How to Carry Out an SEO Audit: A Practical, In-Depth Guide for Cardiff Business Owners
If you run a website and you want potential customers to be able to easily find it in search engines, an SEO audit is one of the most useful things you can do. Think of it as giving your site a service. You look under the bonnet, check how everything is working, and spot the issues that could be holding you back in Google. Most businesses focus on posting content or improving design, but if the foundations are not right, even the best content can struggle to rank in Google and other search engines.
A good SEO audit does not have to be complicated. It is simply a structured look at how healthy your website is, how well your pages are set up, how good the content is, and whether users can move around your site without getting stuck. You do not need to be a technical expert, but you do need to understand what search engines look for and how to check each area.
This guide takes you through the whole process in detail so you can carry out an audit from start to finish. It also shows you what tools to use, what problems to look for, and how to fix the issues that matter most.
Start With a Technical SEO Audit
The technical side of an SEO site audit can sound intimidating, but most of it comes down to making sure Google can crawl, index, and understand your website. If search engines cannot access your pages properly, nothing else you do will make much difference. This is why the technical checks come first.
Begin by running a scan of your site using a tool such as Screaming Frog, Ahrefs Site Audit, or SEMrush. These tools crawl your site in a similar way to Google and highlight any errors or warnings. When the report is complete, look for issues such as:
Broken links
These can appear when pages are deleted, moved, or renamed without the internal links being updated. Broken links frustrate users and can signal poor site maintenance.
Duplicate content
Pages that are too similar can confuse Google because it cannot easily decide which one to rank. This often happens with category pages, thin product pages, or duplicated blog posts.
Missing title tags or meta descriptions
These bits of metadata help search engines understand the purpose of each page. They also influence whether people click on your site on search engine results pages.
Slow page speed
A slow website harms your rankings and your conversion rate. Large image files, unnecessary scripts, and bloated page builders can all contribute to slow loading times. Google is increasingly focused on page performance, especially on mobile, so this section deserves careful attention.
Crawl errors
Your audit tool will highlight pages that cannot be accessed by the crawler. Sometimes this is due to server issues, broken redirects, or accidental blocks in your robots.txt file.
Indexing issues
Your site might have pages that are not indexed or pages that should not be indexed at all. Google Search Console can help you check what Google is currently indexing and flag anything unexpected.
At this stage you are simply gathering information. Fixes can come later, but it is vital to know which problems exist and how severe they are. Even small technical issues can have a knock-on effect on rankings, so take the time to review everything carefully.
Review Your On-Page SEO
Once the technical foundations look sound, move on to your on-page optimisation. This part of the audit focuses on the content structure of each page. You want to check whether the signals you send to Google are clear, consistent, and relevant to the keywords you want to rank for.
Here are the key areas to review:
Title tags
Every page should have a unique, keyword-focused title tag that reflects the main topic. Keep it short, descriptive, and appealing. It is often the first thing users see in the search results.
Meta descriptions
Meta descriptions should provide a clear summary of the page. They do not directly affect rankings, but they influence click-through rate, so they matter.
H1s and subheadings
Each page should have one main H1 heading. This heading should explain what the page is about. Use H2s and H3s to break the content into logical sections. A page with no structure is harder for both humans and search engines to understand.
Keyword usage
You do not need to cram keywords into your content, but they should be used naturally in headings, the opening paragraph, and throughout the page. Check whether your existing pages are aligned with the search terms your audience is actually using. Use tools like Google Search Console, Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to find the right terms.
Internal linking
Internal links help users navigate and help search engines discover more of your content. They also spread authority across your site. If some pages receive a lot of internal links and others receive none, your audit will reveal that imbalance.
Image optimisation
Large images slow down your site. Make sure you compress them and add descriptive alt text so search engines can understand them.
During this part of the audit, you are looking for consistency. If every page has clear metadata, a strong heading structure, and relevant internal links, Google can easily work out what your site is about.
Evaluate Your Content Quality
Good content is still one of the strongest signals in SEO. Even a perfectly built website will struggle to rank if the information on it is weak or outdated. Your content audit should be focused on three things: quality, relevance, and performance.
