SEO Audit Report Sample: How Should Your Audit Look Like?

Either way, it’s time to get serious. Putting together a good SEO audit report takes some serious skills, and not everyone knows where to even start.

The good news is that anyone can pull it off once they understand what it is and what it should look like – which is exactly what our SEO audit report sample is for. So, let’s jump in.

SEO audit report sample: What is it, and why do you need it?

An SEO audit report sample is exactly what the name implies — a template of an SEO report that you can customize to suit your own needs or your clients (if you are working for someone else).

This is where you say, “Back up, what’s even an SEO report?” — if you are a newbie (we were all newbies at some point, so no judgment). But you are right, so let’s get the basics out of the way first.

An SEO audit report is basically a summary of the most important SEO metrics that show how well your website is doing in search engine result pages. It’s a report card of your website's health.

If you are following so far, then you know why you need it. It’s the only way to:

✔ Judge how successful your SEO strategy is:

This includes how well you are ranking for your target keywords over time, conversion rates, and more.

✔ Get solid data to create a more powerful SEO strategy:

Let’s face it — SEO tactics are constantly shapeshifting, and you are going to need a whole lot of accurate data to make the right calls.

✔ Figure out how to allocate your resources better, so they make the most impact:

This is very important as you don’t want to waste your marketing budget on campaigns that won’t bring good results.

Basically, an SEO report is your very own map that shows your travel history and points you to the best path to take to reach your goals faster.

Must-haves for SEO audit report

Okay, so what should you include in your SEO audit report? Your report should show both on-page and off-page metrics — this includes everything from content quality and target keywords to the health of your backlinks profile and your page speed.

Sounds like a lot? Here’s a handy checklist to break it down:

Executive summary

This should come right after your title card and highlight the most important information in the report. Most SEO experts recommend you use bullet points to make it skimmable.

Tips:

• Make sure the title card (i.e., the cover of your report) is eye-catching, or they might not bother to get to this part — you want the clients to “swipe right” on your report.
• It’s okay to brag about your key wins — just include the numbers to back it up.
• Try not to sugarcoat the challenges (if there are any) — but don’t lie to make yourself look like a hero either.
• Keep it snappy — this is a highlights reel, not a full play-by-play of what went down.
• Combine both text and visuals for better presentation:
• Here is what the visual part can look like:

• And here is the text part sample:

A concise performance summary

This part is where you show what your SEO performance looks like for a specified period of time. So, include SEO KPIs, like conversion rate, organic traffic, etc. This section should make it clear how much growth you’ve achieved during a particular period of time.

Tips:

• Use charts to provide visual aids — show month-over-month or year-over-year comparisons.
• Keep it factual — resist the temptation to play to your good side only if the SEO KPIs are not too impressive.
• Find the optimistic angle — even when the numbers are not so good, you can still stick to the facts and highlight the “learning experiences and growth opportunities” available.

Keyword rankings

If you want your report to be comprehensive, then you want to include how your rankings for your target keywords change over time. Don’t exaggerate anything. It’s normal to win some and lose some.

Tips:

• Show off the keywords that went up in rankings and new keywords you just started ranking for — no win is too small to celebrate.
• Include keywords that dropped in rankings — maybe blame it on the algorithm (just kidding).
• Include lost positions — focus on how these are temporary setbacks and how they present opportunities for overall improvements (do you even need those now?).

A full rundown on your links campaign results

The digital space can feel like a popularity contest for most brands — the winner gets to pull more traffic and make more sales.

Your SEO report is the part where you talk about how well your website (or your client’s) is doing in that popularity contest. Did you gain or lose any links within this period? Share that in detail here, along with an overview of your backlink profile.

