Ahrefs Site Audit is a website analysis tool that can help you identify technical and on-page SEO issues that may be hurting your website’s rankings on Google or the user’s experience. The Site Audit tool checks for 79 different issues (at the time of this writing). Some of these include performance (page speed), missing or duplicate HTML tags, and broken links. Depending on their importance, the issues are categorized as errors, warnings, or notices.
At Sagapixel, our SEO team knows the Ahrefs Site Audit can be a valuable tool to help monitor for, identify, and correct technical SEO issues with a website. That’s why we’ve created this quick reference guide to explain the different issues in the Ahrefs Site Audit along with possible solutions.
Keep in mind while reading this guide, the Ahrefs Site Audit is not a substitute for an in-depth technical audit by an SEO professional. Furthermore, the explanations and solutions for the Site Audit issues referenced here aren’t meant to be comprehensive. Instead, this is a guide to help everyone from novice SEOs to developers and others who monitor websites to quickly understand site issues at a high level and prioritize possible solutions or areas for further investigation. In other words, this guide is meant to help point you in the right direction when using the Ahrefs Site Audit tool.
If you’d like professional help auditing your website for SEO issues, or resolving issues from an Ahrefs Site Audit report, contact Sagapixel to learn more about our SEO services.
Why Use the Ahrefs Site Audit Tool?
Technical SEO is an important part of an overall SEO strategy. In addition to having great content, a website needs a strong technical foundation to ensure it’s easy to navigate and be used and understood by site visitors and search engines. Part of technical SEO is auditing a website to ensure it is free of technical or on-page issues or errors that can negatively impact its rankings or the experience of its visitors. Ahrefs Site Audit crawls all the pages of your website and finds issues that may affect your SEO, so that you can prioritize their resolutions.
Overview of Issues in the Ahrefs Site Audit
The chart below is a quick reference to describe what each issue is in the Ahrefs Site Audit and provide a possible solution for it. *Keep in mind, these descriptions and solutions are not meant to be in depth, but rather this is a brief guide to help novice SEOs on up while using the Ahrefs Site Audit.
| Site Audit Issue | Issue Description | How to Fix the Issue |
| 500 page | Potential problem with server; page cannot be accessed by users or search engine crawlers. | Look into the server error logs. May need to check with the hosting provider or web developers. Issue can be temporary. |
| 5XX page | Problem with server; server cannot fulfill the request and page cannot be accessed by users or crawlers. | Look into the server error logs. May need to check with the hosting provider or web developers. Issue can be temporary. |
| HTTPS/HTTP mixed content | There are resource files loaded over an insecure HTTP connection on an HTTPS page. | Remove and replace the resource with HTTPS version; for images, may be able to remove and replace through the page builder (with no need to re-upload the image) |
| Timed out | Page didn’t load: server response was not received on time. | Check server error logs to see if there’s a problem with the website, such as the server is overloaded or misconfigured; usually it is a temporary server issue. |
| 404 page | Page not found; requested URL doesn’t exist. | If it was an important page that was accidentally deleted, find the original content (such as a text document or on Archive.org) and restore the page. If the page shouldn’t be available any longer, set up a 301 redirect to the next most relevant page, if warranted. |
| 4XX page | Page or resource cannot be accessed. | Different 4xx status codes can indicate different errors; a 409 error, for example, is usually nothing to worry about and is an issue with the hosting company blocking the Ahrefs crawler. |
| Canonical from HTTP to HTTPS | The rel=canonical, which tells Google what the “original version” that should show in the search results is set to https, but the website is http. | Best practice is to adopt HTTPS across the website and have HTTP pages 301 redirect to HTTPS. |
| Canonical from HTTPS to HTTP | The rel=canonical, which tells Google what the “original version” that should show in the search results is set to http, but the website is https. | HTTPS pages should have HTTPS canonicals; often this can be fixed in the SEO plugin settings for the page. |
| Canonical points to 4XX | The rel=canonical, which tells Google what the “original version” that should show in the search results is set to a 4xx URL (page that doesn’t exist). | Update 4xx URL to a URL with a valid 200 status code; can usually be fixed in the SEO plugin settings for the page under “canonical.” |
