How to Do an SEO Audit Yourself

You know what? Running your own SEO audit isn’t rocket science—it’s more like being a detective with a magnifying glass, except your crime scene is your website and the evidence is buried in code, loading speeds, and user experience metrics. I’ll tell you a secret: most businesses pay thousands for professional audits when they could uncover 80% of their issues themselves with the right approach and tools.

Here’s the thing—search engines are constantly evolving, and what worked last year might be sabotaging your rankings today. An SEO audit is your health check-up, revealing everything from technical hiccups to content gaps that are keeping you invisible to your target audience. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a systematic approach to diagnose your website’s SEO health and create an doable roadmap for improvement.

Let me explain why doing this yourself matters more than ever. Professional SEO audits can cost anywhere from £500 to £5,000, but honestly, you’ll understand your business context better than any external consultant ever could. Plus, learning to audit your own site means you can catch issues early, rather than waiting months between professional reviews.

Pre-Audit Setup and Tools

Right, let’s get our ducks in a row before we explore into the nitty-gritty. Think of this phase as gathering your toolkit—you wouldn’t attempt to fix a car without proper spanners, would you?

Vital SEO Audit Tools

Based on my experience auditing dozens of websites, you’ll need a combination of free and premium tools to get the full picture. Google’s free toolkit is surprisingly comprehensive—Search Console, Analytics, and PageSpeed Insights cover about 60% of what you need to know.

For the heavy lifting, I recommend Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free version handles up to 500 URLs), which crawls your site like a search engine would. Pair this with SEMrush or Ahrefs for backlink analysis and keyword research, though their free tiers provide enough data for most small to medium websites.

Here’s a comparison of vital audit tools and their strengths:

Now, back to our topic. You’ll also want browser extensions like MozBar or SEOquake for quick on-page checks. These little gems save hours of manual work by displaying key metrics directly in your browser as you navigate your site.

Website Crawling Configuration

Let me explain why proper crawling setup matters—imagine trying to audit a building while wearing a blindfold. That’s essentially what happens when you don’t configure your crawling tools correctly.

Start by creating a comprehensive URL list. Export your XML sitemap URLs, but don’t stop there. Check your analytics for pages receiving organic traffic that might not be in your sitemap—these orphaned pages often reveal interesting insights about your site structure.

Configure Screaming Frog to respect your robots.txt file initially, then run a second crawl ignoring it to catch blocked pages that might need attention. Set custom extraction rules for your specific CMS—WordPress sites need different configurations than Shopify or custom builds.

Here’s something most guides won’t tell you—configure different crawl depths for different sections of your site. Your blog might need a deeper crawl than your product pages, especially if you’ve been publishing content for years.

Analytics Account Verification

Honestly, this step trips up more people than you’d expect. You need verified access to Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and any other analytics platforms you’re using. Sounds obvious, right? Yet I’ve seen countless audit attempts fail because someone didn’t have proper permissions.

Verify ownership of all your domain variations—www and non-www versions, HTTP and HTTPS. Google treats these as separate properties, so you’ll want data from all versions to get the complete picture.

Check your Analytics tracking code implementation across different page types. E-commerce sites especially need to verify that tracking works correctly on checkout pages, which are often hosted on different domains or subdomains.

Set up custom date ranges covering at least 3-6 months of data. You’ll need this historical context to identify seasonal patterns and distinguish between temporary blips and genuine issues.

Technical SEO Analysis

Right, now we’re getting to the meat and potatoes of your audit. Technical SEO is like the foundation of a house—get it wrong, and everything else becomes wobbly. But here’s the thing that might surprise you: most technical issues are actually quite straightforward to identify and fix once you know what to look for.

Site Speed and Core Web Vitals

Google’s Core Web Vitals aren’t just fancy metrics—they’re user experience indicators that directly impact your rankings. Think of them as your website’s vital signs: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures loading performance, First Input Delay (FID) gauges interactivity, and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) tracks visual stability.

