SEO Audit

Technical Check

What Is Assessed and Why

Robots.txt configuration

Checks for accidental disallow rules blocking Googlebot from crawling target pages. Common mistake: disallow: / left in robots.txt from a development environment, blocking the entire site.

XML sitemap accuracy

Verifies that the sitemap contains all indexable target pages and excludes noindex pages, paginated archives, and duplicate URLs that dilute crawl budget.

Indexation coverage

Cross-references Google Search Console coverage data against the expected indexed page count. 'Crawled but not indexed' and 'Discovered but not indexed' statuses indicate quality or duplicate content issues.

Core Web Vitals

LCP, INP, and CLS measured via Chrome User Experience Report (real user data) and PageSpeed Insights (lab data) for both mobile and desktop. Pages failing Core Web Vitals are at a ranking disadvantage versus passing competitors.

Crawl depth and site architecture

Maps click depth from homepage to every target page. Pages deeper than 3 clicks receive significantly less crawl frequency and link equity flow. Service pages buried 5 clicks deep from the homepage are effectively invisible to Google.

HTTPS implementation

Verifies SSL certificate validity, identifies mixed content warnings, and checks HSTS header implementation. Mixed content (HTTP resources on HTTPS pages) suppresses trust signals.

Redirect audit

Identifies broken links (4xx errors), redirect chains (301 to 301 to 301), redirect loops, and unnecessary 302 temporary redirects that should be 301 permanents.

JavaScript rendering check

Compares Googlebot's rendered HTML against the page's source HTML for SPA and JavaScript-heavy sites. Content visible to users but not rendered by Googlebot cannot rank.

On-Page Check

What Is Assessed

Title tag quality and length

Character count (under 60), keyword placement (primary keyword in first 40 characters), uniqueness across all pages, and intent alignment with target query.

Meta description quality

Character count (under 160), presence of target keyword, clear value proposition, and call to action. Missing or duplicate meta descriptions across service pages are common findings.

H-tag hierarchy

Single H1 per page, keyword present in H1, logical H2/H3 structure reflecting the page's topical coverage. Pages with multiple H1 tags or absent H1 tags are flagged as P1.

Content depth assessment

Word count measured against top 3 ranking competitors for each target keyword. Service pages significantly below competitor average word count are flagged for content expansion.

Keyword placement

Primary keyword presence in first 100 words of body content, URL, H1, at least one H2, and image alt text. Keyword density check to identify both under-optimisation and over-stuffing.

Internal link audit

Count of internal links pointing to each target page. Pages with zero internal links (orphan pages) are flagged P1. Pages with only navigation-based internal links and no contextual body links are flagged P2.

Image optimisation

File format (WebP preferred), compression ratio, alt text presence and quality, explicit width/height attributes for CLS prevention.

Schema markup presence

Identifies missing schema opportunities on service pages (Service schema), FAQ sections (FAQPage schema), breadcrumbs (BreadcrumbList), and local pages (LocalBusiness).

Content Check

What Is Assessed

Thin content identification

Pages under 300 words with no unique information value. Common on older IT company websites where service sub-pages were published as placeholders.

Duplicate content detection

Near-duplicate pages created by URL parameters, session IDs, www vs. non-www versions, HTTP vs. HTTPS versions, or content copied from competitors or supplier sites.

Search intent alignment

Verifies that each page's content type and format match the dominant search intent for its target keyword. Informational intent queries landing on thin commercial pages is a common mismatch.

Topical coverage gaps

Competitor content analysis identifying topics covered by top-ranking pages that are absent from your site. These gaps represent both content opportunities and the reason competitors outrank you.

E-E-A-T signal assessment

Author attribution, publication dates, external citations, company credentials, and social proof signals. Critical for IT company service pages where buyers are evaluating credibility.

Cannibalisation check

Multiple pages targeting the same or near-identical keywords, causing internal competition. Two pages targeting 'SEO services Gurgaon' split authority and produce neither page ranking well.

Backlink Check

What Is Assessed

Referring domain count and quality

Total unique referring domains, average domain rating of linking sites, percentage with organic traffic, and topical relevance distribution.

Toxic link identification

Links from penalised domains, link farms, irrelevant foreign sites, and PBN networks. Toxic links are flagged for disavow via Google Search Console.

Anchor text distribution

Ratio of branded anchors, keyword anchors, naked URLs, and generic terms. Over-optimised exact-match anchor text profiles are a manual penalty risk.

Competitor backlink gap

Side-by-side comparison of referring domains against the top 3 competitors. Identifies the authority gap and the specific domains linking to competitors but not to your site.

Lost and broken backlinks

Links that previously pointed to your site but now return 404 errors because destination pages were deleted or URLs changed without redirects. Each lost link represents recoverable authority.

Deliverable

What It Contains

Executive Summary

A 1-page summary of the 5 most critical findings and their estimated impact on rankings. Presented in plain language without SEO jargon.

Priority Fix Roadmap

Every finding categorised as P1 (fix immediately — blocking rankings), P2 (fix within 30 days — significant ranking impact), or P3 (fix within 90 days — improvement opportunity). P1 items receive specific implementation instructions.

Technical Issue Log

Spreadsheet of every technical finding with URL, issue type, current state, recommended fix, and priority rating.

On-Page Optimisation Brief

Page-by-page title tag, meta description, H1, and internal link recommendations for all target service pages.

Content Gap Report

Keyword and topic gaps between your site and the top 3 competitors, with recommendations for new pages and content expansions.

Backlink Profile Report

Referring domain analysis, toxic link list for disavow, competitor backlink gap matrix, and priority outreach target list.

90-Day Fix Roadmap

Sequenced, week-by-week implementation plan ordering fixes by impact, starting with P1 technical blockers.

Trigger Point

Why This Moment Requires an Audit

Before launching a new website or redesign

The highest-risk moment in a website's SEO lifecycle. A redesign without an SEO audit commonly destroys existing rankings through URL structure changes, removal of indexed pages without redirects, and loss of internal link architecture. Pre-launch audits prevent ranking collapses that take 6 to 12 months to recover from.

After a Google core update that hurt rankings

Core updates shift how Google weights content quality and E-E-A-T signals. A post-update audit identifies which specific pages lost rankings and the likely quality issues that caused the loss. Content and on-page fixes based on audit findings have produced measurable recovery within 1 to 2 update cycles for most affected clients.

When a new SEO campaign begins

Starting an SEO engagement without a baseline audit means building strategy on assumptions rather than data. The audit identifies the specific gaps between current performance and the top 3 competitors, making every subsequent decision more efficient and targeted.

Annually for established sites

Websites accumulate technical debt: deleted pages without redirects, outdated content, abandoned parameter URLs, and slow-accumulating crawl issues. Annual audits catch these before they compound into significant ranking problems.