Quick answer
An SEO audit includes crawling and indexing, on-page relevance against target keywords, content quality, internal linking, page experience and Core Web Vitals, structured data, AI crawler access, and often backlinks and competitors. The deliverables are a prioritised findings list with fixes, page-level detail, a 30-60-90 day plan and a baseline to measure against.
"An SEO audit" can mean a two-minute automated scan or a six-week project, and both are sold under the same name. That makes it hard for clients to compare quotes and easy for providers to underdeliver without technically breaking a promise. The way round it is to know what a complete audit covers and to agree the scope in writing before anyone starts.
This guide lists what an SEO audit should include, what simpler audits leave out, and the deliverables you should expect at the end. It is part of the SEO audit report template guide.
What does an SEO audit include? Why scope comes first
Most disappointment with SEO audits comes from mismatched expectations rather than bad work. The client expected content recommendations and got a technical crawl. The agency expected to review 50 key pages and the client expected all 3,000. The audit "didn't cover backlinks" because nobody said it would.
A written scope fixes three things before work begins: which parts of the site are covered, which areas of SEO are covered, and what the final deliverable looks like. It also sets the price, since the cost of an SEO audit depends mostly on URL count and depth.
Insight: Every scope should include a line saying what is not covered. "This audit does not include backlink analysis or server logs" saves an argument three weeks later.
The nine areas a complete SEO audit covers
| Area | What it checks | Included in basic audits? |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Crawling and indexing | robots.txt, sitemaps, status codes, noindex, canonicals, Search Console index status | Partly; index status needs Search Console access |
| 2. On-page relevance | Title, H1, opening copy and subheadings against each page's target keyword | Rarely; needs a keyword per page |
| 3. Content quality | Depth versus ranking pages, thin and duplicate pages, freshness, answer-first structure | No |
| 4. Internal linking | Orphan pages, click depth, anchor text, links to redirects and 404s | Partly |
| 5. Page experience | Core Web Vitals from real users, mobile usability, HTTPS | Lab data only, usually |
| 6. Structured data | Types present, required properties, match with visible content | Presence only |
| 7. AI search readiness | AI crawler access, content in raw HTML, Organization details | Rarely |
| 8. Backlinks | Referring domains, link quality, toxic patterns, lost links | Sometimes as a summary |
| 9. Competitors | Content and structure gaps against the pages that rank | No |
A "technical SEO audit" usually covers areas 1, 4, 5 and 6; the technical SEO audit checklist lists those checks in detail. A full audit covers all nine. The complete check list behind areas 1 to 7 is in the SEO audit checklist.
Deliverables you should expect
Findings alone aren't a deliverable. A complete audit hands over:
- An executive summary: the headline problem and the top three to five fixes, in business terms.
- A baseline: indexed pages, clicks, impressions and positions for key pages, from Search Console.
- A prioritised findings list: one row per root cause, with impact, pages affected, the fix and an owner.
- Page-level detail for the most important pages: current values and exact replacements.
- A 30-60-90 day plan with verification steps.
- The raw data: the full crawl or tool export, for reference.
- A walkthrough: a call or recording explaining the findings, usually included in professional audits.
If a quote doesn't mention prioritisation, a plan or a walkthrough, ask. Those three items are where most of the value is, and where cheap audits cut corners.
How to scope an SEO audit in 6 steps
- State the business goal the audit supports, such as recovering lost traffic, preparing a migration or growing leads from search.
- Define the URL scope: the whole domain, specific sections, or a list of key pages, with an approximate page count.
- Choose the areas from the nine above, and list any excluded areas explicitly.
- List the target keyword for each key page, or agree that keyword mapping is part of the work.
- Agree access: Search Console, analytics, the CMS or code repository, and server logs if needed.
- Agree the deliverables and dates in writing, including the walkthrough call and any follow-up review.
Check your own page
Seotific audits a URL against the keyword it should rank for and lists the fixes in order of impact. Free plan, no card.
