To make the process simple, we’ll break the audit down into four core areas. These categories are designed to give you a complete overview of your website’s health and performance. By following this checklist, you’ll have a clear picture of where your site stands and which areas need the most attention.

Step 1: Accessibility Audits

An accessibility audit ensures that all visitors, including those with disabilities, can navigate and interact with your website without barriers. This is not only good for user experience but also a key factor in SEO performance because search engines prioritize sites that are inclusive and easy to navigate.

Why Accessibility Matters in SEO Audits

Accessibility impacts both user satisfaction and legal compliance. In some regions, websites that fail to meet accessibility standards can face lawsuits. From an SEO perspective, accessible websites typically have cleaner code, better content structure, and more consistent metadata—all of which search engines reward.

Key Elements to Check in an Accessibility Audit

• Alt Text for Images: Ensure every image has descriptive alt text so screen readers can convey the information to visually impaired users.
• Keyboard Navigation: Test whether users can navigate your site using only a keyboard. This helps users with motor disabilities and improves overall usability.
• Color Contrast: Make sure text and background colors have enough contrast for readability.
• ARIA Landmarks: Use Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) labels to provide additional context for assistive technologies.

How to Conduct Your Accessibility Audit

1. Use free tools like WAVE or Axe to scan your site for accessibility issues.
2. Manually check a few pages to confirm that headings are in logical order, links are descriptive, and forms have proper labels.
3. Document issues and fix them systematically, starting with the ones that most affect navigation and readability.

Step 2: Backlink Analysis

Backlinks are a critical ranking factor in SEO, but not all backlinks are created equal. A backlink analysis identifies which external sites are linking to you and evaluates whether those links are helping or hurting your rankings.

Why Backlink Analysis is Essential in SEO Audits

High-quality backlinks from authoritative sources can dramatically boost your SEO rankings, while spammy or irrelevant links can do the opposite. A backlink audit ensures your site’s link profile is clean, relevant, and optimized for long-term growth.

How to Perform a Backlink Analysis

1. Gather Your Backlink Data: Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Search Console to export your backlink list.
2. Evaluate Link Quality: Look for links from reputable, relevant websites. Links from spammy directories, link farms, or unrelated niches should be flagged.
3. Disavow Harmful Links: If you find toxic backlinks that could harm your rankings, submit a disavow file to Google.
4. Identify Opportunities: If you see competitors gaining links from industry blogs or local news outlets, consider outreach to secure similar backlinks.

Pro Tip

Instead of only removing bad links, focus on building new, high-quality backlinks. Contributing guest posts, being featured in local press, or collaborating with industry partners can naturally grow your link profile.

Step 3: Technical Site Health

Technical site health is one of the most overlooked aspects of SEO audits, yet it’s vital for ensuring that search engines can crawl and index your site effectively. Even the best content can’t rank if your site has underlying technical issues.

What Technical Site Health Covers

• Site Speed: Pages that load slowly can hurt your SEO rankings and increase bounce rates. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to check your load times and implement recommended fixes.
• Mobile-Friendliness: With mobile-first indexing, a responsive design is non-negotiable. Test your site using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
• Crawl Errors: Use Google Search Console to identify pages that search engines can’t access. Fix broken links, redirect loops, and server errors promptly.
• Sitemap and Robots.txt: Ensure your XML sitemap is up-to-date and your robots.txt file isn’t blocking important pages from being crawled.

How to Perform a Technical Site Health Audit

1. Run a site crawl using tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb.
2. Address high-priority issues such as 404 errors, missing metadata, and slow-loading pages.
3. Optimize images, minify CSS and JavaScript, and enable caching to improve speed.
4. Review your hosting environment and consider upgrading if slow server response times are affecting performance.

Step 4: User Experience (UX) Checks

User experience is closely tied to SEO performance. Search engines monitor user signals like bounce rate, dwell time, and click-through rate to assess how helpful your site is for visitors.

Why UX Matters in SEO Audits

A site with a great user experience keeps visitors engaged longer, encourages them to explore more pages, and increases the likelihood of conversions. Good UX directly supports your SEO efforts by improving engagement metrics.

What to Look For in a UX Audit

• Navigation Clarity: Menus should be easy to understand and use.
• Content Readability: Break up text with headings, bullet points, and visuals to make content digestible.
• Call-to-Action (CTA) Placement: Ensure CTAs are clear, visible, and relevant to the page’s content.
• Consistent Branding: Fonts, colors, and imagery should align with your brand identity.

How to Conduct a UX Audit

1. Browse your site as if you were a first-time visitor.
2. Test your site on different devices and screen sizes.
3. Ask friends, colleagues, or customers for feedback on how easy the site is to use.
4. Use heatmaps and analytics tools to see where users click, scroll, and drop off.

Turning Your SEO Audit Into Action

Completing SEO audits is only valuable if you take action on your findings. Start by creating a priority list based on impact and ease of implementation. Tackle quick wins like fixing broken links and adding alt text first, then move on to bigger projects like improving site speed or redesigning your navigation.

Keep a Regular SEO Audit Schedule

The digital landscape changes fast, so don’t think of your audit as a one-time project. Aim to run a full DIY SEO audit every six months and a lighter review every quarter. This helps you stay ahead of algorithm changes and maintain a strong search presence.

By breaking SEO audits into these four categories—accessibility, backlinks, technical health, and user experience—you can create a simple, repeatable process for maintaining your website’s performance. While advanced tools and professional services can offer deeper insights, this DIY framework gives you the foundation you need to keep your site competitive in search results. When in doubt, don’t hesitate to consult a professional SEO agency to help refine your strategy and implement complex changes.