Check that your content matches search intent
To rank well, your pages need to answer what the user is looking for. If someone searches for “how to fix a leaking tap”, they want a clear explanation, not a history of plumbing. Check that each page on your site genuinely matches the intent behind the keywords it targets.
Look for content gaps
During your audit, you may notice areas where your competitors provide more thorough information. Perhaps they have guides you do not, or they cover topics you only mention briefly. These gaps are opportunities for future content.
Check the performance of existing pages
Use Google Search Console to find pages with high impressions but low clicks. These pages are being seen but not chosen. This often means the title tag or meta description needs improvement or the content is not meeting expectations.
Identify outdated content
Information changes over time. Data becomes old, images become irrelevant, and best practices evolve. Refreshing older pages is often more effective than publishing brand new content.
Thin pages
Pages with very little information rarely perform well. They may need rewriting, merging, or removing.
As you work through this part of the audit, aim to create a list of pages that need improvement. This might include updating facts, adding examples, improving structure, or expanding the content to make it more helpful.
Analyse Your User Experience
User experience (UX) is now tightly linked to SEO performance. Google wants to promote sites that users enjoy using. If your website is difficult to navigate, cluttered, or slow, people will leave quickly, and Google will notice.
During the UX review, focus on:
Navigation
Make sure your menus make sense. Can users reach important pages quickly, or do they have to click through several layers?
Page clarity
Check that your pages are easy to read. Short paragraphs, simple language, and plenty of spacing all help.
Mobile usability
Most searches now happen on mobile, so your site must load quickly and be easy to use on smaller screens. Test your pages on different devices.
Bounce rate and time on site
Google Analytics can show where users drop off. High bounce rates do not always mean something is wrong, but they often point towards pages that need better content or clearer calls to action.
Conversion paths
If you run an online shop or lead generation site, check whether your forms, buttons, and checkout pages are easy to use. Small obstacles can lose you customers.
UX is not only about rankings. A smooth experience improves customer trust and makes your business look more professional.
Check Your Backlink Profile
Many audits skip this part, yet backlinks remain a major ranking factor. You do not need thousands of links, but you do need a clean profile with reputable sites pointing to your pages.
Use Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to check:
Link quality
Search engines prefer natural links from relevant, trustworthy sites.
Toxic links
Spammy or suspicious links can harm your site. If you find any, you may need to disavow them through Google Search Console.
Anchor text distribution
Over-optimised anchors can look unnatural. Aim for a varied profile where most anchors are branded or generic.
Lost links
If you notice lost links to important pages, it may be worth reaching out to the site owner to see if they can be restored.
Backlinks take time to build, but identifying problems early helps you avoid ranking issues later.
Look at Your Analytics Data
SEO is not just about what your site looks like today. It is also about how users have behaved over time. Analytics tools help you understand where your traffic comes from, which pages perform best, and where you lose visitors.
Check:
Organic search trends
Look for patterns. Are some pages growing while others are slipping? Are there seasonal changes?
Top-performing pages
Work out why these pages do well. Can you use the same approach on weaker pages?
Exit pages
Pages with high exit rates may be confusing or missing key information.
Device differences
Your site might work well on desktop but poorly on mobile. Analytics can reveal this imbalance.
Conversions
For online shops, look at checkout success rates. For service businesses, check how many users fill in forms or contact you. This data can highlight UX issues that affect both traffic and revenue.
Create an Action Plan
A good audit always ends with a clear action plan. Break the tasks into three groups:
Immediate fixes
Technical problems such as broken links, indexing errors, missing title tags, or slow image files.
Medium-term improvements
Updating outdated content, improving metadata, refining internal linking, and boosting key pages.
Long-term strategy
Building new content based on keyword gaps, improving UX design, and building a healthier backlink profile.
An audit is not something you do once a year. It is a process that you revisit regularly to keep your site healthy.
Carrying out an SEO audit might feel like a big job, but it is one of the most valuable things you can do for your website. It gives you a full picture of what is working and what is holding you back. Once you understand the issues, you can fix them in a structured way and watch your rankings improve over time. If you keep on top of your technical health, content quality, and user experience, your site will be in a much stronger position to compete.
If you don’t have time to carry out an SEO audit yourself, or would prefer it is handled by an experienced SEO expert, get in touch to arrange a free SEO game plan from Cardiff’s leading SEO agency.