Ultimate SEO Audit Guide: A Step-by-Step Checklist for 2025

Prominent Example (who’s not my client): The company Nespresso is a site that comes to mind for a JavaScript Client-side rendered site. While it’s beautiful, and has a great user experience, it poses SEO challenges as Google may struggle to crawl and index key content effectively. As a result, Nespresso faces difficulties ranking competitively for non-branded keywords like “automatic espresso machine” or “coffee machines,” as Google may not fully process product details, category pages, and other important elements. Without server-side rendering (SSR) or dynamic rendering, their organic visibility remains heavily reliant on branded search terms, limiting their reach in broader search queries. Now have a brain, how are they still successful? Because Nespresso has a very large brand name they can ride, odds are – you won’t. Can it be better, without a doubt!

How to Test if a Site is SSR or CSR

Method 1: Disable JavaScript and Reload the Page

• Open Google Chrome (or any browser with DevTools).
• Right-click anywhere on the page and select Inspect (or press Ctrl + Shift + I on Windows / Cmd + Option + I on Mac). 
• Go to the Console tab and click the three dots menu (⋮) in the top right.
• Navigate to Settings > Debugger and check the box for “Disable JavaScript” (or in Firefox, go to about:configand set javascript.enabled to false).
• Reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + R).
  • If the content is still visible, the site is server-side rendered (SSR) because the HTML was loaded before JavaScript execution.
  • If the page is mostly blank or missing key content, it is client-side rendered (CSR) because the content relies on JavaScript to load.

 

Method 2: Disable JavaScript via Settings & Reload

• Click the three dots menu (⋮) in the top right and click settings
• Click “Privacy and security” in the left menu
• Click “Site settings” in the middle
• Scroll down to the Content section, then click JavaScript
• Under Default behavior select the option for “Don’t allow sites to use JavaScript”
• Go back to the window you’re testing and Reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + R)
  • If the content is still visible, the site is server-side rendered (SSR) because the HTML was loaded before JavaScript execution.
  • If the page is mostly blank or missing key content, it is client-side rendered (CSR) because the content relies on JavaScript to load.

 

2 – Proper Lazy Loading Implementation

Lazy loading helps improve page speed by deferring offscreen content (like images and videos) until needed. However, if not done correctly, search engines may not index these elements. To ensure proper indexing:

• Use native lazy loading by adding loading=”lazy” to <img> tags.
  • 
• Avoid lazy loading critical content above the fold that should be visible immediately.
• Ensure lazy-loaded elements are present in the HTML so Google can discover them.

 

3 – Allow Google to Crawl JavaScript Files

Sometimes, robots.txt blocks JavaScript files, preventing search engines from rendering pages correctly. Check your robots.txt file to ensure essential scripts aren’t blocked. Use Google Search Console’s URL Inspection Tool to see how Googlebot renders your pages.

By addressing these JavaScript SEO issues, you ensure search engines can crawl, render, and index your site correctly, leading to better rankings and user experience. If you have a CSR site and are thinking “Nespresso doesn’t do this, and they’re successful. Do I really need to do this?” Go back and read the sentence starting with “Now have a brain.”

 

Schema Markup: How to Optimize Structured Data

Schema markup is a type of structured data that helps search engines understand your content better, enhancing how your pages appear in search results with rich snippets like star ratings, FAQs, and product details. Implementing schema correctly can improve click-through rates (CTR) and search visibility. Also, Schema.org is the industry standard and what Google uses to understand structured data. The frustrating part (and there are many when it comes to Google), their structured data tool doesn’t always match Schema.org’s tool on whether your Schema markup is formatted correctly.

 

1 – Choose the Right Schema Type

Identify the most relevant schema markup for your content. Common types include:

• Article – For blog posts and news articles
• Product – For eCommerce product pages (includes price, availability, and reviews)
• Local Business – For businesses with physical locations
• FAQ & How-To – For content that answers common questions
• BreadcrumbList – Helps search engines understand site hierarchy

2 – Implement Schema Mark Up Correctly

• Use Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to generate schema code easily.
• Implement schema using JSON-LD (officially supported by Google) by embedding the script inside the <head> or <body> of your page.
• For CMS platforms like WordPress, I use plugins like Yoast SEO (Premium), or Schema Pro for easy integration.