Tips:

• Talk about your successes. Now would be a good time to brag a little about that link campaign you pulled off that brought all the boys...uh, traffic to the yard.
• Along with the quality links gained, show off the authority metrics — numbers paint a powerful, vivid picture.
• Don’t forget any relevant industry mentions — your new celebrity status is worth celebrating.
• Include lost links, new ideas for link reclamation, and other opportunities. Share your suggestions for pages you think might need more links and how you intend to pull off the next biggest link, “heist.”

Content performance summary

Content is still the king of the SEO world (or, at the very least, a duke), so it also deserves its own section in your report.

This part of the audit provides an overview of how your content has been doing on the web so far and helps break down performance metrics for your clients or yourself.

Tips:

• Shine the spotlight on your top-performing content pieces. You know, the ones that got read, converted and made the readers hang around longer than 3 seconds.
• Talk about your content gap analysis — your competitors can be your muse if you keep an open mind.
• Got any bright ideas? Share them, even if you’re not sure they will be approved.

Technical SEO

Poor technical SEO performance only leads to bad results. So, this section is a pretty big deal, even for non-nerds like us. Chances are your clients are going to care, too. If they don’t, explain them why they should.

Your metrics (i.e., Core Web Vitals, mobile friendliness rating, crawl stats, etc.) show the health of your site, so be careful not to overlook anything.

Tips:

• Highlight how all your technical parameters have contributed to a better (or worse) user experience. Resist the temptation to use a lot of technical terms so no one questions anything (it doesn’t work — we’ve tried).
• If there are any security issues affecting the site, bring them up and add your ideas for possible fixes to these issues.

Recommendations

You’ve done a lot of good work, and this is where you finish strong. Your recommendations should be based on the insights from your findings. This is your opportunity to show your expertise and experience.

If done well, you will gain your clients' trust and improve brand loyalty.

Tips:

• Outline clear tasks and strategies you think should be a high priority for the website.
• Include projected timelines for the next moves.

SEO mistakes to look out for in your audit

Now that you know what to include in a proper SEO audit report, what’s the next step? That’s easy. Let's look at some of the mistakes you need to keep an eye out for when doing your audit.

Basic SEO mistakes

Let’s start with the most common mistakes people make without even realizing it, especially when they are just dipping their feet into the whole SEO waters for the first time:

1. No strategy

Doing anything SEO related randomly is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. It is like starting off on a big trip to an unfamiliar country without any map (and no guide either).

Sure, it might sound like an adventure for you, but for a business, the cost is too high. Without a strategy, your website is going to become practically invisible and end up losing money.

Solution:

The answer is obvious, isn’t it? Start by drawing up a vision board showing where and when you want to take your website. Once you have your organic SEO goals sorted out, it’s easy to come up with a game plan for how to make that possible — this becomes your strategy.

Source: Ahrefs

Pro tip: Set realistic goals and targets for each one. “Become the #1 website for every keyword in my niche” is not a valid goal (even though it’s definitely an ambitious one). Besides, assign clear roles in your team – who is responsible for what?

2. No proper monitoring

Sometimes, the trouble is not doing things randomly but not keeping an eye on how things are working (or not). Since SEO constantly changes like a revolving door, you can’t afford to operate blindly.

Doing this is a surefire way to end up wasting your SEO investments and efforts. Instead, it makes more sense to ditch the head-in-the-sand approach and pick up a monitoring tool – even if you make a good impression of an ostrich.

Solution:

Become besties with some SEO monitoring tools. You don’t even need to break the bank if you go with Google Analytics and Google Search Console – they’re free. Yet, it’s also great if you can expand your software arsenal. So, what should you be monitoring?

• Rankings. You want to know the position your site has for your target keywords at any time. Use the Ahrefs and Semrush keyword trackers, or even just check manually in a private browsing window (if you’re a small business).

Source: Semrush

• User behavior. Keeping your eyes on how users interact with your site lets you hone in on what your target audience likes. This way, you can create better content and SEO strategies. Google Analytics and Hotjar are two tools that have got you covered.

Source: Hotjar

• Google Search Console errors. Even one technical error can affect the effectiveness of your site in Google search results. So, you want to catch and address them early with a Google Search Console.

