Types of SEO audits: which type of audit does your website need?

In the previous article I explained what a professional SEO audit means, why it is important, and why you may or may not need a comprehensive SEO audit.

You learned that a good audit is a tailored, actionable roadmap designed for your specific business goals. You also now know that you don’t always need a massive, comprehensive audit to get results.

This naturally leads to the next question: if not a comprehensive audit, then what?

In this article, I will look at specific types of audits available. I’ll break down what each one is, the exact problems it solves, and how to know which one is the right one for your website right now.

Core types of SEO audits

Before discussing different kinds of SEO audits, it’s important to understand a few things.

First, there are no official, universally agreed-upon names for these audits. You will often see different terms used to describe the same process, or find that audits are named after the specific SEO elements they examine.

It’s also important to know that these audit types are not completely separate from one another. In practice, many areas of SEO are interconnected.

For instance, your website’s content is closely linked to on-page elements, which in turn can affect technical performance. This overlap is normal and expected.

The list below outlines the most common types of SEO audits. However, it is not uncommon to see them combined to meet specific needs. The goal is always to create a solution that is tailored specifically to your business needs.

A) Technical SEO audits

You would tackle technical issues first as part of a focused audit that includes technical SEO analysis, because a slow or broken site kills everything else.

This type of audit is all about whether search engines can efficiently find, crawl, understand, and index your site. If they can’t find and crawl your website, all other SEO audits just absolutely make no sense, so it is number one in the hierarchy of SEO needs.

Some of the core areas typically covered in technical SEO audits are as follows:

Crawlability and indexability

This audit component examines whether your site can or cannot be crawled by Googlebot (also known as a crawler, robot, bot, or spider). The bot will learn this information from a robots.txt file. This file issues direct commands to search engines and tells them which sections of your site to ignore.

A single incorrect line can block your most valuable product or service pages from being crawled, and make them invisible in search. This is especially critical after a site launch or migration.

The audit also evaluates your XML sitemap, a file that lists your important URLs to guide search engines.

An accurate and submitted sitemap ensures search engines can efficiently discover your key content, particularly new pages that might otherwise take longer to be found. While search engines also find pages by following links, a sitemap aids the process.

Additionally, the audit will check for page-specific directives that prevent content from appearing in search results.

The most critical of these is a noindex tag. This command placed in a page’s code explicitly instructs search engines to remove it from their index. If applied unintentionally to a commercial landing page or a blog post, it will prevent the page from generating any organic traffic.

Site speed and Core Web Vitals

The audit also examines your site’s loading performance through Google’s Core Web Vitals.

This analysis focuses on three specific metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which measures perceived loading speed; Interaction to Next Paint (INP), which assesses your site’s responsiveness to user clicks and interactions; and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), which gauges visual stability by checking if elements jump around unexpectedly as the page loads.

Mobile-friendliness

In addition, the technical SEO analysis examines your website’s performance on mobile devices, which is a ranking factor, as Google operates on a mobile-first indexing model.

This means Google primarily uses the mobile version of your site for ranking and indexing, so a poor mobile experience directly harms your visibility on all devices, including desktop.

Site architecture and internal linking

The analysis of your site architecture examines how your content is structured and organized. This is crucial, because a logical, shallow structure allows both users and search engines to easily find your most important pages.

The evaluation focuses on “click depth” - the number of clicks it takes to get from the homepage to a key service or product page. If your most valuable pages are buried too deep, they are signaled as less important to search engines and receive less ranking authority.

The audit also looks at your internal linking strategy, which is how pages on your site connect to each other. Strategic internal links guide users and search engines to related, important content while distributing ranking authority throughout your site.

It also identifies and corrects issues like broken internal links, which create dead ends for crawlers, and “orphan pages” - valuable pages with no internal links pointing to them. With no internal links such pages are nearly impossible for search engines to discover.

Structured data (Schema markup)

The technical inspection also reviews your site’s use of structured data, also known as Schema markup. This is a specific code vocabulary that translates your content into a format search engines can instantly understand.

Implementing it correctly is what enables “rich snippets” - the star ratings, prices, FAQs, and other enhancements you see directly in Google search results.

