How to Do a Basic SEO Audit (Step-by-Step)

If your website isn’t bringing in as many visitors, enquiries or sales as you hoped, it’s tempting to start changing everything at once.

But that usually creates more work and very little clarity.

A basic SEO audit helps you take a more sensible approach. It shows you what’s working, what could be holding your website back and which improvements deserve your attention first.

Better still, you don’t need an expensive collection of tools or a technical SEO degree to get started. You can complete a useful SEO audit for small business websites with a few free tools, a spreadsheet and a couple of hours.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the process step by step. No jargon. No dramatic promises about getting to number one on Google by next Tuesday. Just practical checks that can help you make your website easier to find and use.

What Is an SEO Audit?

An SEO audit is a review of the factors that affect how your website appears in search results.

It looks at areas such as:

• Whether Google can find and index your pages.
• Which keywords your website currently appears for.
• How quickly your pages load.
• Whether your content matches what customers search for.
• How well you use page titles, headings and internal links.
• Whether technical problems could limit your visibility.
• Whether visitors can easily use your website on a mobile device.

Think of it as a health check for your website.

An audit won’t improve your rankings on its own. Instead, it gives you a clear list of problems and opportunities. You can then fix the issues that matter most.

An SEO audit focuses specifically on search visibility. A broader website audit may also cover branding, security, accessibility, user experience and conversion rates. If you want to review the whole site, our guide on how to audit your website covers the wider process.

Why Does a Small Business Need an SEO Audit?

Small business websites often grow bit by bit.

You might add a new service page, publish a few blog posts, change your menu and install another WordPress plugin. Meanwhile, pages become outdated, links stop working, and several pages begin targeting the same search term.

None of this means you’ve done anything terribly wrong. Websites simply get messy over time. They are a bit like kitchen cupboards, except nobody finds three open packets of pasta during an SEO audit.

Regular checks help you:

• Find technical problems before they become bigger issues.
• Understand how people discover your website.
• Improve pages that already have some search visibility.
• Identify missing content.
• Make your website easier for Google to understand.
• Focus your time and budget on useful improvements.
• Track whether your SEO work supports real business goals.

Most importantly, an audit can stop you from guessing.

Instead of publishing another random blog post and hoping for the best, you can make decisions based on what your website actually needs.

What Do You Need Before You Start?

You don’t need much to complete a basic audit. Start with:

• Your website address.
• Access to Google Search Console, if it’s already connected.
• Access to Google Analytics, if available.
• A spreadsheet or simple document for your findings.
• Google PageSpeed Insights.
• Around two to three hours for a small website.

You can also use a website crawler such as Screaming Frog. Its free version can scan up to 500 URLs, which will cover many small business websites.

However, don’t delay the whole audit because you haven’t installed every tool. Start with what you have. A simple audit that leads to action is far more valuable than an advanced report that nobody understands or uses.

Step 1: Decide What You Want SEO to Achieve

Before checking titles, links and loading speeds, take a step back.

What do you actually want your website to do?

Your answer might include:

• Generate more local enquiries.
• Sell more products.
• Attract bookings.
• Increase calls.
• Build awareness in a new location.
• Bring more visitors to an important service page.
• Reduce your reliance on paid advertising.

This matters because rankings aren’t the final goal.

Ranking first for a vague keyword that never produces an enquiry won’t help much. On the other hand, a modest increase in visits from people searching for your exact service in your area could make a real difference.

Write down two or three business goals. Then use them to guide the rest of your audit.

For example, if you want more boiler repair enquiries in Nottingham, you should pay particular attention to the pages, keywords and local signals connected to that service and location.

Step 2: Check Whether Google Can Find Your Website

Next, check whether Google knows that your pages exist.

Search Google for:

site:yourwebsite.co.uk

Replace the example with your own domain. Google should return a selection of pages from your website.

This search won’t give you a perfectly accurate index count. Nevertheless, it provides a quick sense check.

Look for anything unusual:

• Important pages that don’t appear.
• Old pages that should no longer appear.
• Test or staging pages.
• Duplicate versions of the same page.
• Strange URLs you don’t recognise.
• Empty category or tag pages.
• Search results with poor or outdated titles.

After that, open Google Search Console and visit the page indexing report. It shows which pages Google has indexed and which ones it hasn’t.