Source: GSC

Sure, it might take a little time to figure out your way around the tools and make sense of the conversion metrics, but you’ll be happy you did.

The best part is they give you the data you need to make sound decisions — no need to go with your gut or what the horoscope says anymore.

Pro tip: Don’t just look at your own metrics and call it a day. Snoop around your competitors' websites, too. You never know what might inspire your next marketing campaign.

3. Being spammy

Some people hear SEO and go the other extreme — they add too many pop-ups on their page, spam forums with their links, and generally become annoying and aggressive with their promotional tactics.

It’s not a shocker that these types of practices often backfire. Instead of helping you build new bridges to new audiences, it simply burns any chance you have of ever forming meaningful connections with them.

In worse cases, you might get blacklisted among online communities or even in search results if enough people report your page. And come on, everyone hates spammers. Don’t you?

Source: Reddit

Solution:

You want to cease and desist from every spammy practice — they just don’t work. Instead, befriend some webmasters or SEO experts who know what’s what.

All this might require a mindset shift. In the end, what really matters is your brand image, customer loyalty, and long-term success. Of course, your team can show some great traffic KPIs after a spam campaign, but is it really worth it?

4. Local SEO mistakes

Local SEO is like dating, only for businesses. And it’s quite a big deal. How big? Well, 4 in 5 people using a search engine are looking for a local business. That’s not all. 76% of users who search for a “near me” business actually go on to visit the store within a day.

Source: Think with Google

Imagine learning that your new date has dozens of different phone numbers. Weird, isn’t it? Yet, this is what some local businesses do, and being all over the place is one of the most common local SEO mistakes to avoid.

In some cases, businesses have different addresses and seem to think that “near me” means their corporate headquarters located in a different city or country altogether. Let’s not even talk about the Google Business Profile that was last updated when MySpace was cool.

Making all these local SEO missteps at the same time can cause your website to take a heavy blow in the search rankings.

Solution:

Usually, these errors fall under small business SEO mistakes. But even big brands can slip up now and then. So, go over everything with a fine-tooth comb. Create locally relevant content and make sure to get backlinks from local sites.

If you don’t want people (and search engines) to think you are sketchy, you should definitely fix your Name, Address, and Phone Number (aka NAP). They should look the same on your website, social media profile, directory listings, etc.

Fun fact: Updated and optimized GBP attracts more visitors. So, you don’t want to keep putting this off like that gym membership you got on New Year’s Eve. And, oh, ask your customers to review your business (be sure to respond warmly as well).

As a result, you’ll be able to show up organically in your location, just like these businesses:

Source: Google

Content mistakes that harm SEO

Creating quality SEO content requires money, skills, and lots of time – kind of hard to pull off while you are juggling a ton of other business tasks. So, it’s no surprise that the most common SEO mistakes small businesses make revolve around content.

5. Low-quality copy

Low-quality content is definitely one of those ‘oops’ SEO mistakes to avoid. Why? They have the potential to turn your website into a digital ghost town. Google definitely won’t rank fluffy pieces higher when there are more informative ones out there. How do you know them?

You can tell by how surface-level the information is — no original thought, tons of fillers, and just parroting cliches that everyone else already knows. On the bright side, this is a pretty easy one to fix compared to some of the other issues in this guide.

Solution:

If you don’t want to be held for content crimes against humanity, then take the time to write stuff that people actually find valuable.

Do thorough keyword research and take your time to understand the search intent behind them.

This way, your content will solve real-world problems (not the made-up ones). This brings us to the next point on our list of content mistakes that harm SEO.

6. Keyword stuffing

It’s 2024, yet some people still think drenching every other sentence and paragraph in their copy in keywords is a valid SEO strategy that works.

These are probably the same folks who are still planning to buy shares in Blockbuster, even though the company no longer exists.

