SaaS SEO audit checklist:

A SaaS SEO audit checks, in order, whether Google can index your pages, whether each page targets one search a buyer makes, and whether those pages are linked, current and measured. Start with indexing, because nothing else on this list matters for a page Google has not indexed.

Each item below has a check you can run today with free tools. The deeper how-tos are linked from each section, including our guides to the technical SEO audit and how to do a content audit.

In short

• Indexing first. Your key pages return 200, are not blocked, and show as indexed in Search Console.
• Technical basics. One canonical URL per page, short redirects, a clean sitemap, content in the HTML, a mobile version with the same content.
• On-page. A unique title and description for every page, one H1, the words buyers use in the title and headings.
• Pages per search. One page per buyer search, and no two pages chasing the same one.
• Links. Every page you care about has a crawlable link from another page on your site.
• AI search. The AI crawlers you want are allowed, and the answer sits in the first two lines.
• Measurement. Search Console and GA4 set up, with a baseline written down before you change anything.

Before you start

Verify your site in Google Search Console and write down today’s numbers from the Performance report: clicks, impressions and the pages and queries that bring them. Google’s report shows “which queries are bringing traffic to your site” and “which pages have the highest (and lowest) click-through rate” (Google). Without a baseline you cannot tell later whether a fix did anything.

Then list the pages that matter: the homepage, pricing, product or feature pages, use case and comparison pages, docs, and the blog posts that bring sign-ups. Audit those first. A small site and a large one use the same checklist. A large one checks one page per template instead of every URL.

Indexing and access

Google lists three technical requirements for a page to be eligible for its index: “Googlebot isn’t blocked”, “The page works, meaning that Google receives an HTTP 200 (success) status code”, and “The page has indexable content” (Google). It adds that meeting them does not mean a page will be indexed.

• Key pages return 200. Check: run each URL through our free indexability checker. It reads the status code, the redirect chain, meta robots and the X-Robots-Tag header, robots.txt for Googlebot, the canonical and whether the URL is in your sitemap.
• No noindex you did not mean to set. Staging settings that ship to production are the usual cause. Check: the same checker, or view source and search for noindex.
• robots.txt does not block pages you want found. Check: read your robots.txt line by line. Our AI crawler checker shows which bots it lets in.
• Google has indexed them. The checkers above read what your site tells Google. Only Google can say what it indexed. Check: URL Inspection and the Page indexing report in Search Console. For each status and its fix, see website not indexed by Google.

Technical basics

These are covered step by step in our technical SEO audit for startups. In a full audit, tick them off here.

• One canonical URL per page. http and https, www and non-www, trailing slash or not: one version, the others redirect to it. Check: the canonical tag points to the page itself on every page you want indexed.
• Short redirect chains. Google’s crawlers “follow up to 10 redirect hops” by default (Google), but every hop is a chance for a mistake. Check: internal links point at final URLs, not at redirects.
• A sitemap with only canonical, indexable URLs. Check: the Sitemaps report in Search Console shows it was read, and it lists no redirected or noindexed URLs. Our sitemap checker reads the file and tests a sample of its pages.
• Content is in the HTML. If the page is built in the browser, Google says “If the content isn’t visible in the rendered HTML, Google won’t be able to index it” (Google). Check: the rendered HTML in URL Inspection. On Next.js, see our Next.js technical SEO checklist.
• The mobile page has the same content. Google “uses the mobile version of a site’s content, crawled with the smartphone agent, for indexing and ranking” (Google). Check: open key pages on a phone and compare the text with desktop.
• Core Web Vitals are in the good range. Google’s targets are LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP under 200 milliseconds and CLS under 0.1 (Google). Check: the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console, or PageSpeed Insights for one URL.

Titles, descriptions and headings

Google calls title links “often the primary piece of information people use to decide which result to click” (Google).

