SEO Kickoff

SEO Audit Checklist: 50 Points to Find & Fix Every Ranking Issue

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SEO Audit Checklist: 50 Points to Find & Fix Every Ranking Issue

A thorough SEO audit reveals exactly why your pages aren't ranking and gives you a prioritised fix list. Work through this 50-point checklist from top to bottom and you'll cover every factor Google evaluates.

1. Crawlability & Indexation

Robots.txt

  • robots.txt is accessible at yourdomain.com/robots.txt
  • No important pages or assets are accidentally blocked
  • Sitemap URL is declared in robots.txt

XML Sitemap

  • Sitemap exists and is submitted to Google Search Console
  • Only canonical, indexable URLs are included
  • Sitemap is updated automatically when new content is published

Crawl Errors

  • Zero "Page not found" (404) errors on important URLs
  • Soft 404s (pages returning 200 but showing "not found" content) are fixed
  • No server errors (5xx) in GSC Coverage report

Noindex Tags

  • Thin, duplicate, or low-value pages carry noindex
  • No important pages accidentally carry noindex

2. On-Page SEO

Title Tags

  • Every page has a unique title tag
  • Primary keyword appears near the start
  • Length: 50–60 characters (avoids truncation in SERPs)

Meta Descriptions

  • Every page has a unique meta description
  • Includes a call to action
  • Length: 140–160 characters

Header Tags

  • Single <h1> per page, containing the primary keyword
  • Logical h2 → h3 hierarchy with supporting keywords
  • No heading tags used purely for styling

Content

  • Target keyword in the first 100 words
  • Minimum 600 words for informational pages (1,500+ for competitive queries)
  • Related terms and synonyms used naturally
  • Content answers the dominant search intent (informational / transactional / navigational)

3. Technical SEO

HTTPS & Security

  • All pages served over HTTPS with a valid certificate
  • HTTP URLs redirect to HTTPS (301)
  • No mixed-content warnings

Site Speed & Core Web Vitals

MetricGood Threshold
LCP< 2.5 s
INP< 200 ms
CLS< 0.1
  • Images are compressed and served in WebP/AVIF
  • Next-gen formats enabled on image CDN
  • Render-blocking JS and CSS eliminated or deferred
  • Server response time (TTFB) under 200 ms

URL Structure

  • URLs are short, lowercase, and hyphen-separated
  • No dynamic parameters in indexable URLs where possible
  • Canonical tags on every page pointing to the preferred URL

Mobile

  • Site passes Google's Mobile-Friendly Test
  • Tap targets are at least 44 × 44 px
  • No horizontal scrolling on 375 px viewports

4. Internal Linking

  • Every new article is linked from at least one existing page
  • Anchor text is descriptive (avoid "click here")
  • No orphan pages (pages with zero internal links pointing to them)
  • No broken internal links

5. Off-Page & Authority

  • Backlink profile reviewed for toxic or spammy links
  • Disavow file submitted if necessary
  • Consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) across all directories

6. Structured Data

  • Article schema on blog posts
  • BreadcrumbList schema on deep pages
  • FAQ schema on pages with question-and-answer content
  • No schema markup errors in Google's Rich Results Test

7. User Experience Signals

  • Clear navigation and site hierarchy
  • Prominently visible CTA above the fold
  • No intrusive interstitials that trigger a mobile penalty
  • Internal search available on large sites

Prioritising Your Fixes

Not all issues carry equal weight. Prioritise in this order:

  1. Critical — Crawl blocks, noindex on important pages, broken canonical tags
  2. High — Core Web Vitals failures, missing/duplicate title tags, 404 errors
  3. Medium — Missing structured data, thin content, weak internal linking
  4. Low — Minor meta description issues, cosmetic UX improvements

Run this audit quarterly, or immediately after any significant site change, and your rankings will improve steadily over time.

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