3 – Validate and Test Your Markup

• Use Google’s Rich Results Test to check if your schema is correctly implemented and eligible for enhanced search features.
• Use Schema.org’s Validator to ensure there are no errors in your markup. This is where everything checks out, but Google’s tools might still flag warnings and/or errors. I still trust what Schema.org tells me.

4 – Keep Schema Markup Updated

• Regularly audit structured data to ensure it aligns with your content and Google’s latest guidelines.
• Update schema markup when you make changes to product details, FAQs, or business information.
• Don’t let perfection get in the way of “good enough.” There’s lots you can markup, but finding every single little opportunity can be saved for a site with a very mature SEO strategy.

By properly implementing and maintaining schema markup, you increase your chances of appearing in rich snippets, knowledge panels, and featured results, improving both visibility and user engagement.

 

Handling Canonicalization & Hreflang Tags for Multilingual & Locale Sites

Managing canonicalization and hreflang tags correctly is crucial for SEO in multilingual and multi-regional websites, ensuring search engines index the right version of your content while avoiding duplicate content issues. If you’re a beginner, or managing your own site – I’m gonna assume this likely doesn’t apply to you. However, I’m including it for those SEO professionals who might be using this guide as their checklist.

1 – Canonicalization for Multilingual Pages

Canonical tags (<link rel=”canonical” href=”URL”>) tell search engines which version of a page is the primary (preferred) version to avoid duplicate content conflicts. When handling multilingual pages:

• If the same content exists in multiple languages, each language version should have its own self-referencing canonical tag (e.g., example.com/en/ and example.com/fr/ should point to themselves).
• If translations are exact copies with no localization, you may choose to canonicalize them to the main language version instead of treating them as separate pages.
• Avoid conflicting signals—do not use canonical tags that contradict hreflang tags.

 

2 – Implementing Hreflang Tags for International SEO

Hreflang tags help search engines serve the correct language or regional version of a page to users. To set them up properly:

• Use <link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x” href=”URL”> in the <head> section or XML sitemaps.
• Assign the correct language and country codes (e.g., en-us for English in the U.S., fr-fr for French in France).
• Always include a self-referencing hreflang tag for each version of the page.
• Add an “x-default” hreflang tag for users who don’t match a specific language version.

3 – Common Pitfalls to Avoid

• Mixing canonical and hreflang incorrectly – Hreflang should be used to indicate alternate versions, while canonical should reference the same language version.
• Forgetting to bidirectionally link pages – If example.com/es/ references example.com/en/, then example.com/en/ must also reference example.com/es/.
• Using incorrect language codes – Ensure you’re using ISO 639-1 language codes and ISO 3166-1 country codes.

To prevent duplicate content issues, you must properly manage canonicalization, and hreflang tags. When done correctly, you’ll improve rankings in the right geographic regions, and enhance the user experience for multilingual / locale audiences.

 

Checking Backlink Quality: Toxic vs. Authoritative Links

Backlinks are a major ranking factor, but not all links are beneficial. While authoritative backlinks from reputable sites can improve your SEO, toxic backlinks from spammy or low-quality domains may seem harmful. However, Google’s algorithm is sophisticated enough to ignore bad links, and disavowing backlinks is rarely necessary unless you receive a manual action from Google.

1 – How to Identify High Quality (Authoritative) Backlinks

Strong backlinks typically come from:

• Trusted, high-authority domains (e.g., well-known publications, industry leaders).
• Relevant sites within your niche.
• Editorially placed links (not paid or manipulated).
• Diverse, natural link profiles rather than excessive links from a single domain.

2 – How to Spot Toxic or Low-Quality Backlinks

Some backlinks may seem problematic, such as:

• Links from spammy, irrelevant, or low-authority websites.
• PBN (Private Blog Network) links designed to manipulate rankings.
• Links from link farms or automated directories.
• Foreign or unusual domain extensions unrelated to your content.

However, despite SEO tools flagging these as “toxic,” Google’s John Mueller has clarified:

“The concept of toxic links is made up by SEO tools so that you pay them regularly.” He also added “Nothing has really changed here – you can continue to save yourself the effort.”

3 – Should You Disavow Toxic Backlinks

Unless you’ve received a manual action in Google Search Console for unnatural links, disavowing backlinks is unnecessary and could do more harm than good. Google’s algorithm already devalues spammy links without penalizing your site, so trying to remove them manually is often a poor use of time.

