Website SEO Checker

A website SEO checker crawls your site and lists everything holding back your search performance: broken links, redirect chains, missing titles, thin content, and slow pages. This is an honest, tool-agnostic guide to running a free check and, more importantly, fixing every issue it surfaces. 404Pulse does not sell a magic scanner, so we point you to the real free tools professionals actually use.

What a website SEO checker checks

A website SEO checker simulates how a search engine crawls your site, then reports where things break down. Most tools examine the same categories:

• Crawlability: can search engines reach your pages, or are they blocked by robots.txt or lost in orphan pages?
• Indexation: are the right pages indexable, with correct canonical tags and no accidental noindex?
• On-page: do pages have unique titles, meta descriptions, headings, and image alt text?
• Links: are there broken internal links, 404s, or long redirect chains?
• Performance: do pages load fast enough to pass Core Web Vitals?

Think of the report as a prioritised to-do list, not a grade. A low score with easy fixes is better news than a high score with one buried, fatal problem. For the wider context of how these checks fit into a strategy, see our complete SEO guide.

The real free tools to run a check

You do not need a paid subscription to audit a site properly. These free tools cover the essentials:

• Google Search Console: the single most important free tool. Its Pages report shows what Google indexed and why some URLs were excluded. It is free for any verified site, as described on the Search Console overview page.
• Google PageSpeed Insights: free page speed and Core Web Vitals analysis with specific fix suggestions.
• Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free tier): a desktop crawler that audits up to 500 URLs at no cost, ideal for finding broken links and missing tags.
• Bing Webmaster Tools: a free second opinion with its own site scan and SEO reports.
• Ahrefs Webmaster Tools: a free site audit for verified site owners.

Ignore any service claiming a one-click "SEO score" is all you need. Real auditing combines a crawl (Screaming Frog), Google's own index data (Search Console), and a speed test (PageSpeed Insights). To set up the first of these properly, follow our Search Console guide.

Fixing crawlability and indexation issues

If search engines cannot crawl or index a page, nothing else matters. Common findings and their fixes:

• Blocked by robots.txt: confirm you are not disallowing pages you want indexed. Only block what should truly stay out of search.
• Accidental noindex: remove noindex tags from pages you want to rank. This single mistake can wipe a page from Google.
• Missing or wrong canonical tags: point each page's canonical to its preferred URL so Google consolidates signals correctly.
• Orphan pages: add internal links so crawlers and users can reach every important page.
• No sitemap: generate an XML sitemap and submit it in Search Console to help Google discover URLs.

Google confirms that a sitemap "tells search engines which pages and files you think are important" but does not guarantee indexing, so treat it as a discovery aid, not a fix-all. Their sitemaps documentation explains when one helps most.

Fixing broken links and bad redirects

Link issues are among the most common findings, and they hurt both users and crawlers. Here is how to handle each:

• Internal 404s: update the link to the correct URL, or restore the missing page. Never leave a dead internal link.
• External 404s: point the link to a working equivalent or remove it.
• Redirect chains: collapse multi-step redirects so each old URL points straight to the final destination in one hop.
• Wrong redirect type: use a 301 for a permanent move so ranking signals transfer.

Getting redirect types right matters. According to MDN, a 301 Moved Permanently signals a permanent move and lets search engines transfer ranking to the new URL, while a 302 signals a temporary one. Use 301 (or 308 to preserve the request method) when content has moved for good. For a deeper walkthrough, see our broken link checker guide.

Fixing on-page issues

On-page findings are usually quick wins. Work through them page by page:

1. Missing or duplicate title tags: write a unique, descriptive title for every page.
2. Missing meta descriptions: add a concise summary that earns the click. It is not a ranking factor, but it drives click-through.
3. Multiple or missing H1s: use one clear H1 per page that reflects the topic.
4. Thin content: expand pages that are too shallow to answer the query, or consolidate them.
5. Missing alt text: describe images for accessibility and image search.

Google's SEO starter guide is the authoritative reference for these basics and confirms which factors, like keyword meta tags, no longer help.

Fixing speed and Core Web Vitals

Speed findings tie directly to Google's page experience signals. The three Core Web Vitals and their targets, per web.dev, are Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds, Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less, and Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less. Run any slow page through PageSpeed Insights and work the recommendations: compress images, defer unused scripts, and reserve space for media to stop layout shift. Full detail lives in our Core Web Vitals guide. You can confirm the thresholds on the official web.dev Web Vitals page.

Turn a one-off check into a routine

A single scan is a snapshot. Sites decay: links break, pages get republished, and new templates introduce new bugs. Build a light routine:

• Watch Search Console weekly for new indexing and page experience issues.
• Run a full crawl monthly, or after any major site change.
• Re-test speed after adding scripts, plugins, or heavy media.
• Recrawl after fixing issues to confirm they are actually resolved.

For a structured end-to-end process, our SEO audit guide turns these checks into a repeatable audit, and the companion SEO analyzer guide focuses on reading page-level reports.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a truly free website SEO checker?

Yes. Google Search Console, Google PageSpeed Insights, and the free tier of Screaming Frog SEO Spider together cover crawlability, indexation, on-page issues, broken links, and speed at no cost. Bing Webmaster Tools and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools add free second opinions for verified site owners.

Does 404Pulse have its own SEO checker tool?

No. 404Pulse is an educational blog, not a software vendor. This guide teaches you how to run a proper check with established free tools and, crucially, how to fix what they find, rather than selling a proprietary scanner or fabricated scan results.

What issues does a website SEO checker find?

Typical findings fall into five buckets: crawlability problems like blocked or orphan pages, indexation issues such as accidental noindex or wrong canonicals, on-page gaps like missing titles and thin content, link problems including broken links and redirect chains, and performance issues that fail Core Web Vitals.

What should I fix first?

Fix crawlability and indexation issues first, because if search engines cannot reach or index a page, nothing else helps. Then address broken links and bad redirects, on-page basics like titles and content, and finally speed. Within each category, prioritise problems affecting many URLs or your highest-traffic pages.

Do I need a paid tool for a good audit?

Not to start. Free tools cover the essentials for most small and mid-size sites. Paid tools mainly add scale, historical tracking, and competitor data. Begin with the free stack, fix what it reveals, and only upgrade when your site outgrows the free limits.