A technical SEO audit is the foundation of search optimization, ensuring your site is both crawlable and indexable, delivers a fast Core Web Vitals score, and follows best SEO practices. This tutorial walks you through a complete free SEO audit using tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, and PageSpeed Insights to boost your site’s technical health, search visibility, and organic traffic.
1. Define Audit Goals & Set Up Free SEO Tools
Begin with clear audit objectives: improve site health, fix crawl/indexing issues, or optimize site speed and mobile usability. Set up essential free SEO tools:
- Google Search Console – for index coverage, search analytics, manual actions, and keyword performance monitoring
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4) – to analyze traffic, bounce rate, session duration, and conversion behavior
- PageSpeed Insights / Lighthouse – for Core Web Vitals: LCP, INP (or FID fallback), and CLS
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free up to 500 URLs) – essential for site crawl audits, broken links, meta-tag analysis, redirects, and more
- Additional free audit tools:
- SEOptimer – runs a 100‑point SEO audit including backlinks, robots.txt and meta tag issues
- SEOmator – provides technical SEO and on‑page SEO analysis, plus page speed and architecture insights
- Ahrefs Free Site Audit – scans your site for over 170 SEO issues, prioritizing by errors, warnings & notices
2. Crawl & Analyze Site Structure
Use Screaming Frog to crawl your main domain (or up to 500 pages):
- Identify 404 errors, broken links, duplicate content, orphan pages, and redirect chains
- Flag missing or duplicate title tags, meta descriptions, and empty alt attributes
- Analyze internal link structure, page depth, and crawl budget concerns
3. Audit Indexing, Sitemap & Robots Rules
- In Google Search Console, review Index Coverage: fix pages that are excluded, marked “noindex,” or flagged with errors or warnings
- Validate your robots.txt to ensure you’re not unintentionally blocking crawlers
- Audit your XML sitemap: include only canonical 200‑status pages, match your site structure, and ensure submission to GSC and Bing Webmaster Tools
4. Check Page Speed & Core Web Vitals
Run PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse for both desktop and mobile:
- Focus on Core Web Vitals metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP) or FID, and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
- Diagnose render‑blocking resources, oversized images, sluggish server response, and unminified CSS/JavaScript
- Optional: Use GTmetrix or Pingdom for waterfall analysis and insights tailored to different geographies
5. Ensure Mobile‑Friendly & Responsive UI
- Use GSC’s Mobile Usability report or PageSpeed Insights mobile analysis
- Evaluate responsive design, tap target sizing, font legibility, viewport configuration, and layout stability
- Confirm mobile-first indexing compliance to boost mobile search rankings
6. Verify Security & HTTPS
- Confirm the site runs fully over HTTPS, with no insecure (mixed) content or certificate warnings
- Check Search Console for security issues like malware or hacking alerts
- Ensure canonical redirects from HTTP to HTTPS and from non‑www to www (or vice versa) where needed
7. On‑Page Technical & Metadata Audit
- From your crawl data, look for missing/duplicate title tags and meta descriptions, duplicate H1s, or tag length issues
- Confirm each image has descriptive alt text, and headings follow logical hierarchy
- Review URL structure for SEO-friendly patterns (e.g. /product-name/ vs ?id=123)
8. Review Structured Data & Schema Markup
- Use Schema.org JSON‑LD markup for key content types (e.g., articles, products, recipes, FAQs)
- Validate structured data with Google’s Rich Results Test
- Tools like AIOSEO offer built-in schema audit capabilities if you’re on WordPress
9. Evaluate Crawl Depth & Internal Linking Strategy
- Identify deeply buried pages (>3 clicks from homepage) that may be under-crawled or under-linked
- Use internal linking to distribute link equity, group related content (pillar clusters), and improve user navigation
10. Conduct Keyword & Content Visibility Audit
- Use Google Search Console Performance report to analyze keyword impressions, clicks, CTR, and average ranking
- Use Google Keyword Planner, Keyword Surfer, AnswerThePublic, Moz Keyword Explorer or Serpstat for keyword research and long-tail opportunities (TechRadar)
- Audit top pages for targeted keyword alignment in titles, headings, and body copy
- Identify low-performing pages with high impressions but low CTR for optimization potential
11. Collate, Prioritize & Document Issues
- Build a master audit spreadsheet or template grouping issues by:
- Technical (crawlability, indexing, speed)
- On-page (metadata, alt text, headings)
- UX / mobile / navigation
- Keyword optimization and content gaps
- Classify as Errors / Warnings / Notices, and assign priority and responsible stakeholders
12. Implement Fixes, Monitor & Re‑Audit
- Execute improvements systematically: fix meta tags, redirects, images, schema, speed optimizations, and site structure
- Monitor progress in GSC and GA4—track visibility, rankings, traffic, Core Web Vitals trends, and keyword performance
- Re-run audits at least every quarter, after migrations, site redesigns, or ranking drops
Summary
| Phase | Free Tool(s) & Keywords | Key Checks & SEO Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Crawl & Site Audit | Screaming Frog (“site crawl audit”) | broken links, duplicate content, orphan pages |
| Index & Robots Audit | Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools | indexing errors, sitemap audit, robots.txt compliance |
| Page Speed & Vitals | PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse | Core Web Vitals, LCP, INP, CLS, site speed optimization |
| Mobile Usability | GSC Mobile Report / Pagespeed Insights mobile view | mobile-friendly test, responsive design, tap targeting |
| On-Page Metadata & Alt Text | Screaming Frog / SEOptimer | title tag audit, meta descriptions, image alt attribute |
| Structured Data & Schema | Google Rich Results Test, AIOSEO Analyzer | JSON‑LD schema, rich snippets, structured data validation |
| Keyword & Content Research | GSC, Keyword Planner, Keyword Surfer, Moz, AnswerThePublic | keyword impressions, CTR optimization, low‑competition terms |
| Tracking & Monitoring | Google Search Console, GA4 | keyword performance, organic traffic tracking, ranking changes |
Final Takeaways
- A free technical SEO audit using tools like GSC, GA4, Screaming Frog, PageSpeed Insights, SEOptimer, SeoMator, and Ahrefs ensures your site is optimized for search engines and users.
- Prioritize fixes that improve crawlability, site speed, mobile usability, on-page optimization, structured data, and keyword alignment.
- Document issues with a living audit sheet, assign responsibility, and track improvements over time.
- Regular audits (quarterly or after major updates) keep you in tune with Google’s evolving algorithms and help maintain strong SEO health.
By systematically following this SEO audit checklist and implementing fixes, you empower your site to earn better search rankings, organic traffic growth, and improved user experience—all without spending a dime.
Feel free to let me know if you’d like this further tailored for WordPress, e‑commerce SEO, or local business SEO.