Run your key pages through PageSpeed Insights and pay attention to the field data, not just the lab data. Field data shows how real users experience your site, while lab data is more like a controlled test environment—useful, but not the full story.

My experience with site speed audits has taught me to look beyond the obvious culprits. Yes, large images and bloated JavaScript are common issues, but third-party scripts often cause the most damage. That innocent-looking chat widget or social media feed might be adding 3+ seconds to your load time.

Use GTmetrix’s waterfall chart to identify which resources are taking longest to load. Look for patterns—are all your images loading from a slow CDN? Is your hosting provider struggling during peak hours? These insights help prioritise your fixes.

Mobile Responsiveness Testing

Let’s be honest—if your site isn’t mobile-friendly in 2025, you’re essentially invisible to over 60% of internet users. But mobile responsiveness goes beyond just fitting content on smaller screens.

Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool, but don’t stop there. Test your site on actual devices—different screen sizes, operating systems, and browsers can reveal issues that automated tools miss. I always check at least three different devices: a modern smartphone, an older model, and a tablet.

Pay special attention to touch targets—buttons and links need to be large enough for fingers, not mouse cursors. The recommended minimum size is 44 pixels, but I prefer 48 pixels for better usability.

Check your mobile page speed separately from desktop—mobile networks are often slower and less reliable. A page that loads quickly on your office WiFi might crawl on a 3G connection.

URL Structure and Redirects

URL structure might seem like a minor detail, but it’s actually a needed ranking factor and user experience element. Clean, descriptive URLs help both search engines and users understand your content hierarchy.

Audit your URL patterns for consistency. Are you using hyphens or underscores? Trailing slashes or not? Mixed patterns confuse search engines and can create duplicate content issues. Pick a standard and stick with it across your entire site.

Check for redirect chains—these occur when URL A redirects to URL B, which then redirects to URL C. Each redirect adds loading time and dilutes link equity. Use Screaming Frog or a redirect checker tool to identify chains longer than one redirect.

Examine your 404 errors, but don’t just count them—analyse them. Are users frequently trying to access certain missing pages? This might indicate broken internal links or suggest content gaps worth filling.

Here’s something most people miss: check your redirect status codes. 302 redirects are temporary and don’t pass full link equity, while 301 redirects are permanent and do. Make sure you’re using the right type for each situation.

XML Sitemap Validation

Your XML sitemap is like a roadmap for search engines—it should be accurate, comprehensive, and regularly updated. Yet I’ve seen countless sites with sitemaps that include 404 pages, exclude important content, or haven’t been updated in years.

Start by checking if your sitemap exists and is accessible. The standard location is yoursite.com/sitemap.xml, but check your robots.txt file for the actual location. Some sites have multiple sitemaps or use sitemap index files.

Validate your sitemap structure using Google Search Console’s sitemap report. Look for errors like invalid URLs, incorrect lastmod dates, or pages that return error codes. Each error represents a wasted opportunity for search engines to discover your content.

Compare your sitemap URLs against your actual site structure. Are important pages missing from the sitemap? Are low-value pages (like thank-you pages or login forms) unnecessarily included? Your sitemap should reflect your content priorities.

Check the lastmod dates in your sitemap—they should reflect actual content changes, not just template updates. Inaccurate dates can confuse search engine crawlers about which pages to prioritise.

That said, don’t forget to verify that your sitemap is submitted to all relevant search engines. While Google Search Console is most important, Bing Webmaster Tools covers a marked portion of search traffic that many sites ignore.

Now, here’s where many businesses miss a trick—consider submitting your site to quality web directories like Jasmine Directory as part of your broader SEO strategy. While directories aren’t the ranking powerhouses they once were, quality directories still provide valuable backlinks and can help with local SEO efforts.

Content and On-Page SEO Assessment

Right, let’s talk about the stuff that actually makes people stick around your website—your content. This is where the rubber meets the road in terms of providing value to your visitors while keeping search engines happy.

