HTTP Status & HTTPS
Verifies the page returns a successful 2xx response and is served over HTTPS — a confirmed Google ranking signal.
Redirect Detection
Identifies redirect hops from the input URL to the final URL. Redirect chains add latency and can dilute link equity.
Response Time
Measures server time-to-first-byte. Slow TTFB directly impacts Core Web Vitals and user experience.
Title Tag
Checks presence, length (50–60 chars recommended), and whether the title appears to be a CMS default.
Meta Description
Checks presence and length (120–160 chars). Meta descriptions directly influence click-through rate in search results.
H1 Tag
Verifies a single H1 exists with appropriate length. The H1 is a primary topical relevance signal.
Heading Hierarchy
Checks that headings follow a logical H1→H2→H3 nesting order with no skipped levels.
Meta Robots / Noindex
Detects noindex and nofollow directives in meta tags and X-Robots-Tag headers.
Canonical Tag
Validates the rel=canonical — presence, self-referencing vs cross-domain, and duplicate detection.
Viewport & Mobile
Checks for the viewport meta tag required for proper mobile rendering.
Charset & Language
Verifies charset declaration and HTML lang attribute — basic correctness signals.
Open Graph Tags
Scores OG tag completeness (og:title, description, image, url, type) for social sharing previews.
Twitter Card
Checks for Twitter/X card meta tags for proper social sharing display.
JSON-LD Structured Data
Detects JSON-LD blocks and identifies schema types (Article, FAQPage, LocalBusiness, etc.).
Images & Alt Text
Counts images and flags those missing alt text — an accessibility and SEO issue.
Word Count / Thin Content
Flags pages with under 300 words as potentially thin content.
Focus Keyword Analysis
If provided, checks whether your target keyword appears in the title, H1, meta description, first 100 words, and URL.
robots.txt (Full Audit)
Fetches and parses robots.txt to confirm the page isn't blocked from crawling.
Canonical Target (Full)
Fetches the declared canonical URL to confirm it resolves with a 200 response.
WWW Consistency (Full)
Tests whether the alternate www/non-www version properly redirects to the canonical version.
Outbound Links (Full)
Audits external links for followed vs nofollowed distribution.
SEO is not a one-time setup. Every site update, plugin change, or CMS upgrade can introduce new issues — a noindex tag left on a page, a canonical pointing at the wrong URL, a new template that strips the viewport meta tag. Issues like these can silently bleed rankings for weeks before you notice organic traffic dropping.
Running a regular audit — weekly on active sites, monthly on stable ones — catches regressions early. The most damaging SEO issues (noindex, missing canonical, wrong redirect) are also among the easiest to fix once found.
Noindex on an important page
Remove the noindex directive immediately. Check both <meta name="robots"> and X-Robots-Tag HTTP headers. Also check whether the issue is in your CMS settings (WordPress SEO plugins commonly add noindex accidentally during development).
Missing or wrong canonical
Add a self-referencing canonical to every page. If pages have canonical tags pointing to 404s or wrong URLs, update them to point at the correct live URL.
Missing title tag
A missing title tag is one of the most basic and highest-impact SEO errors. Add a unique, keyword-rich title of 50–60 characters to every page.
No HTTPS
Install a free SSL certificate (Let's Encrypt via your host) and configure 301 redirects from HTTP to HTTPS. Update internal links, canonical tags, and sitemaps to use HTTPS URLs.
No structured data
Use our Schema Markup Generator to build valid JSON-LD for your page type. Even basic WebPage or Article schema can improve how Google understands and displays your content.
Missing meta description
Write a unique 120–160 character meta description for every important page. Include the primary keyword and a clear value proposition or call to action.
What is the difference between the Base and Full Audit?
The Base Audit analyzes the page HTML and HTTP response — about 35 checks in under 2 seconds. The Full Audit adds robots.txt validation, canonical target resolution, WWW redirect testing, and outbound link analysis, requiring 1–3 additional server fetches.
Does this check Core Web Vitals?
Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) require real browser rendering and are covered by our Page Speed Optimizer tool, which uses the Google PageSpeed Insights API. This audit covers the on-page and technical signals that complement page speed.
How often should I audit my site?
Run a full audit after any significant site update, theme change, or plugin update. For actively updated sites, a weekly quick audit catches issues before they affect rankings.
Why does the audit show a warning for my canonical?
A canonical warning usually means the canonical tag points to a different URL than the current page. This may be intentional (consolidating duplicate URLs) or a misconfiguration. Use our Canonical Tag Checker for deeper canonical analysis.
Can I audit any URL?
You can audit any publicly accessible URL. Pages behind login walls, paywalls, or bot-blocking systems cannot be fetched and will return a fetch error.
Is this tool free?
Our SEO Audit Tool is completely free with no sign-up required. Pages are fetched server-side for analysis and no data is stored.