How to perform a technical SEO audit in 12 steps

Understanding a client's website goes beyond its visual appeal. It means looking at the backbone, the structure, and the code. That is what a technical SEO audit is for.

A technical SEO audit evaluates the underlying elements of a client's website. Unlike a content or UX audit, it reaches the parts of a site nobody sees: server response times, crawl barriers, an unused sitemap, a misplaced no-index tag, or pages that slow everything down. It pinpoints strengths, uncovers weaknesses, and gives you a roadmap for improving a site's visibility in search results.

Running one is not a one-time task. It is a cyclical process, repeated regularly, that keeps your clients' websites at peak performance. This guide covers what to check, how to run the audit in 12 steps, and how to turn the findings into work your clients can see.

Key takeaways

• A technical SEO audit checks the crawling, indexing, speed, and security foundations that decide whether a client's content can rank at all.

• The 12-step process below runs in under an hour once your audit tool is configured, and it sorts the 40+ technical issues that affect SEO performance by severity so critical errors get fixed first.

• Run a health check quarterly at minimum, and automate weekly or monthly audits to catch errors before they affect search rankings.

• Pooling data from Google Search Console, Google Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, Google Analytics, and Bing Webmaster Tools gives a fuller picture of site health than any single tool.

• An audit doubles as a business development asset, showing prospects immediate value and giving existing clients a concrete reason to expand scope.

Why a technical SEO audit matters

Even with all the new marketing channels available to businesses, SEO is still a top priority. 64% of marketers say they are actively investing in SEO as a marketing channel.

The fundamentals have not changed much in recent years and are still centered on giving searchers the best experience possible. With advances in natural language processing and Google's BERT algorithm, search engines are much better at working out which content answers a user's query and search intent.

Avoid content written for search engines without the human searcher in mind. It is a balance between helping a page rank organically and delivering the answer people came for.

The depth of content really matters. Be sure to have topic and section headings that match user searches and contain keywords. Users scan more than they read, but Google also needs enough meat in the content to make it relevant for the keywords and topic. Focus on the user first and search engines second.

Kristen Ewen, Director of SEO, Property Manager Websites

Before your agency invests time in creating content, make sure the client's website has a solid technical foundation. A technical SEO site audit is the fastest way to establish that, and a broader SEO analysis across content, links, and UX follows from it.

If your agency sells SEO services, a website audit is a great way to demonstrate value and expertise to prospects right away. Later in this guide, you will see how to use one to expand existing accounts, too.

We provide an all-inclusive Local SEO package that contains components a local business needs to rank in 2023. We ensure everything is included from auditing, technical SEO, content creation, link building, and citations. We’ve decided to do this because as we noticed more and more clients are after a one-stop solution, so by choosing to offer just one service, you're essentially encouraging the client to go elsewhere to get the rest!

Joshua George, Founder, ClickSlice

Why search engines prioritize healthy websites

Search engines exist to connect users with the most relevant, highest-quality answers. They deploy crawlers to survey and understand website content, which then appears on search engine results pages. Technical issues complicate that process, and your client's pages get lost in the shuffle.

Consider a site with broken links, slow page load speed, non-secure content, or any of the other 40+ technical errors you would not spot with the naked eye. Users will not wait for a slow site, and crawlers likewise prioritize websites that deliver information quickly.

Communicate the wins your agency achieves with clear marketing dashboards highlighting key SEO metrics. Get started with your 14-day free trial today.

The difference between technical, on-page, off-page, content, and UX audits

Each audit type has its own focus, and knowing the difference is what makes an SEO audit checklist coherent.

A technical SEO audit investigates what affects how search engines crawl, understand, and index the site. It runs a full site crawl to find anything obstructing indexing or access, covering website structure, site speed, security, broken links, and the rest of the plumbing.

An on-page SEO audit scrutinizes individual pages: whether content is optimized for search engines and users, covering title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and keyword usage. Duplicate pages or content can pose a major problem, so they are a key focus area.

An off-page SEO audit explores what happens outside the website: reputation and authority, judged largely on backlinks. The goal is to understand how other sites perceive your client's site and how that influences search results.

