Conducting a comprehensive SEO audit is crucial for maintaining and improving your website’s search engine performance. With the right tools and approach, you can uncover hidden issues, identify opportunities for growth, and develop a data-driven strategy to boost your online visibility. This guide will walk you through a 16-step SEO audit process using Ahrefs, one of the most powerful SEO toolsets available.
Comprehensive site crawl with ahrefs site audit tool
The first step in any thorough SEO audit is to perform a comprehensive crawl of your website. Ahrefs Site Audit tool is designed to simulate how search engines crawl your site, providing invaluable insights into its structure, content, and technical aspects. By analysing these elements, you can identify and address issues that may be hindering your site’s performance in search results.
To begin, set up a new project in Ahrefs Site Audit and configure the crawl settings to match your site’s structure. Pay close attention to the crawl scope, ensuring that all important pages are included while excluding any sections you don’t want to be analysed. Once the crawl is complete, you’ll have access to a wealth of data about your site’s health and performance.
A thorough site crawl is the foundation of any successful SEO audit, revealing both obvious and hidden issues that impact your search visibility.
Technical SEO analysis using ahrefs site explorer
After completing the initial crawl, it’s time to dive deeper into the technical aspects of your site’s SEO. Ahrefs Site Explorer provides a comprehensive set of tools for analysing various technical elements that influence your search engine rankings. By addressing these issues, you can create a solid foundation for your SEO efforts.
Identifying indexation issues and crawl errors
One of the most critical aspects of technical SEO is ensuring that search engines can properly crawl and index your site. Use Ahrefs Site Explorer to identify pages that are not being indexed or are experiencing crawl errors. Common issues include:
- Pages blocked by robots.txt
- Noindex tags
- Canonical tag errors
- Orphaned pages
- Broken internal links
By addressing these issues, you can improve your site’s crawlability and ensure that all important pages are being properly indexed by search engines.
Evaluating site architecture and internal linking structure
A well-structured website with a logical internal linking strategy helps both users and search engines navigate your content effectively. Use Ahrefs Site Explorer to analyse your site’s architecture and identify opportunities to improve your internal linking. Look for:
Shallow site structure: Ensure that important pages are not buried too deep within your site hierarchy. Aim for a flat structure where key pages are accessible within 3-4 clicks from the homepage.
Orphaned pages: Identify and link to pages that are not connected to your main site structure. These pages may have valuable content but are unlikely to be discovered by users or search engines.
Link equity distribution: Analyse how link equity is flowing through your site and adjust your internal linking strategy to prioritise important pages.
Assessing page speed and core web vitals
Page speed and user experience metrics have become increasingly important ranking factors. Use Ahrefs Site Audit in conjunction with Google’s PageSpeed Insights to evaluate your site’s performance. Focus on improving key metrics such as:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- First Input Delay (FID)
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
- Time to First Byte (TTFB)
Optimising these metrics can lead to improved user experience and better search engine rankings.
Analyzing Mobile-Friendliness and responsive design
With mobile traffic accounting for a significant portion of web usage, ensuring your site is mobile-friendly is crucial. Use Ahrefs Site Audit to check for mobile usability issues and responsive design problems. Pay attention to:
Viewport configuration: Ensure that your pages are properly configured for different screen sizes.
Touch elements: Check that buttons and links are easily tappable on mobile devices.
Content scaling: Verify that text and images scale appropriately on smaller screens.
On-page SEO optimization with ahrefs content explorer
Once you’ve addressed the technical aspects of your site, it’s time to focus on optimising your content for search engines and users. Ahrefs Content Explorer is an invaluable tool for conducting thorough on-page SEO analysis and identifying opportunities for improvement.
Conducting keyword research and topic clustering
Effective keyword research is the foundation of successful on-page SEO. Use Ahrefs Keywords Explorer to identify relevant keywords and topics for your content. Consider the following factors:
Search volume: Focus on keywords with sufficient search volume to drive traffic to your site.
Keyword difficulty: Balance high-volume keywords with those that are more attainable based on your site’s current authority.
Search intent: Ensure that your content aligns with the user’s search intent for each target keyword.
Once you’ve identified your target keywords, use topic clustering to organise your content around main themes. This approach helps establish topical authority and improves your site’s overall relevance for key subjects.
Evaluating title tags and meta descriptions
Title tags and meta descriptions play a crucial role in attracting clicks from search engine results pages (SERPs). Use Ahrefs Site Audit to identify pages with missing, duplicate, or poorly optimised metadata. When optimising these elements:
- Include target keywords naturally in title tags and meta descriptions
- Keep title tags under 60 characters and meta descriptions under 160 characters
- Create compelling, action-oriented copy that encourages clicks
- Ensure each page has unique metadata that accurately reflects its content
Analyzing content quality and relevance
High-quality, relevant content is essential for both user satisfaction and search engine rankings. Use Ahrefs Content Explorer to analyse your existing content and identify areas for improvement. Consider factors such as:
Content length: Compare your content length to top-ranking pages for your target keywords. Aim to provide comprehensive coverage of the topic.
