How to Check Your Website's SEO: A Complete Guide

Knowing how your website performs in search is the foundation of any SEO strategy. But with dozens of factors to consider, where do you start? This guide walks you through everything you need to check — from title tags to page speed — and tells you exactly how to check each one.

Why you need to audit your SEO

You can't improve what you don't measure. Many website owners make SEO changes without first understanding the baseline — which means they can't tell what's working and what isn't.

Regular SEO audits help you:

• Identify quick wins — issues that are easy to fix and have immediate impact.
• Catch problems before they hurt your rankings (like broken links or missing meta tags).
• Track your progress over time.
• Understand competitor gaps and opportunities.
• Ensure new pages and content meet SEO standards before publishing.

The fastest way: use a free SEO checker

The quickest way to get an overview of your site's SEO health is to run it through an automated tool. A good SEO checker will scan your page and report on dozens of factors in seconds.

Our free CheckSEO tool checks:

• Title tag length, uniqueness, and keyword presence
• Meta description quality and length
• Heading structure (H1 through H6)
• Image alt attributes
• Internal and external links
• Open Graph tags for social sharing
• Schema / structured data
• Sitemap and robots.txt presence
• SSL certificate status
• Mobile viewport configuration

How to check your title tags

Your title tag is arguably the most important on-page SEO element. To check it manually, view the source code of any page (Ctrl+U in Chrome) and look for <title>...</title>.

What to look for:

• Length: Aim for 50–60 characters. Google truncates titles longer than ~580px.
• Uniqueness: Every page should have a different title tag.
• Keyword placement: Your primary keyword should appear near the beginning.
• Compelling copy: The title should make people want to click.
• Brand name: Include your brand at the end, e.g. "What is SEO | CheckSEO".

How to check your meta descriptions

Meta descriptions appear below your title in search results. While they're not a direct ranking signal, they heavily influence click-through rates.

In your page source, look for: <meta name="description" content="...">

A good meta description should:

• Be 150–160 characters long
• Include your primary keyword (Google bolds matching terms)
• Have a clear call to action
• Accurately describe the page content
• Be unique — never duplicate descriptions across pages

How to check your headings

Headings help both users and search engines understand your content structure. Each page should have exactly one H1 (your main title), followed by H2s for major sections and H3s for subsections.

Common heading issues to look for:

• Missing H1 tag
• Multiple H1 tags on one page
• Skipping heading levels (going from H1 to H3)
• Headings that don't contain any keywords
• Very long or vague headings

How to check your images

Image alt text serves two purposes: it helps visually impaired users understand images, and it helps search engines understand what the image shows.

To check images: view the page source and search for <img — every image should have an alt attribute with a descriptive value. Decorative images can use an empty alt (alt="").

Also check: are your images compressed? Large images are one of the biggest causes of slow page speeds.

How to check your links

Links fall into two categories: internal (between your own pages) and external (to other websites).

What to check:

• Broken links — links that lead to 404 error pages hurt both user experience and SEO.
• Anchor text — the clickable text of your links should be descriptive, not generic like "click here."
• Internal linking — make sure your important pages are linked to from other pages on your site.
• rel="nofollow" — use this attribute for links to external sites you don't want to pass authority to (e.g., sponsored links, user-generated content).

How to check page speed

Page speed is a confirmed Google ranking factor, and it directly affects user experience. Use Google PageSpeed Insights (free) to get a score and specific recommendations.

Key Core Web Vitals to check:

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) — should be under 2.5 seconds. Measures how long the main content takes to load.
• FID/INP (Input Delay/Interaction to Next Paint) — should be under 100ms. Measures responsiveness.
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) — should be under 0.1. Measures visual stability.

How to check mobile-friendliness

Google uses mobile-first indexing, so your mobile experience is critical. Use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test or simply open your site on a phone and check for:

• Text that's readable without zooming
• Buttons and links that are easy to tap
• No horizontal scrolling
• Images that scale properly
• Correct viewport meta tag in your HTML

Technical SEO checks

Technical SEO is the behind-the-scenes work that makes sure search engines can find and index your content. Key items to check:

• SSL certificate — your site should load on https://. Check with your browser — a padlock icon means it's secure.
• sitemap.xml — visit yoursite.com/sitemap.xml to verify it exists and contains all your important pages.
• robots.txt — visit yoursite.com/robots.txt to ensure you're not accidentally blocking crawlers from important pages.
• Canonical tags — check for <link rel="canonical" href="..."> to prevent duplicate content issues.
• Open Graph tags — ensure OG title, description, and image are set so your pages look good when shared on social media.

Using Google Search Console

Beyond on-page checks, Google Search Console gives you data directly from Google about how your site performs in search. It's free and essential.

Key things to check in Search Console:

• Coverage report — see which pages are indexed and which have errors.
• Performance report — see which queries bring traffic to your site, and which pages rank for them.
• Core Web Vitals — see how your pages perform on the real-world metrics Google uses for ranking.
• Manual actions — check if Google has penalised your site for any reason.

Want to learn more? Read our complete SEO checklist for 2025 or our guide to improving your website's SEO.