• Every page has its own title. Google asks you to avoid “repeated or boilerplate text” in titles. Check: our meta title and description checker shows length, pixel width and a Google preview for any URL.
• Titles use the words buyers search. Google’s Search Essentials say to put the words people use “in prominent locations on the page, such as the title and main heading” (Google). Check: compare each title with the queries in the Performance report for that page.
• One clear H1 per page. Google says multiple headings with the same weight make it unclear which text is the main title. Check: view source and count the h1 tags.
• Structured data matches what the page shows. Check: our schema markup checker lists the JSON-LD on a page. Which types a SaaS site needs is in schema markup for SaaS.

Pages per search

Every buyer search needs one page that answers it. Our guide to SaaS keyword research covers finding the terms.

• Each buyer search has one page. Problem, use case, comparison, alternative and integration searches each need a page that answers them. Check: list your top 20 buyer searches and write the URL that answers each one next to it.
• No two pages chase the same search. Check: in the Performance report, filter by a query and open the Pages tab. If two of your pages split the impressions, merge them or make them clearly different. The content audit guide covers how to decide.
• Thin pages are improved, merged or removed. Google’s spam policies define scaled content abuse as “many pages are generated for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings and not helping users” (Google). Check: any page with no clicks, no links and no unique content is a candidate.

Internal links

• Every page you care about has an internal link. Google says “Every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site” (Google). Check: pages that only appear in the sitemap and nowhere in your navigation or posts.
• Links are crawlable. Google can generally only crawl a link if it is an a element with an href. Check: buttons and menus that navigate with JavaScript but have no href.
• Anchor text says what the page is. Google calls “Click here to learn more” too generic. Check: read the anchor text of your links alone. Does each one name its page?

Links from other sites are a separate job. See SaaS link building.

AI search

Google says pages need to be indexed and eligible for a snippet to appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews and AI Mode, with no extra technical requirements (Google). So the checks above come first. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude use their own crawlers.

• The AI crawlers you want are allowed. Check: the AI crawler checker, and your CDN or firewall bot rules.
• The answer is in the first two lines of each page. Check: read only the first two lines. Is the page’s question answered?
• AI answers for your category are tracked. Check: a fixed set of buyer prompts, run every week. See how to track AI visibility.

The full list for AI search is in our AEO and GEO checklist.

Measurement

• Search Console is verified for the domain, and the sitemap is submitted.
• GA4 records sign-ups or demo bookings as key events, so you can see which pages lead to them, not only which get visits.
• AI referrals are visible in GA4. See how to track ChatGPT traffic in GA4.
• The baseline from the start of the audit is saved, with the date of each fix next to it.

How often to run it

Run the indexing and technical checks after every site release, since a deploy is how a stray noindex or broken canonical usually ships. Run the full checklist once a quarter, or when traffic from Search drops. Google’s own advice after a drop is to “consider an audit of the drops you may have experienced” and look at which pages and searches were hit (Google).

FAQ

What should a SaaS SEO audit include?

Indexing and access, technical basics (canonicals, redirects, sitemap, rendering, mobile, Core Web Vitals), titles and headings, one page per buyer search, internal links, AI search access and measurement. Check indexing first, since the rest only matters for pages Google can index.

Can I do a SaaS SEO audit with free tools?

Yes. Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, URL Inspection and GA4 are free, and so are our indexability, meta tag, schema and AI crawler checkers. Paid crawlers save time on large sites but are not required for a small one.

How long does an SEO audit take?

It depends on the size of the site and how many templates it has. A small SaaS site can be checked against this list in a working session. How long the results take is a separate question, covered in how long SaaS SEO takes.

What is the difference between a technical SEO audit and a content audit?

A technical audit checks whether search engines can crawl, render and index your pages. A content audit checks whether the pages themselves are worth keeping, updating, merging or removing. A full SaaS SEO audit covers both.

How often should I audit my SaaS site?

Check indexing and technical basics after each release, and run the full list each quarter or after a drop in Search traffic.

Want the audit done for you?

Ignura automates SEO and GEO, and you approve what goes out. Audits and fixes are part of our technical SEO work, and the pricing page shows how we price it.

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