How to Do a Website SEO Audit in 30 Minutes

Melwyn Joseph

05 December 2024 | 5 minute read

There are moments when you need to pull off a website SEO audit in just 30 minutes. Maybe you’re chasing some quick SEO wins, or a client surprises you with a last-minute request. In times like these, a quick audit is exactly what you need.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to do a quick website SEO audit step by step. We’ll also explain what this audit covers – and what it doesn’t – so you know exactly what to expect.

How to Perform an SEO Audit in 30 Minutes with WebYes

To do a website SEO audit in 30 minutes, you’ll need to rely on an automated tool. WebYes is one such tool that helps you perform a quick audit to uncover critical SEO issues impacting your website’s search engine rankings.

What do you need to get started? Just a free WebYes account! Start by signing up for a free WebYes account. Once you’re in, simply enter your website URL when prompted and start the scan. Once the audit is done, you’ll see a dashboard like the one below.

WebYes main dashboard showing the SEO score of the website.

Head over to the SEO dashboard, and as you scroll down, you’ll find a list of issues that might be holding your website back on the SERP. Fix those issues, and you’re all set to dominate the SERP (though it may take a little work).

WebYes SEO dashboard showing the critical SEO issues that need to be addressed.

If you need to share an SEO audit report with your client or boss, WebYes makes it easy. It can quickly generate it for you, complete with your logo and colours, so it looks like it’s all yours. Just hit the “Get Report” button on the dashboard, and you’re good to go.

What Does WebYes Check in a Quick SEO Audit?

WebYes’s quick SEO audit zeroes in on 11 key factors that can make a big difference to your website’s search engine performance. Just a heads-up – most of these are technical SEO checks rather than on-page or off-page optimisations.

Here are the 11 key areas WebYes audits:

  • Meta Descriptions: Checks if every page has a unique and relevant meta description, boosting click-through rates in search results.
  • HTTP Status Codes: Verifies proper status codes (like 200, 301, and 404) to ensure pages are indexed and crawled correctly by search engines.
  • Link Text: Reviews internal and external link text to ensure it’s descriptive and includes relevant keywords for better SEO and usability.
  • Crawlable Anchors: Confirms that all anchor text in internal links is descriptive and accessible to search engine bots for effective navigation.
  • Is Crawlable: Ensures important pages are accessible to search engine crawlers, so they’re indexed and visible in search results.
  • Robots.txt: Checks your robots.txt file to confirm it’s properly configured to control search engine crawling and indexing.
  • Hreflang Tags: Ensures hreflang tags are implemented correctly, helping search engines understand the language and regional targeting of your content.
  • Canonical URLs: Verifies that canonical tags are in place to signal the preferred version of duplicate content, avoiding potential SEO issues.
  • Structured Data: Reviews structured data markup to improve how search engines understand and display your website in rich search results.
  • Mobile-Friendliness: Evaluates how well your site performs on mobile devices, a crucial factor for search engine rankings.
  • Website Speed: Measures page loading times to ensure a fast, user-friendly experience, which directly impacts SEO and user experience.

As we mentioned earlier, this quick SEO audit doesn’t dive deep into on-page SEO stuff like title tags, URL slugs, or keyword distribution. We will discuss more on that in the next section.

What Are the Limitations of a Quick SEO Audit?

The limitation of a quick SEO audit is pretty straightforward. Since it’s a fast, automated process, it doesn’t go into much depth, which means some SEO aspects aren’t evaluated. For instance, most on-page SEO and all off-page SEO optimisations are left out.

Of course, there’s always a trade-off when time is tight. If you want to dig deeper and do a full SEO audit, you can check out Semrush’s off-page and on-page audit checklists. These checklists will help you cover everything your site needs.

Wrapping Up

A quick SEO audit is a powerful way to catch critical issues and make impactful improvements, even when you’re short on time. While it’s not a substitute for a full SEO audit, it’s a great starting point to ensure your website is on the right track.

There are plenty of scenarios where a quick SEO audit comes in handy – like when a client needs a report ASAP, your boss wants to see progress, or you’re preparing for a new campaign and need to fix critical issues fast.

Tools like WebYes simplify the process, helping you focus on what matters most for your website’s performance and rankings. Keep in mind that it’s recommended to audit your website for SEO at least once a month. Regular checks ensure your site stays optimised.


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