10 Solutions to Audit Your Website to Increase Search Rankings

Improve Your SEO

All the effort you invest in researching, writing, and publishing content can be undermined by hidden technical SEO issues.

Through years of experience and testing, ToTheWeb has identified 21 critical issues across 10 categories that you should audit to ensure your web pages are fully optimized for better visibility in search engines.

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1. Ensure Your Pages Can Be Indexed – Be #1

Make sure your important pages aren’t being blocked from Google by mistake.

✅ Audit Actions:

• Check your index status:
  Use the Index Status report in Google Search Console to see how many pages Google has crawled. A healthy site shows a growing number of indexed pages over time.

• Review site and URL errors:
  Use the Coverage and URL Inspection reports in Google Search Console to locate indexing issues or crawl errors.

• Check your robots.txt file:
  Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt and ensure critical directories or pages are not being disallowed.

• Search your website in Google:
  Type site:yourdomain.com in Google to see which pages are currently indexed.

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2. Secure Your Website

Google favors websites secured with HTTPS.

✅ Audit Actions:

• Install an SSL certificate and migrate your website to HTTPS.

• HTTPS provides encrypted, secure communication between the browser and server—enhancing user trust and SEO.

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3. Check Your Meta Data

A single misplaced noindex tag can prevent a page from appearing in search results.

✅ Audit Actions:

• Check source code:
  Look for the tag:
  <meta name="robots" content="noindex">
  Remove this tag from any pages you want indexed.

• Use Screaming Frog:
  Run a full audit using Screaming Frog SEO Spider to scan for meta tag issues and ensure your pages are indexable.

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4. Audit Your Link Profile

Your search rankings depend heavily on earning links from authoritative domains.

✅ Audit Actions:

• Conduct a full backlink audit using Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or SEMrush.

• Monitor the quality and growth of your link profile over time.

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5. Optimize Site Speed

Search engines favor fast websites—and so do users. A delay of even a few seconds can cause visitors to abandon your site.

✅ Audit Actions:

• Use speed testing tools:
  Pingdom, GTmetrix, and Google PageSpeed Insights.

• Optimize your performance by:

  • Compressing image files

  • Removing unnecessary plugins (especially for WordPress)

  • Eliminating redirect chains

  • Reducing JavaScript bloat

📊 Load Time Benchmarks (Source: Pingdom):

• 2 seconds = faster than 70% of sites

• 3 seconds = faster than 54%

• 6 seconds = faster than only 27%

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6. Ditch Duplicate Content

Duplicate content weakens the authority of your primary URL and hurts rankings.

✅ Audit Actions:

• Use the canonical tag to indicate the preferred version of duplicate or similar pages.

• Prevent content duplication across multiple URLs by standardizing link structures and page paths.

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7. Remove Low-Value Pages

Every indexed page should offer unique, rich content with relevant keywords.

✅ Audit Actions:

• De-index thin or low-quality pages (e.g., campaign landing pages without substantial content).

• Use 301 redirects to consolidate weak pages into stronger, content-rich URLs.

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8. Create Useful Internal Links

An organized internal linking structure supports better navigation and improves rankings.

✅ Audit Actions:

• Use descriptive anchor text that reflects the keywords of the target page.

• Interlink pages to distribute authority and guide visitors through relevant content.

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9. Optimize for Mobile

Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning your mobile site is prioritized in rankings.

✅ Audit Actions:

• Implement a responsive design that adapts to all screen sizes.

• Use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test and Search Console's Mobile Usability report to find and fix mobile-related issues.

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10. Master the Basics

Don’t overlook the foundational elements of SEO. These still carry a lot of weight.

✅ Audit Actions:

• Write unique title tags for each page, including a primary keyword.

  • Note: Title length has recently expanded—up to 75 characters (measured in pixels).
    Use a title pixel calculator to preview how your title appears in search results.

• Use keywords effectively in:

  • Headings

  • Subheadings

  • Body copy

  • URLs

• Write compelling meta descriptions that include keywords and encourage clicks—but avoid duplicating on-page content.

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🛠️ Tools & Resources Referenced

Tool/Service	URL
Google Search Console	https://www.google.com/webmasters/
Screaming Frog	https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/
Ahrefs	https://ahrefs.com/
SEMrush	https://www.semrush.com/
Pingdom	https://www.pingdom.com/
GTmetrix	https://gtmetrix.com/
Google Mobile-Friendly	https://search.google.com/search-console/mobile-friendly

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