How to Conduct an SEO Audit on Your Website (Step by Step)
Learn how to conduct a complete SEO audit on your website: check indexing, speed, on-page, backlinks, and technical structure — all with free tools.
O que você vai conseguir: SEO audit report with a list of issues and priorities
Ferramentas necessárias
- Google Search Console — To check indexing, crawling errors, and organic performance.
- PageSpeed Insights — To measure Core Web Vitals and speed issues
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider — To crawl the site and map titles, meta descriptions, links, and HTTP errors.
Passo a passo
-
1
Check the indexing in Google Search Console.
Access search.google.com/search-console and click on "Coverage" (or "Page Indexing"). Check for errors, excluded pages, or warnings. Indexing errors prevent Google from finding your pages — resolve these before anything else. Also, check if the number of indexed pages matches what you expect.
-
2
Analyze the speed with PageSpeed Insights
Access pagespeed.web.dev, enter your website's URL, and analyze the Core Web Vitals for both mobile and desktop. Goals: LCP below 2.5s, FID/INP below 200ms, CLS below 0.1. Note the main issues identified — uncompressed images, blocking JavaScript, and lack of caching are the most common.
-
3
Audit titles and meta descriptions of each page.
Use Screaming Frog (free for up to 500 URLs) or Google Search Console to list all the pages of the site. Check for: duplicate, missing, or overly long titles (more than 60 characters); duplicate or missing meta descriptions. Each page should have a unique title and a persuasive meta description with the main keyword.
-
4
Check the structure of internal links.
In Screaming Frog, go to "Links > Inbound" to identify orphan pages (without internal links pointing to them) and pages with excessive links. Strategic pages — such as services and conversion pages — should receive internal links from other pages on the site to distribute authority.
-
5
Analyze the backlink profile
Access Ahrefs (ahrefs.com/backlink-checker), Semrush, or Google Search Console under "Links > Top external links" to see which sites link to yours. Identify the authority of the referring domains and check for toxic or low-quality links that could harm your ranking.
-
6
Check robots.txt and sitemap.xml
Access yoursite.com.br/robots.txt and check if no strategic pages are blocked with "Disallow." Access yoursite.com.br/sitemap.xml and verify if the file exists and contains all important pages. In Search Console, confirm that the sitemap has been submitted and accepted without errors.
-
7
Document and prioritize the corrections.
Create a spreadsheet with all the problems found. For each item, define: type of problem (technical, on-page, off-page), estimated impact (high/medium/low), and complexity of correction (easy/medium/difficult). Prioritize: technical first, on-page next, off-page last.
