SOP 002: Perform an on-page SEO audit on a page
Execute a comprehensive SEO audit on any webpage within any site that clearly defines what’s working, what’s not, and action steps on what to work on first.
Last Updated / Reviewed: 10/17/2024
Execution Time: 1-2 hours
🚀 Goal: To execute a comprehensive SEO audit on any webpage within any site that clearly defines what’s working, what’s not, and action steps on what to work on first.
🤞 Ideal Outcome: The end-user receives a comprehensive audit that lets them know the state of a specific webpage is in, along with specific action steps on what to do next.
🤔 Why this is important: In order to fully optimize a web page for more organic traffic from search engines.
🧐 Where this is done In your browser, Google docs, Google sheets, along with a handful of additional 3rd party tools.
🗓️ When this is done: Anytime you need to audit a webpage to increase organic traffic
👨 Who does this: The person responsible for SEO, or client relationships, at your company. A freelancer or VA.
__⚠️Prerequisites or requirements: __For some optional steps in this SOP, you will require access to the website’s Google Tag Manager container installed on the site.
Click here to get the most up-to-date version of this SOP
Environment Setup
Get access to and download the tools you’ll need for the audit.
Download or get access to the tools you’ll need to perform the audit:
- Redirect Path Chrome Extension - Free
- Google Tag Assistant Companion - Free
- Ahrefs- Paid (can also use SEMRush, Open Site Explorer, or Majestic)
Learn How This SOP Works
This audit assumes that you already know your keyword target and that the page should be optimized for it.
For the example in this SOP, the primary keyword is “create an online course”.
01▸ For all of the questions below, you will need to record your answer in the Template 001: SEO Audit Worksheet (web version)
Make a copy of the spreadsheet by clicking “Export as Google Doc”.
Fill out the information at the top of the spreadsheet
This SOP includes a number of questions. For each of those questions, there is a matching row with the same question in the spreadsheet. You will need to go through each question and select the right item from the “Score” column.
If the answer to the question is “Yes”, then select the answer “Passed” from the “Score” column
If the answer to the question is “No”, then select the answer “Needs work” from the “Score” column
If, for some reason, the question does not apply to the page being audited, select the answer “N/A” from the “Score” column
02▸ Each question in this SOP includes a detailed description of how to test and answer.
03▸ The audit will be complete when all the questions in the spreadsheet are answered.
On-Page Optimization Audit
01▸ Check the page URL
Important: If the URL being audited is the root domain (like the homepage), then this does not apply. You can skip these question and write down N/A in the spreadsheet.
Is the primary keyword in the URL?
Look at the URL and check if the primary keyword is included (this does not include keywords in the domain name) This is an example of a page that includes the primary keyword in the URL
This is an example of a page that does not include the primary keyword in the URL
Is the URL short and user-friendly (human readable)? Look at the URL and check if it’s short (under 6-7 words) and easy to read and understand This is an example of a short and user-friendly URL. A good rule of thumb for this is to ask yourself “would I be able to remember this 5 minutes from now?”
This is an example of a long and user-unfriendly URL
Is the URL located in a sub-folder and not subdomain? Look at the URL and check if it’s a subdomain or not These are examples of URLs that are not in subdomains
This is an example of a URL that is using a subdomain Does the URL use hyphens and not underscores? Look at the URL and check if it uses hyphens instead of underscores This is an example of a URL that uses hyphens
This is an example of a URL that uses underscores
02▸ Check on-page elements
To test on-page elements we will use a free onsite SEO tool called Screaming Frog. You can download it for Windows or Mac here. Screaming Frog is a website crawler that helps you improve onsite SEO, by extracting data & auditing for common SEO issues. Note: The free version will allow you to crawl a maximum of 500 pages of your website. You can upgrade to a paid license if you want to remove the limit. Once you’ve downloaded the tool. Open it and add your website URL to the search field. Is the page title optimized? Click the “Page Titles” tab and look for the “Title 1” columns, this is the title that shows up on Google search results. Check that the title is under 70 characters Check that the primary keyword is included in the title Is the meta description optimized? Click on the “Meta Description” tab. “Meta Description” is the description that goes with your page title in the Google search result. Check for both length and keyword Check that the meta description is under 160 characters Check that the primary keyword is included in the meta description Is the H1 tag optimized? Click on the “H1” tab. Look for the “H1-1” column result and check for both number of H1 tags and keyword Check that there is only ONE H1 tag in the page Check that the primary keyword is included in the H1 tag Are the images optimized? Make sure all your images have an alt text so that Google and other search engines can identify what these images are about. Click on the “Images” tab and select from the filter “Missing Alt Test” and you will find a list of images that do not have an alt text. Check that all the images have descriptive and user-friendly filenames. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself “can I guess what this image is if I just read the filename?” This is an example of a user-friendly filename This is an example of a user-UNFRIENDLY filename
03▸ Check keywords in the body copy
Is the primary keyword mentioned at least 2-3 times in the page? Open the page in your browser and hit command+F in your keyboard if you’re using a Mac, or control+F if you’re using a Windows computer. This will open the browser’s “find” search box.