Keyword Analysis and Content Gaps

I’ll tell you a secret: most websites have brilliant content that nobody finds because they’ve optimised for the wrong keywords. Start by auditing your current keyword targeting—not what you think you’re targeting, but what you’re actually ranking for.

Export your organic keyword data from Search Console and look for surprises. You might discover you’re ranking for terms you never intended to target, or missing opportunities for keywords that should be slam dunks for your business.

Use tools like Answer the Public or SEMrush’s Keyword Magic Tool to identify content gaps. Look for questions your audience is asking that you haven’t answered yet. These long-tail opportunities often convert better than competitive head terms.

Analyse your competitors’ content strategies, but don’t just copy them. Look for angles they’ve missed or topics they’ve covered superficially. Sometimes the best opportunities hide in plain sight.

Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Here’s something that’ll make you cringe—I’ve audited sites where 40% of pages had duplicate title tags. Your title tag is prime real estate in search results, yet many sites treat it as an afterthought.

Check for title tag issues: duplicates, missing tags, overly long titles (over 60 characters), and titles that don’t match the actual page content. Each page should have a unique, descriptive title that includes your target keyword naturally.

Meta descriptions don’t directly impact rankings, but they massively influence click-through rates. Audit yours for length (aim for 150-160 characters), uniqueness, and compelling calls-to-action. A boring meta description is a wasted opportunity to stand out in search results.

Don’t forget to check how your titles and descriptions appear on mobile devices—they’re often truncated differently than on desktop, which can completely change their effectiveness.

Internal Linking Structure

Your internal linking structure is like the circulatory system of your website—it distributes authority and helps search engines understand your content hierarchy. Yet most sites have internal linking strategies that resemble spaghetti more than a well-planned network.

Audit your internal links using Screaming Frog’s internal link analysis. Look for pages with unusually high or low internal link counts. Your most important pages should typically receive more internal links, while pages with zero internal links might be orphaned.

Check your anchor text diversity—are you always using the same phrases to link to important pages? Varied, descriptive anchor text helps search engines understand context and prevents over-optimisation penalties.

Identify your top-performing content and ensure it’s well-connected to related pages. If your best blog post about “email marketing tips” doesn’t link to your email marketing service page, you’re missing obvious conversion opportunities.

User Experience and Engagement Metrics

Let me explain why user experience has become the secret sauce of modern SEO—Google’s algorithms have become sophisticated enough to recognise when users are genuinely satisfied with your content versus when they’re bouncing back to search results.

Bounce Rate and Dwell Time Analysis

Bounce rate gets a bad rap, but it’s not always negative. A high bounce rate on a contact information page might be perfect—users found what they needed quickly. Context matters more than the raw number.

Analyse bounce rates by page type and traffic source. Blog posts should generally have lower bounce rates than product pages, and organic traffic typically bounces less than social media traffic. Look for patterns that reveal content or technical issues.

Dwell time—how long users spend on your pages—is becoming increasingly important for rankings. Use Google Analytics’ average session duration and pages per session metrics to identify your stickiest content, then analyse what makes it engaging.

Pay attention to your top exit pages—these reveal where users commonly leave your site. High exit rates on key conversion pages suggest usability issues or unmet expectations that need addressing.

Navigation and Site Architecture

Your site architecture should make sense to both humans and search engines. If users can’t find what they’re looking for within three clicks, you’ve got a navigation problem that’s probably hurting your SEO too.

Audit your main navigation menu—does it reflect your business priorities and user needs? Many sites organise navigation around internal departments rather than customer journeys, creating confusion for visitors.

Check your breadcrumb implementation. Breadcrumbs help users understand where they are in your site hierarchy and provide additional internal linking opportunities. They’re especially important for large e-commerce or content sites.

Analyse your site search data if you have an internal search function. What are users searching for? Failed searches reveal content gaps or navigation issues that might be driving visitors away.

Conversion Funnel Assessment

Here’s where SEO meets business reality—all the traffic in the world means nothing if visitors aren’t converting. Audit your conversion funnels to identify where you’re losing potential customers.