Some excluded pages are completely normal. For instance, you probably don’t need Google to index every admin page, feed or filtered product URL. However, you should investigate if an important service page shows as blocked, crawled but not indexed or discovered but not indexed.

Also check that your website has an XML sitemap. This normally sits at an address such as:

yourwebsite.co.uk/sitemap_index.xml

WordPress SEO plugins such as Yoast SEO and Rank Math can create one for you. Once it’s ready, submit it through Google Search Console.

If terms such as indexing, sitemaps and crawl errors feel unfamiliar, our guide to technical and content SEO for startups explains the difference in plain English.

Step 3: Review Your Search Performance

Now open the performance report in Google Search Console.

Choose a useful date range, such as the last three or six months. If your business experiences seasonal changes, compare the period with the same months from the previous year.

Focus on four figures:

• Clicks: The number of visits from Google search results.
• Impressions: The number of times your pages appeared.
• Click-through rate: The percentage of impressions that became clicks.
• Average position: An estimated average ranking across different searches.

Next, review the queries and pages tabs.

Ask yourself:

• Which searches already bring visitors?
• Which pages receive the most clicks?
• Do your important services receive any impressions?
• Are you appearing for irrelevant terms?
• Which searches have plenty of impressions but very few clicks?
• Have clicks or impressions dropped suddenly?

A page with growing impressions but few clicks may need a stronger title or description. Meanwhile, a page sitting near the bottom of page one or top of page two may offer a good improvement opportunity.

Don’t become obsessed with every small movement. Rankings change for many reasons, and average position can be messy. Look for patterns rather than panicking because one keyword moved down two places on a Tuesday.

Step 4: Review Your Keywords And Search Intent

A keyword describes what someone types into a search engine. Search intent describes what that person hopes to find.

For example, someone searching for “accountant” could want a definition, a job or a local accountancy firm. Someone searching for “small business accountant in Newark” has a much clearer goal.

During your audit, list your main products or services. Then check whether you have a suitable page for each one.

A simple table might look like this:

Look for:

• Valuable services with no dedicated page.
• Pages targeting keywords that are too broad.
• Several pages competing for the same keyword.
• Content that doesn’t match the reason behind the search.
• Location pages for areas you don’t genuinely serve.
• Keywords that use language your customers wouldn’t use.

You don’t need to target hundreds of phrases. Start with the products, services and locations that matter most to your business.

If you need help finding suitable phrases, follow our step-by-step local SEO keyword research guide. It shows you how to turn your services and target areas into useful keyword ideas.

Step 5: Check Your Page Titles And Meta Descriptions

Your page title often appears as the main blue link in Google’s search results. Your meta description may appear underneath it.

These elements help people decide whether to click.

Check the title and description for every important page. Each one should:

• Be unique.
• Describe the page accurately.
• Include the main keyword naturally.
• Give the reader a reason to click.
• Match the content on the page.
• Avoid unnecessary repetition.

For example, a weak title might say:

“Home | Smith & Sons”

A clearer alternative could be:

“Commercial Electricians in Nottingham | Smith & Sons”

Don’t cram every service and location into one title. It’ll look awkward, and Google may rewrite it anyway.

Your meta description should briefly explain what the visitor will find. For example:

“Need a reliable commercial electrician in Nottingham? Explore our electrical services for offices, shops and industrial premises.”

Treat the description like useful signposting, not an opportunity to squeeze in a small novel.

Step 6: Review Your Headings And Page Structure

Every important page should have one clear main heading, usually called an H1.

That heading should describe the subject of the page. You can then use H2 and H3 headings to break the content into useful sections.

For example:

• H1: Boiler Servicing in Newark.
• H2: What Our Boiler Service Includes.
• H2: How Much Does Boiler Servicing Cost?
• H2: Why Choose Our Engineers?
• H2: Book Your Boiler Service.

Clear headings help visitors scan the page. They also help search engines understand its structure.

While checking your headings, look for:

• Missing main headings.
• Several H1 headings on one page.
• Vague headings such as “Welcome” or “What We Do”.
• Long sections with no subheadings.
• Headings used purely to change the size of text.
• Keywords forced into every heading.

Use your target phrase where it makes sense, but keep the wording natural. Your website is for people first.

