How to check SEO of a site?
What the score from an SEO tool actually tells you
Most SEO audit tools produce a score from 0 to 100, which is useful as a quick benchmark but should be understood for what it actually measures: a weighted combination of the specific checks that particular tool runs. Different tools use different criteria and weightings, which is why the same page will score differently across different tools. The number itself matters less than the underlying issues it flags. A page scoring 72 with three critical errors is in a worse position than a page scoring 68 with only minor warnings — the score is a summary, not the whole story.
Checking SEO without a dedicated tool
Even without a dedicated SEO tool, you can check several important signals manually. Type your website's URL into Google followed by the word 'site:' (e.g. site:example.com) to see which pages Google has indexed. Check your page titles in browser tabs and in search results by actually searching for your brand name or main topics. Use Chrome's built-in Lighthouse tool (F12 → Lighthouse tab) for a free technical and SEO report on any specific page. Manually check a few pages for obvious issues like missing descriptions, repeated titles, or images without alt text.
How often should you check your site's SEO?
For most small to medium sites, a thorough SEO check every quarter is sufficient, combined with brief monthly spot-checks on your most important pages. After a significant change — a redesign, a platform migration, a new content push, or a noticeable change in traffic — it's worth running an immediate check rather than waiting for the next scheduled review. Some types of issue (like a crawlability error introduced during a deployment) can suppress rankings quickly and silently, making it important to check promptly after any meaningful site changes.
Key Takeaways
- SEO scores are useful summaries but the underlying issues matter more than the number.
- You can check several important SEO signals manually using free browser tools.
- Check after every significant site change, not just on a fixed schedule.