A content audit examines the quality and performance of everything published. Is it engaging, is it useful, and does it answer what users are asking? It is about aligning content with user intent and moving people toward the desired action.

A UX audit evaluates usability. How easy is the site to navigate, and do users find what they came for? It looks at layout, navigation, design, and the overall user journey.

All five produce useful findings, and the technical audit is the foundation. It gets the plumbing in order so the rest of the SEO strategy can actually take effect.

Core Web Vitals, explained

Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics Google uses to measure the quality of user experience on a website, focused on loading, interactivity, and visual stability. Most site audit tools include them as part of the technical checks.

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Largest Contentful Paint, or LCP, gauges loading performance. It measures the time it takes for the main content on a page to load. LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds of when the page first starts loading. If it takes longer, users bounce, and rankings suffer.

2. First Input Delay (FID)

First Input Delay, or FID, analyzes interactivity. It measures the time from when a user first interacts with a page, such as clicking a link or tapping a button, to the time the browser is able to respond. A good FID is less than 100 milliseconds.

Google is transitioning to a new responsiveness metric. First Input Delay will be replaced by Interaction to Next Paint (INP) as a Core Web Vital in March 2024.

3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Cumulative Layout Shift, or CLS, evaluates visual stability. Have you ever been reading an article online when the content suddenly shifts, and you lose your place? That is what CLS measures. A good CLS score is less than 0.1.

Here are the thresholds, the reasoning behind them, and what commonly stops your clients' sites from hitting them.

Always refer to Google's latest documentation for the most recent updates on Core Web Vitals.

Critical elements of a technical SEO audit

Website crawlability. Crawlability is a search engine's ability to access and crawl all the content on a page. The robots.txt file instructs search engines on what to crawl and what to skip. Blocked JavaScript files, improper use of the robots meta tag, or other crawl barriers hold a site back.

Indexing and sitemaps. Without proper indexing, your client's content will not appear in search results. An XML sitemap helps search engines discover and index every page. Check that all crucial pages are in the sitemap and indexed, watch for duplicate content or pages unintentionally blocked from indexing, and confirm that canonical tags point where they should.

Website structure and navigation. Site structure is the roadmap that guides visitors and search engines through the site. A clean, logical, navigable structure improves user experience, helps search engines understand context, and lets link equity flow efficiently.

URL structure. Simple, descriptive URLs are easier for search engines to crawl and for users to read. Avoid complex URL parameters and overly long URLs.

Mobile responsiveness. Google uses mobile-first indexing, so the mobile version of a website is the one that gets indexed. Review how the site performs across devices for speed, layout, and interactivity, and confirm all content and links are accessible on mobile.

Page speed analysis. Page speed is a major ranking factor, and slow pages lead to high bounce rates. Use Google's Core Web Vitals and other page speed tools to find what is slowing the site down, such as large image files or slow server response times.

Internal linking structure. Internal links distribute link equity, aid navigation, and help search engines understand the site's content and structure. Audit the number of internal links pointing to and from each page, and check that none are broken.

Security (HTTPS). HTTPS is a ranking signal for Google and secures data between the user's browser and the website. Confirm the site uses HTTPS, all pages redirect to the HTTPS version, and the SSL certificate is valid.

Structured data and schema markup. Structured data helps search engines understand the context of your client's content, which improves visibility in search results. Check the schema markup is implemented properly with Google's Structured Data Testing Tool.

Search Console insights. Pull crawl errors, security issues, and manual actions straight from Google Search Console so nothing surfaces only after rankings have already dropped.

What else the checklist covers: on-page, off-page, and server logs

A technical crawl surfaces most of what blocks a site. A full SEO audit checklist reaches further.

On-page factors

• Meta tags: Crafting descriptive titles and descriptions that reflect each page's content and target keywords.

• Content quality: Ensuring each blog post or content piece is relevant, authoritative, and provides value to the reader.

• Internal links: Analysis of link structure within the site to facilitate ease of navigation and distribute page authority.

