Site Audit User Guide

Learn how to use ProRank SEO's Site Audit feature to find and fix SEO issues on your website. This tool helps you identify problems that may be hurting your search rankings.

ProRank 1.6.0 · WordPress demo · Captured 5 September 2026

What is Site Audit?

Site Audit crawls the configured part of your website, up to the page limit for the run, to find SEO problems. It checks things like:

• Missing page titles and descriptions
• Broken links and images
• Slow loading pages
• Mobile-friendliness issues
• Security problems
• Content quality issues

In Basic (Local) mode, ProRank performs the crawl and analysis on your WordPress host in bounded steps and stores the evidence on your site. On eligible paid plans, Cloud (Advanced) mode sends the licensed site and selected crawl settings to ProRank's controlled workers, which request the public pages and return the results to WordPress.

How to Start Your First Audit

Step 1: Go to Site Audit

1. In your WordPress admin, go to ProRank SEO in the left menu
2. Click on Site Audit & Tools
3. You'll see the Site Audit dashboard

Step 2: Choose an Audit Mode

Choose the mode that fits your plan and host:

• Basic (Local): Available in Free and paid editions. The audit runs on your WordPress host and no audit data is sent to ProRank.
• Cloud (Advanced): Requires an eligible active paid license. If ProRank.io is not connected, check the license in Support & Account or switch to Basic (Local).

Step 3: Start the Audit

1. Click the "Start New Audit" button
2. The audit will begin scanning your website
3. Follow the live progress, findings, affected-page counts, category totals, and current score as pages are checked
4. Wait for the audit to complete; duration depends on the page limit, site response time, and enabled checks

Understanding Your Results

The Dashboard Tab

During a run, the Dashboard updates from persisted crawl evidence. After a complete or recoverable partial run, it shows:

• SEO Score: A number from 0-100 showing your site's overall SEO health
• Total Issues: How many problems were found
• Issue Breakdown: Issues sorted by severity (Critical, High, Medium, Low)
• Category and page coverage: Category totals and the number of affected pages represented by the evidence collected so far
• Partial status: A clear label when a processing limit or stall ended the crawl after usable evidence had already been collected

Issue Severity Levels

The Issues Tab

Click the Issues tab to see all problems found. For each issue, you'll see:

• What the problem is
• Which pages are affected
• How to fix it
• Why it matters for SEO

Core Web Vitals Tab

The Core Web Vitals tab shows your site's performance metrics:

• LCP: How fast your main content loads
• INP: How quickly your site responds to clicks (replaced FID in March 2024)
• CLS: How stable your page layout is
• FCP: When the first content appears
• TTFB: Server response time

How to Fix Issues

Manual Fixes

Most issues need to be fixed manually. The audit will tell you exactly what to do:

1. Click on an issue in the Issues tab
2. Read the "How to Fix" instructions
3. Make the changes to your website
4. Run another audit to check if it's fixed

Quick Fix Button

Some issues have a "Quick Fix" button. These can be fixed automatically:

• Missing meta descriptions
• Image compression issues
• Browser caching settings
• GZIP compression

When an issue exposes a supported fix action, review the proposed change before applying it. Other findings include evidence and manual remediation guidance instead.

Exporting Your Results

After an audit completes, you can download the results:

1. Look for the Export CSV or Export PDF buttons
2. Click the format you want
3. The report will download to your computer

This is useful for:

• Sharing results with clients or team members
• Keeping records of improvements over time
• Working on fixes offline

Customizing Audit Settings

Click the Settings tab to customise how the audit runs:

Basic Settings

Viewing Past Audits

The History tab shows your previous audits:

• Date and time of each audit
• SEO score for that audit
• Number of issues found
• Comparison with the previous completed audit only when target, audit type, checker selection, and crawl settings are comparable

This helps you track if your SEO is improving over time!

Best Practices

How Often to Run Audits

• ✅ Monthly: For most websites
• ✅ Weekly: If you're actively fixing issues
• ✅ After Major Changes: When you update content or design

Tips for Better Results

• ✅ Fix critical issues first
• ✅ Focus on pages that get the most traffic
• ✅ Run a new audit after making fixes to verify they worked
• ✅ Export results before making changes for comparison

Common Questions

Troubleshooting

If You See "ProRank.io Not Connected" in Cloud Mode

1. Switch to Basic (Local) if you want to run the included on-site audit without a cloud connection
2. Go to ProRank SEO → Support & Account
3. Check if your license key is entered
4. Make sure your license is active (not expired)
5. Click "Save Changes" to reconnect

If the Audit Gets Stuck

1. Refresh the page and review the persisted status and recovery notice
2. If ProRank reached a processing limit or recovered a stalled run after collecting usable evidence, open the explicitly labelled partial report
3. Use Stop & Restart when it is offered for a stalled run, or cancel deliberately if you do not need the collected evidence
4. Start a fresh audit when you need a complete result for comparison

If Results Seem Wrong

1. Check the Settings tab
2. Make sure "Max Pages" is high enough
3. Verify no important pages are excluded
4. Run the audit again

What to Do After Your Audit

1. Review Critical Issues First - These have the biggest impact on SEO
2. Review available fixes - Apply supported fixes deliberately and follow the guidance for manual issues
3. Fix Manual Issues - Follow the "How to Fix" instructions
4. Check Core Web Vitals - Make sure your site loads fast
5. Re-run Audit - After making fixes, run again to see improvements
6. Export Results - Save a copy for your records

Additional Features

Re-run Audit Button

After completing an audit, you'll see a "Re-run Audit" button. Use this to:

• Check if your fixes worked
• Find new issues that may have appeared
• Update your SEO score

Real-Time Updates

While the audit runs, you'll see:

• Live progress bar
• Number of pages scanned
• Current status messages
• Tracked, crawled, and analysed page counts
• Persisted findings and severity totals
• Category totals, affected-page counts, and the current score

Recoverable Partial Reports

If a long-running audit reaches its processing limit, or a stalled run is recovered after collecting usable evidence, ProRank saves the available result as an explicitly labelled partial report instead of discarding it. Review the captured findings, then run a fresh audit when you need complete coverage. This recovery path is different from deliberately cancelling a run, which does not create a final report.

Smart Issue Detection

The audit automatically finds:

• Duplicate content
• Missing alt text on images
• Pages that load too slowly
• Broken internal and external links
• Mobile usability problems
• Observable HTTPS and security-configuration problems