Guide
SEO audit checklist for small businesses
A useful SEO audit checks six things in order: whether pages can be crawled and indexed, whether the site is technically healthy, whether content matches search intent, whether internal linking supports key pages, whether local signals are consistent, and whether anything is measured properly.
By The DigitalTiger team, Digital marketing for Devon trades · Published · Updated
1. Indexation
Confirm which pages Google has actually indexed, and why anything important is missing. Check robots.txt, noindex tags and canonical tags first.
An accidental noindex left over from a staging site is one of the most damaging and most common problems found in audits.
2. Technical health
Check page speed on mobile, Core Web Vitals, HTTPS, redirect chains, broken links and correct HTTP status codes.
Confirm that important content is present in the server-rendered HTML rather than only appearing after JavaScript runs.
3. Content and intent
For each important page, check that it targets one clear intent and is at least as complete as the pages currently ranking above it.
Look for cannibalisation: several pages targeting the same intent usually means none of them ranks well.
4. Internal linking
Every important page should be reachable in a few clicks from the homepage and linked from related content with descriptive anchor text.
Orphan pages — indexable but unlinked — are a reliable sign of an architecture that grew without a plan.
5. Local signals
Check Google Business Profile completeness, category choice, service area and review activity, and confirm your business details are identical everywhere they appear.
6. Measurement
Confirm Google Search Console and analytics are installed, that conversions are tracked, and that someone actually looks at them monthly.
An audit without measurement in place cannot tell you whether anything you do next worked.
Related questions
How often should I audit my website?
A full audit annually, with lighter checks quarterly and always after a redesign or migration.
Can I do an SEO audit myself?
The indexation, content and local checks are approachable with free tools. The technical and competitive analysis usually benefits from experience.