If you need a detailed plan for optimizing these elements, see our SEO roadmap article for actionable next steps. SEO is not just about getting users and search engines to your site —it’s also about keeping and showing them around. One of the most powerful ways to do this is through internal linking, so be sure to include this in your SEO audit.

Free SEO Audit Tool

For that, select List Mode in the project creation dropdown menu. Add the domain link and a set of specific URLs you want to crawl. If your site has been penalized, you will see a corresponding notice in Google Search Console. Make sure to address the warning before you proceed further with an SEO audit checklist.

Also in Google Search Console, check the Enhancements section – it will list any detected schema types (like FAQ, Breadcrumbs, Products) and if there are errors or warnings in them. If you find that none of your pages have structured data, that’s a strong recommendation to implement relevant schema. For example, sites that implement schema often see increased click-through rates because of rich snippets. One study by Search Engine Land noted a 20-30% increase in CTR for pages with structured data generating rich results (like review stars). While I won’t claim schema will magically boost your rankings, it does make your existing rankings more effective by making them stand out. Off-page SEO, primarily your backlink profile, is the next critical area.

Backlink Tools

Without a good copy, you shouldn’t even try optimizing your website. It also provides you suggestions on how to improve your overall website’s score so you can achieve higher rankings in search results. Google Search Console (GSC) is the powerful FREE tool from Google that every website owner should use. It gives the important data including the website issues or errors that are preventing your site to get higher rankings in search results. Once you enter any website’s URL in their Website Audit tool, it scans your whole website and gives a score out of 100. You’ll find a list of the most important problems you need to fix on your site for better rankings.

• By creating a seamless user experience, you not only keep visitors on your site longer but also encourage them to come back.
• This can cause various SEO issues if not dealt with correctly and is therefore an important part of any audit.
• For the other SERP features, the exact optimization techniques change based on which SERP feature you’re targeting.
• Get a comprehensive audit of your website, especially if your last audit was more than a year ago — or if you’re revamping your SEO strategy.
• You can use related keywords in your content to help give search engines the context of your page.

You can then take the necessary SEO Anomaly actions, such as contacting the web admin or reporting the site to gain back your traffic. FAQFox is a free SEO tool that can scrape the Internet for questions your target audience might be asking or searching. Input a keyword, and this tool shows you a score from zero to 100 that tells you how competitive the keyword is.

When it comes to general content issues, a lot of bloggers encounter keyword cannibalisation and duplicate content. SEOptimer offers a FREE website analysis to perform SEO audits of your site. Once you enter your website’s URL on their site audit tool, it instantly gives you an on-page SEO score.

However, new issues can surface if you add pages and products or do other work on your site. You’ll see suggested improvements, such as minimizing JavaScript execution, using browser caching, or deferring non-critical JavaScript. You can do a lot to improve your site speed, so once you have collected all the data, add it to your sheet with the rest of the tasks to tackle. This lightweight SEO audit still finds high-priority issues without the time commitment of a full review.