SEO Audit Checklist Work through 40+ on-page SEO checks grouped by Content, Meta tags, Technical, Performance, Mobile, Links and Indexing — watch your weighted score climb and copy a markdown report when you are done.
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Plenty to fix — begin with the critical items in each category.
Content 0/7 Page targets one clear primary keyword or topic Each page should own a single search intent rather than competing with itself. Critical Primary keyword appears in the H1 and early body copy Front-load the topic so both readers and crawlers grasp it within the first paragraph. Critical Content fully answers the query with useful depth Cover the subtopics a searcher expects; thin pages rarely rank for competitive terms. Critical Copy is original and not duplicated across URLs Duplicate or boilerplate content dilutes relevance and can suppress indexing. Headings use a logical H1 → H2 → H3 hierarchy One H1 per page, then nested H2/H3s that outline the content structure. Text is scannable: short paragraphs, lists, clear language Readable copy lowers bounce and helps featured-snippet extraction. Content is current and a visible last-updated date is shown Fresh, dated content signals maintenance for time-sensitive queries.
Meta tags 0/7 Unique title tag, ~50–60 characters, keyword near the front Titles are the strongest on-page signal and the main SERP click magnet. Critical Compelling meta description, ~150–160 characters Not a ranking factor, but a well-written description lifts click-through rate. Self-referencing canonical tag is present and correct Prevents duplicate-content dilution from query strings and variants. Critical Open Graph title, description and image are set Controls how the page renders when shared on social platforms. Twitter Card metadata is configured Ensures rich previews on X/Twitter rather than a bare link. Responsive viewport meta tag is declared `width=device-width` is required for proper mobile rendering. Document language is declared with the html lang attribute Helps search engines serve the right language audience.
Technical 0/7 Site is served over HTTPS with a valid certificate HTTPS is a confirmed lightweight ranking signal and a trust baseline. Critical Relevant structured data (schema.org JSON-LD) is added Enables rich results like breadcrumbs, FAQs, and review stars. URLs are short, readable and keyword-relevant Descriptive slugs beat opaque IDs for both users and crawlers. No broken internal links or unresolved 4xx/5xx errors Broken links waste crawl budget and frustrate users. Redirects use 301s and avoid long chains Each hop loses equity and slows the page; collapse chains to one hop. Favicon is present and references resolve correctly A 404ing favicon is a small but common technical smell. A helpful custom 404 page is in place Recover lost visitors with navigation back into the site.
Performance 0/6 Largest Contentful Paint is under 2.5 seconds LCP is a Core Web Vital measuring perceived load speed. Critical Cumulative Layout Shift stays below 0.1 Reserve space for media and ads so the layout does not jump. Interaction to Next Paint is under 200 ms INP replaced FID as the Core Web Vital for responsiveness. Images are compressed and served in modern formats Use WebP/AVIF, correct dimensions, and lazy-loading below the fold. CSS and JavaScript are minified and bundles are trimmed Smaller payloads cut parse time and improve speed scores. Static assets use caching headers and a CDN Repeat visits and global users load far faster from the edge.
Mobile 0/5 Layout is fully responsive across phone and tablet widths Google indexes mobile-first, so the mobile view is the primary view. Critical Tap targets are large enough and adequately spaced Avoid cramped links that fail mobile-usability checks. Body text is legible without pinch-zooming Aim for a base font size around 16px on mobile. No intrusive interstitials block the mobile content Aggressive pop-ups on mobile can trigger a ranking penalty. Mobile and desktop expose the same content and metadata Hiding content on mobile means it may not be indexed at all.
Links 0/6 Page is reachable through descriptive internal links Internal linking distributes authority and aids discovery. Anchor text is descriptive, not generic 'click here' Meaningful anchors give crawlers context about the target page. Page is not orphaned and sits within three clicks of home Deeply buried or unlinked pages are crawled rarely, if at all. Outbound links point to authoritative, relevant sources Quality references can reinforce topical trust. Sponsored/UGC/nofollow rel attributes are applied correctly Label paid and user-generated links so they are not treated as endorsements. No outbound links lead to dead or redirected pages Broken external links erode trust and user experience.
Indexing 0/6 Page is not blocked by robots.txt or a noindex directive The most common reason a page never ranks: it cannot be indexed. Critical URL is listed in an up-to-date XML sitemap Sitemaps speed up discovery of new and updated pages. Page is actually indexed (confirmed in Search Console) Verify with a site: search or the URL Inspection tool. Critical Internal links and sitemap point to the canonical URL Mixed signals confuse engines about which URL to rank. Hreflang annotations are correct for multilingual pages Serves the right language/region and avoids duplicate-content flags. Crawl errors and coverage issues are monitored and resolved Watch Search Console coverage to catch indexing regressions early. About this checklist These checks reflect common on-page SEO best practices and Core Web Vitals guidance. Critical items carry more weight in the overall score, so prioritise them. Nothing leaves your browser — progress is stored locally and the copy button produces a plain markdown checklist you can paste into a ticket or doc.