SEO check: Advanced website analysis for better rankings

If you want to get your website up on Google, you can't avoid a professional SEO check. Why Because a website is only visible if it meets the requirements or ranking factors of search engines such as Google. It is therefore not just a matter of finding a few technical errors, but also of diving deep into the structure, content, meta information and the overall user experience.

We will therefore show you below what an SEO check means, what exactly is being analyzed and which questions and tools can help you with this so that you know exactly where your potential lies and which SEO factors should be improved so that your website ranks better.

What is an SEO check anyway?

An SEO check is a comprehensive analysis of your website, usually by an SEO checker, with the aim of identifying technical, structural and content weaknesses that could negatively affect your ranking on search engines. The website is checked from the perspective of Google & Co., i.e. as a crawler would see it. This not only gives you a selective snapshot, but also a real picture of your SEO performance.

An SEO check goes well beyond a simple website analysis. While the latter often only provides basic information, the SEO check specifically checks aspects such as visibility, technical optimization and content quality for better rankings.

Why and when an SEO check makes sense

Imagine building a house, but without having tested the soil first. That's exactly what you're doing with your website when you do SEO without a thorough check. In this case, an SEO check is the foundation on which all further measures are based. Without this basis, you're groping in the dark, perhaps optimizing in the wrong place and wasting valuable resources.

A (new) SEO check is mandatory, especially for existing websites that may have grown over the years. Often, a lot of technical and structural ballast has accumulated over time. Old pages, broken links, slow loading times or unoptimized images... all of this costs you visibility and therefore revenue.

What is analyzed during an SEO check?

A professional SEO check takes a close look at several levels of your website: from technical infrastructure to content quality to user guidance and external signals. SEO checkers typically analyze the following main areas:

1. Technical basis: These include load time, server response times, security protocols (e.g. HTTPS encryption), mobile usability, URL parameters, redirects, HTTP status codes (e.g. 301, 302, 404, 500) and Core Web Vitals. These key figures (LCP — Largest Contentful Paint, FID — First Input Delay, CLS — Cumulative Layout Shift) are among the current performance metrics that Google includes as a ranking factor.
2. Indexing & crawling: This is why it checks whether pages are blocked by the robots.txt or meta robots tags, whether canonical tags are set correctly, whether the crawl budget is being used sensibly, and whether your content is neatly structured.
3. OnPage factors: This includes meta titles, descriptions, heading hierarchies (H1-H6), alt texts for images, keyword density and placement, content structure, internal linking and compliance with semantic HTML5 standards. Structured data (schema markup) also falls into this area.
4. Content relevance & quality: This is where it is analyzed how well your content is tailored to users' search intent. Are you using relevant search terms? Is your site informative, profound, up to date, and unique? Is there thin content or duplicate content? Is semantic diversity taken into account through a WDF*IDF analysis?
5. Structure & internal linking: An SEO check usually also checks your website for a clear URL structure, logical navigation hierarchy and clean internal linking with optimized anchor texts. But a functioning Sitemap.xml and robots.txt file are also important for search engines to better understand content and guide users through the site, and are therefore often included in an SEO check.
6. Mobile usability: Responsive design, intuitive usability on smartphones and tablets, sufficient space between clickable elements and touch-optimized navigation: all of this directly influences your ranking and is therefore analyzed.
7. External signals: Backlinks, social signals, and brand mentions show Google how relevant and popular your site is on the web. The backlink profile is therefore checked with regard to quality, quantity, topic relevance and toxic links. But presence on social media or in industry directories also counts as a reputation signal, which is why data is collected here.
8. Local SEO factors: Local SEO is also available for locally active companies. This includes the consistency of NAP data (name, address, phone), reviews on Google Business, the use of local keywords and optimization for regional search queries.

SEO tools for your detailed SEO check: Free vs. premium

Free SEO checkers and SEO analysis tools such as Seobility or Ubersuggest can already give you a quick overview and point out basic SEO errors. They are therefore well suited for an initial assessment, especially for beginners, and in some cases even provide simple recommendations for action. But: They are no substitute for well-founded SEO analyses, as they often only work according to general standards and can barely take into account individual features in connection with your website. Paid tools and professional SEO checks from industry experts, on the other hand, go much further. They not only analyze superficial data, but usually also shed light on profound technical and content aspects. These include, for example:

• How Google indexes the website
• Whether redirects have been implemented correctly from a technical point of view
• Check for duplicate content
• Mobile usability and responsive design
• Use of structured data (schema markup)
• Structure and efficiency of internal linking
• Quality and impact of incoming backlinks

In addition to the depth of the analysis, SEO service providers and agencies also provide you with a professional interpretation of the results. Instead of just providing figures, concrete, individually tailored recommendations for action are given to specifically improve your visibility and the ranking of your website.