Step 7: Check The Quality Of Your Content

Next, read your key pages as if you were a potential customer.

Does the content answer the questions someone would ask before making an enquiry or buying? Or does it mostly talk about how passionate, innovative and customer-focused the business is?

Those claims aren’t automatically bad, but visitors also need practical information.

A useful service page should normally explain:

• What the service includes.
• Who it’s for.
• Which problems it solves.
• Where you provide it.
• How your process works.
• What makes your approach different.
• What the customer should do next.

Also look for thin pages with very little useful information, duplicated wording and content that is clearly out of date.

You don’t need to make every page extremely long. A page should be long enough to answer the search properly. Sometimes that takes 500 words. Sometimes it takes 1,500. Adding waffle won’t turn an unhelpful page into a helpful one.

If your content sounds vague or fails to guide readers towards the next step, our guide to writing website copy that converts will help you strengthen it.

Step 8: Test Your Website Speed

A slow website creates a frustrating experience. It can also make it harder for visitors to browse, enquire or buy.

Run your home page and a few important service pages through Google PageSpeed Insights. Test both mobile and desktop results.

Pay attention to:

• Large, uncompressed images.
• Slow server response times.
• Excessive scripts.
• Layout movement while the page loads.
• Plugins that add unnecessary code.
• Videos or animations that delay the page.
• Poor mobile performance.

You don’t need to chase a perfect score. Instead, focus on problems that noticeably affect real visitors.

For example, compressing a 6 MB banner image will usually make more sense than spending hours trying to improve a minor technical score.

For more practical fixes, read our guide on why website speed matters and how to improve it.

Step 9: Check Mobile Usability

Your website may look wonderful on the laptop you use every day. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean it works well on a phone.

Open your website on a mobile and complete the actions you want a customer to take.

Try to:

• Navigate through the main menu.
• Read a service page.
• Tap buttons and links.
• Complete a contact form.
• Find your phone number.
• Make a purchase or booking.
• Close any pop-ups.
• Return to the home page.

Check whether the text is easy to read, buttons are large enough to tap and important content fits on the screen. Also look for images, tables and forms that spill beyond the edge of the page.

If you have to pinch, zoom and perform minor finger gymnastics to make an enquiry, something needs fixing.

Step 10: Find Broken Links And Error Pages

Broken links lead visitors and search engines to pages that no longer exist.

Use a crawling tool or broken-link checker to scan your website. Then review any URLs returning errors.

You can usually fix a broken link by:

• Updating it to the correct address.
• Removing it if it’s no longer useful.
• Restoring a page that was deleted accidentally.
• Redirecting an old URL to the most relevant replacement.

Use redirects carefully. Don’t send every missing page to your home page. If there isn’t a genuinely relevant replacement, a clear 404 page may provide a better experience.

Also test your website’s main buttons, menu links and contact forms manually. Automated tools can find many problems, but they won’t always notice that your “Book Now” button goes somewhere completely unhelpful.

Step 11: Review Your Internal Links

Internal links connect one page on your website to another.

They help visitors discover useful information. They also help Google find pages and understand how your content fits together.

Check that:

• Blog posts link to relevant service pages.
• Related articles link to one another.
• Important pages aren’t buried several clicks deep.
• Link text clearly describes the destination.
• No important pages sit without any internal links.
• Your menu and footer include the pages people genuinely need.

For example, a blog post about improving local search visibility could naturally link to your SEO service page. Likewise, an article about slow WordPress websites could link to your website maintenance service.

Avoid using “click here” for every link. Descriptive wording gives readers more context.

You can learn more in our guide to building an internal linking strategy for a small business website.

Step 12: Check Your Local SEO Basics

If you serve customers in particular towns, cities or regions, include local SEO in your audit.

Start by reviewing your Google Business Profile. Make sure it includes:

• Your correct business name.
• An accurate address or service area.
• Your current opening hours.
• The right primary business category.
• A working phone number.
• A link to your website.
• Up-to-date photographs.
• Accurate products or services.

Next, check that your business name, address and phone number remain consistent across your website and other trusted directories.

Your website should also explain where you work. However, don’t create dozens of near-identical town pages with only the place name changed. Each location page should provide genuine value and reflect an area you actually serve.

Our local SEO checklist for UK businesses provides a more detailed review if local visibility is one of your priorities.

