SEO audit checklist you can run monthly

Why a monthly audit beats an annual one

A big annual audit tells you what went wrong months ago. A short monthly check catches problems while they're small. Websites change constantly: plugins update, staff edit pages, certificates expire, and Google changes how it reads things.

This checklist is designed for small business sites with up to a few hundred pages, using free tools. Block out an hour once a month and keep a simple log.

Before you start

You'll need:

• Access to Google Search Console for your site.
• Access to your analytics.
• Access to your Google Business Profile.
• A phone with mobile data.
• Optionally, a free crawler tool. Several desktop crawlers have free versions that handle small sites.

Section 1: Indexing (15 minutes)

1. Page indexing report. In Search Console, open the Page indexing report. Has the number of indexed pages changed significantly? If it's dropped, look at the reasons listed for pages not indexed. 2. Check key pages. Paste your five most important URLs into the URL Inspection tool. Are they indexed? Is the canonical the one you expect? 3. Sitemap. Under Sitemaps, check the status is "Success" and the number of discovered URLs looks right. 4. Unexpected noindex. If any important page shows "Excluded by noindex tag", find out why straight away.

Section 2: Errors and warnings (10 minutes)

1. Manual actions. Check the Manual actions report. It should say no issues detected. 2. Security issues. Check the Security issues report. Hacked content can appear without you noticing. 3. 404s. In the Page indexing report, look at "Not found (404)". Are any of them pages that should exist, or old pages with links pointing to them that need a redirect? 4. Server errors. Any 5xx errors suggest hosting problems worth raising with your host.

Section 3: Performance (10 minutes)

1. Search performance. In the Performance report, compare the last 28 days with the same period last year. Note any big changes in clicks or impressions. 2. Top pages. Have any of your top ten pages dropped sharply? Check whether something changed on them. 3. Core Web Vitals. Check the report for new "Poor" URLs, especially on mobile.

Section 4: On-page spot check (10 minutes)

Pick three important pages, rotating through the site each month.

1. Does the title still describe the page well? 2. Are prices, hours and staff names current? 3. Do all the links work? 4. Do images load quickly and have alt text? 5. Does the enquiry form send? Submit a test.

Section 5: Mobile and speed (5 minutes)

1. Open the home page and your main service page on a phone over mobile data. 2. Tap the phone number. 3. Run PageSpeed Insights on the main service page and note anything new.

Section 6: Local (10 minutes)

1. Business Profile. Check name, hours, phone number and categories haven't been changed by public edits. 2. Reviews. Reply to any new ones. 3. Special hours. Add any upcoming bank holiday or seasonal changes. 4. Key directories. Every few months, check your listings on the main directories and trade body registers in your sector still have the right details.

Section 7: Log what you found

Write a few lines:

• Date.
• What you checked.
• Anything that changed or broke.
• What you fixed and what needs follow-up.

Over a year, this log helps you spot patterns, connect changes with results and brief anyone who helps with the site.

What to do with problems

Not everything needs fixing immediately. A rough order of priority:

1. Urgent: security issues, manual actions, important pages not indexed, site down, forms broken. 2. Soon: broken redirects from old pages with links, Core Web Vitals problems on key templates, wrong business details. 3. When you can: minor 404s on pages nobody visits, missing alt text on old images, small title improvements.

A worked example

A dog daycare in Guildford ran this audit and found its booking page had been showing "Excluded by noindex tag" since a plugin update three weeks earlier. The page had dropped out of search entirely. The fix took two minutes: untick a setting in the SEO plugin, then request indexing. Without the monthly check, it might have gone unnoticed for months.

The same audit showed someone had suggested a change to the daycare's Business Profile hours, which Google had accepted. The owner corrected it and set a reminder to check every month.

When to do a deeper audit

Do a fuller technical review:

• Before and after a redesign or platform move.
• After a significant drop in traffic you can't explain.
• Once a year, to look at site structure, content quality and links in more depth.