Run a Complete SEO Audit for Your Website
Your website exists but Google acts like it doesn't. You're not sure what's broken — is it technical issues, missing keywords, bad content, or something else entirely? Here's how to run a full SEO audit that tells you exactly what's wrong and how to fix it, step by step.
Tools You'll Need
| Tool | What It Does | Cost | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE Ranking | All-in-one SEO platform — site audit, rank tracking, keyword research, competitor analysis, and backlink monitoring | $44–$88/month (14-day free trial) | Get it → |
The Walkthrough
Step 1: Set Up Your Project
What to do: Sign up at SE Ranking and create a new project. Enter your website URL. Add your target keywords (the phrases you want to rank for). Connect Google Analytics and Google Search Console if you have them — this gives SE Ranking access to your real traffic data.
Why you’re doing it: SE Ranking needs to know your site and your goals. The target keywords you add become what the platform tracks and measures against.
What to expect: 15 minutes for setup. If you don’t have Google Analytics or Search Console set up yet, you can still run the audit — but you’ll get more insights with them connected.
Step 2: Run the Site Audit
What to do: Go to the Site Audit section and start a crawl. SE Ranking scans every page of your website and checks for 120+ technical issues: broken links, missing meta tags, slow pages, duplicate content, missing alt text, crawl errors, and more.
Why you’re doing it: Technical SEO problems are invisible to you but not to Google. A single broken link or missing title tag can hurt your rankings. The audit finds everything.
What to expect: 10–30 minutes depending on site size. The results come back as a scored report with issues sorted by severity — critical, warning, and notice.
Common mistakes: Panicking at the number of issues. Every website has them. Focus on the critical issues first — those have the biggest impact on rankings.
Step 3: Fix Critical Technical Issues
What to do: Work through the critical issues first. Common fixes include adding missing title tags and meta descriptions to pages, fixing broken links (update or remove them), compressing images that are too large, and adding alt text to images.
Why you’re doing it: Critical issues directly hurt your ability to rank. Fixing them removes the roadblocks between your content and Google’s search results.
What to expect: 1–3 hours depending on how many critical issues exist. Most fixes are simple — adding a few lines of text or updating a link.
Step 4: Analyze Your Keyword Rankings
What to do: Go to the Keyword Rank Tracker. SE Ranking shows where you currently rank for each target keyword, whether your rankings are improving or declining, and which pages rank for which keywords.
Why you’re doing it: You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Rank tracking shows you what’s working (keep doing it) and what’s not (fix it).
What to expect: Daily rank updates once tracking is set up. Meaningful trends appear after 2–4 weeks of data.
Step 5: Research and Outrank Competitors
What to do: Use the Competitor Analysis tool. Enter 2–3 competitor URLs. SE Ranking shows you every keyword they rank for, their top-performing pages, their backlink sources, and gaps where they rank but you don’t.
Why you’re doing it: Your competitors’ SEO strategy is visible through their rankings. Find keywords they rank for that you’re missing, and create better content for those terms.
Use this prompt to prioritize your SEO fixes: Ask Claude: “Here are the SEO audit findings for my website: [paste your audit results]. I run a [business type] and my main goal is [more traffic / local visibility / rank for specific keywords]. Prioritize these issues by impact. For the top 5: give me the specific fix, why it matters, and a realistic time estimate to implement.”
What to expect: Competitor reports generate in minutes. Export keyword gaps as your content roadmap.
Confidence Level
This workflow is Beta — Based on Best Available Knowledge. SE Ranking is a well-established all-in-one SEO platform with comprehensive audit, tracking, and research features. The platform is used by agencies and small businesses. Pricing reflects February 2026 plans.
What to Do If It Doesn’t Work
- Too many issues to fix: Start with critical issues only. Ignore warnings and notices until the critical ones are resolved.
- Rankings aren’t improving after fixes: Technical fixes remove barriers, but you still need quality content. Pair this workflow with content creation.
- Site audit shows errors you don’t understand: SE Ranking explains each issue in plain language. Click the “How to fix” link next to each error.
- Need more help? SE Ranking Support or email us at hello@thenewsbakery.com.