that, focus on amplifiers: heading structure, structured data, snippet optimisation and semantic enrichment.

What Does a Complete SEO Audit Look Like (Format, Chapters, Deliverables)?

A complete audit is typically delivered as a long, structured report (examples commonly cite 40 to 50 pages) with a prioritisation table and supporting evidence. Expected deliverables include a diagnosis, URL-level examples and a roadmap connected to business objectives (seomix; microestimates).

What Is the Difference Between a Technical Audit and a Semantic Audit?

A technical audit checks whether search engines can crawl, render and index the site correctly (structure, performance, HTTP statuses, directives). A semantic audit checks whether each page targets a clear intent and offers sufficiently relevant, complete and differentiated content to rank (intent alignment, coverage, cannibalisation, editorial structure).

How Do You Build a Keyword Map Without Cannibalisation?

Group queries by themes and intent, assign one primary intent per URL, then apply a clear rule: one reference page per intent (other pages support it via internal linking or are consolidated into it). Check for cannibalisation in GSC by spotting multiple URLs appearing for the same queries, then stabilise signals through merging, differentiating angles and improving internal linking.

How Many Pages Should You Audit to Get a Reliable Sample?

It depends on the size of the site. For large sites, run a template-led audit and use a representative sample per segment (commercial pages, blog, support pages). For smaller sites, an exhaustive audit is often feasible. The key is to document scope and limitations clearly in the methodology section of your report.

How Do You Turn a Checklist Into a Prioritised Plan (Impact vs Effort)?

Add a scoring method (e.g., ICE) and a classification system (Errors/Warnings/Notes). Prioritise what unblocks crawling and indexation, and what affects high-value pages (conversions, revenue, leads). Execution-led frameworks make clear that a critical issue can cancel out the benefit of multiple low-priority optimisations (microestimates).

Which KPIs Should You Track After the Audit to Validate Improvements?

In GSC: indexation, crawl errors, impressions, clicks, CTR and rankings (by page and query). In Analytics: engagement and conversions from organic traffic. Work from a baseline established before changes, with a sensible measurement window after deployment (microestimates).

How Often Should a B2B Website Run an SEO Audit?

A minimum cadence often recommended is two audits per year (every six months), and a full quarterly audit is frequently cited as best practice for spotting gaps as the site and its environment evolve (leofuchs.fr; waoo-digital). This is also driven by the high frequency of algorithm changes—500 to 600 per year according to SEO.com, 2026, via SEO statistics.

To go further on SEO, GEO and performance measurement, you are welcome to explore the Incremys blog.