Foundation & Setup

Run a Full Site Audit — Step-by-Step Guide

Identify broken links, redirect chains, orphan pages, crawl errors, and duplicate content before starting optimizations.

Medium High Impact 1-2 hrs Online Local Hybrid
Pro Tip

Run your first audit BEFORE making any changes — this is your baseline. Export and save the report so you can compare progress after 30, 60, and 90 days.

Step-by-Step Guide

1

Choose a crawling tool and run a full site crawl

The best free option is Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free up to 500 URLs). For larger sites, use Ahrefs Site Audit or Semrush Site Audit.

  • Screaming Frog: Download from screamingfrog.co.uk, enter your URL, and click "Start"
  • Ahrefs: Go to Site Audit, create a new project, enter your domain, and run the crawl
  • Semrush: Go to Site Audit under Projects, add your domain and start the audit
2

Review crawl errors and broken pages

Look for 404 (Not Found) errors, 500 (Server Error) pages, and any pages returning unexpected status codes. Each broken page is a wasted opportunity and harms user experience.

3

Check for redirect issues

Find redirect chains (A→B→C — should be A→C) and redirect loops. Every redirect chain wastes crawl budget and slows page load time.

4

Audit on-page elements

Check for these critical issues:

  • Missing or duplicate title tags (every page needs a unique title)
  • Missing or duplicate meta descriptions
  • Missing H1 tags or multiple H1s per page
  • Pages with thin content (under 300 words)
  • Missing alt text on images
5

Identify orphan pages and indexation issues

Orphan pages have no internal links pointing to them — search engines may never find them. Also check for accidentally noindexed pages that should be indexable.

6

Export the report and use the AI prompt to prioritize fixes

Export the crawl data as CSV, paste the key findings into the AI prompt, and get a prioritized action plan with estimated effort for each fix.

Video Tutorial

AI Prompt

Act as a senior technical SEO consultant performing a site audit. Analyze the following crawl report and produce a prioritized action plan.

SITE INFORMATION:
- Website: [URL]
- CMS/Platform: [WordPress/Shopify/Next.js/Custom]
- Approximate number of pages: [NUMBER]
- Business type: [E-commerce/SaaS/Blog/Local Business/etc.]

CRAWL DATA:
[PASTE YOUR SCREAMING FROG OR AHREFS AUDIT EXPORT HERE]

For each issue found, provide a table with these columns:
| Issue | Affected URLs (count) | SEO Impact (Critical/High/Medium/Low) | Fix Difficulty (Easy/Medium/Hard) | Fix Instructions | Priority Score (1-10) |

Group issues into categories:
1. INDEXATION ISSUES — Pages blocked, noindexed incorrectly, orphan pages
2. REDIRECT ISSUES — Chains, loops, wrong status codes
3. ON-PAGE ISSUES — Missing/duplicate titles, meta descriptions, H1s
4. TECHNICAL ISSUES — Broken links, slow pages, mixed content, missing canonical tags
5. STRUCTURED DATA ISSUES — Missing, invalid, or incomplete schema markup
6. MOBILE ISSUES — Viewport, tap targets, content width

Then provide:
- A "Quick Wins" list (high impact + easy fix — do these first)
- A "Critical Fixes" list (high impact regardless of difficulty)
- Estimated total effort hours to resolve all issues
- Recommended weekly sprint plan to fix everything in priority order

Tools & Resources

Screaming FrogAhrefs Site Audit

Learn More

SEO Audit Guide — AhrefsarticleTechnical SEO Audit Checklist — Semrusharticle

Do this task in the interactive tool

Track your progress and get guided through every step.

Open Interactive Tool

More in Foundation & Setup

Install Google Search Console

Easy15 min

Set Up Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Easy20 min

Define KPIs & Goals

Easy30 min

Competitor Backlink & Keyword Analysis

Medium1-2 hrs

Install an SEO Plugin/Tool

Easy15 min