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47-Point SEO Audit Checklist: DIY in 2 Hours (2026)

May 16, 2026
Southern Whale
47-point SEO audit checklist for 2026

Before hiring anyone for an SEO audit (which runs 30,000-150,000 THB), run your own with this 47-point checklist. It takes 2 hours, surfaces 70% of what an auto-tool would find, and tells you whether your site actually needs a deep audit or just some cleanup.

Every item here is something a senior consultant on our team checks during a paid audit — published in full, for free.

Section 1: Technical SEO (15 items)

Indexing & Crawling

  1. Is the site indexed in Google? — Search site:yourdomain.com in Google and check the page count.
  2. Does sitemap.xml exist? — Open yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml or /sitemap-index.xml.
  3. Robots.txt isn’t blocking key pages — Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and confirm no Disallow: / over important paths.
  4. GSC has no Coverage Errors — Google Search Console → Coverage tab → check Errors / Excluded.
  5. No noindex on key pages — Inspect element on /, /services, /products and check <meta name="robots">.

Site Speed (Core Web Vitals)

  1. LCP under 2.5 seconds — Test at PageSpeed Insights.
  2. CLS under 0.1
  3. INP under 200ms (replaced FID in 2024)
  4. Mobile PageSpeed Score 70+ — Aim for 90+ long-term.
  5. No oversized render-blocking resources.

Read more: What are Core Web Vitals

Mobile & Security

  1. Mobile-Friendly — Test at Mobile-Friendly Test.
  2. HTTPS in use — URL starts with https:// and shows a lock icon.
  3. No Mixed Content — Inspect DevTools Console for warnings.
  4. Correct viewport meta tag — <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">.
  5. No broken internal links — Use Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs).

Section 2: On-Page SEO (15 items)

Title & Meta

  1. Unique Title tags — No duplicates across pages.
  2. Title 50-60 characters — Doesn’t get truncated by Google.
  3. Primary keyword near the front of the Title.
  4. Meta Description on every key page — 150-160 characters.
  5. Meta Description compels a click — Not just readable, but persuasive.

Heading Structure

  1. One H1 per page — Never zero or two-plus.
  2. H1 contains the primary keyword.
  3. Correct heading hierarchy — H2 under H1, H3 under H2, no skipping.
  4. Headings make the topic structure obvious when scanned.

Content Quality

  1. Primary keyword used 3-7 times in content (not stuffed).
  2. Word count matches intent — Informational 1,500+, Commercial 800-1,200.
  3. 3-7 internal links per page.
  4. External links to authority sites (good targets: Wikipedia, .edu, .gov).
  5. No duplicate content — Use Siteliner to find it.
  6. Images have descriptive alt text — Not “image1.jpg.”

Section 3: Schema & Structured Data (5 items)

  1. Organization or LocalBusiness Schema present.
  2. BreadcrumbList Schema on detail pages.
  3. Article / BlogPosting Schema on articles.
  4. FAQPage Schema on FAQ pages.
  5. Validates with the Schema.org Validator — https://validator.schema.org/

Read more: Schema Markup explained with JSON-LD examples

Section 4: Off-Page SEO (4 items)

  1. Domain Rating (DR) 70% higher than competitors — Check on Ahrefs (free trial).
  2. No toxic links in backlink profile — Spam Score under 30%.
  3. Anchor text distribution looks natural — No single phrase over 30%.
  4. Backlinks from same-niche sites.

Section 5: Local SEO (5 items)

  1. Google Business Profile active and verified.
  2. NAP (Name, Address, Phone) matches 100% between site and GBP.
  3. 20+ local citations.
  4. Reviews 4.0+ stars, 30+ reviews.
  5. LocalBusiness Schema with address + geo + openingHours.

Read more: Complete Local SEO Guide

Section 6: Analytics & Conversion (3 items)

  1. GA4 + GSC connected and reporting data.
  2. Conversion tracking on every key CTA.
  3. Bounce rate under 60% (for content sites).

How to Use This Checklist

  1. Open a spreadsheet and mark each item: Pass / Warning / Fail.
  2. Spend 2 hours going through every item.
  3. Score yourself:
    • 40-47 Pass = healthy site
    • 30-39 Pass = normal, needs cleanup
    • 20-29 Pass = needs a real audit and action plan
    • Under 20 Pass = significant damage, technical audit immediately

Free Tools for the Audit

Tool Use for Cost
Google Search Console Indexing, Coverage, Performance Free
Google Analytics 4 Traffic, Conversion Free
PageSpeed Insights Core Web Vitals Free
Mobile-Friendly Test Mobile UX Free
Schema.org Validator Structured Data Free
Screaming Frog Crawl Audit (500 URL free) Freemium
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools Backlinks, Site Audit Free (limited)
Lighthouse (Chrome DevTools) Full Audit Free

When to Hire a Professional Audit

This 47-point checklist covers about 70% of a surface-level audit. What auto-tools can’t tell you:

  • Root cause of ranking drops (why, not just where).
  • Competitive intelligence — what competitors are doing better.
  • Strategic priorities — which fixes deliver the highest ROI first.
  • Content gap analysis — high-volume topics competitors haven’t covered.
  • Internal cannibalization — pages competing against each other for the same query.

This is what a senior SEO consultant spends 20-40 hours uncovering. No auto-tool delivers it.

Request a deep SEO audit from us — starts at 30,000 THB for sites with ≤ 100 pages, includes an action plan and a 1-hour consulting session.

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