4 – What to Do with Toxic Backlinks Instead

• Monitor your backlink profile regularly using tools like Ahrefs, and the manual actions in Google Search Console.
• Focus on earning high-quality links rather than worrying about low-quality ones.
  • I do the “Skyscraper Method” coined by Brian Dean (Backlinko) without doing the outreach part.
  • Research the method, and the part of the Skyscraper Method I don’t do is the email outreach part. Why? I’ve just found the juice isn’t worth the squeeze to do email outreach to industry bloggers, and site owners. It takes a lot of time without a lot of reward. By sharing it in SEO groups, forums, etc., I’ve just found I earn them faster. So my advice is skip email outreach, and just share with groups in your industry.   
• Ignore “toxic link” warnings from SEO tools unless there’s clear evidence of a penalty. If you’re an industry professional, you can spend this time doing more valuable things.

By prioritizing quality backlinks and avoiding unnecessary disavowals, you can maintain a strong, natural backlink profile without falling for misleading claims about toxic links.

 

Using Ahrefs for Link Audits

Regular link audits help you analyze your backlink profile, identify opportunities, and spot potential issues. Ahrefs is my go to tool for this process – but BrightEdge, SEM Rush, Moz, and a plethora of other mainstream SEO tools should have this functionality.

1 – Checking Backlink Quality

• In Ahrefs, go to the Backlink Profile > Backlinks report to see all incoming links, filtering by DR (Domain Rating) to assess quality.
• Use the Lost Links report in Ahrefs to monitor backlink fluctuations.

2 – Identifying Toxic or Spammy Links

• Lots of SEO tools highlight low-quality links (SEM Rush makes this very prominent), and it’s important to be aware of these.
• Just remember that disavowing isn’t necessary unless you have a manual penalty.

3 – Finding Link-Building Opportunities

• Analyze your competitors’ backlinks using Ahrefs’ “Site Explorer” to discover sites linking to them but not you.
• Identify broken backlinks pointing to your site and reclaim them by 301 redirecting old URLs or ones that 404. Again, I love Ahrefs for this because the feature is literally called “Broken backlinks.”

 

How to Improve Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO strengthens your website’s authority through high-quality backlinks, brand mentions, and social engagement. Focus on:

• Link-Building – Earn backlinks from reputable sites through guest posting, fixing broken backlink, and the Skyscraper Method (again, look it up for an effective content-driven approach).
• PR & Brand Mentions – Get featured on industry blogs, news sites, and niche publications to build credibility. Brand mentions drives search.
• Social Signals – While not a direct ranking factor, social shares and engagement help increase visibility and also drive traffic to your content.

Consistently applying these strategies enhances your domain authority and improves search rankings. However, some people who do SEO will make backlinks sound like the end-all-be-all to getting a site to rank, I can tell you it’s not. I’ve been able to get client sites to outrank other sites despite having less backlinks. At the end of the day, it’s one of many ranking signals – remember, there are thousands of them.

 

I know lots of people discovering DRVN for the first time are small companies operating location based businesses (such as landscapers, or store locations) where local SEO strategies are important to you. That’s why I’m including this section. I’ll also admit, very early on in my SEO journey I had a client who operated primarily an eCommerce business. But, it was nearly 2 months into the process of him being a client when I discovered he also had a store front at his warehouse location. He never mentioned it, but I never asked about it either. While it may sound silly, if you’re working with a new client, be sure to ask this question.

 

Google Business Profile Optimization Checklist

Optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP) (formerly Google My Business (GMB)) is essential for local SEO and improving visibility in local search results. Follow this checklist to ensure your GBP profile is fully optimized:

 

Check Local Citations and NAP Consistency

Local citations are mentions of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) across directories, websites, and social platforms—are essential for local SEO rankings. Inconsistent NAP details can confuse search engines and hurt your local search visibility.

1 – Audit Your Existing Citations

• You can use tools like Moz Local, BrightLocal, or Yext to scan for inconsistent or missing citations.
• Alternatively, you can check major directories, including Google My Business, Yelp, Bing Places, Apple Maps, Facebook, and industry-specific listings and directories and making sure wherever your business shows up your NAP matches what’s on your Google My Business and Website.

