Video summary

How to Do an SEO Audit in Under 20 minutes

Main summary

Key takeaways

Educational

Main ideas / concepts / lessons

  • Purpose of an SEO audit: Determine how well a website is optimized for search engines and also large language models (LLMs), with the goal of:

    • Improving visibility
    • Increasing organic clicks from existing content
    • Finding content opportunities to drive more rankings and organic traffic, including traffic influenced by AI search/chatbots

  • SEO audit structure (builds in layers):

    1. Technical audit (ensure pages can be found/loaded/indexed properly)
    2. On-page audit (increase clicks from existing pages)
    3. Content audit (find opportunities for new/expanded content)

Methodology / step-by-step instructions (as presented)

1) Technical audit (foundation)

Goal: Make sure the website is visible to search engines and users before fixing SEO issues or pursuing content opportunities.

Step 1: Run a site crawl

  • Get a free Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (HS webmaster tools) account.
  • Go to Site Audit → select your website → click New Crawl.
  • Audit against 170+ on-page and SEO issues.
  • Review overview elements:
    • Health score
    • Distribution charts
    • Top flagged issues

Step 2: Fix indexability issues first (critical)

  • Go to the Indexability report.
  • Under Issues, check for “no index” page warnings (example shown: 9 no-index pages).
  • Investigate why pages are noindexed:
    • Check specific pages by viewing page source and locating the noindex tag.
  • If noindex is unintended:
    • Remove it, or
    • Edit the meta robots rules so Google can index the pages.

Step 3: Check for duplicates caused by URL variations

  • Ensure pages are accessible only via the secure HTTPS version (and/or canonical “main” version).
  • If accessible via both secure and non-secure variants, it’s a duplication issue.
  • Confirm by checking:
    • The report named with the same name (as referenced) to validate duplicates/redirect consistency.
    • Optionally install the Ahrefs free SEO toolbar and check HTTP headers.
  • Example:
    • http/... should redirect to https/... (e.g., http/hrefs.com → https/hrefs.com).

Step 4: Benchmark speed using Core Web Vitals

  • Core Web Vitals measure:
    • Load time
    • Interactivity
    • Visual stability
  • Diagnose:
    • Go to the Performance report.
    • Use the Chrome user experience performance history chart to see which pages perform poorly on the three metrics.
  • Common fixes:
    • Optimize large images
    • Remove unnecessary JavaScript

Step 5: Check mobile friendliness

  • Rationale: Mobile friendliness is a ranking factor (since 2019).
  • If you have Google Search Console:
    • Use Mobile Usability to identify URLs with errors harming mobile usability.
  • If you don’t:
    • Use Google’s mobile-friendly test by plugging in pages.
  • Tips:
    • Use mobile-friendly themes
    • Compress images to under 1 MB (without sacrificing quality)
    • Test on multiple devices and browsers

2) On-page audit (increase clicks from existing content)

Goal: Identify where organic traffic drops are coming from, then optimize pages to regain them and improve click-through.

Step 1: Identify overall organic traffic drops

  • Common causes:
    • Google algorithm updates affecting things like content quality or link spam
  • Use Ahrefs Site Explorer:
    • Check whether traffic drops align with known updates.
  • Example outcome shown:
    • Declining traffic over the past year, worsened with Google’s November Core Update.

Step 2: Pinpoint which pages lost traffic

  • Go to Top Pages in Ahrefs.
  • Compare around the update date (example: custom date = 11th November).
  • Sort by change in traffic (descending).
  • Example shown:
    • 15+ pages lost clicks; a Wayback Machine alternatives article is top.

Step 3: On-page optimization using keyword + URL and search-intent analysis

  • Use Ahrefs AI Content Helper:
    • Paste the target keyword plus the article URL.
  • The tool analyzes multiple search intents.
  • Choose an intent to review:
    • Topical score (subtopic-level comparison to top-ranking pages).
  • If a subtopic is weak (example: FAQ subtopic):
    • Use Ask AI to enrich the subtopic and close the content gap.

Step 4: Optimize the “three kings” of on-page SEO

  • Elements:
    • Title tags
    • Meta descriptions
    • H1s
  • Use Site Audit → All issues → Content section.
  • Example shown:
    • Missing meta description tags on 49 pages.
  • Notes:
    • Writing meta descriptions from scratch is time-consuming.
    • Google rewrites meta descriptions frequently (example claim: 63%).
  • Better approach:
    • Use Batch AI under Patches
    • Generate AI-based meta descriptions quickly
    • Publish manually or push directly from Ahrefs
    • No developers required (requires appropriate project boost, as referenced)

Step 5: Improve internal linking

  • Why internal links matter:
    1. Help users and crawlers navigate
    2. Transfer link equity from strong pages to weaker ones
  • Use Ahrefs site audit reports to find:
    • Internal linking opportunities
      • pages to link from
      • keyword context
      • pages to link to
    • Problems including:
      • Broken internal links
        • use report flow: page explorer → choose pages dropdown → Not found
      • Orphan pages
        • links dropdown → Orphan pages
  • Intended impact:
    • Improve connectivity between relevant/supporting pages
    • Influence how Google computes ranking (page ranking algorithms referenced)

3) Content audit (find opportunities to capitalize on)

Goal: Identify gaps and new areas to create content that can win rankings and capture visibility.

Step 1: Find keyword/content gaps vs competitors

  • Use Ahrefs Competitive Analysis:
    • Enter your domain at the top
    • Enter competing domains at the bottom
    • Click Show keyword opportunities
  • Example shown:
    • 6,000+ keywords where at least one competitor ranks top 10, but you don’t.
  • Narrow the list:
    • Use competitor positions dropdown
    • Filter so more than one competitor ranks in top 10
  • Output:
    • Use results to build a content calendar

Step 2: Optimize for AI Overviews and Feature Snippets (2025 focus)

  • Claims presented (from “AI overview research”):
    • Informational keywords trigger an AI overview 99.2% of the time.
    • AI overview SERPs trigger 849% more feature snippets than non-AI overview SERPs.
  • Implication:
    • If you get into AI overviews, you’re more likely to also capture feature snippets.
  • How to audit current AI overview / snippet presence:
    • Use Ahrefs Site Explorer → Organic keywords
    • Apply SER features filter
    • Check:
      • AI overview
      • Feature snippet
    • Ensure the target keyword does rank
  • The SER overview table provides:
    • AI overview position
    • URLs included in the AI overview
  • Further instruction referenced:
    • “Check out our latest video” for ranking for AI overviews

Speakers / sources featured

  • Speaker/creator (not named in subtitles): The presenter guiding the steps throughout the video.

  • Tools / platforms referenced as sources:

    • Ahrefs Webmaster Tools / Site Audit
    • Ahrefs Site Explorer
    • Ahrefs AI Content Helper
    • Ahrefs Competitive Analysis / keyword opportunities
    • Ahrefs free SEO toolbar
    • Google Search Console (Mobile Usability report)
    • Google Mobile-Friendly Test tool
    • Chrome user experience performance history (Core Web Vitals context)
    • Google (general search engine behavior; AI overviews / feature snippets)

Original video