• Header tags and hierarchies: Utilize header tags to structure content effectively, with clear hierarchies that help search engines understand the relative importance of sections on a page. Proper use of header tags can also enhance user experience and accessibility.

• Image optimization: Ensure images are compressed for faster load times, have descriptive file names, and include alt attributes with relevant keywords, which aid in both page SEO and accessibility.

• Website architecture elements: Streamline site architecture by keeping XML sitemaps current for optimal search engine crawling, utilizing robots.txt to direct crawler access, and securing connections with HTTPS for user trust and ranking benefits.

• Optimized URLs: Create URLs that are concise, easy to read, and include target keywords, as they play a minor role in a page's ability to rank and are more user-friendly.

• Page performance: Evaluation of individual pages on your site for speed, user engagement, and alignment with SEO best practices.

Off-page elements

• External links: A key component of an off-page SEO audit is evaluating the quantity and quality of inbound links. A higher number of inbound links can indicate popularity or importance, while high-quality links from reputable sites contribute significantly to the site's authority and ranking.

• Keyword rankings: Track a website's positions in the search engine results for targeted keywords. Consistent monitoring of how a site is performing against the keyword strategy helps agencies understand the effectiveness of the SEO strategies deployed and adjust tactics accordingly.

• Brand mentions: Look for and assess non-linked mentions of the brand across the web. These mentions can reflect the company's footprint and influence in its industry and can impact search credibility and user trust.

• Social signals: Analyze engagement metrics from social platforms such as shares, likes, and comments. While the direct impact on SEO is debatable, strong social signals often correlate with better search visibility and organic search traffic.

Server log analysis

Server logs show what search engines actually do on a site rather than what you assume they do. Two checks matter most: user agent analysis and crawl budget analysis (crawl rate limit and crawl demand).

Most audit tools apply three levels of severity so your agency can prioritize. Critical errors (red) should be addressed immediately, which is why running a weekly audit, even if it is just to assure your clients that their website is alive and well, is an important part of an agency's SEO strategy.

How to perform a site audit in 12 steps

Here is a 12-step process for running an audit in under an hour. Rather than working through a manual technical SEO audit checklist, let your preferred SEO platform do most of the heavy lifting.

Step 1: Choose your site audit tool

Choose a site audit tool that fits your workflow and client needs. Popular options include:

• Semrush for its comprehensive technical site audits.

• Ahrefs for detailed backlink audits and technical insights.

• Moz for intuitive site crawls and error identification.

Each automates much of the heavy lifting, so the choice comes down to your familiarity with the tool and the metrics you prioritize.

Step 2: Configure the site auditor

Once you have chosen your tool:

• Input the website's domain.

• Set crawl parameters like subdomains, user agents, and exclusions (e.g., avoid crawling login pages).

• Define the crawl depth and page limit to match your needs.

Match the configuration to the website's size and complexity. If your page limit is 500 but the website has over 1,000 pages, you will miss 50% of the potential site audit issues.

There are also multiple SEO integrations with the best SEO audit tools and SEO software for agencies.

Step 3: Start the crawl

Click the tool's "Start Audit" or equivalent button. The tool will begin analyzing the site for common technical SEO issues such as broken links, slow-loading pages, and missing meta tags.

Step 4: Review the summary dashboard

When the crawl finishes, most tools give an overview of the site's health score. The summary highlights:

• Total errors, warnings, and notices.

• A visual breakdown of the most common issues.

• Recommendations for fixes.

Use it to identify the problem areas that need immediate attention.

Step 5: Prioritize issues based on order of severity

Sort onsite issues by severity so you resolve the most critical errors first and show your clients quick results. Click the "Type" button on the "Tests" page:

Issues typically break down into three buckets:

• Critical issues: Errors that significantly impact user experience or site indexability (e.g., 404 errors, 5XX server errors).

• Warnings: Secondary issues like missing alt attributes or oversized images.

• Notices: Opportunities for optimization, such as title tag length.

Address critical issues first to deliver quick wins.

