Start by prioritising the issues that cost the most visibility for the least effort: broken links, slow pages, thin content, missing meta tags and basic structured data gaps. You’ll also get straightforward checks for mobile usability and quick backlink/local tweaks that often move the needle fast.
Follow the short, action-focused steps that follow and you’ll convert audit findings into visible improvements without a long project plan or a developer on standby.
Prioritising Quick-Win SEO Audit Fixes
Focus on fixes that move measurable metrics: organic clicks, impressions, crawlability, and page speed. Use a simple scoring system, benchmark current performance, and produce an ordered task list you can act on within 24 hours.
Impact vs Effort Framework
Score each audit finding on two axes: Impact (likely lift to organic traffic or rankings) and Effort (time and resources to implement). Use a 1–5 scale where 5 impact means clear potential to boost clicks or impressions within weeks, and 5 effort means requires engineering or extensive content work.
Prioritise items scored high-impact/low-effort first — these are true quick wins. Examples: fixing missing title tags, correcting canonical tags, resolving 4xx pages returning crawl budget, and compressing large images. Track scores in a simple spreadsheet with columns: Issue, Impact, Effort, Rationale, and Owner.
Consider RICE-like modifiers for ties: multiply Reach (how many pages/users affected), Impact, Confidence, and divide by Effort to rank tasks. Use tools such as Google Search Console, Semrush or Ahrefs to quantify Reach and Confidence quickly.
Benchmarking Organic Performance
Establish baseline metrics before you change anything. Pull a 90-day snapshot from Google Search Console for clicks, impressions, CTR and average position by page or query. Export organic landing page data from GSC and compare with Semrush/Ahrefs for keyword volume and keyword difficulty.
Identify pages with high impressions but low CTR, pages with dropping impressions, and slow-loading pages with significant sessions. Record Domain Authority (DA) or equivalent from your chosen tool as context, but prioritise page-level signals over domain metrics when choosing quick fixes.
Store benchmarks in the same spreadsheet used for scoring. Add columns for Current Clicks, Impressions, Page Speed (mobile), and Notes. This lets you measure lift after implementing each quick-win and prevents wasted effort on issues that have negligible baseline impact.
Creating a Prioritised Action List
Convert scored findings and benchmarks into an actionable list with deadlines. Group tasks into categories: Technical (redirects, hreflang, canonical), Content (titles, meta descriptions, thin content), and Performance (images, caching, JS). For each task include: Page/URL, Task, Impact score, Effort estimate, Tool source (Search Console, Semrush, Ahrefs), Owner, and Due date.
Start your 24-hour plan with 3–7 items you can complete or deploy quickly, and label a secondary backlog for larger work. Use checkboxes in the spreadsheet or project board to mark progress and note changes in GSC after 7–14 days.
Assign clear ownership and communication steps so developers, content authors and SEO owners know who verifies the change and who checks Search Console for post-deploy impact.
Technical SEO Fixes You Can Implement in 24 Hours
These quick technical actions target crawlability, page speed, broken links and mobile accessibility. Implement tools to spot issues, apply focused fixes, and recheck to confirm improvements within a day.
Crawlability and Indexing Checks
Start by verifying your site’s index status in Google Search Console and check the Coverage report for crawl errors. Export any “Submitted but not indexed” and “Excluded” lists to prioritise pages that should be indexed.
Validate your robots.txt and ensure it doesn’t block important folders or assets; test changes with the GSC robots tester. Confirm your sitemap.xml is present at /sitemap.xml, listed in GSC, up-to-date, and only contains canonical URLs. If you use a CMS, regenerate the sitemap after major changes.
Run a crawl with Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to spot noindex tags, canonical tag conflicts, and duplicate content. Use Ahrefs or SEMrush to cross-check indexing anomalies at scale. Fix accidental noindex, update canonicals to the preferred URL, and resubmit the sitemap to prompt re-crawl.
Page Speed and Performance Enhancements
Measure baseline metrics with Google PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse to capture FCP, LCP, INP and FID values. Focus on fixes that move metrics quickly: compress and resize images (use WebP where possible), enable text compression (Brotli/gzip), and set efficient browser caching for static assets.
