An SEO audit identifies the technical and content issues that prevent a website from ranking well. This guide covers the core elements of a complete audit and what to do with the findings.

Title tags

Every page should have a unique title tag between 30 and 60 characters. Titles shorter than 30 characters miss keyword opportunities. Titles longer than 60 characters get truncated in search results.

Check that titles are descriptive and include the primary keyword for that page. Avoid duplicating titles across pages — Google may pick one to display and ignore the rest.

Meta descriptions

Meta descriptions do not directly affect rankings but they affect click-through rates. A good meta description is between 120 and 160 characters, includes the primary keyword, and clearly communicates what the page is about.

Audit for missing, duplicate, or truncated meta descriptions. Pages without meta descriptions get auto-generated snippets from Google, which are often worse than what you would write.

Heading structure

Every page should have exactly one H1 tag. Multiple H1s confuse search engines about the primary topic. Missing H1s mean a page is not clearly signaling its topic.

H2 through H6 tags should follow a logical hierarchy. A page that jumps from H1 to H4 has a heading structure problem.

Canonical tags

Canonical tags tell search engines which version of a page is the authoritative one. They are essential for sites with URL parameters, paginated content, or multiple domains serving the same content.

Every page should have a self-referencing canonical tag. Pages without canonicals risk duplicate content issues if the same page is accessible via multiple URLs.

Alt text

Every meaningful image should have a descriptive alt attribute. Alt text is used by screen readers for accessibility and by search engines to understand image content.

Audit for images with empty, missing, or generic alt text like "image" or "photo". A page with 50 images and no alt text has both an accessibility problem and an SEO opportunity.

Content quality

Thin content — pages with fewer than 300 words — is unlikely to rank for competitive terms. Audit for thin pages and either expand them or consolidate them with related content.

Duplicate content — the same or very similar text appearing on multiple pages — can split ranking signals. Identify and consolidate duplicate pages.