To be fair, keyword stuffing was a valid trick that worked but that was a long time ago. Now, you’re lucky if the only result you got from it was being ignored. Some unlucky people have been known to end up with a Google penalty.

Unless, of course, you are The Verge and have racked up enough domain authority over the years to pull it off. For example, their tongue-in-cheek ad on “best printer 2024” got a ton of backlinks and ranked at the top,l even though it was stuffed to the brim with keywords.

Source: The Verge

Ordinarily, according to Google’s guidelines, this shouldn't work, but it did. In fact, the sarcastic tone only made people share it more.

Still, this won’t work for most of the businesses out there — at least, not until you build that kind of trust. So, stick to tried-and-true methods instead of playing with fire.

Source: Search Engine Land

Solution:

Think of keywords like seasonings — the right quantity enhances the taste of the whole dish, but add too much of it, and your culinary masterpiece is ruined. So, use them sparingly.

Make sure the keywords actually make sense in the sentences they appear in. You don’t want to make people scratch their heads in confusion or, worse, think you had a stroke while typing.

7. Duplicate content

If you wouldn’t wear the same underwear more than once before throwing it into the washing machine, then why use the same content on more than one page?

Search engines simply don’t like it when people do this, as they can’t tell which version should be ranked. So, your content ends up with poor visibility, and that’s if it even gets indexed.

Source: Semrush

Solution:

Start by writing original content. It’s a lot of work, but so is everything else in SEO and life. And if you can’t avoid the issue of duplicate/similar pages, use canonical tags to help Google know which pages you’d like to index.

If all that sounds like a lot of work, then outsourcing your content might be the best solution. You can also do the same when it comes to guest posting.

8. Writer authority

Look, pretty much anyone can type — even your cat or dog can do that by walking across the keyboard (you know, in theory).

The point is – if you want people to trust that you know what you're talking about, you're going to have to prove your expertise. This is where the idea of writer authority comes from.

It is the experience, authority, and credibility a writer has built over the years talking about a particular subject.

For example, a blog article on skin conditions written by a dermatologist shows more writer authority than one written by a high-school student. Sure, both of them can have some experience, but only one of them also has the expert knowledge to back up their claims. Plus, who would you trust more?

Even Google gives more trust to articles written by experts. Ignoring this rule is one of the top common SEO mistakes in digital content production, and the price is that the search algorithm skips over your site in favor of a more credible-looking one.

Solution:

Try to prove to Google that your author is an expert in the field – and no, just using “Content Staff” doesn't count as an author bio. So, create real authors for your blog.

Source: Search Engine Journal

Pro tip: Add their social media links, a professional photo, credentials, etc. Plus, add author markup to the article schema. All this will add credibility to your writer and can improve your rankings.

On-site mistakes

The on-site mistakes are some of the biggest SEO mistakes. No matter how you slice it, a bad website can chase people away. So, if you don’t want to become another site where user experience goes to die, here are the top issues to avoid:

9. Lacking structure

This might be one of the most common SEO mistakes, but this doesn’t mean that it is not serious. When people talk about site structure, they are talking about how organized your pages are.

If you are lucky, your website is going to keep growing. Yet, the more web pages you add, the more important it is to ensure that everything is well organized.

Failing to do this can affect your load speed, especially if your code is not optimized or you have a lot of unnecessary elements (not every page needs pop-ups, animations, and videos).

Solution:

Decide on categories and sections you’ll have from the get-go. Also, make sure it is easy for you to add new sections when needed in the future without disrupting the existing structure.

Source: eBay

Made any changes? Ask a focus group (or even your friends) to test the site so you know if everything is as straightforward as it should be.

10. Having complex navigation

Under no condition should navigating your website make users feel like they are in a maze or trying to survive the Squid Games.

The longer it takes people to get from point A to B, the more likely they are to give up and check out your competitors' web pages. This will increase your bounce rates and lower your position in search results.