2 – Ensure NAP Consistency

• Your business name, address, and phone number should be identical across all platforms—avoid variations like “Street” vs. “St.”
• Keep your website URL format consistent (e.g., always use https:// if applicable).

3 – Fix Incorrect of Duplicate Listings

• Claim and update outdated listings to match your official business details.
• Remove or merge duplicate listings to avoid conflicting information.

4 – Maintain Ongoing Accuracy

• Regularly monitor your citations and update them whenever your business moves, changes phone numbers, or rebrands.
• Encourage consistency across social media and other platforms where your business is mentioned.

Don’t overlook the importance of an accurate NAP profile across all citations as it strengthens your local SEO, improves credibility, and helps search engines trust your business information.

 

How Reviews & Ratings Impact Your Local Rankings

Customer reviews and ratings play a significant role in local SEO rankings, influencing both search engine algorithms and consumer trust. Google prioritizes businesses with high ratings, frequent reviews, and active engagement, making them more likely to appear in local pack results and Google Maps rankings.

1 – How Reviews Affect Rankings

• Quantity & Recency: Businesses with a higher volume of fresh, authentic reviews tend to rank better.
• Star Ratings & Sentiment: Higher average ratings (4.0+ stars) improve credibility and can increase click-through rates (CTR).
• Keyword Usage in Reviews: Reviews that naturally mention products, services, or location-specific terms can help with search relevance.
• Review Engagement: Responding to reviews (both positive and negative) signals to Google that your business is active and values customer feedback.

2 – How to Leverage Reviews for SEO

• Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews on Google, Yelp, and industry-specific platforms.
• Respond to every review to show engagement and improve brand perception.
• Avoid fake or incentivized reviews, as Google’s algorithm detects and penalizes them.
• Embed Google reviews on your website using structured data to enhance visibility in search results.

Don’t underestimate what strong, authentic reviews can do to boost your local rankings, improve conversion rates, and build customer trust, ultimately leading to more traffic and sales.

 

How to Identify Competitors and Analyze Their Strategies

The internet is at the point of saturation (meaning not a lot of new types of things are being searched), and monitoring your competitors means it increases your ability to take market share from the bigger players in your industry little by little. But if you don’t do this, it means they’re taking from you.

 

How to Compare Metrics for Benchmarking

Benchmarking your website against competitors helps you understand how your domain authority and backlink profile stacks up. These insights allow you to identify gaps and refine your SEO strategy to stay competitive.

1 – Compare Domain Authority & Strength

• Ahrefs’ Domain Rating (DR) provides a general score of your site’s backlink strength versus your competitors
  • While backlinking isn’t everything to competitiveness, it’s still an important factor
  • Other tools will have similar comparisons, measuring

 

2 – Analyze Content Gaps

• Use your SEO tool to find sites linking to your competitors but not to your site
• Determine the effort it would take to create the missing content
  • Remember, getting content to rank can sometimes be as easy as creating the missing page in your content pillar. But, sometimes it’s as difficult as having to create multiple missing pages.
  • So prioritize filling content gaps with easy “low-hanging fruit, and big impact” first, and work your way back to the harder ones that don’t move the needle as far.
• If you want to do outreach, you can. I just don’t because of the earlier mentioned reasons. I simply prefer to share my posts in community groups specific to my clients’ industry because it seems to earn backlinks much faster with less effort.
• However, this is where a PR firm could help you get some backlinks from high authority sites. Just keep in mind their services generally are not free, but you could utilize platforms such as HARO (Help A Reporter Out) to see if you can land quality backlinks that way too.

 

3 – Track Competitor Link and Keyword Growth Trends

• Monitor how competitors gain new backlinks and identify patterns in their link-building strategies
• Monitoring how quickly competitors gain keyword rankings can reveal patterns in their content strategies
• Look for broken backlinks pointing to their sites and try to reclaim them for your own content

 

How to Create Actionable Tasks from Competitor Analysis

I’ve borderline talked about this already in the above subsections. But after you’re done analyzing your competitors’ SEO strategies versus yours, it’s time to convert these learnings into action.

