SEO Audit

What an SEO audit covers

An SEO audit is a page-by-page test of your website. You check every URL to see how well it's set up to appear when someone searches for what you sell.

The test runs against the phrases your customers actually use, especially the specific ones close to a buying decision. If someone searches "cybersecurity consulting Brisbane" or "electrician Ipswich" and you have no page built for that search, you're out of the running.

Phrases like that often show single-digit volume in a keyword tool, so it helps to know how to judge a keyword when the search volume looks too low.

How often to run an SEO audit

Once a year at minimum. Twice a year suits sites that publish regularly or change often, because a technical problem can appear the day someone pushes an update.

On-page SEO checklist

Titles and descriptions

Your title and meta description are the snippet Google shows in the results. The title is the clickable headline and the description is the line beneath it, and together they decide whether someone picks you over the 9 other results.

Write both as advertising copy. Say plainly what you do and where, include the term the page targets, and give the reader a reason to click you over the result above or below. A title stuffed with keywords loses the click every time.

Check that every page has both and that no two pages share them. Google often rewrites meta descriptions itself, which hands you less control over what it says. Rewrite any title that no longer matches its page.

Headings

Google reads your headings to work out what a page is about. Each page needs a single H1, then H2s for the main sections and H3s underneath where a section needs them.

Check the hierarchy is clean, with no skipped levels and headings that describe what sits beneath them. Your main term should appear in the H1 and at least one H2, phrased naturally.

Pages built in a page builder often fail this without anyone noticing. The big text at the top looks like a heading but was never tagged as an H1, and Google only sees the tag.

Image alt text

Alt text is a short description of an image, read by Google and by screen readers. It makes your content accessible to visually impaired visitors and helps Google understand what the image shows.

Check every image has alt text that describes it in plain language, with a relevant term only where it fits. A process diagram, a photo of a finished job and a team headshot should each get a sentence a person would say.

URLs

Good URLs are short and readable. "/managed-it-services/" tells Google and the reader what the page is, and "/page?id=4471" tells them nothing.

Use hyphens, drop filler words and keep important pages near the top of the site structure. Flag any URL that's auto-generated, contains dates or ID numbers, or no longer matches its page.

Changing a URL needs a redirect so you keep the ranking, so plan it before you touch it.

Content and keywords

Content ages fastest, so most of an audit's value sits here. A site that hasn't published anything in a year is slowly handing ground to competitors who have.

Map which pages target which terms and check they match how customers search. A common gap is a homepage and an about page doing all the work, with no dedicated page for each service. Look too for thin service pages that say too little to rank, and near-identical location or service pages that split your ranking signals.

Then check every buying stage has content. People move from "I have a problem" to "who can fix it" to "is this the right business", so you need educational content early, service pages in the middle and proof near the decision. A site heavy on blog posts and thin on service pages attracts readers who never enquire.

Content gaps

Look at what's missing compared with the market. Competitors rank for terms you don't, and those searches send enquiries straight past you.

The gap closer to home gets ignored more often. The questions customers ask you on every call ("how does it work", "what does it cost", "how are you different") are searches someone is making, so put the answers on your site.

XML sitemap

A sitemap lists the pages you want Google to find. Check it includes your current important pages, has dropped deleted ones and leaves out low-value pages.

Then submit it in Google Search Console and confirm the pages are being picked up. On a site that's added service pages since launch, this step alone can surface pages Google didn't know existed.

Indexation

A page Google hasn't indexed can't rank. A new or changed page can take anywhere from a few days to a few months to appear, so confirm your key pages are in the index.

Search Console shows which pages are indexed, which are excluded and why. Missing pages usually have a fixable cause, such as a slow site, a broken sitemap or a setting left over from the build that blocks them.

Internal and external links

Internal links move visitors between your pages and tell Google which pages matter most. Build them so readers flow from helpful content to your service pages and enquiry form.

Check for broken links in both directions, because renamed pages and moved sources leave links landing on a 404. Fix them, since broken links frustrate visitors and reflect badly on the site.

Backlinks

Backlinks are links from other sites to yours, and Google uses them to judge authority. A link from an industry body, an association, a supplier or a piece of press is worth far more than a pile of directory listings.

Review who links to you in Search Console or a backlink tool. Look for links pointing at pages you've moved or deleted, which you can recover by asking the site to update them, and for spammy links that drag you down. Don't buy links, because Google spots them and the penalty costs more than the shortcut saves.

Technical SEO checklist

Speed and Core Web Vitals

Technical SEO covers how the site performs under the bonnet, including load speed, security and whether Google can crawl it cleanly. A site that a developer built and then left for years picks up extra pages, plugins and images, and each one slows the load a little.

Slow pages hurt rankings and enquiries, because many visitors leave before a slow page finishes loading. Measure your starting point with Google's PageSpeed Insights, then work through the causes in priority order.

Start with images, because oversized ones are a common cause of slow pages. Then minify your code, clear out redirect chains, set browser caching and serve the site through a content delivery network.

Security, crawlability and mobile

Your site needs a valid SSL certificate so it loads over HTTPS. Google treats HTTPS as a ranking signal, and a "not secure" warning sends cautious visitors elsewhere.

Your robots file and sitemap should let Google crawl the pages that matter and skip the ones that don't. Check the site works properly on a phone, because plenty of early research happens on mobile.

Check what your competitors rank for

Look at who ranks above you and for which terms. That shows you the keywords you're missing, the content they've built that you haven't, and where they're weak enough to overtake.

Compare across a spread of terms. Type your core services into Google and you'll often see different competitors topping different searches, which tells you where to focus.

Keep it current, because search behaviour shifts and AI search is changing how people phrase their questions.

Use search data to understand your customers

Search data shows how your customers think, from the terms they use to the questions they ask. Customers ask you the same questions on every call, and Search Console shows the queries already bringing people to your site.

Pull those together and put the answers to the most common questions at the front of your content. That shortens the distance from first search to enquiry.

Turn the audit into a plan and measure it

An audit that ends with a list of problems is half done. Use what the audit turned up to decide what to publish next, starting with the service pages you're missing and the questions you've never answered.

Track the results in Search Console and GA4. Search Console shows which queries you rank for and where you're losing clicks, and GA4 shows which pages convert and where enquiries come from.

Set up tracking for form submissions and call clicks, so every later decision has evidence behind it. If you run HubSpot, check your forms and workflows capture and follow up the leads your content brings in.

Which fixes to make first

An audit gives you a long list, and the order you work through it matters more than the list. Start with indexation, because a page Google hasn't indexed can't rank however much else you fix.

Then move to pages already sitting between positions 8 and 20, where a rewritten title is the quickest win. After that, build the service pages you don't have and answer the questions customers ask you on every call.

My own SEO consulting page averaged position 12.8 over the last 3 months, with 1,582 impressions and no clicks. That's the page I'd fix first on my own site.

Get an SEO audit from a Brisbane consultant

Working through the checklist yourself is worthwhile if you've got the time. An audit is only as useful as its priorities, and knowing which few things to fix first out of a long list is where experience matters.

I'm a Brisbane SEO consultant, and I hand back a plain-English list of what's costing you enquiries and what to fix, in order. No jargon and no 90-page PDF you'll never read.

Send through your website and find out where it's losing enquiries.