Have you ever walked into a Chanel outlet without a sign, with disorganized shelves, and customers struggling to get to where they need to go? You haven’t. That’s exactly the point. Successful businesses use their website as their digital representation, so the amount of effort that goes into their physical store goes into their website as well. If you are wondering how people see your website, you might need an SEO audit checklist.
An SEO audit helps you determine the health of your website. It shows what is working, what is not, and what needs improvement, all listed with suggestions and levels of urgency. The end of the year is the perfect time to get an SEO audit, whether it is done by a professional such as Tower 25 or by doing it yourself using an SEO audit checklist.
As Google updates its algorithms, you want to ensure that your website can handle the changes. An SEO audit is also a great way to give your website a revamp and ensure that you’re set up for success.
What is an SEO Audit Checklist?
An SEO audit checklist is a list you can use to review your website and make sure everything is working the way it should. To run a website that ranks high in search engines, there are certain maintenance tasks you need to perform. An SEO audit checklist helps you review all of that and more.
The checklist should include site speed, headings, keywords, internal links, and other critical elements. By reviewing all of these, you can identify anything that might be hurting your ranking and fix it.
How to Perform an SEO Audit
If you are ready to take your business to the next level in 2026, performing an SEO audit is exactly what you need. Using the following checklist will help ensure you’re prepared, like checking a car before a road trip, so that when you’re on the road, you don’t have to make stops and detours because of flat tires or engine problems.
Site Speed
The first step in your SEO audit is checking your site speed. If your website takes longer than 2 seconds to load, you may lose the top spot on search engine results to your competitors. If it takes longer than 3 seconds, you risk losing customers who don’t have the patience to wait for your page to load in 2025 (and moving into 2026).
Slow loading can be caused by large images, videos, or messy code. Whatever the cause, nothing is more important than restoring speed.
Mobile Responsiveness
Next, check your website’s overall design. Chances are, if your website is slow, it also does not perform well on mobile devices. This is a huge problem, as over 64% of global traffic comes from mobile devices. If your website is not optimized for mobile, you are alienating a large portion of your audience.
Crawl Errors
To understand how search engines are ranking your website, you need to look for crawl errors. These include broken or blank pages. When this happens, your website’s ranking is affected because Google sees it as a degradation of the user experience.
XML Sitemap and robots.txt Check
An XML sitemap is a map of your site, while a robots.txt file gives directions on where search engines should go and where they should not. This is an important detail you don’t want to miss for your website.
Structured Data / Schema Markup
This is one of the technical aspects of an SEO audit. Schema markup helps search engines understand your content better, improving your search engine ranking.
HTTPS Status and Security
HTTPS ensures your site is secure for browsing. Non-HTTPS websites are not ranked as highly because they may contain potential threats to your audience. Not having HTTPS is like putting a “Do Not Enter” sign outside your front door. It is not good for business.
Canonicalization and Duplicate Content
When content appears on multiple URLs, it can confuse search engines. Adding a canonical tag tells Google which page is the main one and prevents ranking issues.
Title Tags and Meta Descriptions
Title tags are headings, and meta descriptions act as short summaries that allow search engines to understand your content better. They also help improve your search engine ranking.
Header Tags and Keyword Placement
Similar to title tags, headers organize content and make it more readable. Using keywords naturally in headers makes your content easier to find and helps search engines categorize it correctly.
Image Alt Text and Internal Linking
Content is not just words; it includes images and resources. Adding keywords and tags to your pictures in the form of alt text and linking internally to related pages helps guide your audience and improves SEO.