SEO score: orientation, but not an absolute yardstick

Many SEO tools such as Seobility, Sistrix or Ahrefs offer a so-called SEO score, which evaluates your website based on technical and content criteria. These scores are usually based on a platform-specific algorithm and serve as a quick overview of the overall SEO health of your site. However, since the evaluation criteria differ from tool to tool, it is best to combine several sources and critically interpret the results. For advanced users, it is also possible to develop their own rating system for an individually compiled SEO test, adapted to the goals, industry and competitive environment of your website.

Comprehensive SEO check: analysis tools at a glance

Tools that we, as an experienced SEO agency, can recommend for your individual SEO check:

• Seobility for comprehensive on-page analyses, crawl reports and SEO scores
• Screaming Frog SEO Spider for deep technical analysis
• Google Search Console for real data directly from Google, particularly on indexing status, Core Web Vitals, and search queries
• Ahrefs & SEMrush for backlink analysis and keyword research tools
• PageSpeed Insights & GTmetrix for performance analysis

The combination of these tools allows you to efficiently check all SEO criteria and create meaningful SEO analyses from them.

The ultimate checklist for your SEO check: Detailed questions & professional tips

The following checklist is now your practical guide for a comprehensive SEO analysis. It should help you evaluate your website step by step, regardless of whether you use an SEO tool such as Seobility in combination with others or go through the points manually. Each category contains specific questions and helpful tips from us as an experienced SEO agency to identify and fix problems immediately. Ideal for beginners and advanced players alike!

1. Technical SEO basis

Questions about the analysis:

• Is your site accessible via HTTPS (SSL certificate) or is it active and correctly implemented?
• How fast does the page load on desktop and mobile? (charging time < 3 seconds?)
• Are there error pages (404), server issues (500), or soft 404s?
• Are all redirects working correctly (301 vs 302)?
• Are there an unnecessary number of CSS/JS files being loaded? How big is your HTML file?

Our tip: Use tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, and Lighthouse to get concrete suggestions for improving load time, JavaScript bundles, and caching. Also check that HTTP/2 is active and that your hosting provider offers fast response times.

2. Indexing & Crawl Control

Questions about the analysis:

• Which pages are indexed? Are there “noindex” pages that should be indexed?
• Is robots.txt correctly configured or is it blocking important resources?
• Are you using canonical tags correctly to avoid duplicate content?
• Is your XML sitemap complete and up to date?

Our tip: With Google Search Console, you can identify crawling issues and see which pages weren't indexed and why. To do this, use the “URL check” function regularly.

3. OnPage optimization in detail

Questions about the analysis:

• Does every page have an individual meta title & a meta description?
• Is the snippet length optimized for desktop & mobile (title < 60 characters, description < 155)?
• Are relevant keywords used naturally in meta tags?
• Is H1 unique and clearly formulated? Are there duplicate H2 or empty headings?
• Do images have descriptive alt attributes?
• Has structured data (Schema.org) been integrated?
• Are language details (hreflang) stored correctly?

Our tip: Use Sistrix's SERP Snippet Generator or Seobility to visually optimize meta data. For structured data, also make sure that it is validated with the Google Rich Results Test.

4. Analyze content & keywords

Questions about the analysis:

• Are there pages with too little text (less than 300 words)?
• Is your content up to date and informative (e.g. dating back to previous years)?
• Which keywords have a high search volume and should have their own sub-pages?
• Is the keyword placement natural and thematically appropriate?
• Has a WDF*IDF analysis been carried out to ensure semantic diversity?
• Are there pages with duplicate content?

Our tip: Use tools such as Ryte Content Success or Termlabs.io for detailed analyses of topic coverage and use a keyword research tool such as Sistrix or Ubersuggest to find the right keywords for your website and rank check your current pages.

5. Structure & links

Questions about the analysis:

• Is the URL structure clean (without special characters or session IDs)?
• Are your URLs short, descriptive, and contain relevant keywords?
• Are there pages that are not or barely linked internally, e.g. a specific subpage?
• Are meaningful anchor texts used?
• Is breadcrumb navigation available and correctly implemented?
• Is the Sitemap.xml up to date and only contains indexable pages?
• Is robots.txt blocking important pages or resources?