Also, weird navigation can mean that search engine crawlers are not getting to some of your pages. A major pitfall of this is that if pages are not crawled and indexed, they are not going to show up in search results.

Solution:

It should be easy for anyone to find what they are looking for and generally move through your site. Ensure users can navigate from any page to the other page in three clicks or fewer. Besides, try to avoid overly complex menus with too many dropdowns.

Source: Apple

11. Forgetting about internal links

Internal links are how your web pages “talk” to each other — especially the related ones that explore different perspectives of a topic. They also help users find connected pages and properly direct crawlers.

Still, it’s not unusual to find that some people forget to link relevant pages or have no internal links at all. This isn’t great for your SEO, but also you might be losing on extra sales. How?

When a blog post that is getting tons of traffic isn’t linked to the money-making pages, it could mean you are losing out on chances to increase your conversions.

Solution:

Ensure that important pages (your homepage, landing pages, etc.) get as many internal links from other pages as possible. Plus, link all the blogs that can be useful and extend the topic you’re covering.

Did you know that if a page only has one link (e.g., from the sitemap), Google will see it as a less important one? In general, the more internal links a page has, the more likely search engines will prioritize it.

So, stop treating your sitemap like it’s in a witness protection program and get to linking your pages.

Source: Google

12. Ignoring content relevance

You might be surprised to find this one on a list of common content SEO mistakes, but it happens often, especially to those who are still new to the search engine optimization world.

Picture this — you see a restaurant advertising its signature steak, so you convince your friends to go there with you. Except, instead of that steak, you find out that they only serve kale smoothies. Obviously, you are going to feel deceived.

Well, that’s exactly how people feel when a website plays the old bait-and-switch trick. Nobody searching for laptops wants to end up on a landing page for printer ink.

Every content piece you post should match your audience's needs and help them progress towards their goals.

Solution:

Ditch clickbaits. Be upfront and provide the information users expect — save the weird plot twists for your novels. For example, if the query is “laptops,” then show a list of laptops, not a single model, and tons of unrelated products.

Also, keep the aggressive promotional content where it belongs, not hiding behind informational searches for unrelated products.

13. Having bad page structure

The page structure is basically how you organize your articles and other pages, whether it’s About Us or Our Services.

If you went to a store and found the meats and carrots in the same fridge, you might think there's a hidden cam nearby because that's not a logical way to arrange those items, right? It’s the same with your site.

Bad page structure is one of those top SEO mistakes that can tank your credibility and make people question if you even know what you are doing.

Usually, a page uses the H1-H4 to organize content sections based on their levels of importance. Imagine the chaos when you have an H1 followed by an H4, then an H2, and finally, another unexpected H1 thrown in at the end. Pretty confusing, isn’t it?

The same thing happens if your blog doesn't have any way to categorize related posts.

Solution:

Make sure each page has only one H1 — you know, there can only be one boss. But every boss needs department heads, team leads, and people who handle other tasks.

So, think of the H2s as reporting directly to the top boss and so on. In your article, follow the same structure — H2, H3, and H4 headings logically. Don’t jump from H4 to H1, for example.

Source: Adsy

Plus, do your best to group related topics by categories – skincare posts separate from workout tips, etc.

14. Not doing competitor analysis

Competitor analysis is simply checking out your competitors’ strategies. Is that even a thing? Yes!

You should spy on your competitors from time to time — legally, of course. Chances are they are doing the same thing on your site. But wait a minute — how does not doing this affect your site negatively?

Well, your SEO strategies are not as effective when you don’t know what your competitors are up to. You wouldn’t jump into a boxing ring to fight an opponent you know nothing about, would you?

No, you would want to know their weight, fight history, fight tactics, etc. It’s the same with digital marketing. Ignoring competitor analysis means you are campaigning blindly (well, almost) and missing out on opportunities to rank for relevant keywords you never even thought of.

And let's not even get into missed links and content opportunities. Obviously, now you understand how this came to be among the top SEO mistakes to avoid.