1 – Improve Content Based on Your Content Gap Analysis

• Identify high performing competitor content and create more in-depth, valuable versions (aka Skyscraper Method)
• Target keywords your competitors rank for but you don’t, using Ahrefs’ Keyword Gap Tool (or another similar tool)
• Find underperforming competitor content and create optimized, fresh alternatives to outrank them
  • The content I tend to go after are the ones with lower keyword search volume
  • This is because competitors tend to not monitor these pages as closely as others
• Is there content you can update? It’s much faster to update content, than to create new fresh content

 

2 – Update Keyword Optimizations

• Are there keyword variants you’re missing on pages
• Are you using the best ones in meta tags, headers, and copy
• Have you over-optimized keywords where Google considers it stuffing

 

3 – Strengthen Your Backlink Profile

• If passively sharing to groups isn’t working, then you might want to consider doing email outreach
  • Most of the time these emails get ignored, but here are a few hints to increase the probability of success:
    • Good email subject line (get the person to open your email)
    • Keep your email short, and provide them the page you think you can help them improve
    • Give them the link to your page and in a sentence tell them why they should link to you instead
    • If needed, write the copy they should use for them so it’s as little effort as possible
• Engage with your audience in groups, forums, etc, without trying to sell them anything. The purpose is to just establish yourself and/or your brand’s expertise. You’d be surprised at what this can do to generate search for your brand
• Utilize other channels (such as social) to share information. Again, you’re not trying to sell at every moment you get, and the objective is to boost your brand visibility.

 

4 – Optimize for Technical and UX Improvements

• Check site speed, Core Web Vitals, and mobile-friendliness using Google PageSpeed Insights
• Improve internal linking structure to enhance crawlability and user navigation
• Use schema markup and structured data if competitors leverage rich snippets for higher CTR

 

5 – Monitor & Adapt Regularly

SEO is a forever effort, and not a one time thing. This is why I complete routine audits semi-annually, and I complete a more condensed audit (I call these “spot audits”) quarterly. It’s important for you to continually monitor your industry to keep a pulse on what’s going on between you and your competitors. By formulating strategies from data, and adjusting as you go – you can close SEO gaps, outperform competitors, and gain a stronger foothold in search rankings.

 

 

SEO & Content Marketing Synergy

SEO and content marketing go together like peas and carrots. The combo ensures your content drives organic traffic, engagement, and conversions. Rather than treating any of your marketing channels as separate verticals, aligning these strategies maximizes visibility and long-term growth. For instance, creating in-depth guides, downloadable digitals, blog posts, case studies, FAQs, etc., can provide real value to your user audience that can also be used across social channels, email marketing, etc. Just keep in mind, increased visibility, and engagement drives more organic search.

 

How Paid Ads & SEO Work Together

While SEO and paid search ads are often seen as separate strategies, combining them can create a powerful digital marketing synergy that boosts visibility, traffic, and conversions. Here’s how they work together:

 

1 – Dominate Search Results & Increase Click-Through Rates (CTR)

• Running Google Ads for keywords you’re already ranking for in organic search helps your brand occupy more real estate in search results
  • The top 3, to top 5 organic positions tend to get the lion’s share of clickable search volume
  • So if you appear on page 1 but below those positions – having an ad at the top increases your odds of getting a click somewhere
  • From a psychological point of view, when a user doesn’t click on your ad at the top of the SERP it increases odds they’ll click on your organic result if they make it to the bottom of the page. But how?
    • They’ve already had a little familiarity with your brand name, so even if they can’t remember where it makes them more apt to click your link versus one of your competitors
    • Think of it this way, we’ve all been to parties where we know 1 person, so who do you naturally talk to first
• Appearing in both paid and organic listings increases brand credibility and boosts overall CTR
  • Some clients only care about their overall CTR from Google (the combination of organic and paid). Most want to know the metrics separately
  • I fall into the latter because I don’t like the idea of my clients paying for traffic we’re likely getting organically for free
  • However, as Google continues to refine their SERP, which pushes organic results further below the fold; you should be a little more open minded about paid search strategies for keywords where you do appear top 3 organically. This is case-by-case though, and why frequent SERP analysis is an important activity.

