SEO Audit Checklist

Checklist structure

120 items split across 4 sections, scored from 0-3. Total possible score: 360. Anything under 240 means you have meaningful work to do.

• Technical SEO: 40 items (crawl, index, render, Core Web Vitals)
• On-page SEO: 35 items (titles, meta, headings, schema, internal links)
• Off-page SEO: 25 items (backlinks, brand mentions, E-E-A-T signals)
• Content quality: 20 items (depth, freshness, intent match, originality)

How to use it

Print the PDF or duplicate the Google Sheet. Score each item 0-3 based on the criteria in the right-hand column. Item-level notes column captures owner and due date.

• 0 = not done or broken
• 1 = partially done, needs work
• 2 = done but could be improved
• 3 = best-in-class, no action needed

Auto-fill from Workexe

Connect your Workexe project and 60% of items auto-populate from Site Audit, Position Tracking, and Backlink Audit. Manual items are flagged with a 👤 icon.

• Technical items pull from latest crawl (within 7 days)
• Backlink items pull from Backlink Audit module
• Content items require manual review for nuance
• Re-run anytime, deltas highlighted in yellow

Scoring benchmarks

We tested the checklist against 500 real websites. Use these benchmarks to calibrate expectations.

• 300-360: Top 5% (enterprise SEO programs)
• 240-299: Healthy (most growing brands)
• 180-239: Below average (clear opportunities)
• Under 180: Needs immediate action across multiple areas

Typical audit timeline

A first-time full audit takes 4-8 hours for a 100-page site, 12-20 hours for a 1000+ page site. Recurring quarterly audits using the same checklist take 2-3 hours once you have a baseline.