The 15-Point SEO Audit Checklist That I Use

Here’s what I look for when I’m making websites awesome again

Nick Nolan
7 min readJul 17, 2022
Photo by Marten Newhall on Unsplash

An SEO audit is the best first step in improving and growing a website.

Every website is at a different level of success. So, to move forward without wasting resources, an audit helps identify what’s working and what needs fixing.

The same general principles of SEO apply to every website. But there are also a lot of “it depends”.

The audit is like when Gordan Ramsey visits restaurants and tells the owners and chefs what they need to do differently if they want to stay in business.

An e-commerce store that launched 8 months ago requires a different strategy than a local plumber’s website that’s 15 years old.

Whenever anyone asks me to help them with SEO, the first thing I do is an SEO audit. This usually takes an hour or two and helps me create the best path forward.

1. Define the website goals

Your first task is to set clear goals for the website.

Who do you want to reach?
What stage of awareness are they at?
What action do you want them to take?

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Nick Nolan

Freelance marketing consultant | Writing about Copywriting, SEO, and Social Media