Competitor Audit Checklist

• You have identified the top 3-5 competitors.
• You know the keywords that the top 5 competitors rank for?
• Do competitor sites demonstrated high levels of E-A-T?
• You monitor the Backlink profiles of the top 3-5 competitors.
• Competitor SEO and KPI benchmarks have been set and reviewed.
• You know and track competitors performances in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Top keywords are known, tracked and monitored.
• You conduct Content Gap Analysis against your top competitors.

Content SEO Checklist

• Content is up to date?
• Content is relevant to users as shown by user behaviour matrices such as low Bounce Rate, increased Time On Site and no Pogo-Sticking.
• There are no thin pages/content i.e. content length is <300 words.
• Content is in-depth and covers the topic adequately.
• Content is not copied from other sites (duplicate content).
• Content is readable i.e. spelling and grammar is correct.
• Industry experts and/or authorities authored the website content.

On-Page SEO Audit Checklist

• Every page has a unique title tag
• Every page targets one primary keyword (Keyword Cannibalization)
• Every page has a unique and readable meta description
• Every piece of content makes use of header tags e.g. H1 – H6, and they contain primary keywords and/or synonyms/LSI keywords 
• There is no over-use of keywords in the content (Keyword Stuffing)
• Every image used on the site has an image alt attribute that describes the image.
• There are NO broken Internal links i.e. the links do NOT return 4XX or 5XX status codes (all are 2XXs)
• There is a correct and appropriate use of the NoFollow link attribute 
• Each page has friendly and readable website names (URLs)
• No flash content is being used on any of the sites.
• There is no use of iFrames on any of the site pages
• The site makes use of a website icon (favicon)
• There is the correct use of Canonical tags to tell the search engines the right pages to index and rank
• There are NO “Zombie” pages i.e. archived pages, pages with thin content, pages that do not rank, pages with no external links
• The site has an up-to-date Privacy Policy 
• The site has an up-to-date Terms of Service
• The site has a Contact us page with a working contact form and up-to-date contact details
• All links are clear and descriptive (anchor text)
• Any blog commenting on site is monitored and all links by commenters are nofollow
• The site uses a Cookie acceptance notice
• Do any advertising links have ‘nofollow’ or rel=sponsored applied to them?
• Is ‘nofollow’ used correctly on other internal links?
• Is sharing across social networks encouraged?
• Have tags for Facebook Open Graph and Twitter Cards been applied?
• Does the footer contain links to Privacy & Cookie policies?
• Is the copyright statement and current year showing in the footer?

User Experience Audit Checklist

• Users have been surveyed and responded positively about user experience
• Heatmaps show users using the website correctly i.e. finding buttons, navigation, menus
• All fonts are large enough to read clearly across all devices and browsers
• Font colors are appropriate
• Are content and navigation elements clear for users?
• Is the quality of the content generally outstanding?
• Is the page both useful and unique for the end user?
• Is the quality of the web design of a very high standard?
• Does the layout of pages facilitate ease of scanning?
• Are there any mobile usability issues or errors?
• Is there a clear call to action messaging showing, above the fold?
• Is it clear what the primary action a user should take is?
• Does the site have a clearly defined user journey?
• Is the quality of experience comparable on desktop, tablet and mobile?
• Are there easy to complete forms on key landing pages?
• Is there good use of CTA buttons and panels?
• Do product pages feature clear ‘add to basket’ messaging?
• Are product page images of a high standard with zoom functionality?
• Has one-step checkout been set-up for eCommerce websites?
• Is there a clear and intuitive basket to checkout process for eCommerce sites?
• Is there a minimal amount of advertising banners above the fold?
• Does the site avoid oversaturation of text ad links?

Technical SEO Audit Checklist

Crawling Issues

• A Brand name search i.e. site:yourwebsite.com returns the homepage as the 1st result.
• The website has a robots.txt file.
• The robots.txt file does not block search engines (bots) from accessing, crawling and indexing the site.
• There is a correct use of meta-tags for Index and NoIndex HTML attributes.
• The site has an XML site map that has been submitted to Search engines for indexing
• XML sitemap shows valid site addresses (URL) on the site
• XML sitemap has NO invalid site address URLs to be kept out of the index.
• No XML sitemap errors.
• No discrepancy between indexed pages in Google and Sitemap
• There are NO redirect chains
• The site does not show different content to different user agents, including search engine bots.
• There are NO (302) redirects unless page and/or site is under maintenance. 
• There is no Thin or Duplicate content.
• There is an appropriate Structured data (Micro-data) and Schema mark-up in use on the site.
• Deleted or missing important pages have redirects (30X) to other important pages.
• No URL Parameter issues
• No unnecessary Javascript redirections
• No iFrames in use
• No Doorway pages
• No Hidden text
• Positive Crawl rates i.e. NO decrease in pages crawled per day and less time taken to crawl the site.

Canonical Issues

• There is ONE PREFERRED version of your site address (URL). The rest have been 301 redirected to the preferred version. 
• Every page has a Canonical Tag.
• There are no Canonical errors
• There are NO multiple URL patterns returning the same content.