Keyword usage: Ensure that target keywords are used naturally throughout the content, including in headings, body text, and image alt tags.
Freshness: Regularly update and improve existing content to maintain its relevance and authority.
Optimizing header tags and content structure
Proper use of header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) helps structure your content for both users and search engines. Use Ahrefs Site Audit to identify issues with header tag usage and optimise your content structure:
Use a single H1 tag for the main title of each page
Structure content logically with H2 and H3 tags to create a clear hierarchy
Include target keywords in header tags where appropriate
Ensure that header tags accurately reflect the content that follows them
Backlink profile analysis using ahrefs site explorer
A strong backlink profile is crucial for establishing authority and improving search engine rankings. Ahrefs Site Explorer provides powerful tools for analysing your backlink profile and identifying opportunities for improvement.
Evaluating domain rating and URL rating metrics
Ahrefs’ Domain Rating (DR) and URL Rating (UR) metrics provide valuable insights into the strength of your site’s backlink profile. Use these metrics to:
Assess your site’s overall link authority compared to competitors
Identify high-value pages that may benefit from internal linking or content updates
Prioritise link building efforts towards improving your site’s overall authority
Identifying toxic backlinks and implementing disavow strategy
Not all backlinks are beneficial; some can actually harm your site’s search engine rankings. Use Ahrefs Site Explorer to identify potentially toxic backlinks:
Look for links from low-quality or spammy domains
Identify unnatural linking patterns or sudden spikes in backlink acquisition
Check for over-optimised anchor text that may appear manipulative
Once you’ve identified toxic backlinks, consider implementing a disavow strategy to protect your site from potential penalties.
Analyzing competitor backlink profiles for opportunities
Studying your competitors’ backlink profiles can reveal valuable link building opportunities. Use Ahrefs Site Explorer to:
Identify high-quality domains linking to your competitors
Analyse the types of content that attract links in your industry
Discover guest posting or partnership opportunities
By replicating successful link building strategies and targeting relevant, authoritative domains, you can improve your site’s backlink profile and overall search engine performance.
Competitive analysis with ahrefs tools suite
Understanding your competitive landscape is crucial for developing an effective SEO strategy. Ahrefs offers a suite of tools that enable you to conduct thorough competitive analysis and identify opportunities for growth.
Comparing domain metrics and organic traffic
Use Ahrefs Site Explorer to compare your site’s domain metrics and organic traffic with those of your competitors. Pay attention to:
Domain Rating (DR): Assess how your site’s overall authority compares to competitors
Organic traffic: Analyse traffic trends and identify areas where competitors are outperforming you
Keyword rankings: Compare your keyword portfolio with competitors to find gaps and opportunities
Identifying content gaps and keyword opportunities
Ahrefs’ Content Gap tool is invaluable for uncovering keywords that your competitors rank for but you don’t. Use this information to:
Identify new content opportunities that align with your audience’s interests
Discover untapped keyword niches within your industry
Prioritise content creation efforts based on potential traffic and competition
Analyzing Top-Performing pages and content strategies
Study your competitors’ top-performing pages to gain insights into successful content strategies. Use Ahrefs Top Pages report to:
Identify content formats and topics that resonate with your target audience
Analyse the structure and depth of high-ranking content
Discover opportunities to create more comprehensive or up-to-date content on similar topics
Implementing SEO recommendations and tracking progress
After conducting a thorough SEO audit and competitive analysis, it’s time to implement your findings and track your progress over time. Ahrefs provides tools to help you monitor your SEO performance and iterate on your strategy.
Setting up custom reports in ahrefs dashboard
Create custom reports in Ahrefs Dashboard to track key metrics and KPIs relevant to your SEO goals. Consider including:
Organic traffic growth
Keyword ranking improvements
Backlink acquisition and loss
Page speed and Core Web Vitals metrics
By regularly reviewing these reports, you can quickly identify trends and areas that require attention.
Monitoring ranking changes and organic traffic growth
Use Ahrefs Rank Tracker to monitor your keyword rankings and organic traffic growth over time. Pay attention to:
Overall visibility trends
Performance for specific keyword clusters
Impact of SEO changes on rankings and traffic
By closely monitoring these metrics, you can assess the effectiveness of your SEO efforts and make data-driven decisions to improve your strategy.
Iterating on SEO strategy based on ahrefs data insights
SEO is an ongoing process that requires continuous refinement and adaptation. Use the insights gained from Ahrefs tools to:
Identify new opportunities for content creation and optimisation
Refine your link building strategy based on successful tactics
Adjust your technical SEO approach to address emerging issues
By consistently analysing your data and iterating on your strategy, you can stay ahead of the competition and continue to improve your search engine visibility.