How to Do a Basic SEO Audit in 30 Minutes

What Is an SEO Audit?

An SEO audit is a systematic review of your website to identify issues that may be preventing it from ranking as high as it should in search results. A thorough audit covers technical SEO, on-page SEO, content quality and backlinks. This guide focuses on what you can check for free in 30 minutes using tools you already have access to.

Step 1: Check Indexing (5 minutes)

Open Google Search Console and go to the Coverage (or Indexing) report. Check:

• How many pages are indexed vs submitted in your sitemap
• Any pages with errors — fix 404 errors and redirect issues first
• Any important pages showing as "Excluded" that should be indexed

Also do a quick Google search for site:yourdomain.com to see how many pages Google has indexed.

Step 2: Check Core Web Vitals (5 minutes)

In Google Search Console, open the Core Web Vitals report. Note any pages marked as "Poor" for LCP, CLS or INP. These pages are directly penalised in rankings and should be your top technical priority. Also run your homepage through PageSpeed Insights for a detailed breakdown.

Step 3: Audit On-Page SEO (10 minutes)

For your 5 most important pages, check:

• Title tag — is it 50–60 characters and does it include the target keyword?
• Meta description — is it 120–155 characters with a clear benefit?
• H1 tag — does each page have exactly one H1 that includes the target keyword?
• URL — is it short, lowercase and keyword-focused?
• Keyword density — use our Keyword Density Checker to verify 1–2% density

Use our SERP Preview Tool to see exactly how each page appears in Google search results and identify titles or descriptions that are too long or too short.

Step 4: Check Content Quality (5 minutes)

For your blog posts and key pages, check:

• Is the content comprehensive enough to fully answer the search query?
• Is the readability appropriate for your audience? Use our Readability Checker
• Are there internal links to related pages?
• Are images compressed and do they have descriptive alt text?

Step 5: Check Technical Basics (5 minutes)

• HTTPS — does your site use HTTPS? Check for mixed content warnings
• Mobile-friendly — use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test tool
• Robots.txt — check yourdomain.com/robots.txt is not accidentally blocking important pages. Use our Robots.txt Generator to verify your file is correct
• Sitemap — is it submitted to Google Search Console?
• Canonical tags — are duplicate pages properly canonicalised?

Prioritising What to Fix

After your audit, prioritise fixes in this order:

1. Indexing errors — pages Google cannot access cannot rank
2. Core Web Vitals failures — direct ranking impact
3. Missing or broken meta tags on high-traffic pages
4. Content gaps on pages that appear in GSC but have low CTR
5. Internal linking improvements

A 30-minute audit done monthly will consistently surface the highest-impact improvements and keep your site ranking upward over time.