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Website audit checklist: SEO, content, speed and AI

·4 min read

A website audit checklist covers more than rankings. It checks whether people and machines can find your site, whether the content earns its place, whether visitors can act, and whether the site is fast, secure, accessible and readable by AI search. Work through the sections below in order, note every failure with its URL, and fix whatever blocks visitors or crawlers first.

Each item has a one-line way to check it, and most need only a browser, your phone and Search Console. The technical SEO items are short on purpose. The full list with tests is in the technical SEO checklist.

Search visibility

Start here, because nothing else matters if Google cannot index the pages that make you money.

  • Key pages are indexed. Paste each URL into Search Console's URL Inspection tool and read the verdict.
  • No accidental noindex. View source on your top five pages and search for noindex.
  • robots.txt blocks nothing important. Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and read every Disallow line.
  • One version of the site. Type the http, https, www and non-www addresses. All four should land on the same URL.
  • A sitemap is submitted. Check the Sitemaps report in Search Console for errors.
  • Titles are unique. Search site:yoursite.com and scan for repeats.

Canonicals, redirect chains and status codes live in the technical checklist. Page copy checks are in the on-page SEO checklist.

Content and conversion basics

Content audits fail when they count pages instead of judging them. Pull your top 20 pages by traffic and your 20 oldest.

  • Each page answers one question in its first paragraph. Read the first 60 words aloud.
  • Facts, prices and screenshots are current. Look for last year's dates, retired plans and old UI.
  • No two pages target the same query. Sort your titles alphabetically and look for near twins.
  • Pages with no traffic for a year get merged, updated or redirected.
  • Every article names an author with a real bio. Open three posts and click the byline.

Traffic that cannot act is wasted, and owners skip these checks more than any others.

  • The home page says what you sell in one sentence above the fold. Show it to someone for five seconds and ask.
  • Each key page has one primary call to action. Count the competing buttons.
  • Forms work. Submit each one and confirm the email or record arrives.
  • Pricing and contact details are two clicks or fewer from the home page.
  • Analytics records conversions. Complete a test signup and find it in your reports.

Speed, mobile and HTTPS

Google measures real user experience with Core Web Vitals. The published thresholds for a good score are LCP of 2.5 seconds or less, INP of 200 milliseconds or less and CLS of 0.1 or less, at the 75th percentile of visits.

  • Run your home page and a key landing page through PageSpeed Insights and read the field data, not only the lab score.
  • Open the site on your phone over mobile data. Tap every menu item and form field.
  • The mobile page shows the same content as desktop, because Google indexes the mobile version first. See mobile-first indexing.
  • Every page loads over HTTPS. Click the padlock and note the certificate's expiry date.
  • No mixed content. Open DevTools, then the Console tab, and look for "Mixed Content" errors.
  • The CMS, theme and plugins are on supported versions. Check your admin dashboard for pending updates.
  • Admin logins use two-factor authentication.

Accessibility basics

Accessibility fixes help every visitor, and search engines read several of the same signals.

  • Images that carry meaning have alt text. Check the alt attributes in source.
  • Body text meets the 4.5:1 contrast ratio in WCAG 2.2. Your browser's DevTools shows the ratio.
  • You can reach every link, menu and form with the Tab key alone.
  • Each page has one H1 and headings in order. A headings extension shows the outline.

AI search readiness

Google's AI optimization guide says optimizing for its generative AI features is still SEO, so the sections above carry most of the weight. These items cover the rest.

  • AI crawlers are allowed. Look for OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot rules in robots.txt and in your CDN's bot settings. The AI crawler list has every user agent.
  • Key content exists without JavaScript. Disable JavaScript in your browser and reload the page.
  • Your brand reads the same on your About page, Organization schema and social profiles.
  • You measure AI traffic. Search Console's Generative AI performance report shows AI Overview and AI Mode impressions, and links ChatGPT cites carry utm_source=chatgpt.com.

The GEO checklist has the full AI list.

Run this website audit checklist on your site

Our website check covers much of this list on the pages you pick, your URL plus up to two more on the same site. You choose the checks, including crawling and indexing, on-page SEO, structured data, content, images, rendering and mobile, Core Web Vitals, a 150-page site structure crawl and brand identity. The default set costs 67 credits for one page and 47 for each extra page, and you see the price before you run it.

You get one fix list sorted into high, medium and low priority, with 0 to 100 scores for SEO readiness, AEO readiness and AI access. Rerun it after you publish fixes and it reports the percent of issues fixed and any new ones. It does not read Search Console, track rankings, or test your forms, conversions or security, so those checks stay manual. A quick check of your home page needs no account, costs no credits and takes about 20 seconds.

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