Step 13: Check Images And Alt Text

Large images can slow down your website, while missing image descriptions can reduce accessibility.

During your audit:

• Compress oversized images.
• Use modern formats such as WebP where suitable.
• Give files clear names.
• Add alt text when an image communicates useful information.
• Remove images that add no value.
• Check that important images display properly on mobile.

Alt text should describe the image for someone who can’t see it.

For example, “Electrician installing a fuse box in a Nottingham office” provides useful context. “Electrician Nottingham best electrician cheap electrician” does not. That second example is keyword stuffing wearing a high-vis jacket.

Decorative images don’t always need descriptive alt text. Keep accessibility as the main purpose rather than treating every image as another place to force in a keyword.

Step 14: Review Your Backlinks Carefully

Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. They can help search engines understand that other sources know and trust your business.

You can use Google Search Console’s links report to see a sample of the websites linking to you.

Look for links from:

• Industry organisations.
• Local business directories.
• Suppliers or partners.
• Professional memberships.
• Local news websites.
• Genuine articles and useful resources.

Don’t panic if you see a few strange links. Most websites attract some low-quality links over time.

More importantly, don’t buy hundreds of cheap backlinks or pay someone to place your business on a network of unrelated websites. A relevant link from a respected local or industry source can be far more useful than a large pile of digital rubbish.

Step 15: Turn Your Findings Into An Action Plan

At this stage, you may have a long list of issues. Don’t try to fix everything at once.

Sort each task by:

• Impact: How much could the improvement help?
• Urgency: Is the problem actively harming the website?
• Effort: How much time, knowledge or money will it require?

Start with urgent, high-impact tasks.

A sensible priority list might look like this:

1. Remove an accidental block that stops Google indexing the website.
2. Fix broken forms and important links.
3. Improve slow, oversized images.
4. Update titles and descriptions on key service pages.
5. Strengthen thin or unclear service content.
6. Add internal links to important pages.
7. Create content for missing high-value services.
8. Work through smaller technical improvements.

Give every task an owner and a deadline. Otherwise, your audit risks becoming a colourful spreadsheet that everyone politely ignores.

How Often Should You Complete An SEO Audit?

For most small businesses, a basic audit every six to twelve months provides a useful rhythm.

You should also review your SEO after:

• Launching or redesigning a website.
• Moving to a new domain.
• Changing your main services.
• Adding an online shop.
• Seeing a sudden drop in traffic.
• Making large changes to your website structure.
• Expanding into a new location.

In between full audits, check Google Search Console once a month. This habit can help you spot unusual changes, indexing problems and new keyword opportunities early.

SEO is ongoing work. Websites change, competitors publish new content and customer searches evolve. Therefore, an audit isn’t a one-off box to tick forever.

Common SEO Audit Mistakes To Avoid

A basic SEO audit for small business websites doesn’t need to become a major technical project. However, a few common mistakes can waste time.

First, don’t treat every warning as an emergency. Automated tools can produce impressive lists of issues, but not every issue will affect your customers or search visibility.

Second, don’t focus entirely on technical scores. A fast website with weak content won’t suddenly bring in ideal customers. Equally, brilliant content may struggle if Google can’t access the page.

Third, don’t optimise for search engines at the expense of real people. Repeating a keyword in every heading won’t make a page more helpful.

Finally, don’t measure success using rankings alone. Track relevant visits, enquiries, calls, bookings and sales wherever possible. Those results tell you whether SEO supports the business rather than simply producing a nicer graph.

Final Thoughts

Completing an SEO audit may sound complicated, but the basic process is quite manageable.

Start by checking whether Google can find your website. Then review your search data, keywords, content, page structure, speed, mobile experience and links. Finally, turn what you find into a short, prioritised action plan.

You don’t need to fix everything in one afternoon.

Begin with the problems that affect important pages and real customers. Then work through the remaining improvements at a sensible pace. Small changes can build momentum, particularly when your website already has some visibility.

If you would prefer a second pair of eyes, you can request a free website audit from 404 Marketing. You’ll receive simple, practical feedback without being buried in technical waffle.

Alternatively, if you want ongoing help with keywords, content, technical checks and search visibility, take a look at our SEO services for small businesses.

Your website doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to become clearer, faster and more useful than it was yesterday.