| Canonical points to 5XX | The rel=canonical, which tells Google what the “original version” that should show in the search results is set to a 5xx URL (server error). | Confirm the correct URL is set as canonical; look into the server; may be a temporary issue. |
| Canonical points to redirect | The rel=canonical, which tells Google what the “original version” that should show in the search results is set to a page that redirects. | Update the redirecting canonical link with a direct link to a valid 200 page; often can be done using the SEO plugin settings for the page under “canonical.” |
| Noindex page | Page has a noindex meta tag; search engines like Google will not add it to the search results | If the page should be indexable, remove the noindex tag; this is usually done using an SEO plugin |
| Nofollow in HTML and HTTP header | Nofollow directive is in both the meta tag and HTTP response header. | Nofollow only requires a meta tag or HTTP header directive; if links should be followed, this directive should be removed; often can be fixed in the SEO plugin settings (likely a global setting). |
| Nofollow page | Search engine crawlers will not follow links on the page | If links should be followed, remove the tag; can often check the “nofollow” settings on the SEO plugin. |
| Noindex in HTML and HTTP header | Noindex directive is present in the meta tag and HTTP response header. | Noindex can be set to either HTML meta tag or HTTP header; if the page should be indexable, the noindex directive should be removed; this is often set in the WordPress “discourage search engines from indexing website” or the SEO plugin. |
| Non-canonical page specified as canonical one | Canonical chain where a page specified as a canonical has its canonical set to a different page. | Point impacted pages to a consistent canonical; this can be a duplicate content issue. |
| Noindex follow page | Page has noindex and follow directives; page is not added to the search engine, but links are followed. | See if the page is supposed to be indexed. If it is, remove the nofollow directive. If the page shouldn’t be indexed but links should be followed, leave it alone. If links shouldn’t be followed, update to nofollow. |
| Noindex and nofollow page | Not added to the search engine and not following links. | See if the page is supposed to be indexed and links followed. If it is, remove the directives. If not, leave it alone. Links often should be followed, even on a noindex page. Can usually update in the SEO plugin. |
| Page has links to redirect | Links on the page go to redirecting URLs. | Update redirecting links to their final destination. |
| HTTP page has internal links to HTTPS | HTTP page is linking to an HTTPS version of the website. | Website should be moved to HTTPS. (If this isn’t an option, the issue is resolved by changing the link to HTTP. The easiest way to do this is to do a find and replace for all the internal links from https://example.com to http://example.com.) |
| HTTPS page has internal links to HTTP | Page is linking to an HTTP version of the website, but it’s on HTTPS. | Update HTTP links to HTTPS; the easiest way to do this is to do a find and replace for all the internal links from http://example.com to https://example.com. |
| Page has links to broken page | Page has internal or external links to pages with 404 or 410 HTTP response codes. | Remove broken links or update them to relevant live pages; secondly, redirect any deleted page to an appropriate relevant page if available. |
| Page has nofollow outgoing internal links | Page has internal links marked with rel=nofollow; links won’t be crawled or pass PageRank. | Remove nofollow from internal links as there’s no reason to use it; this is usually a box that gets ticked when adding an internal link. |
| Canonical URL has no incoming internal links | Canonical page is an orphan page with no incoming internal links. | Make sure the canonical is correct. If it is, add internal links pointing to this page. |
| Orphan page (has no incoming internal links) | Page has no incoming internal links. | Add internal links pointing to the page so it’s more easily navigable for users and search engine crawlers. |
| Broken redirect | Destination URL has a 4xx or 5xx response code. | For a 4xx page, update the destination URL of the redirect to a live page, but avoid creating a redirect chain. For a 5xx page, check for server issues. |
| HTTPS to HTTP redirect | Website is redirecting from HTTPS to HTTP. | Make sure SSL is installed and redirect to the HTTPS version of the page. |
| Meta refresh redirect | Meta tag in <head> section sends visitors to a different URL after a certain time period; usually a client-side redirect. | Talk to the site owner to find out why this is in place. If it’s not necessary, use a server-side 301 redirect instead. |
| Redirect chain | Multiple redirects from the first URL to the destination. | Replace redirecting links on pages with the final destination URL of the redirect chain; this can often be done with a find and replace. |
