An SEO audit is a health check for your website. It tells you what is working, what is holding you back, and what to fix first. You do not need expensive software to make a useful start, just a methodical run through the basics.

This guide is a practical companion to our overview of what SEO is. Work through the steps below and you will finish with a clear list of priorities.

Before you start

Two free tools from Google do most of the heavy lifting:

  • Google Search Console shows how your site appears in search, which queries you show up for, and any errors Google has found.
  • Google Analytics shows what visitors do once they arrive.

Set both up first if you have not already. They are the backbone of any honest audit.

Step 1: Check the technical foundations

Start with whether Google can read your site at all. Look for:

  • Pages blocked from crawling, or missing from your XML sitemap.
  • Slow loading and poor Core Web Vitals, which you can test with Google’s PageSpeed tools.
  • Problems on mobile, since that is the version Google judges.
  • Broken links and pages returning errors.

If this part feels unfamiliar, our guide to technical SEO explains what each item means.

Step 2: Review your indexing

In Google Search Console, check how many of your pages are indexed. Too few means Google is missing content. Too many, including thin or duplicate pages, can dilute your site. You want your important pages indexed and the clutter kept out.

Step 3: Assess your content

Go through your key pages and ask honestly:

  • Does each page target a clear search intent, and answer it well?
  • Is there a unique, descriptive page title? (Our free meta title length checker makes this quick.)
  • Are you missing pages for terms your customers clearly search for?

Gaps here are often the biggest opportunity. Filling them starts with keyword research.

Step 4: Look at your authority

Authority is harder to measure without tools, but you can still gauge it:

  • Do reputable, relevant sites link to you?
  • Are your local listings consistent and complete?
  • Do you have genuine, recent reviews?

If you serve a local area, fold in the local checks from our local SEO guide.

Step 5: Turn findings into a plan

A list of problems is not a strategy. Sort what you found into three buckets:

  1. Quick wins. High impact, low effort, for example fixing missing titles or a broken key page.
  2. Foundations. Important technical fixes that unlock everything else.
  3. Longer projects. Content build-outs and authority work that pay off over time.

Tackle quick wins and foundations first, then work steadily through the rest.

For example, if your audit finds three pages with duplicate titles, a slow homepage, and no content for a service customers clearly search, the order is simple: rewrite the titles this week (quick win), schedule the homepage speed fix (foundation), then plan the new service page (longer project).

Quick questions

How long does an SEO audit take? A focused self-audit of a small site takes a few hours. A full professional audit with crawling tools and competitor analysis usually takes a few days.

Do I need paid tools? No, to get started. Google Search Console, Analytics and PageSpeed Insights are free and cover the essentials. Paid tools mainly save time and reveal competitor gaps once you go deeper.

How often should I audit? A thorough review once or twice a year, plus a quick check after any big change such as a redesign or a site migration.

When to bring in help

A self-audit will surface the obvious issues. A specialist audit goes deeper, with tools that reveal competitor gaps and technical problems that are easy to miss. If you would like a thorough review, get a free SEO audit and we will hand you a prioritised action plan, or explore our SEO services.