Type in the primary keyword and check that it’s included at least 2 or 3 times. Is the page not over-optimized? Follow the same process described in the previous step. The primary keyword should not be included more than 8-9 times. Does the page include Latent Semantic Index keywords? Open LSIGraph and input the primary keyword
Look for the 2-3 keywords that are most relevant to the topic of the page Use the “find” search box in your browser to check if the page includes those keywords
04▸ Check links on the page
Are there internal links using descriptive anchor text? If you add a link from page A to another on your site, page B (aka an internal link), some of the authority from page A passes to page B. That’s why it’s a good idea to add links to other pages of your site whenever it makes sense. The anchor text, or text you use to link, also matters, so try to include your keyword and avoid generic phrases like “click here” or “this post.” Is the page free of broken links? Use the * Broken Link Checker* to check for broken links on the page.
If there are broken links on the page, it’ll show the error report underneath the page. [Optional] Are there outbound links pointing to high-authority and relevant sites? This is a controversial tactic, but it’s one of our favorite ones. We’ve found that whenever I link to authoritative websites in our industry/niche, it helps our rankings (even if we're competing against them).
05▸ Optimize for recency and UX signals
Is the content updated regularly to maintain relevancy? Google has announced that "fresh content" ranks higher than "stale" content. Updating old content that's performed well in the past can often boost results. Is there a strong call-to-action (CTA) that guides users to the next step? Including a powerful CTA reduces the chances of a user returning to Google after viewing your content ("bouncing"). A lower bounce rate is a positive ranking signal. [Optional] Are breadcrumbs implemented to enhance user navigation and SEO? If relevant, including breadcrumbs can help visitors navigate to other pages on your site, decreasing bounce rates. Is there sufficient white space in the content layout to improve readability? Readability improves dwell time (the time users spend on your page), which is a positive ranking signal for Google.
Technical Optimization Audit
01▸ Is the page indexed?
Open Google.com
Type ‘site:’ followed by the page URL in the search box
Hit “enter” and check the search results.
- If the page is indexed, it will show up in the results
- If the page is NOT indexed, it will not show up in the search results
02▸ Does the page pass the Chrome Lighthouse audit?
Access Chrome DevTools: Open your Chrome browser and navigate to the web page you want to audit. Right-click on any part of the page and select "Inspect" from the drop-down menu. This action will prompt the Chrome DevTools panel to appear. Navigate to Lighthouse: In the toolbar of the DevTools panel, look for and select "Lighthouse." If you don't immediately see it, click on the two arrows at the end of the toolbar to display hidden options where "Lighthouse" can be found. Choose Audit Categories: Once in Lighthouse, you can select specific areas to audit, such as performance, accessibility, best practices, or SEO. Depending on your requirements, you can choose one, multiple, or all categories to audit. Analyze Page Load: After selecting your desired audit categories, click on the "Analyze" or "Run audits" button. This command will prompt Lighthouse to generate a detailed report on your web page, evaluating its performance in the chosen categories. Review Audit Results: The generated report will provide audit scores and breakdowns of your web page's performance in each selected category. You can review the results to identify areas for improvement and actionable insights to optimize your web page.
03▸ Is the page URL free of redirect issues?
Type the exact URL of the page in Chrome and load it.
Click on the Redirect Path Chrome Extension
Check that the page loads without 302 redirects or redirect chains
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This is an example of a 302 redirect (not optimal)
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This is an example of a redirect chain (more than 1 redirect - not optimal)
Any other type of redirect that is not a 301 is also not optimal.
04▸ [Optional] Is Google Analytics properly tracking sessions on the page?
Note: You will only be able to check this if you have access to this site's Google Tag Manager container.
Open the page URL using Google Chrome.
Click on the Google Tag Assistant Companion.
A new page will appear where you can verify the URL and click "Connect"
You'll get redirected to your site on a new tab; you'll see the following popup on the bottom right:
Navigate back to the "Tag Assistant" tab on your browser and click "Continue"
You should see your Google Analytics tag firing under the "Tags" tab.