Step 6: Resolve critical issues

Fix critical issues as soon as the audit is complete to give your clients an immediate SEO gain. In the test account, the critical errors include 5XX Errors, 4XX Errors, and overused canonical tags.

Click the error link, and you will see exactly what it means and the pages affected. For example, 5XX Errors are "fatal errors that will prevent anyone, including search engines, from accessing your website. They are normally caused by a programming bug or a server misconfiguration."

Step 7: Review and resolve errors and warnings

Once the critical errors are fixed, work through the remaining errors and warnings. There will usually be many more of these, so build a plan to resolve them over a set period and share that plan with your clients.

Step 8: Review individual page performance

The next tab covers individual page performance, including SEO metrics such as:

• Page score: a "grade" based on overall issues the auditor discovers, weighted by page depth and the severity of each issue. Learn more about how the page score is calculated in our Help Center.

• Page depth: how many clicks a visitor needs to reach the page using the shortest path from the homepage. A page linked directly on the homepage has a depth of 2.

• Inlinks: also referred to as "backlinks", the number of external websites linking to the page.

• Status code: the server's response to a browser request, communicating whether the page is working properly. Learn more about common status codes in this article by Moz.

If you know certain pages drive most of your client's conversions, target those first. Otherwise, order all pages by score and work through them individually.

Step 9: Highlight your improvements with historical comparisons

The "History" tab compares current site audit results with previous audits. Use page-level or site-level scores alongside other data visualization techniques to show progress over time and make your agency's value visible.

Step 10: Create an SEO report or dashboard

Use SEO reporting software to build a white-labeled SEO report or live SEO dashboard. A live dashboard gives clients 24/7 access. A report with the same information, sent automatically on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, works too. Both have white-labeling capabilities for your agency's logo and branding, and there is a free SEO report template available.

Add your own commentary. That is what highlights the progress you made that month, including key changes and notable wins.

For the full picture, build an SEO dashboard that combines SEO metrics from every source so you monitor each relevant SEO KPI in one place. Assembling that by hand every month takes time a live view gives back.

With over 85 native integrations, including SEMrush, Moz, Ahrefs, Google Search Console, and Google Analytics, plus white-labeled SEO agency tools, your agency can customize these SEO reporting dashboards with drag-and-drop editing to show top landing pages, site audit score, and conversions from SEO.

Try out this SEO dashboard template with your free 14-day trial.

Step 11: Export the audit report and add insights

Most tools allow you to export detailed reports. Customize them with:

• Summaries of critical issues and fixes.

• Visuals such as pie charts and line graphs for easier interpretation.

Embed Widgets or the Google Sheets tool makes it easy to pull audit results into your SEO reports or dashboards.

Then go beyond the automated output and add your analysis. Highlight how fixing specific issues improved site performance, and suggest next steps, such as increasing internal linking. That context is what turns raw data into something a client can act on.

Step 12: Deliver the report to clients

Share the findings in the format that suits your client:

• Live dashboards: Use AgencyAnalytics SEO reporting tools to combine audit results from your chosen platform with data from other SEO tools like Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, and Google Lighthouse to create client-accessible SEO reporting dashboards.

• PDF reports: Schedule regular report exports (e.g., weekly or monthly) and send them to clients.

• Video walkthroughs: Record a brief explanation of the report for a more personalized touch.

Understanding the results and building an action plan

Interpreting the findings

Treat the audit as a health check-up. It tells you what is working, what is not, and where the room for improvement lies: duplicate pages, missing meta descriptions, misbehaving robots.txt files. These findings are not indictments, and even the best-performing websites have room to improve. The job is understanding what each one means to search engine bots.

Prioritizing technical SEO issues

Not all issues carry the same weight. Site speed is a significant ranking factor, so a slow site needs attention quickly. A handful of broken internal links can wait. Identify the issues that return the most for the effort.

Creating a structured SEO roadmap

Build the roadmap using Search Console, XML sitemaps, and your audit tool. Keep it a living document that evolves with the strategy, because SEO is an ongoing process of refinement rather than a one-and-done project.

