What are the errors in websites and what are the types of audits in SEO?
The most common website errors and their impact on SEO
Broken internal links (linking to pages on your own site that no longer exist) waste the authority passed through those links and create a poor experience for visitors who click them. Duplicate content (the same or very similar content appearing at multiple URLs) confuses search engines about which version to show and can dilute ranking signals across multiple pages. Missing or duplicate meta tags reduce how well your pages represent themselves in search results. Slow loading pages lead to higher bounce rates and, since 2021, directly affect Core Web Vitals scores used as a ranking signal. Incorrect redirects, particularly chains of multiple hops, lose a portion of the authority they're intended to pass.
Understanding the four types of SEO audit
A technical SEO audit specifically investigates infrastructure: how the site is built, served, and accessed by crawlers. An on-page audit investigates what's on the pages: content, structure, and metadata. An off-page audit investigates what's happening outside your site: backlinks, brand mentions, and the reputation your site has earned across the web. A content audit specifically assesses the quality and current relevance of your pages, identifying which are thin, outdated, or targeting topics too vague to rank for. Most comprehensive SEO projects run all four, though they can be prioritised differently depending on the site's specific situation.
Which type to run first
For most sites that haven't been audited before, starting with a technical audit makes the most sense — it establishes whether the site can be found and accessed at all before investing effort in improving what's on those pages. Once technical issues are addressed, an on-page audit identifies content and metadata improvements. For sites that are already technically healthy but struggling with visibility, a content audit to identify thin or misaligned pages, or an off-page audit to understand the backlink gap vs competitors, is more valuable than running another technical check on an already-clean site.
Key Takeaways
- Common errors: broken links, duplicate content, missing tags, slow speeds, bad redirects.
- Four audit types cover technical, on-page, off-page, and content dimensions.
- Start with a technical audit if you've never audited before — it's the foundation everything else builds on.