Last updated: November 2026.
An SEO audit checks twelve things in order: indexing in Search Console, crawl errors and redirects, HTTPS and duplicate versions, Core Web Vitals, mobile usability, titles and headings, thin content, internal links, structured data, backlinks, local listings, then AI search visibility. DigiFix runs this checklist on Australian small business sites, and the free tools do most of the work.
Key takeaways
- Core Web Vitals pass when LCP lands within 2.5 seconds, INP stays under 200 milliseconds and CLS sits below 0.1, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads (web.dev, Core Web Vitals).
- Search Console separates indexed URLs from those it excluded, and lists a reason for every exclusion, so the Page indexing report is the first thing to read, not a crawl of the site (Search Console Help, Page indexing report).
- An audit does not raise a ranking by itself. It finds the pages that cannot rank because Google cannot read, reach or trust them, and fixes that first.
- Google states there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, so AI search visibility is won with the same audit findings, not a separate checklist (Google Search Central, AI features).
- Priority beats completeness. A 20 page site has three or four findings that matter, and the rest can wait without costing you enquiries.
What is an SEO audit?
An SEO audit is a structured check of everything that stops a site ranking, grouped into technical health, on-page content, links and local presence. It produces a list of findings with an owner and an order, not a score. A score tells you how you compare with strangers. A list tells you what to do on Monday.
The distinction matters because audit tools sell scores. A site can score 92 and still lose every enquiry to a competitor who loads faster on mobile and answers the query properly. Judge an audit by whether it names the specific pages and the specific fix, and by whether fixing them would change a number you care about.
Run a full audit once a year, and a lighter one quarterly. Between audits, watch two reports weekly: Page indexing in Search Console for anything newly excluded, and Core Web Vitals for any URL group that drops out of the good range. Those two catch most of what goes wrong between full audits.
Which tools do you actually need?
Six free tools cover the twelve steps, and one paid tool is optional. You do not need a subscription to run a competent audit on a small business site.
| Tool | Free or paid | What you use it for in the audit |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search Console | Free | Indexing coverage, query data, Core Web Vitals, mobile usability, sitemaps and manual actions. The source of truth for what Google actually did. |
| Google PageSpeed Insights | Free | Lighthouse lab scores plus real field data from the Chrome UX Report, split by mobile and desktop. |
| Bing Webmaster Tools | Free | A second crawler opinion. Site scan findings often flag things Search Console does not surface. |
| Screaming Frog | Free to 500 URLs | Crawl the site for broken links, redirect chains, duplicate titles, missing metas and orphan pages. Enough for most small sites. |
| DigiFix SEO Tools | Free | A quick report on on-page signals and keyword targeting per page, useful for the content steps before you open a spreadsheet. |
| Ahrefs Webmaster Tools | Free for verified sites | Backlink profile and referring domains. The paid plans add competitor link data, which the free tier does not need for a first audit. |
Tool set for the twelve steps. Check current plan limits on each vendor page before relying on a free tier.
Two cautions. Field data and lab data disagree often, and field data wins, because it is what real visitors experienced. And a crawl tool reports what it can see from your server, not what Google has decided, so pair every crawl finding with the matching Search Console report before acting.
How do you run the twelve audit checks?
Work in this order. The early steps decide whether the later ones matter, because a page Google cannot index will not be saved by better titles or faster hosting.
Each check below gives the report to open, what good looks like, and the fix when it is not. Take notes as you go rather than fixing in place, so you can sort the findings by impact afterwards.
1. Indexing and Search Console coverage
Open Page indexing in Search Console and read the two tables: indexed, and not indexed with a reason for each group. Look for pages excluded as crawled but not indexed, discovered but not indexed, or duplicates Google chose instead of your version. The Source column tells you whether the cause is probably yours or Google’s.
Good looks like every page you want ranking sitting under indexed, and every exclusion being a page you deliberately kept out. If a commercial page is excluded, that single finding outranks everything else in the audit.
2. Crawl errors, redirects and broken links
Crawl the site with Screaming Frog and sort by status code. You are looking for 404s that still receive traffic or links, redirect chains longer than one hop, and internal links pointing at redirects instead of the final URL. A redirect chain wastes crawl budget and slows the visitor.
Good looks like a flat crawl with no internal 404s and no chain longer than a single hop. Fix by updating the internal link to the final URL, and by pointing any 404 with traffic at its closest replacement.
3. HTTPS and duplicate site versions
Check that http, https, www and non-www all land on one canonical version with a single redirect, and that the certificate covers the domain you actually use. Then confirm that version is the one in your canonical tags and in Search Console.
Good looks like one version serving 200 and the other three redirecting to it in one hop. The duplicate version problem is common on sites built years ago and it splits every signal between copies of the same page.