Assign tasks to both staff and client accounts, set due dates, monitor the status of these tasks, and display complete and incomplete tasks directly in your automated reports. Get started with your 14-day free trial.

Not getting stuck on perfection

Chasing perfection leads to analysis paralysis. Technical SEO always has new problems to solve, new search queries to target, and new ranking factors to weigh. Aim for continual improvement. Even small tweaks make a big difference in how your client's site performs in the search engine results pages.

How often should you run a technical SEO audit?

This is a common question from clients. At a minimum, run an SEO health check quarterly. Ideally, set up an automated workflow that monitors onsite issues and opportunities weekly or monthly.

Content dates quickly and technical errors arise unexpectedly, so a recurring audit lets you resolve issues before they hit search rankings. With the AgencyAnalytics SEO reporting tools, for example, backlinks, keyword rankings, website analytics, and SEO site health all update in one dashboard.

SEO does not stand still, and neither should your audit cadence

The SEO landscape is in constant flux, shaped by algorithm updates, evolving best practices, and changing user behaviors. That directly affects how frequently audits should run.

As search engines evolve, factors that once were paramount become obsolete (does anyone still remember keyword stuffing??), and new ones emerge. What worked for on-page audit parameters last year might not hold the same weight today. As search engines increasingly use artificial intelligence to personalize results and improve mobile experiences, SEO strategies have to evolve with them.

Six ways to stay current with SEO changes

1. Continual learning: Invest time in continuous education about SEO trends. Follow authoritative SEO news sources, blogs, and forums to stay informed about recent developments.

2. Networking and collaboration: Engage with the SEO community. Attending webinars, conferences, and workshops can provide insights into how others are adapting to changes in the field.

3. Routine analysis: Make it a habit to review search results and analytics regularly. Monitor how updates affect your site's standing and refine your SEO audit checklist accordingly.

4. Preservation and adaptation: While keeping up with changes, also maintain an archive of previous audits and strategies. Reviewing archive pages of your SEO history can highlight what changes have had the most impact over time.

5. User feedback loops: Listen to the users. Feedback from site visitors can often be the first indicator of a shift in the SEO landscape, alerting you to aspects that may require a fresh approach.

6. Leverage SEO audit tools: Incorporate advanced site audit tool solutions that are updated in line with the latest search engine algorithms to accurately assess a website's health.

Together, these keep regular audits part of a proactive strategy rather than a reactive scramble.

Sustaining site performance over time

The web changes quickly, and regular audits catch problems early, before they become issues that harm search results. Site speed, internal linking, structured data, and mobile compatibility all need ongoing attention.

If you have content that did exceptionally well before cooling off and not gathering as much traffic suddenly, it’s a good idea to check back in and update the content. If you've got the right topic, you could be generating great content for years to come.

Rachel Jackson, Lead SEO Specialist, Wit Digital

Websites are evolving entities that need consistent optimization. Regular checks for broken links and monitoring of site speed are part of the deal, and that maintenance is what keeps a site secure, functional, and satisfying to users and search engines alike.

Pooling data from essential technical SEO tools

No single tool sees everything. Combining them creates a full view of a client's website health.

Google Search Console shows how search engine bots view and interact with a website. The URL inspection tool surfaces issues on specific pages and pinpoints exactly how many pages have been indexed. Read more on other Google Search Console analytics and metrics.

Google Lighthouse checks site speed, accessibility, and search engine optimization, and returns actionable suggestions on what needs tweaking. PageSpeed Insights analyzes how quickly pages load on mobile devices and desktops, then suggests ways to improve load times. Google Analytics covers user behavior, from site visits to bounce rate. Bing Webmaster Tools is the dark horse of the set, offering features similar to Search Console for Bing, the second-most-popular search engine.

Pull from all of them, and you get a 360-degree view: internal links, backlinks, important pages, site audit settings, a precise count of pages crawled, and the ability to compare metrics across tools. That is what makes an audit report detailed enough to guide the strategy.

Creating a comprehensive SEO report to track progress

Reporting is about synthesizing scattered information into one narrative that is easy to access, interpret, and act on.

