26/05/2026
Most technical SEO audits don’t need to start with expensive enterprise tools.
They can start with Screaming Frog.
Here’s a simple workflow I use when auditing a site:
Crawl the site
Start with the homepage or XML sitemap, then let Screaming Frog collect URLs, status codes, titles, meta descriptions, canonicals, headings, directives, and internal links.
Check indexability
Filter for URLs blocked by robots.txt, marked noindex, canonicalised elsewhere, or returning non-200 status codes. This quickly shows what search engines may be unable to access or index.
Review status codes
Look for 3xx redirect chains, 4xx errors, 5xx errors, and internal links pointing to broken pages. These are often quick wins.
Audit titles and meta descriptions
Use the tabs for missing, duplicate, too long, or too short metadata. This helps identify template issues at scale.
Analyse canonicals
Check whether canonical tags are self-referencing, missing, duplicated, or pointing to unexpected URLs.
Find thin or duplicate content
Review word count, duplicate page titles, duplicate H1s, and near-duplicate pages. This is especially useful on ecommerce, directory, and programmatic SEO sites.
Inspect internal linking
Use inlinks, outlinks, crawl depth, and orphan URL checks to understand how authority flows through the site.
Connect GA4, Search Console, and PageSpeed Insights
This turns a basic crawl into a much richer audit by combining crawl data with traffic, impressions, clicks, and performance metrics.
Export and prioritise
The crawl gives you data. The value comes from turning that data into actions:
what is broken
what is blocking indexation
what affects crawl efficiency
what impacts rankings
what can be fixed fastest
Screaming Frog won’t “do” the audit for you.
But it gives you the technical evidence you need to make better SEO decisions.
A good audit isn’t just a list of errors.
It’s a prioritised roadmap for improving crawlability, indexation, performance, and organic growth.