 

2 – Use Google Ads Data to Improve SEO Strategy

• Paid search campaigns provide valuable keyword performance insights, revealing high-converting terms to target in your SEO strategy
• Test ad copy variations to see which headlines and descriptions drive the best engagement, then apply that to title tags and descriptions for SEO
  • After all, Google’s paid ads algorithm is designed to maximize ad clicks so they can make more money
  • But there are no rules saying that you can’t take findings from paid strategies and apply those to SEO

 

3 – Retarget Users

• Not all organic visitors convert immediately, and with lots of my clients, their organic search channel acts as both a converting and assisting channel. This is where the beauty of retargeting ads helps bring back users by showing tailored ads across the Google Display Network, YouTube, and social media.
• Engaging in retargeting campaigns keeps your brand in the minds of your users and increases conversion rates over time

 

4 – Paid Ads Help During SEO Growth Phases

It’s no secret that it takes time for new sites to gain rankings organically. However, your site and or executive team might not be so keen to that idea. And this is is where paid ads is important because you can immediately get to the top of the SERP.

• Google PPC (pay per click) can deliver instant traffic. Running ads for important keywords while working on your organic growth strategies ensures you don’t miss potential customers. This is why I tend to suggest a Paid Media and SEO engagement with DRVN to prospective clients.
• PPC is also great at targeting users for new product launches/segments, and/or seasonal promotions where SEO hasn’t yet gained traction. It’s like playing Mike Tyson’s Punch Out on Nintendo – where SEO is playing all the levels to get to Tyson, and PPC is the code to get to him immediately. But in this example, your user audience is slightly intimidating.

 

5 – Build Targeted Landing Pages for Both SEO & Paid

• Optimized landing pages improve Quality Score in Google Ads while also benefiting organic search rankings.
• A strong conversion-focused page supports both paid and organic traffic, maximizing results.

Properly aligning SEO and paid ads, you create a well-rounded strategy that maximizes traffic, enhances conversions, and strengthens your digital marketing presence while reducing redundant effort.

 

 

Indexing Issues and Google Penalties

I come across indexing issues more often than Google penalties, but both can prevent your pages from appearing in search results which significantly impacts your ability to appear in search results.

If your pages aren’t showing up in search results, check for these indexing problems:

• Blocked by robots.txt: Ensure your robots.txt file isn’t accidentally blocking important pages from being crawled (Disallow: /).
• Noindex Tags: Check your meta tags (<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>) to ensure key pages aren’t excluded from indexing.
• Canonicalization Conflicts: Incorrect canonical tags may cause Google to ignore duplicate versions of a page.
• Duplicate or Thin Content: Pages with little value may not be indexed. Improve content depth and uniqueness.
• Crawl Budget Issues: Large sites should prioritize important pages using internal linking and sitemaps. Most of you reading this post probably don’t need to worry about crawl budget issues, and need to focus more on page speed and CWV.

Use Google Search Console (GSC) to diagnose indexing problems under the “Indexing” report and submit pages for reindexing. Remember, reindexing is just a suggestion, and doesn’t guarantee your page will be indexed.

 

Google Penalties: Algorithmic vs. Manual Actions

Google penalties can be either algorithmic (due to core updates like Panda, Penguin, or Helpful Content) or manual actions (applied by Google’s web-spam team). Most of the time when a site claims they lost all their organic traffic due to a recent Google Core update, I’ve been able to find things they were doing or did wrong, and/or they were already on a downward trajectory and the core update was a catalyst that just sped it up. But there have been some outliers to that statement.

Algorithmic Penalties

• Loss of performance from Core Updates are usually triggered by not following best content practices like thin content, excessive ads, or unnatural backlinks.
• Recover lost performance by improving content quality, removing bad backlinks (if these are flagged in GSC), and enhancing user experience. And YES – excessive popups, ads, and constantly changing page layouts lead to poor user experiences which more often than not leads to decreases in organic performance.

Manual Actions

• Go to Google Search Console > Manual Actions to see if you have any of these. 99.9% of the time it’s a result of black-hat SEO tactics such as cloaking, keyword stuffing, and unnatural link schemes. For example: I once consulted for a business who came to me because they had a sudden drop in organic traffic… their Digital Marketing Manager bought backlinks off of Fiverr – yikes!
• Fix issues, request reconsideration, and follow Google’s Webmaster Guidelines to regain rankings

 

Duplicate Content

Duplicate content can confuse search engines, dilute ranking signals, and prevent the right pages from appearing in search results. Most of the time when I come across this, it was a technical error of some sorts. But there have been times when I’ve caught my clients’ content teams reposting old content just to give the appearance of completing work. And I’m talking carbon copies, which isn’t an honest mistake.