Solution:

You want to check out the content offered by competitors in the top 10 for your queries. Apart from learning from the heavy lifting they have already done, you also get to pick up on what’s currently working and take a few ideas from them.

Source: Semrush

For example, if they are eCommerce sites, you’re unlikely to rank with a page featuring a video or blog post, and vice versa. But how would you know if you don’t check them out in the first place?

15. Unoptimized visuals

Everyone knows the value of using visual assets on their website — they increase engagement and drive traffic. But not everyone actually understands how to get the most out of their visuals.

You can have as many images as possible, but if they are not properly optimized, they are not really useful. Some people simply use visuals without paying attention to quality or relevance.

But it’s a one-way ticket to nowhere because unoptimized pictures and videos will worsen your site’s performance and, therefore, rankings.

Source: GTmetrix

Solution:

Only use quality images, and just because the quality is good does not mean it belongs to a page. The image should add to the reader’s understanding, not confuse them. Besides, keep these tips in mind:

• Use descriptive names for each image;
• Compress them so they don’t slow the page load speed;
• Add meaningful alt texts and include keywords when you can.

Off-site mistakes

With us so far? Great job. Now, we are moving on to the top off-site mistakes, starting with the backlink profile. After all, how else would you learn how to avoid common SEO mistakes if you have never heard of them

16. Having an unnatural backlink profile

Backlinks are links from other sites to yours. The more of them you get, the higher your domain authority and rankings become.

Yet, if you don’t pay attention to the quality of your links, you can end up with an unnatural backlink profile. What does it mean?

This type of backlink profile is filled with:

• Spammy or toxic backlinks;
• Too many links from the same site(s);
• One-type links (e.g., only dofollow links, only links from DA60+ sites, etc.);
• Overly optimized anchors;
• Too many links from niches that aren’t related to yours, etc.

These can make your backlinks look sketchy, and Google might flag your site for manipulative link practices.

Solution:

It's best to use quality, strong links from different sources — not just guest blogs but also forums, Web 2.0 sites, Q&A platforms, comments, and local listings.

Of course, these links won’t influence your rankings that much, but they will contribute to the organic backlink profile Google likes.

Source: Backlinko

The more diversified your backlinks are, the more natural your link profile will look. If you don’t know where to start to get that variety of quality links, you can always use a backlink service.

17. Not focusing on close competitors

We already mentioned how important it is to do competitor analysis. But it's not just about the brands that you’re looking up to. The reality is that often, businesses choose to check some aspirational competitors instead of the ones that are their direct, close rivals.

So, try to compare your results with the companies that are pretty much in the same boat. Of course, you can keep an eye on what the top brands in your niche are doing, but first, your task is to beat those competitors who are “closer” to you.

Solution:

Sites like YouTube, Wikipedia, Quora, Amazon, and eBay aren’t your competitors, you know. So, while they can give you some business inspiration, when it comes to SEO, choose similar websites that target the exact same customers you do.

After listing those, use SEO tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to compare your domain’s authority (DA/DR) with your competitors’. But don't stop there — their backlinks can give you a great deal of insights to help improve your own link profile.

Source: Semrush

18. Not having a link-building plan

Link building is already time-consuming, but taking it on without first having a good plan is just going to make things even harder (and trust us — this is the last thing you want).

A link-building plan is basically an outline of your link-building process — you should break down the exact steps so you can see your big goals as some smaller, more doable tasks.

Sure, you can choose to wait for Mercury to be in retrograde (or wait, was that the bad time to do anything?) before you decide on anchor texts and links for your campaigns, but that's not going to be helpful.

Solution:

Draw up a link-building plan for each page on your site (at least the ones you want to get to the top of search results). This doc should include the number of links you need, anchor texts you have to use, potential pages for publications, etc.

19. Rushing link building

It can be impossible to build links in some industries. As a result, some people rush out to buy up all the backlinks they can find, but this is a terrible approach.

