SEO basics, updated October 2026
What an SEO audit checks, and what it cannot tell you
A plain guide to the checks inside a site audit, and how to read the results without over-reading them.
The four groups of checks
Most site audits sort their findings into a few groups. Knowing the groups makes a long report much easier to scan.
- Technical: can pages be loaded securely and without errors, and do links lead somewhere real?
- Metadata: does each page have a clear title and description of its own?
- Headings and content: is each page organized with a sensible outline, and are images described?
- Crawlability and indexability: are search engines allowed to find and keep the pages that matter?
What a score means
An audit score summarizes how many checks passed. It tells you about the health of your site. It does not tell you where you will rank, because rankings depend on many things an audit cannot see, such as competition and the quality of your content.
Use the score to track progress between audits, and use the individual findings to decide what to do.
How to prioritize
Start with anything that stops a page from being found or loaded, such as broken pages or accidental noindex directives. Then fix missing titles and descriptions on your most important pages. Leave cosmetic issues for last.