SEO Audit Checklist

Disclaimer: Adopted from Steve Wiideman's www.seostandards.org. based on factors from Google Webmaster Checklist, SEOMOz.org’s Top SEO Ranking Factors, or in David Mihm’s Local SEO Ranking Factors. These attributes are consolidated from these reputable sources. 

Website-Level, On-Page SEO Audit

The list below involves changes you can make on your website that may increase your ranking in the search results. These tasks involve making your website search engine-friendly, reducing duplicate content, and avoiding actions that could get your website penalized. 

NOT cloaking with malicious/manipulative intent

NOT cloaking by user agent

NOT hiding text with CSS

NOT cloaking by IP address

Site is not created in Full Flash

Site is not created with frames

Broken links and images fixed

HTML validation to W3C standards

CSS validation to W3C standards

CSS table-less template used

Average “time on site” duration greater than 2 min

Keyword-focused anchor text from internal links

Duplicate titles and meta descriptions corrected

Internal link popularity adjusted

Non WWW 301 redirect corrected

Custom 404 page added

Trailing slash on pages without file name extensions

Server/hosting uptime verified

Use of an inclusive or segmented sitemap

Dynamic URLs replaced with static or fixed with canonical tag

Use of XML sitemap(s)

JavaScripts extracted to JS folder

CSS styles extracted to CSS folder

Use of feeds on the domain

Use of external links to reputable, trustworthy sites/pages

Google Analytics installed (for your analyst)

(Local) Country code TLD of the root domain

(Local) Language of the content used on the site

(Local) Geographic location of the host IP address of the domain

Webpage-Level, On-Page SEO Audit

So you’ve made your website search engine-friendly, but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to suddenly appear for every keyword you’d like to rank for in the search results. The following website-level, on-page SEO audit checklist relates to the individual pages that you will be creating targeting specific keywords (or keyword themes). Example, when you search for “SEO Expert”, it’s not my Top 10 SEO Tips homepage that appears, it’s my seo_expert.htm page that appears (try it).

NOT keyword stuffing in the on-page text

NOT keyword stuffing in the title tag

NOT cloaking by JavaScript/rich media support detection

NOT cloaking by cookie detection

NOT using of “poison” keywords in anchor text of external links

NOT linking to domain banned from Google’s index for web spam

NOT having excessive number of dynamic parameters in the URL

Compiled a Content Tracking Spreadsheet

Title tag principles used on keyword-targeted pages

Including an engaging, useful video between text on the page

Average “time on page” duration

Existence of substantive, unique content on the page

Keyword use in the meta description tag

Keyword use in the page name URL

Keyword use anywhere in the H1 headline tag

Total page size is under 150k

Use of links on the page that point to other URLs on the domain

Keyword Use in tags

Short or moderate URL length

Location in information architecture of the website

Keyword use in image names included on the page

Keyword use in image alt text

Using keyword-rich links in anchor text (not necessarily w/target keyword)

Conversion form exists

Page contains less than 100 outbound links

Images are optimized for faster loading

Keyword density proportional

Keyword use in the first 50-100 words in HTML on the page

Keyword Use in other headline tags (

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)

(Local) Not using an 800 number exclusively

(Local) Business name, city and state in title

(Local) Address in on-page text content

(Local) Product/service used in URL

Off-Page SEO Audit Checklist

The recipe for a delicious SEO campaign involves one part on-page SEO and one part off-page SEO. Mix in a little click-through rate (CTR) optimization and now you’re cookin’! The checklist below will help you improve your visibility over time. I strongly advise against launching a new website and raising a flag with Google by acquiring a massive amount of links all at once. Keep your campaign as organic as possible. Don’t make your link building look like a blurp on a chart, make your link building look like Google’s stock chart from 2004 to 2008 (you know what I mean).

Additionally, getting a mention can in some cases be just as important as getting a link, so don’t discount the value of a profile on a trusted website just because they won’t link. Ask the major brands what life was like after the Vince update and you’re sure to get a smile.

NOT having link acquisition from known link brokers

Not having excessive repetition of the same anchor text in external links

Utilizing online classifieds websites for SEO

Domain registration with Google, Yahoo! & Bing Webmaster Tools

Website is listed in trusted web directories

Business is listed in trusted business directories

Website is listed where competitors are listed

Website is listed with relevant associations & organizations

Website continues to receive fresh bookmark links

Business has an active profile & presence in Twitter

Business has an active profile & presence in Facebook

Business has an active profile & presence in YouTube

Business and pages within the website are mentioned frequently in the Blogosphere

Business produces content noteworthy of being referenced by university websites

Business is mentioned by government websites for providing community services

Website is mentioned frequently in conjunction to the product or services offered

Products and services are mention in conjunction to the brand in Craigslist, eBay, etc

Affiliates can register their domains during signup and receive static affiliate links

Product/Service Expert has featured articles in popular online publications

Product/Service Expert is interviewed and written about by online newspapers

Questions answered frequently in Q&A websites (Askville, Yahoo! Answers, etc)

Friends, fans, and followers are sharing useful or extremely funny (or both) content

Other industry experts are entertained and mention the business in a blog posts

Business is mentioned anytime a Google or Yahoo! Alert lists a competitor

Inclusion of feeds from the domain in Google News

Domain “mentions” (text citations of the domain name)

Inclusion of feeds from the Domain in Google Blog Search

Citations/references in the Yahoo! Directory

Citations/references of the domain in DMOZ.org

Citations/references of the domain in Wikipedia

Citations/references of the domain in Lii.org

(Local) Get Business Reviews to Influence CTR

(Local) Manual review/targeting by Google Engineers and/or Quality Raters

(Local) Geo-targeting preference set inside Google Webmaster Tools

(Local) Registration of the site with Google Local in the country/region

(Local) Address associated with the registration of the domain