Imagine how it looks — you didn’t have any links for months (if not years), and then, out of nowhere, you get 20 links to your site. What do you think Google will say about this? Well, whatever your opinion about its algorithms is, they are anything but stupid.

So, make sure you’re keeping that in mind.

Plus, getting as many random links as you can lead to mistakes where you end up with backlinks from spammy sites that can cause your rankings to drop faster than a hot potato.

Solution:

Be patient and get your links gradually. Even if they come from the very best sources, don’t make them look suspicious. Instead, be consistent and take enough time to track and verify link quality.

20. Getting links from irrelevant geographies or niches

This is another one on the common enterprise SEO mistakes list, especially for those doing international SEO. Imagine using links from China for your German domains.

Of course, a couple of such links won’t hurt, but if that’s all you have, chances are you won’t rank well in the German market.

The same thing happens when you get all links from industries that are not relevant to yours. Would you trust a butcher whose only references come from a dozen vegetarians?

Solution:

All (or at least a majority of) your links should come from industry-relevant sites. That means that for your auto blog, you should skip the links from the flower websites. Instead, look for sports, automotive blogs, or general magazines.

Besides, confirm the geolocation of perspectives link sites, especially when you’re buying links — make sure they are getting traffic from the regions you’re targeting.

21. Generating copy for guest posts

Guest posting is a pretty effective way to get some high-quality backlinks, but some people tend to play a hard and fast game with it.

For example, in an effort to publish more guest posts and get more links, some might decide to use AI-generated content or use artificial intelligence to paraphrase a high-ranking blog post.

Doing this usually backfires as people stop giving you opportunities, and your credibility is also affected. Besides, Google doesn’t like AI content either, so don’t expect high rankings with some low-quality stuff.

Solution:

This one is easy — avoid automated content generation at all costs. If you are lucky to get someone willing to publish your post on their website, then make the most of the opportunity. Creating unique quality content is the only way to go if you want your efforts to last.

22. Using over-optimized anchors

Anchors are the clickable words or phrases you use as a hyperlink. They help search engines understand the relevance of the link in content, and this affects how the page gets ranked.

Generally, since anchor texts are so valuable, some people decide to go overboard trying to optimize them. They stuff all the keywords they can or use the same keywords as anchor texts on all their guest posts.

Solution:

At the risk of being called “captain obvious,” we are just gonna say it — do not overuse keyword-based anchor texts.

Curious to know what the perfect ratio for keyword anchors is? Just aim for about 10%. Still, you can always use your keywords somewhere near the anchor.

Source: Mention

Technical search engine optimization issues

Technical SEO issues are some of the worst, as they can be trickier to fix if you don’t know what you are doing. Some people might not even spot them on time. Yet, if not fixed quickly, they can cause other problems down the road and lower search rankings.

23. Not using noindex and robots.txt

A robots.txt points the search engine crawlers what pages you don’t want them to crawl, while noindex stops them from indexing specific pages.

When you neglect to use either or both of them, it can result in your crawl budget being stretched too thin.

This can mean that your important pages are not getting the attention they need from the crawlers, which will eventually affect their rankings.

Solution:

The only solution is to use noindex or robots.txt to block pages with duplicate content (if it cannot be removed) or content that shouldn’t be indexed (e.g., personal data, outdated information, admin pages, etc.).

This will free up your crawl budget and ensure that your important pages are indexed.

24. Not dealing with 400/500 errors

Getting a 400/500 error message means the server is not able to process the request, which may be due to an issue on the client side (400) or the server side (500).

Source: Pixar

Either way, if you don't fix these issues ASAP, you end up preventing your pages from being crawled, your user experience rating goes down, and SEO performance sinks low.

Solution:

Your site shouldn’t have pages returning 4xx or 5xx errors. Scan your site with tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Screaming Frog to identify these pages. When you know them, fix or remove the broken links.