Our tip: With Screaming Frog SEO Spider, you can also find isolated pages (“orphan pages”). Also make sure that each page can be reached with a maximum of three clicks.

6. Evaluate mobile optimization

Questions about the analysis:

• Is your website fully responsive?
• Are clickable elements easily accessible on touch screens?
• How do Core Web Vitals behave on mobile devices?
• Are there any pop-ups or overlays that annoy users on mobile devices?

Our tip: Use Google's mobile-friendly test and regularly monitor mobile-friendliness in the Search Console. Also remove aggressive mobile pop-ups (interstitials) as they are rated negatively.

7. Keep an eye on external factors

Questions about the analysis:

• Which domains link to your website?
• Are there toxic backlinks (spam, bad neighborhoods)?
• Is your page shared on social networks?
• Are there brand mentions (mentions without links)?

Our tip: A comprehensive SEO analysis tool such as Ahrefs, Majestic or Semrush gives you detailed insights into your backlink profile. In any case, rely on natural link building by publishing high-quality content that wants to be linked. Otherwise, there may also be negative effects on your rankings.

8. Check local SEO elements

Questions about the analysis:

• Is your Google Business Profile complete and up to date?
• Does NAP data match on websites, directories, and profiles?
• Do you use local keywords in title, description, and content?
• Are there regular, real reviews with responses to them?

Our tip: Use tools such as Moz Local or BrightLocal to analyze the consistency of your local listings and strive for up-to-date location-related reviews, as these can significantly increase your local visibility.

Conclusion: Why every SEO check brings you closer to your SEO success

Regardless of whether you're just starting out, want to improve your rankings or want to get rid of the technical baggage after years: A professional SEO check is always the first, indispensable step on the way to better rankings, more visibility and sustainable online marketing success. It helps you discover technical errors, improve content in a more targeted manner and systematically turn your website into a real top ranking candidate — provided that the collected data is correctly interpreted. In the end, this is exactly where the difference lies between tools that only spew out figures and professional analyses that provide recommendations for action.

However, anyone who thinks along and regularly carries out or has a well-founded SEO check carried out quickly recognizes new potential, can better assert themselves against the competition and no longer waste resources on inefficient measures. This also makes the check so valuable at the end for any website that wants to grow organically and remain visible online. Regardless of whether you start with a free SEO check or rely directly on a professional, in-depth analysis with us from SEO Galaxy, it is important in any case that you regularly check your website and develop it in a targeted manner. This is the only way you can identify weak points at an early stage, identify unused potential and stay one step ahead of your competitors.

As an experienced agency with a focus on search engine optimization, we would be happy to accompany you on this journey and analyse and optimize your website for better rankings! Get in touch with us now, we look forward to hearing more about you and your company or project.

FAQ: Frequently asked questions about SEO checks

Below you will find answers to the most common questions about SEO checks:

How often should I do an SEO check?

An SEO check should ideally be carried out once a quarter. For dynamic websites with regularly new content or frequent technical changes, a monthly check is recommended in order to identify and counteract problems at an early stage.

How much does a professional SEO check cost?

The costs of an SEO check vary depending on the scope and depth of the analysis. Depending on the service provider and scope, a basic check often starts in the medium to high three-digit range, while comprehensive audits with detailed action plans usually start from a four-digit amount. However, it's worth it, as precise optimizations often result in a high ROI.

Which free SEO tools are recommended?

Tools like Seobility, Ubersuggest, Google Search Console, or the free version of Screaming Frog are a good start. They help you identify initial mistakes and develop a basic understanding of the SEO health of your website.

Does an SEO check produce immediate results?

Not usually. An SEO check shows where there is a need for improvement, but real results, such as better rankings or more visibility, only come about when the recommendations are implemented, often with a certain delay.

Can I also carry out an SEO check myself?

Basically yes, especially with free tools. But for deeper insights and a well-founded assessment, it's worth taking a look at a professional, especially if you have no SEO experience or are pursuing specific goals.

How long does an SEO check take?

A simple check can be done in just a few hours. For comprehensive audits with recommendations and prioritization of measures, you should expect a few days to process, depending on the size and complexity of your website.

Are SEO checks also useful for small websites?

Absolutely! Smaller sites in particular benefit greatly, as major improvements can often be achieved with just a few targeted measures. An SEO check uncovers valuable potential even for small projects.