| Redirect chain too long | More than 5 redirect hops in a redirect chain. | Replace redirecting links on pages with the final destination URL of the redirect chain; this can often be done with a find and replace. |
| Redirect loop | Redirects going in an infinite loop. | If the page shouldn’t redirect, change it to a 200 response code. If a page should redirect, correct the final destination to a single chain. Replace redirecting links on pages with the final destination URL. |
| Meta description too long | Meta description has more than 160 characters. | Long meta descriptions may be truncated if used as a snippet. Recommendation is to have meta descriptions between 110 and 160 characters. However, Google can sometimes show longer meta descriptions. |
| Multiple meta description tags | More than one meta description on a page. | Choose the best quality meta description and remove the extra one(s). The page may have multiple SEO plugins generating meta descriptions: can export settings from one plugin to another and remove the first one. |
| Multiple title tags | More than one title tag on a page. | Choose the best quality title tag and remove the extra one(s). The page may have multiple SEO plugins generating meta descriptions: can export settings from one plugin to another and remove the first one. |
| Title tag missing or empty | Title tag is missing or empty. | Add a title tag. |
| Meta description tag missing or empty | Meta description is missing or empty. | Add a meta description to the page. |
| Meta description too short | Meta description has less than 110 characters. | Add more detail about the page to the meta description. |
| Title too long | Title tag is longer than 70 characters. | Longer title tags may be truncated in search results. General recommendation is for title length to be between 50 and 60 characters. However, Google may show longer titles (especially on mobile SERPs). See how the title appears on search results and adjust accordingly. |
| H1 tag missing or empty | Page does not have an H1 heading. | Add one <h1> tag to the page. |
| Low word count | Page has a word count of less than 50 words. | Does the page have a target keyword? If not, check that page is complete and ignore the message. If it does, take a look at the search results for the page’s target keyword and see if the content length is comparable to what is ranking. If not, the page may need expansion. |
| Title too short | Title tag has less than 50 characters. | Ensure the title accurately describes the page. If not, add content to the title tag. Recommended length is usually 50 to 70 characters, but it depends. |
| Page and SERP titles do not match | Google is showing a different title from the page’s HTML title tag. | Compare the title showing in search results to the title tag on the page. If it’s a huge difference, Google likely doesn’t like something about the title tag (such as the length, keyword stuffing, or it’s too generic). Rework the title tag if necessary. |
| HTML file size too large | Page has large-sized HTML code. | Excessively large HTML code may slow down pages. Optimize HTML code if necessary, such as with text compression. |
| Not compressed | Page does not use text compression. | Compression can be used for CSS, JavaScript, and HTML. Can install a plugin such as WP-Optimize or Nitropack if applicable. |
| Pages with poor CLS | Cumulative Layout Shift score higher than 0.25. (Part of Core Web Vitals.) | Investigate causes of poor CLS, such as images without dimensions, content injected with JavaScript, or fonts or styles applied late in the load. Consider using Nitropack plugin if applicable. |
| Pages with poor FID | First Input Delay longer than 300 ms. (Part of Core Web Vitals.) | Investigate long JavaScript tasks and break up or defer if appropriate. If applicable, consider using the Nitropack plugin. |
| Pages with poor LCP | Largest Contentful Paint is poor when the largest visible element in the viewport loads after 4 seconds. (Part of Core Web Vitals.) | Load the largest content element faster. Causes could be slow server response times, JavaScript or CSS blocking rendering, or slow resource load times. If applicable, consider adding the Nitropack plugin. |
| Slow page | The HTML code of the page took a long time to load. | Optimize HTML code or speed up the web server. If applicable, use the Nitropack plugin. |
| Image broken | Images cannot be displayed. | Replace, fix, or remove the links to the broken images on the page. |
| Page has broken image | Page links to image URL that returns 4xx or 5xx status code. | Replace, fix, or remove the links to the broken images on the page. For 5xx status codes, investigate the server. |
| Missing alt text | Images without alt text. | Add concise and accurate alt text to each image. Solution may be to go to the media library or the page and add alt text to images one by one. |
| HTTPS page links to HTTP image | Image resources on the page are linked to over an insecure HTTP connection. | Update the HTTP link to the image with an HTTPS version. |
