SEO Audit: A Free Checklist Using Only Google's Tools

01What an SEO audit is, and what it is not

An SEO audit is a diagnosis, not a score. Automated "health scores" count issues without saying which one costs you traffic. A useful audit answers three questions: what is broken, what it costs you, and what to fix first.

First, export 16 months of clicks and impressions from Search Console's Performance report. Mark any sharp drop with its date; a site change, migration or Google update near that date is where the audit starts. One site we worked on lost 21,000 keywords in 30 days while its link count kept rising (case study).

Every check below uses free Google tools:

02How to do an SEO audit: the seven-step order

Order matters: a fix in a later step is wasted if an earlier step is broken. A great page blocked by robots.txt earns nothing.

1. Crawl and indexing. Can Google find and index the pages that matter?
2. Technical. Are they fast, stable and secure on a phone?
3. On-page. Does each page say clearly what it is about?
4. Content quality. Is it useful, and better than what ranks now?
5. Links. Is your link profile natural or a risk?
6. AI search. Can AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity read and cite you?
7. Local. Is your Business Profile complete and consistent?

03Step 1: crawl and indexing checks

The first check is whether your important pages are in Google's index, and Search Console's Page indexing report answers it. Compare the indexed count with the pages you want found.

Do not aim for 100%: Google says only canonical pages should be expected in the index. What matters is whether the right pages are missing. Go through each reason in the "Why pages aren't indexed" table:

Then check three more things. Your XML sitemap is submitted and lists only canonical, indexable URLs. Every version of your domain (http, https, www, non-www) redirects in one hop to one address. And for your five most important pages, run URL Inspection, click "Test live URL" and view the rendered screenshot: if key text is missing, Google cannot see it.

When you fix an issue, click "Validate fix" in the report. Google says validation typically takes up to about two weeks.

04Step 2: technical checks

The technical check confirms that real visitors get a fast, stable page, and Search Console's Core Web Vitals report is the place to judge it. It uses field data from real Chrome users, measured at the 75th percentile, and groups similar URLs together.

A group's status is its worst metric. Check mobile first: open a poor group, run one example URL through PageSpeed Insights, and read the diagnostics. They name the cause, such as an oversized hero image, render-blocking scripts or a banner pushing content down.

Fix templates, not single pages: one fix to a slow product template fixes every product. Also confirm HTTPS everywhere, no redirect chains, internal links pointing to final URLs, and broken internal links corrected at the source.

05Step 3: on-page checks

The on-page check makes sure each page states clearly, in its code and its copy, what it is about. Work from Search Console's Performance report: filter by page and look at the queries it gets impressions for.

• Title: unique, under about 60 characters, main topic first. A page with impressions for a query missing from its title is often a quick win.
• Meta description: an honest summary that earns the click.
• One H1 that matches the search intent, with H2s that answer the obvious next questions.
• Internal links from related pages with descriptive anchors, so no key page is an orphan.
• Images compressed, with descriptive alt text.
• Structured data that matches the visible page, tested in the Rich Results Test.
• Cannibalisation: two pages competing for one query and both ranking poorly should be merged or given distinct intents.

06Step 4: content quality checks

The content check asks whether each important page is genuinely helpful to a person, which is the standard Google's helpful content guidance sets. Read your top 20 pages by impressions against Google's self-assessment questions:

• Does it offer original information, research or analysis, beyond the obvious?
• Is it clear who wrote it, and is that person qualified to write it?
• Would a reader leave feeling they have learned enough to reach their goal?
• Does it contain easily verified factual errors?
• Was it made mainly to attract search visits, or does it summarise others without adding anything?

Google also frames this as Who, How and Why: show who created the content, explain how it was made (including automation), and make sure it exists to help people. Thin pages can be merged or removed rather than rewritten. Changing the date without changing the substance is a warning sign in Google's list, not a fix.

Then search your main keywords and read the top three results. What they answer and you do not is your content brief.

07Step 5: link checks

The link check looks at whether your backlinks look earned or manufactured, and the single fastest test is to divide your total links by the number of sites they come from. Search Console's Links report shows your top linking sites and how many links each one sends.

Open Links, then "Top linking sites", export and sort by link count. A normal profile has many sites sending a few links each. If a handful of domains send thousands each, open them: a sitewide footer or sidebar link can create tens of thousands of links from one domain.

This is exactly what we found on a property site: 841,000 backlinks from only 36 domains, roughly 23,000 links per domain. The monthly report said "links are up", which was true and harmful. After cleaning the profile and earning links from 1,230 real domains, the site grew from 39 to about 200,000 monthly organic visits (case study).