4. Site speed and Core Web Vitals
Open the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console for real visitor data, then PageSpeed Insights for the lab detail on specific templates. Three metrics matter, and Google publishes the thresholds: LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP under 200 milliseconds, CLS under 0.1, at the 75th percentile of page loads.
INP replaced First Input Delay on 12 March 2024, so any checklist still naming FID is out of date (web.dev, INP becomes a Core Web Vital, March 2024). Good looks like every URL group in the good range on mobile, not just desktop. Fix the template causing the failure rather than the individual page, because the template is what repeats.
Running the checks yourself?
Save the Core Web Vitals thresholds: LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP under 200 milliseconds, CLS below 0.1. If a template fails on mobile, that is the finding to fix before any content work.
5. Mobile usability
Read the mobile usability findings in Search Console, then open the site on an actual phone. Check that text is readable without zooming, tap targets are far enough apart to hit, and nothing scrolls sideways. A table or image wider than the viewport is the usual culprit.
Good looks like a page that needs no horizontal scroll on a 390 pixel wide screen. Test it by measuring the document width against the window width in the browser console, not by eye, because a small overflow is easy to miss and annoying to use.
Would you rather someone else ran the audit?
We run the twelve checks on your site, then send a prioritised list with the fix and the effort for each. No score, just what to do first.
6. Titles, metas and headings
Export every page title and meta description from your crawl and read them as a list. You are looking for duplicates, missing metas, titles over about 60 characters that get truncated, and headings that skip a level or repeat the title word for word.
Good looks like one unique title per page, a meta description that reads like a reason to click, and a single H1 that matches the page’s job. Our on-page SEO checklist has the full field-by-field version if you want to work page by page.
7. Thin and duplicate content
Group pages by target keyword and look for two pages answering the same query. Then look for pages with almost no unique text: tag archives, paginated category pages, service pages that differ only by suburb name. Those pages compete with the pages you want ranking.
Good looks like one strong page per topic, with the thin variants either merged, improved or excluded from indexing. Suburb pages are worth keeping only when each carries genuinely local detail, otherwise they read as doorway pages to both users and Google.
8. Internal linking
Check that important pages receive internal links from somewhere other than the menu. A service page reachable only through navigation has less support than one linked from three relevant blog posts. Also check for orphan pages that no internal link reaches at all.
Good looks like every commercial page receiving several contextual internal links with descriptive anchor text. Our internal linking strategy guide covers how to choose which pages get the links.
9. Structured data
Test the templates that should carry markup: articles, products, local business, FAQs. Use the Rich Results Test and the Schema Markup Validator, then compare against what Search Console reports under Enhancements. Valid markup that no enhancement picks up usually means the type is not eligible on that page.
Good looks like valid, eligible markup on the templates that deserve it, with no errors in Enhancements. Our guide to the essential schema types covers which ones are worth the effort.
10. Backlink profile
Open the backlink report and read the shape rather than the total. Look at referring domains, the ratio of followed to nofollowed links, and whether the top links come from pages that exist for real users. A thousand links from four domains is a weaker profile than eighty links from eighty sites.
Good looks like steady growth in referring domains from sites relevant to your industry and city. The finding to act on is usually unlinked mentions and lost links, not a disavow file.
11. Local SEO and Google Business Profile
Check the Google Business Profile against the site: the name, address and phone must match exactly, the category must match what you actually sell, and the hours must be current. Then check that the site carries consistent contact details and a map on the contact page.
Good looks like a verified, complete profile with recent photos and reviews answered, and site details that match it character for character. Inconsistent details between the two is the most common local ranking problem we find on Australian small business sites.
12. Visibility in AI Overviews and ChatGPT
Search your main keywords and note whether an AI Overview appears, and which pages it cites. Then ask the same questions in an assistant and see whether your business is named. This is a manual check, and it is worth doing quarterly rather than weekly.
Good looks like your key pages being cited for the questions you answer best. Google’s guidance is that there are no additional requirements to appear in AI features, so the fix is the same as ever: clear answers, structured content, and a page that loads. Our guide to answer engine optimisation covers the format that gets quoted.
How do you decide what to fix first?
Sort every finding by impact against effort, then work the top left corner. Impact means how many pages or enquiries the fix touches. Effort means how long it takes and whether it risks breaking something that currently works.
| Finding | Impact | Effort | Do it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial page excluded from the index | High | Low | This week |
| Core Web Vitals failing on mobile template | High | Medium | This month |
| Two pages cannibalising one keyword | High | Medium | This month |
| Duplicate titles across 40 pages | Medium | Low | This week |
| Missing meta descriptions sitewide | Low | Low | Next batch |
| Backlink profile thin but clean | Medium | High | Ongoing |
| Suburb pages with 200 words each | Medium | High | Plan, then batch |
| Redirect chain three hops deep | Low | Low | Next batch |
A priority matrix for a typical small business audit. Impact means pages or enquiries affected, not how interesting the fix is.