25. Having empty pages

When users click on a link, they expect to see something. So, landing on an empty page is definitely bad for user experience.

Plus, it just wastes your crawl budget and can trigger soft 404 error messages. Any way you choose to look at it, there is no upside to having empty pages.

Solution:

Go through the pages on your website and make sure there are none with no content. If they exist, either fill them with content, remove them, or block them from indexing (see the noindex section above).

26. Not prioritizing mobile optimization

The majority of people use their mobile to navigate online — this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. So, when you don’t prioritize mobile responsiveness and optimization, you lose out on tapping into that insane web traffic.

Also, Google prioritizes mobile-first indexing, which means that any site that is not properly optimized for mobile will struggle to rank well.

We are not even going to get into what happens when people click on the mobile versions of your site and exit quickly since it looks weird to them. All that is going to do (as you already know) is spike up your bounce rates.

Solution:

There is so much to do, but you can start by making sure your website has a responsive web design and is easy to navigate on phones. If it loads faster on mobile, that’s even better.

Make the text readable, have icons big enough for thick fingers, and don’t lump all the icons together in one place. Keep your sentences short and use loads of bullet points to make the content readable.

Source: Semrush

27. Slow loading speed

Did you know that every single second counts when it comes to page load speed?

The longer your site takes to load, the higher the bounce rate is and the lower the rankings are. If your load time goes from 1 second to 10 seconds, that increases the odds of people leaving your site by 123%.

Plus, it can cause your website to leave a bad impression on your target audience. No one is going to wait around for a website to load up.

Source: Page Speed Insights

Solution:

Try to find the culprit or issue causing the page to load slowly. If it’s too many media files, then consider compressing them.

Take a look at your code and weed out any unnecessary lines that could be causing the lag. Got tons of plugins for everything? They can be the issue. Try to uninstall what you don’t use often enough.

28. Missing or incorrect schema markup

What do you think happens when search engines cannot make heads or tails of your content? What causes this to happen in the first place?

Incorrect or missing structured data (aka schema markup) helps search engines understand the content on your site. If you don’t have it, or it’s incorrectly implemented, you may miss out on rich snippets and other enhanced search result features.

And you know how it works by now – the lower visibility eventually translates into lower traffic and clicks.

Solution:

You can use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool or Rich Results Test to find errors in your structured data. If a page doesn’t have schema markup, create one.

Go through your existing schemas to ensure every content element is correctly marked up and that you’re using the appropriate schema type.

Source: WordStream

29. Bad security

Not Having an SSL Certificate and leaving your website unsecured is not going to fly in this age where everyone is concerned about online safety. It’s no secret that Google favors sites with SSL certificates and HTTPS in their search rankings.

That’s because poor security leaves websites vulnerable to all types of cyber threats. Users are not going to trust a website where their data can easily be stolen. To put it bluntly — if your site is not yet secured, you are losing potential revenue.

Source: Sketch Code Studio

Solution:

The best thing is to implement SSL/TLS encryption on your website — this will protect data in transit. Besides, audit your site regularly. This will reduce the risk of security breaches that can harm your web page.

Constantly update your software and any plugins, and remember to back up your data (or maybe use a CDN) so that you can save versions of your website in case of cyberattacks.

Plus, teach your staff about online safety and make sure your team (especially admins) uses strong passwords.

Conclusion

Now that you have an SEO audit report sample, you can expect your work to be so much more meaningful because you know how to actually track the results. Don’t forget to customize it to suit your needs — that’s the only way you can get the maximum effects.

One more thing: be sure to double-check everything, especially the client’s names, all the numbers, and the dates — these little details can sometimes make or break your hard efforts.

And remember — it’s okay to struggle with some parts of the report, especially if you’re new to all this audit thing. Chances are you still have years of audit reports ahead of you, so there is plenty of time to practice.

Hopefully, soon enough, you will get excited when you hear, “Time for an SEO audit!”