These features make your listing stand out from competitors, which can significantly increase click-through rates, even if your ranking doesn’t change.

HTTPS and site security

This audit component verifies that your entire website operates on a secure HTTPS connection. It confirms that your SSL/TLS certificate is valid, properly installed, and that all insecure HTTP traffic is automatically and permanently redirected to the secure version.

This is non-negotiable not only because HTTPS is a direct ranking signal, but because modern browsers display a prominent “Not Secure” warning on non-HTTPS sites. Such a warning erodes user trust and kills conversions, particularly on pages with forms or e-commerce functions.

Canonicalization; and internationalization (if relevant)

The technical audit also address canonicalization, which is the process of specifying the “master” version of a page when multiple URLs display identical or very similar content.

Without a clear canonical signal, search engines may split ranking authority among different versions and dilute your SEO efforts, or index an undesirable version of the page.

The audit identifies these instances of duplicate content and verifies that the rel=“canonical” tag is correctly implemented to consolidate ranking signals to a single, authoritative URL.

For businesses targeting international markets, the technical evaluation also verifies the correct implementation of internationalization signals, primarily through hreflang tags.

These tags tell search engines which language and regional version of a page to show to users in specific locations. The audit ensures these tags are correctly configured, use proper language and country codes, and include necessary reciprocal links.

Server issues (server log)

An investigation into your server logs provides the definitive record of how search engine crawlers interact with your website. Unlike other tools that simulate a crawl, server log analysis shows what Googlebot and other bots actually do.

This diagnostic process also uncovers critical server-side issues that are often invisible to users but are severely damaging to SEO. The analysis identifies the frequency and location of server errors (5xx status codes), which signal to search engines that your site is unreliable and can lead to pages being dropped from the index.

When do you need it?

If your situation is one of the following, most likely you would need the technical SEO audit:

B) Content and on-page SEO audits

A modern SEO content audit is an evaluation that moves beyond a simple editorial review. In the context of AI-driven search and changing search behavior, it assesses whether your existing content is a high-performing asset or a liability that harms your site’s authority.

This performance-driven analysis determines if each page can rank, appear in AI Overviews, attract the right audience, and contribute directly to business objectives.

A successful content audit begins with a clear objective. The goal could be to increase conversions from existing content, prune outdated material that is harming your site’s authority, or realign your content strategy for visibility in AI-driven search results. It is also worth mentioning here that the depth of content audits varies.

While the full content audit is a complex process deserving its own in-depth article, our focus here is to define its strategic role within the broader context of SEO audits.

The SEO content audit can include some or all of the following:

Keyword research and targeting analysis

This analysis verifies that your content is aligned with the search terms your target customers actually use. Attracting traffic is pointless if it’s the wrong traffic.

The keyword research component of the audit identifies critical misalignments, such as pages targeting keywords with low commercial value, and instances of “keyword cannibalization,” where multiple pages compete for the same term.

The goal is to ensure every piece of content is precisely targeted to attract qualified visitors who are likely to convert.

Content quality and relevance

This audit component assesses whether a page comprehensively satisfies “search intent” (the underlying reason for a user’s query). It also determines if the content is in-depth, demonstrates expertise, and provides a genuinely helpful answer or solution.

In the context of Google’s algorithms, which prioritize helpful content, pages that fail this quality check are considered liabilities that can suppress the rankings of your entire site.

On-page elements

This component within the SEO content audit focuses on the core elements that frame your content for both users and search engines. It reviews your title tags and meta descriptions, which together form your “ad” in Google search results (first thing users see when you appear in SERP) and are the primary drivers of whether a user clicks on your link or a competitor’s.

It also ensures your content is structured logically with clear headings (H1s, H2s) to make it easy for visitors to read and for search engines to understand the page’s main topics.

Finally, it verifies that images have descriptive alt text, which makes them accessible and helps them rank in image searches.

Content gaps

This is a competitive analysis designed to find new traffic opportunities. It identifies valuable keywords and topics that your competitors are ranking for, but for which you have little or no content.