Defer non-critical JavaScript and inline small critical CSS to reduce render-blocking. Use a CDN for large static files and enable HTTP/2 if your host supports it. Implement server-side caching or a simple caching plugin on CMS sites to cut TTFB and repeat-load times.
Re-run PageSpeed Insights and compare LCP/INP improvements. Prioritise changes that reduce load time for above-the-fold content first; these yield the biggest UX and SEO gains within a day.
Resolving Broken Links and Redirects
Crawl your site with Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to generate lists of 4xx errors and redirect chains. Export all 404s and identify external backlinks pointing at those pages using Ahrefs or SEMrush so you can prioritise high-value fixes.
Implement 301 redirects from broken URLs to the most relevant live page. Avoid redirect chains and loops; replace multi-step redirects with a single 301 whenever possible. For intentionally removed pages, return a proper 410 status if you want them purged from index faster.
Update internal links in templates and prominent pages to point directly to the final URL. After edits, re-crawl the site and monitor Google Search Console’s Coverage and Links reports to confirm the broken links decrease.
Mobile and Accessibility Improvements
Run the Mobile Usability report in Google Search Console and Lighthouse’s accessibility audit to find immediate issues like viewport configuration, small tap targets, and font sizes. Fix a missing viewport meta tag and ensure buttons and links meet minimum touch-area sizes.
Confirm HTTPS is configured correctly site-wide and that mixed-content errors are resolved, since insecure resources can break mobile rendering. Use responsive images (srcset) to serve appropriately sized images to mobile devices and reduce data transfer.
Address basic accessibility items fast: add descriptive alt text for key images, ensure form fields have labels, and correct heading order. Those changes help UX, reduce bounce rate, and improve indexing of image content. Re-test with Lighthouse and GSC after changes to verify improvements.
On-Page and Content Optimisation
You can make meaningful ranking and CTR gains by tightening title/meta tags, improving internal links, refreshing underperforming pages, and adding descriptive alt text to images. Focus on measurable edits you can complete in a day: meta updates, a handful of new internal links, short content tweaks, and image compression plus alt attribute changes.
Optimising Title Tags and Meta Descriptions
Title tags should be unique, 50–60 characters, and include the primary keyword close to the front. Use a clear meta title structure like: Primary keyword — Brand or Secondary keyword. That helps SERP relevance and keeps titles from truncating.
Write meta descriptions to increase CTR: 120–155 characters, one clear benefit or differentiator, and a direct call to action (e.g., “Download the guide” or “Get a free quote”). Avoid keyword stuffing; include the target keyword naturally and a supporting secondary term when space allows.
Check titles and metas against search intent. If a page ranks for informational queries, phrase the title and description to match (e.g., “How to…”). For transactional intent, use action language and pricing or urgency when accurate. Use a spreadsheet to record current vs proposed tags so you can roll back quickly if needed.
Improving Internal Linking and Anchor Text
Identify pages with good impressions but low clicks or declining traffic and add internal links from high-authority pages on your site. Target 3–5 contextual links per relevant page rather than site-wide footer links. That increases authority flow and helps crawlers index deeper pages.
Use descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text that matches page intent—avoid generic anchors like “click here.” Mix exact-match, partial-match and branded anchors to keep the profile natural. For pages competing on similar keywords, add links to the clearly primary page to consolidate signals and reduce cannibalisation.
Create a short internal linking checklist: source page relevance, anchor text choice, nofollow only if paid or untrusted, and check for broken links. Track added links and monitor ranking/CTR changes over the following 1–4 weeks.
Enhancing On-Page Content and Readability
Audit underperforming pages for search intent mismatch, thin content, and poor structure. Start by adding or sharpening an H1 that matches the primary keyword and use H2/H3s to break content into scannable sections. That improves readability and helps Google understand topical structure.
Refresh paragraphs to answer user questions directly within the first 100–150 words. Use short sentences, bullet lists, and bolding for key facts. Add an explicit CTA aligned to intent—download, subscribe, compare—placed where engagement drops.
