What are the steps to conduct a comprehensive SEO audit?

Topic summary

Comprehensive SEO audit steps for a Shopify store focus on both technical and content factors, with tool choice tailored to budget and expertise.

  • Benchmark current SEO vs competitors using tools (SEMrush, Ahrefs, ecommerce SEO tools).
  • Review site structure, URLs, and hierarchy for crawlability and clarity.
  • Optimize meta tags and page titles, plus key HTML elements (metadata used by search engines).
  • Find and fix broken links, redirects, and other technical issues.
  • Audit content for duplicate pages, thin content, and overall quality.
  • Optimize images (file size, descriptive filenames, ALT text for accessibility/SEO).
  • Monitor rankings and performance regularly.

Tool selection update: High-end tools (Ahrefs, SEMrush) are powerful but costly/complex. For DIY stores, simpler tools like Siteguru offer actionable to‑do lists; one example improved a site score from ~30/100 to nearly 100 over a few months. Consider lifetime deals (e.g., AppSumo) to reduce ongoing costs.

App recommendation: A Shopify app (SEOPro) can streamline bulk optimization of meta tags, titles, and images, and includes an SEO scoring system to track improvements. Developer affiliation was disclosed.

Status: No final decision; guidance and tool recommendations provided. Discussion remains open for further questions.

Summarized with AI on January 5. AI used: gpt-5.

The hard thing about SEO tools is that the best one for you is the one you’ll actually use and get value from, which depends on your situation.

At the high end are Ahrefs and SEMrush. They are expensive but have a ton of features, though it can be overwhelming. If you have a dedicated SEO person, then maybe this is worth it.

However, if you’re like most stores and are doing it yourself, then I’d recommend starting smaller. One of my favorite simple SEO tools is Siteguru. I like it because it’s simple and actionable, but especially because they have a lifetime deal via Appsumo. I got a $40 lifetime license on Black Friday. They may still have a lifetime deal on Appsumo.

Using Siteguru my initial site rating was ~30/100, and over the next few months, I got it close to 100. They give you a simple to follow to-do list to fix site issues like missing tags, broken links, etc. that I chipped away at a little every week.

If Siteguru doesn’t still have a lifetime deal on Appsumo I’d recommend looking for a similar lifetime deal so you’re not spending too much.

Then, once you use the cheap, simple tool to the fullest extent and want more, then you can pay for one of the more expensive tools with a lot more capability like Ahrefs, SEMrush, etc.