Guide
How to do a website SEO audit (free, step by step)
An SEO audit tells you why your site isn't ranking and what to fix first. You don't need expensive software to run a useful one. This guide walks through what to check, in what order — and points you to a free tool that runs the whole audit in seconds so you can skip the manual work.
By Miguel Alejandro Hayes· Founder, Hayes Projects· with Claude (AI)
Step 1 — Check that Google can actually see your pages
Ranking starts with indexation: if Google can't crawl and index a page, nothing else matters. Confirm your pages return real HTML content (not an empty shell that needs JavaScript to fill), that your sitemap is submitted in Google Search Console, and that no important pages are accidentally blocked by robots.txt or a stray noindex tag.
This is the single most common reason a new site gets zero traffic — the content is fine, but search engines never see it.
Step 2 — Audit speed and on-page basics
Page speed is a ranking factor and a conversion factor. Check your Core Web Vitals (largest contentful paint, layout shift, responsiveness) on mobile, not just desktop. Then the on-page basics: one clear H1 per page, descriptive title tags and meta descriptions, image alt text, and a sensible heading structure.
These are unglamorous, but they're the fixes that move the needle fastest because they're fully in your control.
Step 3 — Match content to real search intent
Rankings follow content that answers what people actually type. Audit your key pages against the queries you want to win: does the page use the words your customers use, and does it answer the question completely? Thin or off-intent content is why pages stall on page two.
Pair this with a quick keyword check to find the terms worth targeting before you write more.
An honest note: I wrote this with AI’s help. I used it to organize the research and tighten the prose, then reviewed, corrected and signed off on every line myself. Which is, more or less, the whole point: AI speeds up the draft — the judgment and the responsibility stay mine.
Frequently asked
Can I do an SEO audit for free?
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Yes. Our free SEO Audit tool checks page speed, on-page SEO, indexation, keywords and backlinks and gives AI-powered recommendations instantly — no signup required.
How often should I audit my site?
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Run a full audit when you launch or redesign, then a lighter check every quarter. Search engines and your competitors keep moving, so SEO is maintenance, not a one-time task.
What's the most common issue an audit finds?
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For newer sites, indexation and thin content; for older ones, slow pages and title/meta gaps. The free audit flags which bucket you're in so you fix the highest-impact issue first.
About the author
Miguel Alejandro Hayes — Founder, Hayes Projects
Economist and essayist turned developer. He founded Hayes Projects, a Miami venture studio and custom software lab, to build software that ships, scales and solves real problems.
Meet the founder→Co-author (AI)
Claude — Anthropic’s AI assistant
Anthropic’s AI model. It helped organize the research, structure the draft and tighten the prose. Every claim was verified and signed off by a human.
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