05▸ If there are ads on the page, are they user-friendly?
Check that any ads are not above the fold (i.e., the top area of the page that’s visible when the page loads) and do not obstruct viewing the content of the page.
- Here’s an example of a page without ads above the fold
- Here’s an example of a page with a ton of ads above the fold that obstruct viewing the content of the page.
06▸ Is the website’s sitemap up-to-date and submitted to search engines?
An XML sitemap helps search engines understand the structure of your site and find all the pages you want to be indexed. You can use Google Search Console to submit your sitemap to Google: If you don't have a sitemap yet, check out SOP 055: How to Setup and Optimize an XML Sitemap (web version).
07▸ Is the robots.txt file properly set up to guide search engine crawlers effectively?
A robots.txt file, together with your XML sitemap, will specify what actions crawlers are allowed to do on each page on your site. You can control how a search engine crawls and indexes your site by including one in the top-level directory. For example, you can block Google from crawling your WordPress login URL: These directions can be specified for different types of crawlers, allowing you to establish different protocols for different search engines. If you haven't set up a robots.txt file, check out SOP 057: How to Setup the Perfect Robots.txt File (web version).
08▸ Is the website using HTTPS to secure user data?
To make the web “safer” for users, Google has pushed for more websites to use HTTPS. So, you might see a slight ranking boost by switching from HTTP to HTTPS.
Pro-tip: if you’re starting a new site, you should use HTTPS right away and save yourself the trouble of switching later on. If you need to switch your site to HTTPS, contact your hosting provider and ask the best way to get this done.
09▸ [Optional] Are 404 error pages optimized to guide lost users back to useful resources?
404 pages are shown when a user follows a broken link (maybe to a resource that no longer exists or because of a typo in the URL.) Creating a custom 404 page that gives users links to some of your best content, is an easy way to try and salvage some of that traffic.
Off-Page Optimization Audit
For the off-page optimization audit, we will use ahrefs to find and analyze backlinks, but the same can be accomplished using tools like SEMRush, Open Site Explorer, or Majestic.
To start, open ahrefs and enter the page URL in the search box.
After searching, make sure that the selector next to the search box is set to “Exact URL”
If there are no links to the page URL you are auditing, you can skip all of the following questions, mark them all as “Needs work” on the spreadsheet, and add a note mentioning “No backlinks.”
01▸ Do the backlinks come from trustworthy sites?
Click on the “Backlinks” option on the left sidebar
Check that at least half of the backlinks come from sites with DR (domain ratings) above 30
02▸ Are the backlinks from contextually relevant sites?
Stay in the “Backlinks” section and click on the top 10 links listed on the page to open those URLs
Check that the site linking back has a somewhat similar or relevant topic to the topic on the page you are auditing
- Example of a contextually relevant site: A site about starting a business or entrepreneurship or education linking to a page about creating an online course.
- Example of a non-contextually relevant site: A site that sells construction equipment linking to a page about creating an online course.
- At least 50% of the top 10 links should come from contextually relevant sites.
03▸ Are the backlinks from sites regularly updated with fresh content?
Just like with your own content, if the sites linking back to your site keep their content up-to-date, they're likely to pass more authority to your page. Open a few of the most relevant backlinks on ahrefs and check the last update date of the page.
04▸ Are most backlinks 'dofollow' links that pass SEO value to your site?
Google implemented "dofollow" and "nofollow" links to avoid link spamming. Ideally, most of the links to your page should be "dofollow" type. You can check that in ahrefs, by making sure most links don't mention "NOFOLLOW"
05▸ Are the backlinks NOT going through redirect chains?
Stay in the “Backlinks” tab and check that no more than 20% of all backlinks pointing to the page go through more than 1 redirect (i.e. if there are 10 backlinks, only up to 2 links can go through more than 1 redirect)
This is how a redirect chain (more than 1 redirect) looks like under the “Anchor and backlink” column
06▸ Is anchor text distribution natural?
Click on the “Anchors” link in the left sidebar
We will focus only on the “Anchor text” and the “Referring domains” columns
Use cmd+F in a Mac or control+F on a Windows computer, to open the “Find” search box.
Type the primary target keyword in the search box
Add up the percentages of the “Referring domains” column for Anchor texts that contain the exact primary target keyword (the find function should’ve highlighted them)
The total percentage of referring domains linking with the exact primary target keyword should be lower than 50%.