By pinpointing these gaps in your content strategy, this analysis provides a clear roadmap for creating new articles, landing pages, or resources that can capture market share and attract an audience you are currently missing.

Duplicate or thin content issues

This is a site-wide quality control check to find and eliminate pages that harm your site’s overall authority. The analysis identifies duplicate content, where identical or nearly identical pages exist at different URLs, which confuses search engines and dilutes your ranking power by splitting it across multiple pages.

It also flags “thin content” (pages with very little substance that offer no real value to a user). These low-quality assets are a significant negative signal to search engines and can drag down the performance of your entire website.

Is your situation one of the following?

If yes, most likely you would need your SEO content audited.

C) Off-page SEO audit

While technical and content audits focus on your website itself, an off-page SEO audit looks at how your site is perceived across the wider internet.

Its key purpose is to assess your site’s authority and trustworthiness, which are largely determined by external signals like high-quality backlinks from other reputable websites.

The off-page SEO audit also considers factors like brand mentions and your overall digital footprint, such as sharing content on social media, local SEO efforts like getting relevant citations and reviews, as these signals of credibility are critical for building a strong reputation that boosts visibility in both traditional and AI search results.

Typically the off-page SEO audit includes the following inspections points:

Backlink profile analysis

This off-page SEO audit component evaluates the quality and authority of the websites linking to you (incoming links).

Such links are a primary signal Google uses to determine your site’s credibility, which directly impacts your ability to rank for valuable search terms. The core principle is that a single link from a respected industry site is far more valuable than hundreds of links from irrelevant, low-quality ones.

A critical part of this audit component is identifying links that provide no value or could pose a risk. While Google’s systems are now smart enough to simply ignore most spammy or irrelevant links, having a profile dominated by them means your site gains no authority. However, obvious, large-scale link schemes can still trigger a direct manual penalty from a human reviewer at Google.

This analysis pinpoints which links are being ignored and which could put you at risk. It involves actively searching for and flagging links that come from: known spam sites or link farms, private blog networks (PBNs), irrelevant or low-quality directories, hacked websites, irrelevant foreign-language sites.

Also included in this component is anchor text analysis, which looks at the actual clickable text used in the links pointing to your site.

Competitor backlink gap analysis

Competitor backlink gap analysis aims to reverse-engineer your competitors’ success. The process identifies high-quality, authoritative websites that are linking to one or more of your direct competitors but not to you.

The output of this analysis is a highly actionable roadmap for your link-building efforts. It provides a prioritized list of websites to target for outreach.

More strategically, it reveals the types of content that earn authoritative links in your niche, whether it’s original data, comprehensive guides, free tools, or something else. This allows you to create similar or better assets, and turn your competitors’ off-page strategy into an action plan for your own growth.

Brand mentions and online reputation

Search engines aim to reward legitimate, real-world entities, and they gauge this through signals like unlinked brand mentions in news articles, forum discussions, and positive customer reviews on third-party sites.

A positive reputation and frequent mentions from authoritative sources act as strong indicators of your brand’s trustworthiness and authority, even without a direct link. This audit component identifies where your brand is being talked about.

The goal here is to identify opportunities and manage risks. Finding an unlinked mention of your brand on a reputable blog is a good opportunity to request that it be turned into a valuable backlink.

Conversely, discovering negative reviews or inaccurate information provides a chance to engage in reputation management. Addressing negative feedback and correcting misinformation is a critical business function that also signals to search engines that you are an active and trustworthy brand.

Social media presence

The inspection of social media presence evaluates how effectively your social channels are used to distribute content, build brand awareness, and generate the natural backlinks and brand mentions that influence rankings.

It checks for profile optimization, consistency in brand messaging, and whether there is a clear strategy to promote link-worthy assets like blog posts or data studies.

The goal here is to determine if your social media presence is simply active, or if it is strategically contributing to your site’s authority and driving referral traffic.

Local citations

This is a critical component, but it’s business-model dependent. For any business with a physical location or a defined service area (e.g., a plumber, dentist, restaurant), consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) citations across relevant directories are a local ranking factor.