Run a free auditTypes of SEO audit and what each includes
Some audits are defined by a situation rather than a scope. Each emphasises different areas from the list.
| Audit type | Emphasis | Typical extra checks | When you need it | Seotific's role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full SEO audit | All nine areas | Competitor gaps, backlinks | Annually, or when traffic stalls | Covers areas 1 to 7 per page, plus competitor gap |
| Technical audit | Crawling, indexing, rendering, speed | Log files, crawl budget | Large sites; after platform changes | Site crawls with rendering and impact scoring |
| On-page and content audit | Relevance and content quality | Keyword mapping, cannibalisation | Pages indexed but not ranking | Keyword-aware audit per page |
| Migration audit | Redirects, URL mapping, parity | Pre- and post-launch crawls | Before and after a redesign or domain move | Re-audits compare before and after |
| Local SEO audit | Location pages, LocalBusiness data, profiles | Business profile and citations | Businesses serving areas in person | On-page and schema checks for location pages |
| AI search audit | Crawler access, raw HTML, answer structure | Citation checks in ChatGPT and Perplexity | Brands losing visibility in AI answers | AI crawler checks and answer-first checks |
What an SEO audit usually doesn't include
Even full audits often leave out work that clients assume is part of it:
- Implementation. Fixing is normally separate and often costs more than finding, especially for development work.
- Keyword research from scratch. An audit checks pages against keywords; building a full keyword strategy is a separate project unless scoped in.
- Content writing. The audit says which pages need what; writing them is extra.
- Link building. A backlink review says what you have; earning new links is ongoing work.
- Guarantees. No honest audit guarantees rankings. It identifies what's holding the site back.
Make these explicit in the scope, either as exclusions or as optional follow-on work. A useful pattern is to price the audit on its own and list implementation as a separate, optional line with an hourly rate or a fixed fee for the top fixes, so the client can see both and choose. If you deliver audits for clients, the white label SEO audit report guide covers how to package the deliverables under your brand.
Questions that clarify scope with a provider
If you are buying an audit, these questions turn a vague proposal into a clear one. If you are selling, answering them in the proposal before they're asked wins work.
- How many pages will be reviewed by a person, as opposed to crawled automatically?
- Will each important page be checked against a target keyword, and who supplies the keywords?
- Is JavaScript rendering checked, and how?
- Will AI crawler access be checked, given how many sites now block AI search by accident?
- What format do the findings come in, and can the team work from a spreadsheet?
- How are findings prioritised? Ask for the method, not just the word "prioritised".
- What happens after delivery? A walkthrough call, a review of fixes, and how long questions are answered.
Tools that cover the audit areas
Search Console is essential for areas 1 and 5 and supplies the baseline. A crawler covers areas 1, 4 and 6 at scale. A backlink tool (Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz) covers area 8. PageSpeed Insights covers area 5 for individual URLs.
Seotific covers areas 1 to 7 on each audited page with a target keyword, renders JavaScript in a real browser, weights findings by impact and writes the fix. Its competitor gap compares a page with the pages that rank for its keyword, which covers much of area 9. Backlink data is limited, so pair it with a backlink tool when area 8 is in scope.
Frequently asked questions
What does an SEO audit include?
An SEO audit includes checks on crawling and indexing, on-page relevance, content quality, internal links, page experience, structured data and AI crawler access, and often backlinks and competitors. A professional audit also delivers prioritised findings, a plan and a walkthrough.
What is the difference between an SEO audit and a website audit?
A website audit can cover anything about a site, including security, accessibility, design and conversion. An SEO audit focuses on what affects visibility in search engines. There is overlap, such as speed, mobile usability and broken links, but the goals differ.
Does an SEO audit include keyword research?
It includes checking pages against their target keywords. Full keyword research, finding new keywords and mapping them to pages, is usually a separate project unless it's written into the scope. Ask which one a quote covers.
Does an SEO audit include fixing the problems?
Usually not. The audit identifies and prioritises problems and says how to fix them. Implementation is normally quoted separately, because it depends on the client's platform, developers and how many changes they choose to make.
How detailed should an SEO audit be?
Detailed enough that someone can act on each finding without asking you what you meant: the URL, the current value, the change and how to verify it. Beyond that, more detail rarely helps. A focused list of 20 actionable findings is worth more than 400 unprioritised ones.
What information does an SEO auditor need from me?
Access to Google Search Console, analytics, and ideally the CMS. Also your business goals, the pages that matter most, the keywords you want them to rank for and any planned changes such as a redesign. Without Search Console, an audit can't confirm what Google has actually indexed.
Check your own page
Seotific audits a URL against the keyword it should rank for and lists the fixes in order of impact. Free plan, no card.
Run a free audit