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SEO audit checklist

The checks we run in every SEO audit, grouped so you can work through them in order of impact.

Written by Nikhil Narasipura Doddamane, Founder & Head of SEO/GEO · Published 26 Apr 2026 · Updated 3 Oct 2026 · 3 min read

QUICK ANSWER

What should an SEO audit checklist include?

An SEO audit checklist should cover technical health (crawling, indexing, speed, HTTPS), on-page elements (titles, headings, internal links), content quality and cannibalization, backlinks, local listings and AI search visibility, with each issue ranked by likely impact.

What are the technical SEO audit checks?

Indexing status in Search Console, robots.txt, XML sitemap, canonical tags, redirects and chains, 404s, HTTPS, mobile usability and Core Web Vitals. Also check JavaScript rendering and orphan pages.

What do the numbers say about SEO and AI search?

Research presented at KDD 2024 (Aggarwal et al., Princeton University and IIT Delhi) found that adding citations, quotations and statistics can boost a source's visibility in generative engine responses by up to 40%, while classic keyword stuffing performed worse than doing nothing. Google's Core Web Vitals define a good experience as Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds, Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less and Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads (web.dev). Toffyjar SEO retainers cost $499 a month for Starter and $999 a month for Growth, with Enterprise priced on scope, and every plan includes GEO for AI search. Put simply, rankings now depend on fast pages and answers that cite real sources, and the same work also earns citations in AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity.

What are the on-page SEO audit checks?

Unique titles and meta descriptions, one H1 per page, logical headings, internal links to and from key pages, image alt text and structured data validity.

What content checks belong in an SEO audit?

Thin pages, duplicate content, keyword cannibalization (several pages for one topic), outdated facts and missing pages for important queries.

Area	Example checks	Priority
Technical	Indexing, redirects, speed	High
On-page	Titles, H1, internal links	High
Content	Thin, duplicate, cannibalization	Medium
Links	Toxic patterns, lost links	Medium
Local	Profile, NAP consistency	High for local
AI visibility	Prompt mentions, crawler access	Rising

How do you audit links and local SEO?

Review referring domains for relevance, look for lost links worth reclaiming, and check that your business name, address and phone are consistent across listings. Also review reviews volume and replies.

How do you check AI visibility in an audit?

Test priority prompts in major AI assistants, check robots.txt for AI crawler blocks, and review whether key pages have clear answers and schema. See free GEO audit.

What happens after the audit?

Rank fixes by impact and effort, assign owners and re-check monthly. Want it done for you? See our SEO audit service or the broader website audit checklist.

What are the key takeaways on seo audit checklist?

In short: Indexing status in Search Console, robots.txt, XML sitemap, canonical tags, redirects and chains, 404s, HTTPS, mobile usability and Core Web Vitals. Unique titles and meta descriptions, one H1 per page, logical headings, internal links to and from key pages, image alt text and structured data validity. Thin pages, duplicate content, keyword cannibalization (several pages for one topic), outdated facts and missing pages for important queries. Review referring domains for relevance, look for lost links worth reclaiming, and check that your business name, address and phone are consistent across listings. Test priority prompts in major AI assistants, check robots.txt for AI crawler blocks, and review whether key pages have clear answers and schema. Rank fixes by impact and effort, assign owners and re-check monthly.

SOURCES

WORK WITH TOFFYJAR

Want this done for you?

We build WordPress and modern websites and make them rank in Google and get cited in AI answers. Fixed quotes, senior review, you own everything. We measured these results on 16 October 2026 using OpenSEO, which draws on DataForSEO ranking and backlink data. For example, in one case study an enterprise digital engineering company whose site Toffyjar built has 65 non-brand page-one rankings, 37 at #1, with 2,717 referring domains. In another, an AI insurance process automation platform has 13 non-brand top-10 rankings including #1 for underwriting software, with 2,578 referring domains. These are current figures, not before-and-after claims, and client names stay private under NDA. Every site was planned from a requirement sheet, built on staging, reviewed by senior people and handed over with the client owning the code, content and logins. Projects are priced at about $199 per page, and SEO and GEO retainers start at $499 a month. Ask for a reference on a discovery call and we will connect you with a client where they agree.

Fill the requirement sheet → Book a discovery call Get a free audit

CASE STUDY · ENTERPRISE DIGITAL ENGINEERING COMPANY
65 non-brand page-one rankings, 37 at #1 →

Frequently asked questions

How often should I run an SEO audit?

At least yearly and before major changes.

Can I audit my own site?

Yes, with Search Console and a crawler.

How long does an audit take?

A few days for most sites.

Is there an SEO audit checklist in Excel?

We can share ours as a spreadsheet on request.

KEEP READING

SEO services → SEO services in India → SEO services in the USA → SEO services in the UK → Local SEO → What is SEO? → What SEO means for a business → What is an SEO company? → How to do SEO for a website, step by step → Google SEO: how ranking on Google works → On-page SEO: guide and checklist → Blog → SEO audit →

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