Security Issues

• The hosting platform the site is up to date and secured.
• The site has a valid SSL certificate
• The website has Malware/Virus protection
• There are regular Malware & Security checks
• All site links (URLs) start with HTTPS:// 
• There is a permanent redirection (301) of all non-HTTP:// to secure links HTTPS://
• The site secures and protects any emails submitted by visitors. (Email Privacy)
• There is NO use of flash on the site
• There are no resources accessible via HTTP

CMS Security Issues

• Check default CMS settings for
  • User settings
  • Comment settings
• Check file permissions
• Your CMS is running the latest version available?
• Are you using updated and secure security plugins/extensions?
  • Check security plugin/extension settings.
• Is data regularly backed-up?
• Check the integrity of backups to ensure they are not corrupted or unusable
• Is the recovery plan up-to-date
• Sensitive files are protected
• Directory browsing is prevented
• Image hotlinking is prevented
• FTP (file transfer protocol) is secured using SSH (Secure Shell)
• Passwords for FTP. CMS, Database etc are strong and secured
• All plugins/extensions are up to date
• All inactive or unused plugins are removed
• Themes are up-to-date and secure
• Is two-factor authentication in place for entry to the CMS?
• Is adequate security software installed within the CMS?

Site Architecture Issues

• There is a flat-site architecture i.e. good organisation of site’s pages and categories.
• Important pages are only 3 clicks away from the homepage.
• Speed & Server
• There is regular monitoring of site uptime.
• There are no server-side (5XX) errors.
• Low site’s server response time
• The site is not timing out because of server issues
• The site and its pages take less than 3 seconds to load 
• All JavaScript rendering takes place on the server versus client-side. 
• There are NO Javascript errors.
• No Inline CSS is being used.
• Minification of CSS
• The site uses GZIP or compresses of resources.
• The site caches content
• A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is in use and configured.
• All images on site are optimized i.e. compressed and all using descriptive ALT tags
• International (Foreign) SEO Issues
• There is the correct use of the Hreflang HTML attribute across local sites.
• In the Google Search Console, the target country/region is set.

Structured Data Issues

• Are there any errors or warnings relating to structured data across the site?
• Is important business data marked up with Local Business schema on relevant pages?
• Is Organization schema firing on a suitable page?
• Are FAQ pages marked up with FAQ Page schema?
• Are important people in the business marked up using Person schema?
• Does the client have reviews that can be marked up using aggregate Rating schema?
• If the client sells products, are the products marked up using Product schema?
• Are breadcrumbs marked up using Breadcrumb schema?
• Is the sameAs schema property used for social media links and other identifiers?
• Are there any other types of structured data that could be applied, relevant to the client?

Mobile-Friendliness Issues

• The Website displays on a desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
• There are NO missing links on mobile sites that are present on the desktop site.
• Mobile buttons and links are easy to click
• The site favicon displays in mobile search engine results pages (SERPs)
• Content, Meta & Directives are the same as the desktop version

Accessibility & Compliance Issues

• The site is W3C Compliant
• Site complies with the latest accessibility guidelines i.e. WCAG 2.0 AA‎
• WHOIS contact details are correct and up-to-date.
• Does the site have a unique, GDPR-compliant Terms & Conditions page and Cookies page?
• Can the end user opt out of unnecessary cookies?
• Do pages on the site pass W3C markup validation checks?
• Is there a high contrast between the colour of text and the colour of the background?
• Does the alt tag for images adequately describe the image?
• Are written transcripts of video and audio content available?
• Can text be enlarged without impairing the function of the page?
• Are hyperlinks clearly visible and distinct?
• Can all parts of the website be accessed without a mouse?
• Is it easy to find the contact page?

Manual Actions

• Site owners can receive and respond to Manual Actions/Penalty notices.

Technical SEO

• Has the client attempted to implement international SEO activity? If so…
• Are the correct language and country codes used for regional variation pages?
• Are foreign language versions translated well without errors?
• Has hreflang been implemented correctly?
• Is X-default in place on all pages and correct?
• Are SEO-friendly navigation links to regional variations of the site in place?
• Are there any forced redirects in place based on IP / location?
• Is OG:Locale set correctly?
• Are there any backlinks pointing to international versions?

SEO Link Building (Backlinks) Audit Checklist

• No negative search results for the brand
• No negative Google Autosuggestions associated with brand search
• All Backlinks are high quality i.e. they are “DoFollow,” from trusted, authoritative and relevant sites.
• Other sites use branded or varied texts when linking back to your site. (Anchor Text diversification)
• There is routine monitoring and recording of Brand mentions and/or sentiment.
• Periodic audit of Backlinks i.e. tracking links earned or lost, checking for Spammy Backlinks.
• Are Social media business profiles associated with the Website?
• Is the Social media business profile information consistent, descriptive and up-to-date?
• All key content website pages contain social sharing capabilities.
• All advertisements (ads) and affiliate links are nofollow or using new Google rel=sponsored HTML attribute
• There are NO broken Backlinks

Local SEO Audit Checklist

• Descriptive local title tags are used.
• There is consistent use of the Business name, Address and Phone number (NAP) across the site and external sites e.g. social media profiles.
• There is a correct use of location-specific structured data/schema.org
• There is an up-to-date Google My Business listing with correct categories, description of the business and up-to-date business information
• The site is listed on reputable business directories
• The site has local citations
• The site has high quality and relevant content that serves the local users
• The site has NO thin content on local relevant pages
• There are no Citation gaps i.e. site has as many citations from the same sources as the top competition

Ecommerce SEO Audit Checklist

• Correct use of product filters 
• Correct use of product/review schema/structured data mark-up.
• Internal links to product pages match corresponding Canonical tags.
• Duplicate product URLs are not indexed
• Correct use of URL referral page parameters 
• Top-level pages have Canonical links
• NO broken Backlinks to product pages.
• All categories and product pages have unique page titles and meta descriptions.