| Image file size too large | Image size is larger than 1MB. | Optimize image file sizes. One option is to use WP-Optimize or Nitropack to optimize images, if applicable. |
| Image redirects | Image URL on the page redirects to another destination URL. | Update redirecting image link with a link to the final destination image URL. |
| Page has redirected image | Page links to an image file via a redirect. | Update redirecting image link with a link to the final destination image URL. |
| JavaScript broken | JavaScript file cannot be loaded. | Review JavaScript files to make sure they load properly. |
| Page has broken JavaScript | JavaScript file URL on a page returns a 4xx or 5xx HTTP status code. | Replace, update, or remove the broken JS file link. For 5xx status codes, check server. |
| HTTPS page links to HTTP JavaScript | JavaScript resources on page are linked to over an insecure HTTP connection. | Update the HTTP JS link with an HTTPS version. |
| JavaScript redirects | JavaScript URL on the page redirects to another destination URL. | Update redirecting JS link with a link to the final destination URL. |
| Page has redirected JavaScript | Page links to a JavaScript file via a redirect. | Update redirecting JS link with a link to the final destination URL. |
| CSS file size too large | CSS files for the website are larger than 15kB. | Optimize CSS code. Consider using Nitropack, if applicable. |
| CSS broken | CSS file cannot be loaded. | Review CSS files and make sure they load properly. If the website uses Elementor, try clicking “Tools > Regenerate CSS files.” |
| HTTPS page links to HTTP CSS | CSS resources on page are linked to over an insecure HTTP connection. | Update the HTTP CSS link with an HTTPS version. |
| Page has broken CSS | Page links to CSS file that returns 4xx or 5xx HTTP status code. | Update or remove the broken CSS file. If the website uses Elementor, try clicking “Tools > Regenerate CSS files.” |
| Page has redirected CSS | Page links to a CSS file via a redirect. | Update redirecting CSS link with a link to the final destination URL. |
| External 4XX | Website links to external URLs that return a 4xx response code. | Remove or replace the link with a working page. |
| External 3XX redirect | Website links to an external URL that redirects to another URL. | Remove or update redirecting external link to final destination URL. |
| 403 page receives organic traffic | Page that returns a “403 – Forbidden” response code receives organic traffic. | Pages with 403 response codes will be removed from Google’s index. If the status code is correct, use Google Search Console to re-crawl the URL to speed up the de-indexing process. |
| 4XX page in sitemap | XML sitemap contains 4xx page. | Remove 4xx URLs from sitemaps to ensure only 200 response code pages are present. |
| 4XX page receives organic traffic | Page with 4xx response code receives organic traffic. | Depending on the purpose of the page, restore the original page content, redirect the URL to a suitable destination, or re-crawl the page using Google Search Console to speed up de-indexing. |
| Noindex page receives organic traffic | Page with a noindex directive was appearing in search results. | If the noindex directive is new, re-crawl page using Google Search Console to have the noindex acknowledged. Confirm the page is not blocked via robots.txt so crawlers can see the noindex tag. |
| Non-canonical page in sitemap | A non-canonical page is listed in the XML sitemap. | Remove the non-canonical URL from the sitemap and ensure the canonical URL is included. A sitemap should only include canonical URLs that you want indexed. |
| Page from sitemap timed out | A URL in the sitemap did not load (get a response from the server on time). | Check server and website to see if the page loads. Sitemaps should only include accessible pages. |
| 3XX redirect in sitemap | Sitemap contains URLs that redirect. | Replace redirecting URLs in the sitemap with their final destination URLs. If the final destination is already listed, simply remove the redirecting URL. |
| 403 page in sitemap | Sitemap contains a URL with a 403 status code. | Ensure sitemap only lists live URLs with 200 status codes. |
| Non-canonical page receives organic traffic | Non-canonical pages are appearing in search results. | Check if the rel=canonical attributes are correct for the pages; avoid conflicting signals with canonicals. |
| Multiple H1 | Page has multiple H1 headings. | Change heading settings. Check that there is no section hidden between desktop and mobile, if there is, the multiple H1 can be there. |
| Duplicate title tag | Multiple pages have the same title tag. | Customize the title tag for each page so it’s unique. |
| Duplicate meta description | Multiple pages have the same meta description. | Customize the meta description for each page so it’s unique. |
Get Help with Your Website’s Technical SEO
Sagapixel is a full-service SEO agency where our team can help you make sense of an Ahrefs Site Audit or address any other SEO needs your website may have. To learn more about our SEO services, contact us today.