The Links report is a sample and does not show nofollow, so treat it as a signal, not an inventory. Then open Security & Manual actions: "No issues detected" means no manual penalty. Google's spam policies class paid links, excessive link swaps, automated link building and low-quality directory or footer links as link spam, so review any "backlink package" first.

08Step 6: AI search visibility checks

The AI search check confirms that AI answer engines can reach and quote your pages, and for Google it starts with the same basics as normal search. Google states there are no extra requirements and no special markup needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode: the page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet.

Check these:

• Snippet controls: no important page should carry nosnippet or a tiny max-snippet by accident; these also limit AI features.
• Text, not images: key facts, prices and answers belong in HTML text, not images or click-to-load tabs.
• Structured data matches the page, a Google best practice for AI features.
• ChatGPT access: open your robots.txt and check that OAI-SearchBot is not blocked. OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Blocking GPTBot only affects model training, not search.
• CDN and firewall rules: some bot protection blocks crawlers silently. Ask whoever runs your hosting.
• Answer-first writing: each key page answers its main question in its first two or three sentences.

AI Overviews and AI Mode traffic is counted in Search Console's Performance report under the "Web" search type. For ChatGPT in depth, see our ChatGPT SEO guide.

09Step 7: local checks

The local check applies if customers find you by area, and it centres on your Google Business Profile. Google says local results depend mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and that you cannot pay for a better local ranking.

• Profile verified, with the correct primary category and the right secondary ones.
• Name, address and phone identical on the profile, your website footer and your contact page.
• Opening hours current, including holidays.
• Reviews answered, good and bad.
• One page per real location, not copied text with the city swapped.

Our local SEO guide covers the rest.

10The SEO audit checklist on one page

Use this SEO audit checklist as your working sheet: mark each row Pass, Fix or N/A.

11What a good SEO audit deliverable contains

A good audit deliverable is a short, prioritised action plan, not a 90-page export. Whoever writes it, it should contain:

Google's advice on hiring an SEO is worth applying here: grant read-only access to Search Console for an audit, not full access, and expect "realistic estimates of improvement" rather than guarantees.

12How to prioritise: the impact × effort matrix

Place every issue on two scales: how much traffic or revenue it affects, and how much work the fix takes.

Score impact with Search Console data: an issue on pages with many impressions outranks one on pages nobody sees. Anything blocking indexing of important pages is always high impact.

13Our free SEO audit, and what you get

Win Market Agency's SEO audit is free. We run the same seven areas in this guide on your site, using read-only Search Console access as Google recommends. You get a written summary of what is holding the site back on Google and in AI answers, the evidence for each finding, and a prioritised fix list sorted with the matrix above.

There is no obligation, and many sites can fix the top items themselves. If you would rather we fix them, our SEO service is USD 500 per month, and the audit stays free either way. We will not promise you first place, because no one honestly can.

Run these checks on us too: read our case studies and judge whether we practise what we write. When you are ready, request your free audit.

?Frequently asked questions

What is an SEO audit?

An SEO audit is a check of whether search engines can crawl, index and trust your site, and whether your pages deserve to rank. It covers indexing, technical health, on-page elements, content quality, links, AI search visibility and local presence, and ends with a prioritised list of fixes.

How do I do an SEO audit for free?

Use Google's free tools: Search Console's Page indexing, Core Web Vitals, Links and Manual actions reports, plus URL Inspection, PageSpeed Insights and the Rich Results Test. Work through the seven steps in this guide in order.

Is a free SEO audit any good?

It can be. A free audit is good when it is based on your real Search Console data, explains the evidence for each finding and gives a prioritised plan. It is weak when it is only an automated score with a list of hundreds of minor warnings and no order.

How long does an SEO audit take?

A self-audit of a small site takes a few hours to a day using the steps here. Larger sites take longer, mainly because content and links need human review. Google says validating a fixed indexing issue in Search Console typically takes up to about two weeks.

How often should you do an SEO audit?

Run a full audit at least once a year and a quick indexing and speed check every month. Re-audit after any redesign, migration or sudden drop in traffic.

Can an SEO audit guarantee higher rankings?

No. An audit shows what is holding you back and what to fix. Google states that no one can guarantee a first-place ranking, and warns against anyone who claims they can.

SEO services

Want to know what's holding your site back?

Get a free SEO audit: where you rank, what's blocking you on Google and in AI answers, and what to fix first. SEO is USD 500 a month, and the audit is free.

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Sources

1. Do you need an SEO? — Google Search Central
2. Page indexing report — Search Console Help
3. Core Web Vitals report — Search Console Help
4. Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content — Google Search Central
5. Spam policies for Google web search — Google Search Central
6. AI features and your website — Google Search Central
7. Overview of OpenAI crawlers — OpenAI

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