How to Do a Full SEO Audit (With Tools & Templates)
- martinsmurimih
- May 9
- 3 min read
How to Do a Full SEO Audit (With Tools & Templates)
Ever published a blog post, hit "publish," and… crickets?You followed the "best SEO practices," but your traffic isn’t growing. Maybe your rankings dropped overnight. Or worse—Google’s latest update buried your site.
The problem? You’re not auditing your SEO.
A full SEO audit isn’t just about fixing broken links. It’s about finding leaks in your strategy, plugging them, and scaling your traffic.
I’ve done hundreds of these—for my sites and clients. And today, I’m giving you the exact step-by-step SEO audit process (plus free tools & templates) to find and fix what’s holding your rankings back.
Why You Need an SEO Audit
If your site isn’t ranking, one (or more) of these is broken:
Technical SEO – Google can’t crawl/index your pages.
On-Page SEO – Your content isn’t optimized for search intent.
Off-Page SEO – Your backlinks are weak or toxic.
User Experience (UX) – Visitors bounce because your site’s slow or clunky.
An SEO audit finds these issues fast—so you can fix them before wasting months on content that doesn’t rank.
Step 1: Technical SEO Audit (Is Google Seeing Your Site?)
If Google can’t read your site, nothing else matters.
Tools to Use:
Google Search Console (Free) – Checks indexing errors, mobile usability, core web vitals.
Screaming Frog (Free/Paid) – Crawls your site for broken links, duplicate content, missing meta tags.
PageSpeed Insights (Free) – Tests site speed (critical for rankings).
What to Fix:
✅ Broken Links (404 Errors) – Redirect or remove dead links.✅ Duplicate Content – Use canonical tags to tell Google which version to rank.✅ Slow Load Times – Compress images, enable caching, switch to a faster host.✅ Mobile Issues – If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re losing rankings.
Step 2: On-Page SEO Audit (Is Your Content Optimized?)
Great content ranks. But only if it’s optimized for search intent.
Tools to Use:
Ahrefs/SEMrush (Paid) – Checks keyword rankings, content gaps.
SurferSEO (Paid) – Analyzes top-ranking pages for optimization clues.
Grammarly (Free) – Improves readability (Google loves clear content).
What to Fix:
✅ Keyword Optimization – Are your target keywords in:
Title tag (H1)
URL
First 100 words
Subheaders (H2, H3)
Meta description?
✅ Content Depth – Does your post answer the query better than competitors?✅ Internal Linking – Link to related posts to boost authority.✅ Readability – Break up walls of text with bullet points, short paragraphs.
Step 3: Off-Page SEO Audit (Are Your Backlinks Strong?)
Backlinks = votes of trust. But bad links can tank your rankings.
Tools to Use:
Ahrefs Backlink Checker – Shows who’s linking to you (and if they’re toxic).
Google Disavow Tool – Removes spammy backlinks.
What to Fix:
✅ Toxic Backlinks – Disavow spammy links from shady sites.✅ Link Building – Get high-authority backlinks (guest posts, HARO, skyscraper technique).
Step 4: UX & CRO Audit (Is Your Site Built for Humans?)
Google ranks sites that keep users engaged.
Tools to Use:
Hotjar (Free/Paid) – Heatmaps show where users click/scroll.
Google Analytics (Free) – Checks bounce rate, time on page.
What to Fix:
✅ High Bounce Rate? – Improve headlines, readability, load speed.✅ Low CTR? – Test better meta titles/descriptions.
Free SEO Audit Templates
Don’t start from scratch. Use these:
Google Sheets SEO Audit Template (Download Here)
Notion SEO Checklist (Download Here)
FAQs
How often should I do an SEO audit?
Every 3-6 months. More if you’re hit by a Google update.
Can I do an SEO audit for free?
Yes. Google Search Console + Screaming Frog covers 80% of it.
What’s the #1 SEO mistake killing rankings?
Ignoring search intent. You can have perfect SEO, but if your content doesn’t match what users want, you won’t rank.
Final Step: Fix, Track, Repeat
An SEO audit is useless if you don’t act on the data.
Fix the critical errors first (broken links, indexing issues).
Track rankings (Ahrefs, Google Search Console).
Re-audit every 3 months.
SEO isn’t a one-time thing. It’s constant optimization.
Need help promoting your content? Check out MediaGeneous for boosting your social media and YouTube growth. Other great options include:
Now go run your audit—and start ranking. 🚀
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