How to Do a Website Audit — 60-Point SEO and Technical Guide

1–10: Crawlability (★ 10 points)

If Google cannot crawl your pages, they cannot rank. Check: XML sitemap is submitted and current, robots.txt is not blocking important pages, no orphan pages (pages with no internal links), crawl budget is not wasted on thin pages, site architecture is flat (every page within 3 clicks of home), 404 errors are redirected, redirect chains are resolved, the site uses HTTPS, URL structure is clean, and pagination is handled correctly.

11–20: Indexation (★ 10 points)

Check: all important pages are indexed (site: search), noindex tags are used correctly on thin pages, canonical tags point to the correct URLs, duplicate content is consolidated, no thin affiliate pages indexed, meta robots tags are correct, hreflang tags are accurate for multilingual sites, blocked resources are not preventing rendering, paginated pages have rel="next/prev" or equivalent, and no large-scale index bloat from filter/sort URLs.

21–30: Speed and Core Web Vitals (★ 10 points)

Test: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) under 2.5s, First Input Delay (FID) under 100ms, Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) under 0.1, images are next-gen format and properly sized, JavaScript is deferred or async, CSS is minified and critical CSS inlined, server response time (TTFB) under 200ms, a CDN is in use, caching headers are set correctly, and render-blocking resources are eliminated. For hosting that performs, see our cloud hosting on NVMe from BD 3.5/mo.

31–36: Mobile (★ 6 points)

Check: responsive design works on all screen sizes, tap targets are large enough (48px minimum), text is readable without zooming, viewport meta tag is correct, no horizontal scrolling, and mobile menu and navigation are fully functional. Test with Google's Mobile-Friendly Test.

37–45: On-Page SEO (★ 9 points)

Check: each page has a unique title tag under 60 characters, meta description under 160 characters, a single H1 matching the page topic, logical heading hierarchy (H1 > H2 > H3), keyword naturally used in first paragraph, image alt text is descriptive, internal links use descriptive anchor text, outgoing links include relevant nofollow where needed, and schema markup is present and valid. See our on-page SEO checklist for details.

46–51: Content Quality (★ 6 points)

Check: each page has sufficient word count (no thin content), content is original (no duplicate or scraped content), pages have a clear purpose and call-to-action, grammar and spelling are correct, content is updated within the last 12 months, and internal links connect related content naturally. Read our content marketing strategy guide.

52–55: Backlinks (★ 4 points)

Check: number of referring domains is growing month-over-month, no toxic or spammy backlinks pointing to the site, competitor backlink profiles are analysed for opportunities, and broken backlinks (links pointing to 404s on your site) are redirected to relevant pages.

56–58: Security (★ 3 points)

Check: SSL certificate is valid and forces HTTPS, site is protected against common vulnerabilities (XSS, SQL injection, CSRF), and a Web Application Firewall (WAF) is active if the site handles sensitive data.

59–60: User Experience (★ 2 points)

Check: site is visually consistent with clear branding, and contact information is easy to find on every page. These are subjective but directly affect bounce rate and conversions.

Tools to Use for Each Audit Area

Priority Scoring and Monthly Audit Cadence

Score each issue as Critical (blocks ranking entirely), High (significantly impacts performance), Medium (moderate impact), or Low (minor optimisation). Fix all critical and high issues within a week. For monthly cadence: run automated crawl weekly (Screaming Frog), check Search Console for new issues weekly, run full 60-point audit monthly, and review content quality quarterly. If you want professional help, contact us for a full technical audit. Also read our technical SEO checklist and Core Web Vitals explainer.

Frequently asked questions