Commonly Found Duplicate Content Issues

• Multiple URL variations (E.g. example.com/page, example.com/page/, www.example.com/page)
• HTTP vs. HTTPS versions and/or www vs. non-www inconsistencies
• Query Strings, session IDs, tracking parameters, and pagination issues
• RSS Feed Content, plagiarized/copied content across multiple pages or syndication without proper attribution

Use Screaming Frog, Ahrefs (or similar SEO tool), or Google Search Console to find duplicate pages.

Fix Duplicate / Similar Content with Canonicalization

A canonical tag (<link rel=”canonical” href=”URL”>) tells search engines which version of a page is the preferred one to index. Remember, this is a suggestion, and not a directive – Google does NOT have to follow it.

• Every page should have a canonical tag, even if it’s a self-referencing one because it’ll reinforce its original version
• For similar content variations (e.g., product pages with different colors), canonicalize to the primary version

Use 301 Redirects When Necessary

• Redirect duplicate URLs to the main version using 301 redirects to consolidate ranking signals
• Ensure logic is built in for HTTP / HTTPS, and www / apex versions of URLs are correctly redirected to avoid split indexing

Optimize Internal Linking & Sitemaps

• Use consistent internal linking to point to the original version of a page
• Update your XML sitemap to only include canonical URLs
• Submit your XML sitemap in Google Search Console – you’d be surprised how often I find no sitemap submitted in GSC. Also, you’d be surprised at how often I find GSC isn’t even setup when speaking to a prospective client

 

I’ve Read This, Now What?

An SEO audit is just the first step, and it’s a really, really long one (almost as long as this guide). Now you need to turn your findings into action, that’s what drives success. Prioritizing fixes, using the right tools, and maintaining regular audits will help keep your website optimized and competitive in search rankings.

Prioritizing Fixes & Creating an Action Plan

After completing your audit, categorize issues based on their impact on rankings and user experience – this essentially becomes your task list.

• High Priority Items: Critical issues such as indexing problems, slow page speed in comparison to your competitors, broken links (internal, external, and backlinks), poor user experience, or other major technical errors
• Moderate Priority Items: Content updates, content gaps, metadata optimization, internal linking improvements, and structured data fixes
• Low Priority Items: Minor aesthetic-only design enhancements (unless it significantly improves the UX, it’s probably minor), additional schema markup, and fine-tuning content structure

I like to breakdown tasks in a phased, step-by-step action plan so it gives me milestone dates and goals. Will it be perfect, no and that’s where you need to have the ability to adapt. But charting these items out on a timeline, helps you see a path towards your goals.

 

Do You Need an SEO Tool?

It’s really, really hard to do SEO without an SEO tool, but I get it, not everyone has the budget for tools. There are free tools, and creative ways to research things – but you do hit a ceiling quickly. My suggestion is Ahrefs, and they have plenty of pricing tiers. If BrightEdge had a small agency plan even for access to just DataCube, I would subscribe to that. Unfortunately, they don’t.

 

Do You Really Need to Complete an SEO Audit Regularly?

If the performance of your site doesn’t matter to you, then no you don’t. As crazy as it may sound, I know of people who use their website just as additional proof of who they are, and they like to get all their business offline (yes those people still exist). However, for most of you – a semi-annual SEO audit should be done, and a quarterly spot-audit should suffice.

What should be included in those spot audits? Unfortunately, I can’t give you an exact answer because it depends on the site, and the maturity of the SEO program. But regularly auditing your site ensures you stay up to day with Google’s Core Algorithm Updates, catch technical or content issues before it impacts your rankings, and it helps you keep your site relevant. It’s kinda like “maintaining a car” – do you have to do it? No, but if you want your site to keep performing and get better over time then it’s a necessity.

 

I hope my SEO audit checklist helps you better understand what I audit, and why. If there’s anything I, or my agency, DRVN Media, can do to help you – please don’t hesitate to reach out to us– this includes just reaching out to us to ask questions about SEO. If you’re looking to hire an SEO Agency to manager your organic efforts, please check out our SEO Services page.

About the Author:
Vinh Huynh is Digital Marketing strategist, specializing in SEO & Paid Search, and also the owner of DRVN. He helps businesses improve their online visibility, through data-driven strategies. Outside of Digital Marketing, you can find him coaching the sport of Olympic Weightlifting, and networking with entrepreneurs, and local businesses.