Perform quick keyword research to uncover related subtopics you can add as 1–2 sentence expansions or short FAQs. Prioritise factual, original content and avoid duplicating other pages. Aim for clear page structure and a visible first paragraph that matches the SERP snippet expectations.
Implementing Alt Text and Media Adjustments
Compress images to under ~100 KB for photos where possible and serve modern formats (WebP) to improve page speed. Faster load times boost user metrics and indirectly affect rankings. Replace oversized images and remove unused media files.
Write concise alt text (5–15 words) that describes the image and includes a target keyword when relevant, but only if it accurately represents the image. Use alt text to support accessibility and provide additional topical signals for the page.
Add captions for complex images or charts to increase comprehension and time on page. For product or transactional pages, include high-quality images and ensure the filename, alt text, and surrounding caption collectively reinforce the page’s primary keyword and intent.
Structured Data, Backlinks, and Local Quick Wins
Focus on structured data that helps search engines display rich results, fast backlink checks and selective disavows, and practical local steps for your Google Business Profile and reviews to boost visibility and trust.
Adding Schema Markup and Structured Data
Identify high-impact pages first: product pages, FAQ pages, events, and local business pages. Use JSON-LD schema for these types because it’s supported widely and easy to inject into page head or via your CMS.
Prioritise these schema types:
- Product: include name, price, availability, SKU and aggregateRating for rich snippets.
- FAQ: use FAQPage schema for Q&A sections to gain rich results in SERPs.
- LocalBusiness: add address, geo-coordinates, openingHours and telephone for local packs.
- BreadcrumbList: helps search engines show path snippets for category pages.
Validate with Google’s Rich Results Test and Schema.org validator. Check Search Console for structured data errors and fix missing required fields or incorrect types. For dynamic product pages, generate schema server-side or through your e-commerce platform to ensure prices and availability stay accurate.
Quick Backlink and Disavow Actions
Export your backlink profile from Search Console, Ahrefs, or Moz and sort by toxicity and relevance. Focus on:
- Low-quality directories, spammy comment links and foreign-language spam on irrelevant domains.
- High-value, topical links that drive traffic and authority.
Perform a rapid audit:
- Filter links with anchor-text overuse or non-organic patterns.
- Visit suspicious domains to confirm spam signals like thin content or link farms.
- Contact webmasters to request removal for obvious spam links.
Only create a disavow file after attempted removals and if links clearly violate Google’s guidelines. Use the Disavow Links tool in Search Console and document actions taken. Keep a simple CSV log of removed links and disavowed domains for future audits.
Google Business Profile and Local SEO
Claim and verify your Google Business Profile (GBP) if you haven’t already. Fill every field precisely: business name as used on signage, verified address, accurate categories, and current opening hours.
Optimise GBP elements:
- Add 3–5 high-quality photos (exterior, interior, staff, products).
- Use the Services and Products sections with prices or short descriptions where relevant.
- Post weekly offers or updates to drive engagement and show freshness.
Ensure NAP (name, address, phone) consistency across your website and major directories. Add structured data LocalBusiness/PostalAddress on your contact page. For multi-location businesses, create one GBP per location and maintain unique descriptions and images.
Leveraging Reviews and Social Proof
Ask recent customers for reviews via SMS, email or a short on-site prompt after purchase. Provide clear steps and direct links to leave feedback on Google, industry sites, or product pages.
Display reviews effectively:
- Use review schema (aggregateRating and Review) on product and testimonial pages to enable rich snippets.
- Feature star ratings on product pages and include recent user-generated content images to increase trust.
Respond promptly and professionally to negative reviews; note useful feedback and correct service issues publicly where appropriate. Encourage verified-purchase reviews to increase credibility. Use a small rotating widget on key pages to show star ratings and latest reviews as social proof without slowing page load.
If you’re tired of traffic that doesn’t convert, Totally Digital is here to help. Start with technical seo and a detailed seo audit to fix performance issues, indexing problems, and lost visibility. Next, scale sustainably with organic marketing and accelerate results with targeted paid ads. Get in touch today and we’ll show you where the quickest wins are.