DIY SEO Audit in 5 Steps

Your website is live: it has attractive banners, detailed service descriptions, and contact info. But the phone is silent and no inquiries are coming from the site. Sound familiar? Most often, the issue isn’t the design or prices, but that search engines like Google and Yandex simply don’t see your site or consider it insufficiently high-quality.

Before investing in ads or a full redesign, it’s worth running a diagnosis. An SEO audit is like a health check-up for your website. It helps uncover hidden issues that prevent it from ranking high and attracting organic traffic.

Think it’s hard and only available to specialists with expensive tools? Not at all. You can perform a basic audit yourself. This will help you find obvious errors and better understand how your key digital asset works — and speak the same language with your future contractors.

Let’s break down 5 key steps any business owner can take.

Step 1: Check technical health (baseline)

Technical optimization is the foundation of SEO. Even the best content and strongest offer won’t help if the site is slow or has critical errors. Start with load speed analysis: according to Google, if a page takes longer than 3 seconds to load, up to half of users leave. You can check performance with Google PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse, paying attention to Core Web Vitals — LCP, FID, and CLS.

It’s equally important to test the mobile version: search engines have already switched to mobile-first indexing, and if your site isn’t convenient on smartphones, rankings will suffer. Check canonicalization: the homepage should be indexed only in a single version, while www or http variants must redirect to it via proper 301 redirects.

Additionally, verify robots.txt, the sitemap, the absence of broken links, and the correctness of all redirects. For a comprehensive check, use Screaming Frog and GTmetrix to uncover non-obvious issues.

Step 2: Content and On-Page SEO

Content is the key to visibility and clickability. Start with meta data: a unique Title and a well-crafted Description directly impact CTR in search results. Avoid duplicate titles across different pages — this automatically reduces your chances of reaching the TOP.

Check logical structure: H1, H2, lists, and emphasis. This helps search engines properly interpret the page and keeps users on the site longer. Evaluate uniqueness: copied or automatically rewritten texts don’t work. For a basic check, use Content Watch and Advego.

For expert analysis, use SurferSEO or Screaming Frog to assess semantic coverage and keyword alignment. Optimize images for size and add proper alt texts with relevant phrases.

Step 3: A look at competitors

To understand why your site isn’t in the TOP, study those already in the TOP-3 for your key queries. Look at their structure: which sections they have, whether there’s a blog or case studies, and how reviews and product pages are designed.

Evaluate content types — articles, videos, infographics — and how completely they meet user needs. Study their offers: promotions, special terms, and additional services that increase the value of the proposition.

Additionally, analyze their semantics using Ahrefs or Serpstat to understand which keywords they focus on and which niches you might be missing. Don’t copy, but do use the logic behind their success.

Step 4: Usability and user convenience

When visiting a website for the first time, a person should intuitively understand where to click next. The header should have clear sections without “creative” names, with visible contacts nearby and one tap to a messenger. Search is the site’s brain: instant suggestions, typo and synonym handling, and a unified result set across products and articles. Breadcrumbs show the path, and filters speak the user’s language: “price,” “in stock,” “size/color,” not internal codes.

Every extra step reduces trust and conversions. Slow loading, “404s,” hidden CTAs, and overloaded forms send users to competitors. Search engines register this: bounce rates rise, time on site falls — rankings drop along with revenue. Keep the path short: to a product — in 3 clicks; to checkout — with no redundant fields; to contact — in one tap.

Think mobile-first and mind the details: legible fonts, high-contrast buttons, clear price with delivery nearby, “in stock” status, and transparent return terms. Highlight the next action (“Add to cart,” “Buy in 1 click”) and assist with micro-messages: “Free shipping from…,” “Only 3 left.” The faster a person gets an answer, the higher your conversion, average order value, and retention.

Step 5: Results analysis and... what’s next?

After completing the steps, you’ll likely have a list of 5–10 issues. Classify them (content, technical, behavioral, link-related) and prioritize by impact on metrics (organic traffic, conversion, Core Web Vitals: LCP/INP/CLS) and effort (ICE/RICE). Quick heading fixes can increase relevance and CTR, while speeding up the site and fixing indexing errors (4xx/5xx, canonical, robots, sitemap) require engineering work.

A self-audit is a sound initial diagnosis, but turning findings into growth in traffic and revenue requires a cycle of “research → implementation → verification”: log and crawl analysis, semantic clustering with intent alignment, managed link profile work, and A/B tests controlling for seasonality and statistical power. Professional tools and expertise help eliminate root causes, not symptoms — reflected in visibility, behavioral metrics, and ROMI.

You’ve found issues. We know how to turn them into growth points.

By following the steps in this article, you’ve already done more than many competitors. You understand what’s holding your site back. The next step is to turn that list into a clear action plan and execute it.

At DaT-Studio, our data-driven approach to SEO promotion allows us not just to fix errors but to build a long-term strategy. We analyze data to understand which improvements will bring the greatest influx of targeted traffic and inquiries for your business.

Want not just an audit, but a growth strategy?

Request a free consultation. Our specialists will:

1. Assess the results of your self-audit.
2. Run an additional express analysis using professional tools.
3. Propose a transparent work plan within our SEO service to achieve your business goals.

Don’t let your site remain invisible. Let’s make it a leader in your niche.