SEO Audit Template: A Free Worksheet You Can Fill In Today

By Anus Anwar. Last reviewed November 4, 2026

This SEO audit template is a free Excel worksheet for checking your own website. It has a 25-item checklist, and an issue log that ranks each problem as Critical, Warning or Notice. You do not need an email address to download it.

A template does not find problems by itself. It gives you one place to record what a crawl, Google Search Console and your own review turn up, so the audit ends with a list you can act on. Below you will see what is inside the file, how to fill it in and how to decide what to fix first. MW Marketers sells SEO audits, so one section also explains when paying for an audit makes more sense than using a worksheet.

What is in the free SEO audit template?

The file has four tabs. Each one has one job, so you can use the whole file or only the parts you need.

The 25 checks sit in the same seven areas that MW Marketers uses in its audit reports: site structure and links, technical health, on-page SEO, content and trust, security, accessibility basics and AI crawler access. Each check is one short statement with a place to look. When a check fails, you write the details in the Issue Log. It works as a website audit template for any site you own or manage, whatever platform it runs on.

What does the template look like?

Choose a tab to see its layout. The results and issues shown are examples only, made up for this page.

How do I use the SEO audit template step by step?

Read the Start Here tab first. Then you work through three tabs in order.

1. 1SetupDescribe the site and the check.
2. 2ChecklistMark each of the 25 checks.
3. 3Issue LogRecord every issue you find.

1. Fill in the Setup tab. Write the site address, the date and the tools you will use. Add the number of pages you are checking.
2. Collect your data. Run a crawl with a website crawler. Also open the Page indexing report in Google Search Console. The crawl lists things like broken links, titles and redirects. The report shows which pages Google has indexed and the reasons it left others out. Some pages are left out on purpose, so read each reason before you call it a problem.
3. Go through the Checklist tab. Use the Where to look column to find each answer. Set the Result to Pass, Issue, Not checked or Not applicable. Use Not applicable only when a check cannot apply, such as a form check on a site with no forms.
4. Log each issue. Add one row to the Issue Log for every Issue result. Write the affected page URL and where to find the problem. If an issue affects many pages, list a few examples in the row and keep the full list in your crawl export.
5. Rank and plan. Count your issues by severity and start with the Critical ones. Use the Owner and Status columns to note who will fix each issue and where it stands.

How do I decide what to fix first?

Every check in the template has a default severity, and you can change it. Ask these three questions to rate an issue:

1. Is an important page unintentionally unreachable for visitors, blocked from crawling or kept out of the index? If a page that should be available cannot be reached, crawled or indexed, rate the issue Critical.
2. Does it affect many pages, or how your pages appear in search, while the pages still work? That is usually a Warning.
3. Is it a small improvement you can make when you are already editing the page? That is a Notice.

Start with the Critical issues that genuinely affect important pages or essential site functions. Then work through the Warnings that affect the most pages, followed by Notices when you are already editing those pages.

Can I use this as an SEO audit report template?

Not on its own. This free worksheet is a working log, not a formatted report. The Issue Log lists each finding with its affected page, what it can cause and how to fix it, so you can hand it to the person who will make the changes. It does not build a summary, count your results or lay out a plan for you.

A finished report is a separate deliverable. A MW Marketers audit report covers seven areas, ranks each issue as Critical, Warning or Notice, gives up to two example URLs for each issue and includes a 90-day action tracker. A person reviews every report before it is delivered.

Is a free template enough, or should I pay for an audit?

The template is enough when you can run a crawl, read the results and edit your own pages. A paid audit makes more sense when you do not have time to work through 25 checks, you do not have a crawler or are not sure how to read its output, or the site is too large to check by hand. That is the author’s judgment, not a rule. Neither option fixes anything. An audit finds and ranks problems, and someone still has to make the changes.

The template also has limits. It cannot crawl your site, it cannot tell you whether your severity ratings are right, it does not build a report for you, and a finished worksheet is a snapshot of one day.

MW Marketers sells SEO audits, so we have an interest in this answer. This worksheet is the free, do-it-yourself version. Our SEO audit covers the same seven areas and comes as a finished report. The fee depends on the number of pages and is shown before you pay. Fixing the issues is not included. More step-by-step guides are on the MW Marketers blog.

FAQ about the SEO audit template

What should I do next?

1. Download the template and fill in the Setup tab.
2. Run a crawl and open the Page indexing report in Google Search Console.
3. Work through the Checklist and log the Critical issues first.

Sources

• Page indexing report. Google Search Console Help. Date not shown on the page.
• Work with Office files. Google Docs Editors Help. Date not shown on the page.