SEO Site Audit Master Checklist

Technical Health

• Indexation: robots rules, canonical tags, XML sitemap generated and submitted
• Crawlability: no orphan pages; logical architecture with shallow depth
• Status codes: 200s for key pages; fix 4xx/5xx; redirect chains removed
• Internationalization (if applicable): hreflang correctness and return tags

On-Page Quality

• Titles concise with primary topic; compelling meta descriptions
• Clear H1 then H2/H3 hierarchy; 2–3 line paragraphs; media with alt text
• Content satisfies intent (informational / navigational / transactional / commercial)

Internal Linking

• ≥5 contextual internal links per page with descriptive anchors
• Pillar hubs link to ≥5 supporting assets; supporting pages link back to hub
• Breadcrumbs present (UI + JSON-LD)

See also the Internal Linking Audit Checklist.

Performance & CWV

• LCP < 2.5s; INP < 200ms; CLS < 0.1 (field data)
• Images: next-gen formats, explicit dimensions; critical CSS inlined
• Split long tasks; defer non-critical scripts; cache policy set

Authority & Off-Page

• Digital PR and unlinked mentions workflow in place
• Guest posting and partnerships: value-first contributions
• Backlink audit: toxic links reviewed quarterly; disavow only as last resort

Reporting & Monitoring

• GA4 + GSC linked; dashboards for sessions, CTR, conversions, cluster coverage
• UTM governance standard; clean URLs to avoid index bloat
• Monthly review cadence; track KPIs by pillar