One rule keeps this honest. Never start with the fix you enjoy. Technical teams gravitate to speed work and writers gravitate to new content, and neither is automatically the highest impact finding on the list. Let the matrix decide, then work down it in order and record what changed.
For sites above a few hundred pages the shape of the audit changes, because template-level findings matter more than page-level ones. Our enterprise SEO audit service covers that case separately.
Want the audit findings turned into a plan?
Send us the URL and we will run the twelve checks, rank the findings by impact, and tell you which three to fix first and what each one should move.
How long should an SEO audit take?
A site of 20 to 50 pages takes most of a working day with the free tools, assuming you have Search Console access and a crawl tool ready. Reading the indexing report takes minutes, and the crawl plus the on-page review takes the bulk of the time.
The fixes take far longer than the audit, which is the part most guides skip. A template-level Core Web Vitals fix can take a developer a week, and a content consolidation project can run for a month. Budget the audit as a day and the fixes as a quarter.
If you want a starting point before booking anything, run a free report on DigiFix SEO Tools and bring the output to the conversation. It will not replace the twelve checks, but it shows the on-page gaps quickly.
Should you do the audit yourself?
Yes for the reading, no for everything. Any business owner can open Search Console and read which pages are excluded, and that alone often finds the biggest problem. Nobody needs a consultant to discover that their pricing page is not indexed.
The judgement comes later, in deciding which findings matter and in what order, and in doing the template work without breaking the site. That is where an audit earns or wastes its fee. If you want the work done for you, our SEO services team runs this checklist and the fixes that follow, and the case for technical SEO explains why the technical findings usually outrank new content.
Whoever runs it, the audit needs somewhere to live. A spreadsheet with one row per finding, a column for impact, one for effort, one for the page affected and one for the date fixed. Without that, the same findings get rediscovered every year and nothing changes.
If you would rather read than audit, our DigiFix blog covers most of these findings one at a time. You can see the Australian sites we have run this work on in our portfolio, and read how the team works and who does what on the about DigiFix page. For the broader service, start with digital marketing services.
Ready to fix what the audit finds?
Bring us the free DigiFix SEO Tools report on your site. We will check it against the twelve steps, tell you what it missed, and quote the fixes that matter first.
What do people ask about SEO audits?
How often should you run an SEO audit?
A full audit once a year, with a lighter quarterly check of indexing and Core Web Vitals. Between those, watch the Page indexing report weekly, because a page dropping out of the index is the one finding that costs enquiries immediately. Run an extra full audit after a migration, a redesign, a domain change or any period where traffic falls without an obvious cause.
What is the difference between a technical and a content audit?
A technical audit checks whether Google can crawl, index and render the site: status codes, redirects, speed, mobile usability, structured data and coverage. A content audit checks whether the pages deserve to rank: intent match, thin copy, duplication, headings and internal links. A useful audit covers both, because most ranking problems are a mix of the two.
Do I need a paid tool to audit my website?
No, not for a site under a few hundred pages. Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, Screaming Frog’s free tier and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools cover all twelve checks in this guide at no cost. Paid tools earn their place when you need competitor link data, historical rankings or scheduled crawls across thousands of URLs. Start free and upgrade when a specific question demands it.
How much does an SEO audit usually cost in Australia?
Prices vary with site size and who does the work, so treat any single figure sceptically. What you should ask is what is included: how many pages are crawled, whether the fixes are scoped and quoted, and whether you get a prioritised list or only a PDF score. An audit that ends at findings has done half the job. The quote should say what happens after the report.
Can an SEO audit fix a traffic drop?
It can find the cause, which is the necessary first step. The most common candidates are a page excluded from the index, a template that started failing Core Web Vitals, an accidental noindex after a deploy, or two pages competing for one keyword after a content update. Fix the specific cause rather than adding new content on top of a broken page.
What should an audit report actually contain?
A list of findings with the page affected, the evidence from the tool, the recommended fix, an impact rating and an effort rating. It should name URLs, not categories. If a report says improve site speed without naming the template and the failing metric, it has not finished the job and you cannot act on it without redoing the work yourself.
Do you want more traffic?
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Hi, we are an Australian digital agency doing groundbreaking work to help a business like yours reach its full potential. My only question is will you qualify for our services?
Do you want more traffic?
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Hi, we are an Australian digital agency doing groundbreaking work to help a business like yours reach its full potential. My only question is will you qualify for our services?