One platform, multiple data streams

Juggling Google Search Console, Google Analytics, a site audit tool, a backlink monitor, and data from other search engines makes it hard to stitch together a story a client will follow. Consolidating those streams into a single SEO report gives your agency one narrative and streamlines both the analysis and the communication of a client's performance.

Turning data into a story

A consolidated report does not throw numbers at a client. It pieces data points together into something that shows where they are, how far they have come, and where they need to go next. It uncovers issues, tracks progress, and guides future SEO work. Pre-built templates for Local SEO and SEO reporting make that faster to assemble.

Painting progress with white labeling

Presentation leaves a lasting impression. White labeling puts your brand colors on the data you present, so the technical achievements land in a package that reinforces your agency brand.

Choosing the right SEO audit tool for your agency

The full audit process, from identifying issues to fixing them, can take anywhere from a couple of days to over six weeks. That is a lot of time for an agency running multiple clients. The right SEO audit tool should free up as much of that time as possible by automating the auditing and reporting process.

You do not need to be an SEO expert to run regular site audits. Schedule your technical SEO reports so your clients' latest data reaches them without another deadline to manage, and feed weekly or monthly audits straight into your client reporting.

Even when there are few errors to fix, showing that you keep a client's SEO health at 95% or better makes the value of the work visible. Automated reporting also flags website and content issues and optimization opportunities as they appear.

Preview our SEO report template. Want to see it with your own data? Try AgencyAnalytics free for 14 days.

With the right audit checklist, SEO strategy, and SEO software, even tedious site audits become part of scaling your agency by delivering easy wins to your clients.

Agency Tip: It can take weeks for search engines to index pages. You can use IndexNow to make it easier to instantly inform search engines about your latest content change on your clients’ websites.

How to use a technical SEO audit to win and grow accounts

Pitching new SEO services to existing clients is tricky, and a technical SEO audit gets your foot in the door. If the report shows site architecture issues, that is an opening to pitch work on internal linking, URL structures, and site mapping.

The same applies to prospects. Including an audit alongside writing your SEO proposal gives them immediate value while demonstrating your expertise. Do this 12-step SEO audit for prospective clients, and you might just land them before your free trial expires. For more on turning audits into new business, see Lead Generation for Agencies: How to Win More Clients with AgencyAnalytics.

Building a proposal from scratch for every prospect is slow. Use the AgencyAnalytics white label SEO tool and pre-built proposal template to assemble your SEO proposal from site audits, keyword performance, and backlink and internal link profiles. Here are five sections from that template.

1. Proposal summary

The summary is your first chance to show clients your research, industry expertise, and technical knowledge. Introduce the services you know will benefit the client's website, and highlight the key insights you uncovered in the SEO analysis and site audit.

2. Website SEO audit

The next section presents the site audit and highlights that you scanned the website for over 40 technical issues. That is immediate value, since many business owners are completely unaware of the issues affecting their rankings.

3. Keyword rankings

Next comes keyword rankings. This keyword analysis and reporting is done quickly by entering target keywords into the rank tracker, which shows the client their current standing in the SERPs. Add any strategic plans to lift those rankings through new content or website changes here.

4. Backlink analysis

The Backlink Analysis section gives prospects an overview of their current backlinks, referring domains, and key metrics such as Trust Flow and Citation Flow.

5. Next steps

Every proposal should close with the next steps. Cover the areas of improvement identified in the SEO analysis, along with the investment and timeline your services require.

The takeaway

Before your agency invests time in creating content for your clients' websites, make sure they have a strong technical SEO foundation. Great content does no work if potential customers cannot find it through a quick Google search.

Using the 12 steps above identifies and resolves the onsite issues that stop your clients' websites from ranking highly in organic search. There are over 40 technical issues that affect SEO performance, so a site audit saves you time by ranking them in order of severity. Pair that with automatic weekly or monthly audits, and your agency can prioritize the most critical tasks and make data-driven decisions.

Present your technical SEO findings, highlight the wins your agency is achieving, and keep your clients for the long haul with an easy-to-understand SEO client report. Start your free 14-day trial today.

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