Common SEO Issues Found in Audits (And How to Fix Them)

TL;DR

The same SEO issues show up in audit after audit. Missing meta descriptions, slow page speed, broken internal links, thin content, and indexing errors account for the vast majority of problems. This post catalogs the most common issues with prioritized fixes so you can resolve them efficiently.

The 80/20 of SEO Issues

Explain why a small number of issue types cause most SEO problems. Cover why fixing these common issues delivers the highest ROI.

Indexing and Crawling Issues

Pages Not Being Indexed

Causes: accidental noindex tags, robots.txt blocking, crawl errors, and orphan pages. Cover the diagnosis process using Search Console and the fix for each cause.

Duplicate Content

Causes: missing canonicals, www vs non-www, HTTP vs HTTPS, and parameter URLs. Cover how to identify duplicates and resolve them with canonical tags or redirects.

Crawl Budget Waste

Causes: infinite URL parameters, faceted navigation, and low-quality pages getting crawled. Cover when this matters (large sites) and when it does not (small sites).

Page Speed Issues

Large Unoptimized Images

The most common speed issue. Cover image compression tools, format conversion to WebP, and implementing lazy loading.

Render-Blocking Resources

How unoptimized CSS and JavaScript prevent fast page rendering. Cover defer, async, and critical CSS extraction.

Slow Server Response Time

When hosting is the bottleneck. Cover TTFB measurement and when to consider upgrading hosting.

On-Page SEO Issues

Missing or Duplicate Title Tags

How to find and fix pages with missing, duplicate, or poorly optimized title tags. Reference the on-page SEO guide for title tag best practices.

Missing Meta Descriptions

Why missing meta descriptions leave click-through rate on the table. Cover batch fixes for sites with many missing descriptions.

Broken Internal Links

How to find and fix internal links pointing to 404 pages. Cover the impact on user experience and crawl efficiency.

Missing Alt Text

How to audit and fix images missing alt text. Cover accessibility benefits alongside SEO impact.

Content Issues

Thin Content Pages

How to identify pages with insufficient content depth. Cover the difference between genuinely thin content and appropriate short content.

Keyword Cannibalization

Multiple pages targeting the same keyword, diluting each other’s rankings. Cover detection and resolution. Link to blog content audit for the content-specific audit process.

Outdated Content

How stale content hurts rankings over time. Link to updating old blog posts for the refresh process.

Security Issues

Mixed Content Warnings

How HTTP resources on HTTPS pages create security warnings. Cover detection and batch fixes.

Missing SSL Certificate

Why HTTPS is non-negotiable in 2026 and how to implement it if you somehow still have not.

Prioritizing Fixes

Framework for prioritizing SEO fixes by impact and effort. Cover the recommended fix order: indexing issues first, then speed, then on-page, then content.

Preventing Issues From Recurring

How to set up monitoring to catch SEO issues before they compound. Cover Search Console alerts and periodic audit schedules. Link to SEO audit schedule for a maintenance plan. Delulu9 can help with the keyword side by keeping your keyword targeting current across Google, Bing, and Reddit.

What SEO issues should I fix first?

Fix indexing issues first because nothing else matters if search engines cannot find your pages. After that, address page speed failures (they affect every page), then on-page elements (title tags, meta descriptions), and finally content quality issues. This order maximizes impact per hour spent.

How do I know if an SEO issue is actually hurting my rankings?

Compare pages with the issue against similar pages without it. Check if fixing the issue on a few test pages improves their performance over 4-6 weeks. Not every SEO “issue” from an audit tool is actually causing ranking problems – context matters.

Can SEO issues hurt my visibility in AI search too?

Yes. Technical issues that prevent crawling affect AI training data collection. Poor content quality reduces your authority signals. Broken sites are less likely to be cited by AI assistants. The fundamentals matter across both traditional and AI search. See GEO guide for more on AI search visibility.