1/30/2025

How to Conduct an SEO Audit Using Free Tools

SEO audits are like the regular check-ups for your website. Just as you’d visit a doctor to ensure your health is in top shape, giving your website a thorough SEO audit is crucial to keeping it healthy in the competitive online landscape. If you've got a limited budget, don’t sweat! You can venture into the land of SEO auditing without spending a dime. In this article, I'm going to walk you through the process of conducting an SEO audit using incredible FREE tools available at your fingertips.

Step 1: Gather Your Tools

Before rolling up your sleeves and diving into the nitty-gritty, you'll need to arm yourself with some helpful tools. Luckily, there are several fantastic options out there that can help you assess your website’s performance:

Google Search Console: A must-have for any website owner! It allows you to track your website’s performance in Google search results.
Google Analytics: The king of web analytics which provides valuable insights into your audience's behavior on your site.
SEMrush: While primarily a paid tool, you can access limited features for FREE which can give you a peek into your competition.
Ahrefs Backlink Checker: Use this tool to analyze your backlinks and those of your competitors. The free version lets you see the top 100 backlinks pointing to your site.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider: A powerful tool for identifying technical SEO issues, with a free version that allows you to crawl 500 pages per site!
Ubersuggest: Useful for keyword tracking & analysis, plus gives you insights on competitors.

Step 2: Run a Technical SEO Audit

The technical side of SEO is crucial and governs how search engines view your website. Here you’ll want to ensure your site is optimized for search engine crawlers. Start by using Google Search Console to:

Submit Your Sitemap: Make sure search engines can find all of your pages by submitting a sitemap.
Check for Crawl Errors: Look for 404 errors or any server errors that might be blocking search engine crawlers from accessing your pages.
Verify HTTPS: Ensure your site is secure. If you’re still on HTTP, it’s time to make the switch to HTTPS; Google prioritizes secure sites.

Use Free Tools to Evaluate Performance

Leverage Google PageSpeed Insights to analyze your site's performance and get suggestions on how to improve loading times. Speed is KEY as a slow website can hamper user experience and hurt your rankings.

Step 3: Content Quality and Keyword Strategy

Once your technical SEO is gleaming, shift your focus to the content. High-quality, relevant content is the backbone of SEO. Here’s what to do:

Identify Duplicate Content: Use tools like Copyscape to ensure you're not duplicating content that could sink your SEO rankings.
Review Keywords: Take advantage of Ubersuggest or Google Keyword Planner to check what keywords you're ranking for. Look out for keywords in the lower ranking spots. These are your low-hanging fruits—optimize your content around them!
Update and Expand Content: Based on the analysis, ensure your existing content is relevant and encompasses all aspects of the keyword. Consider creating new content to fill in gaps based on popular keywords you discover.

Step 4: Analyze Backlinks

Backlinks play a HUGE role in determining your site's authority. A healthy backlink profile tells search engines that your content is valuable. Here’s how to tackle backlinks:

Use Ahrefs Backlink Checker to get insights on your site's backlinks. This will show you who’s linking to your site and how authoritative they are.
Check for toxic backlinks that could potentially harm your SEO. If you find any, consider using Google's Disavow Tool to prevent them from negatively impacting your site.

Step 5: Check User Experience (UX)

User experience is increasingly tied to SEO rankings. An easy-to-navigate website that engages users keeps them returning. You want to make sure:

Mobile-Friendliness: Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to ensure your site is responsive. In today’s smartphone world, mobile optimization is no longer optional; it’s mandatory!
Navigation Is Easy: Ensure users can find what they’re looking for easily. A complicated navigation can lead visitors to bounce and adversely impact your rankings.

Step 6: Monitor and Adapt

Your SEO audit shouldn’t be a one-time thing! Search engine algorithms change frequently, user behavior evolves, and new competitors pop up. So:

Regularly monitor your performance metrics using Google Analytics to understand how successful your improvements have been.
Keep following SEO trends and make adjustments based on find analytics reports or updates from SEO communities.

Need Help? Try Arsturn!

Once you've done all this hard work, you'll want to keep the momentum going! Why not engage your audience effectively with Arsturn? With Arsturn, you can create custom AI chatbots for your website without any coding skills. Imagine the possibilities of an interactive assistant answering questions & engaging with visitors before they even land on your homepage.

Key Benefits of Arsturn:

Effortless NO-CODE AI Chatbot Builder: Create chatbots that fit your brand in just a few clicks.
Adaptable for Different Needs: Ideal whether you're a business, musician, or influencer.
Insightful Analytics: Study user interactions to tailor your digital strategy effortlessly.

Start building connections with your audience today with Arsturn! You won't regret it, and the engagement could significantly boost your UX and conversion rates.

Final Thoughts

Conducting an SEO audit using free tools can be a fun journey into understanding your website better. The tools mentioned above—especially Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Screaming Frog—will help you uncover issues and opportunities to enhance your site's performance. Remember, regular audits will keep you in good standing with the search engines—and with Arsturn, you can take it a step further. Optimize your site, engage your audience, and watch your traffic grow!

Happy auditing!