For a national e-commerce site or a global SaaS company, this point is far less relevant.

When do you need it?

D) Local SEO audits

For any business with a physical location or a defined service area, local SEO is critical. It is important for appearing in Google’s local search results and the “Map Pack,” which makes it essential for connecting with customers actively searching for services “near me.”

The scope of what local SEO audits cover varies, but mostly includes the following:

Google Business Profile (GBP) and online reputation optimization

This is an integral part of any local SEO audit, as your Google Business Profile is your most powerful asset for local visibility. The analysis includes verifying the accuracy of your core business information.

The audit component also reviews your selected business categories. The primary category is one of the most influential local ranking factors, and a common error is choosing one that is too broad or doesn’t precisely match your core service.

This audit item also evaluates your online reputation by analyzing customer reviews: the quantity, frequency of new reviews, and the consistency of your responses, which signals trust to both customers and Google.

This optimization is now more important than ever in the context of AI search. AI models like Google’s SGE synthesize the content of your reviews, Q&A section, and Google Posts to answer complex user queries. For a prompt like “find a reliable plumber who is good at fixing tankless water heaters,” an AI bot will look for those exact phrases within your review text.

The goal of this audit component is to ensure your entire profile is a rich and accurate data source that both traditional search and new AI models can use to confidently recommend your business.

Local citations and NAP consistency

This review focuses on the accuracy and consistency of your Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) on hundreds of third-party directories, apps, and data aggregators like Foursquare, Apple Maps, etc.

Search engines use these “citations” as a primary method to verify that your business is legitimate and that its location and contact information are correct.

Inconsistencies, such as old addresses, incorrect phone numbers, or even slight variations in your business name, erode this trust and directly harm your ability to rank in the local map pack.

Local-specific on-page and content optimization

This audit component verifies that your key service or product pages are explicitly targeted to your geographic service area, for instance, by including the city or region in title tags, headings, and body copy (e.g., “emergency roof repair in Denver”).

It also identifies opportunities to create dedicated location pages for different branches or service areas, which help capture “near me” searches. The goal is to ensure your website’s content directly signals its relevance to both local users and search engines.

Local backlink analysis

A local backlink analysis focuses on geographic relevance. These backlinks act as signals to search engines that your business is a trusted and prominent part of its local community.

The analysis prioritizes links from sources like the local Chamber of Commerce, neighborhood blogs, community event sponsorships, and local news outlets. For local rankings, a single link from a well-respected local source can be more valuable than multiple links from national websites that lack a geographic connection.

When do you need it?

The right SEO audit solves the right problem

In this article you’ve learned that there are no official, universally agreed-upon names for various types of SEO audits. You will often see different terms used to describe the same process, or find that audits are named after the specific SEO elements they examine.

You now also know that these audit types are not completely separate from one another. In practice, many areas of SEO are interconnected.

And you’ve now have more knowledge about the most common types of SEO audits. However, it is not uncommon to see them combined to meet specific needs.

As for which one is the right one for your website right now, I’ve outlined some common scenarios:

But the most effective SEO audit is custom-built to solve a specific business problem. Before any analysis begins, an SEO specialist would first look at your business type, historical performance, your competitors and other details.

From there, the solution is tailored. It might involve a combination of different audit types or just a few targeted components from a single one.

There are no rigid rules, only business objectives and the most direct path to achieving them.

Have questions about SEO audits?

See how I can help you with your next SEO Audit or drop me a message.

Further reading on SEO audits:

For those who want to explore the tactical “how-to” behind the strategic “why,” here is a curated list of industry-leading guides on performing and approaching SEO audits.

A Simple (But Effective) 14-Step SEO Audit & Checklist (Ahrefs)

The 15-Step SEO Audit Checklist (Backlinko)

For a Strategic Approach to Audits:

How to Develop Actionable and Impactful SEO Audits (Aleyda Solis)

Written by

Pav Polyarush

With over a decade of experience, I help businesses increase their organic traffic and revenue through data-driven SEO strategies. My focus is on SEO and AI Search for small and medium-sized businesses. Connect with me on social media below or schedule a free SEO consulting session.