Set up goal tracking in Google Analytics if you haven’t already. Track micro-conversions (newsletter signups, content downloads) as well as macro-conversions (purchases, contact form submissions). This gives you a clearer picture of user engagement.

Examine your conversion paths—how many touchpoints do users typically need before converting? This insight helps you create content for different stages of the customer journey and identify optimization opportunities.

Check for technical barriers to conversion. Are your forms working correctly? Do they require too much information? Is your checkout process mobile-friendly? Small technical issues can devastate conversion rates.

Competitive Analysis and Market Position

You know what? Ignoring your competition in SEO is like playing football with a blindfold—you might accidentally score, but you’ll probably end up running in the wrong direction most of the time.

Competitor Content Strategy Analysis

Start by identifying your real SEO competitors—these might be different from your business competitors. Use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to find sites ranking for your target keywords, then analyse their content strategies.

Look beyond surface-level metrics. What topics are they covering that you’re not? How detailed are their guides compared to yours? Are they targeting different keyword variations that you’ve missed?

Analyse their content formats—are they using video, infographics, or interactive tools that you’re not? Sometimes the format matters as much as the content quality for ranking success.

Check their update frequency and content freshness. Sites that regularly update their content often outrank static competitors, even with initially lower-quality material.

Backlink Profile Comparison

Your backlink profile is like your website’s reputation score—quality matters far more than quantity. Analyse not just how many backlinks your competitors have, but where they’re getting them from.

Use tools like Ahrefs or Majestic to compare your backlink profile against competitors. Look for link opportunities they’ve secured that you haven’t—industry directories, resource pages, or partnership opportunities.

Pay attention to their anchor text distribution. Overly optimised anchor text profiles can trigger penalties, while natural, varied anchor text suggests sustainable link building practices.

Identify their toxic backlinks too—sometimes competitors have link profile issues that create opportunities for you to gain ground by focusing on quality over quantity.

SERP Feature Opportunities

Featured snippets, local packs, and other SERP features can dramatically increase your visibility without improving your traditional rankings. Audit which features appear for your target keywords and assess your optimization for each.

For featured snippets, analyse the content that’s currently winning these positions. What format are they using—lists, tables, or paragraphs? How can you structure your content to better answer the query?

Local businesses should audit their Google Business Profile optimization and local pack rankings. Are your competitors appearing in the local pack when you’re not? What are they doing differently with their local SEO?

Check for image and video SERP features too. Sometimes optimising for these vertical results can drive considerable traffic that your competitors are ignoring.

Future Directions

So, what’s next? You’ve got your audit data, you’ve identified issues, and you’re probably feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of potential improvements. That’s completely normal—every comprehensive SEO audit reveals more opportunities than you can tackle immediately.

Here’s my advice: prioritise ruthlessly. Focus on technical issues first—they’re often the quickest wins and can free up improvements across your entire site. A single site speed optimization might improve rankings for hundreds of pages simultaneously.

Create a realistic timeline for improvements. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is SEO success. Plan to tackle 2-3 major issues per month rather than trying to fix everything at once. This approach prevents quality control issues and lets you measure the impact of each change.

Set up monitoring systems to catch issues early. Google Search Console alerts can notify you of new technical problems, while rank tracking tools help you monitor the impact of your improvements. Prevention is always easier than cure.

Remember that SEO auditing is a skill that improves with practice. Your first audit might take weeks, but future audits will be faster and more insightful as you develop an eye for common issues and opportunities.

Finally, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. An imperfect audit that leads to action is infinitely more valuable than a perfect audit that sits in a drawer. Start implementing improvements based on what you’ve learned, and refine your approach as you go.

Keep learning, keep testing, and remember that SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. The insights you’ve gained from this self-audit will serve as your roadmap for months of well-thought-out improvements. Most importantly, schedule your next audit—successful SEO requires ongoing attention, not one-time fixes.