How to run a site audit on Semrush

beginner 7 min read Updated 2026-03-13

Quick Answer

Semrush Site Audit crawls your website to detect errors, warnings, and notices like broken links and duplicate content. Configure settings for domain, crawl source, and schedule, then start the audit to get a Site Health score. Review issues, fix them, and re-run for improvements.

Prerequisites

Active Semrush account with Site Audit access
Website ownership verification in Semrush
Website accessible to crawlers (no robots.txt blocks)
Valid sitemap.xml (optional but recommended)
Basic technical SEO knowledge

Step-by-Step Instructions

Access Site Audit

Log into your Semrush account and navigate to the Site Audit tool from the left-hand menu or home page. For your first folder, Site Audit is automatically configured and launched for the provided domain; wait for the initial crawl to complete and view results.

Create New Folder

For subsequent audits, select Site Audit from the dashboard and create a new folder by following the setup wizard prompts. This allows manual configuration of your audit campaign.

Enter Domain and Settings

In the General settings section of the wizard, input your domain (e.g., example.com). Choose to audit domains/subdomains and set the limit of pages to crawl (default: 100 to 10,000+ based on site size).

Start with defaults for quick audits.

Configure Pages to Crawl

Select a crawl source: Website (default, crawls entire site like GoogleBot), Robots.txt sitemap, Sitemap by URL, or file of URLs (upload custom list).

Use 'Website' for full crawls or sitemap for key pages.

Set Crawl Masks and Parameters

Optionally add include masks (e.g., /blog/*) or exclude masks (e.g., /admin/*). Define URL parameters to include/exclude (e.g., ?utm_source=). Defaults crawl the full site without masks.

Choose Crawl Mode

Select desktop (default for comprehensive checks) or mobile. Supports up to 20,000 pages per audit (100,000 for Business tier).

Desktop for most sites; mobile for responsive testing.

Configure Schedule

Set frequency to Once (default), Daily, or Weekly. Click Start audit to begin; crawl time varies by site size (15-60 minutes typical).

Review Advanced Options

Adjust crawl-delay for politeness (auto-set by site size). Exclude non-critical checks via Settings tab if needed.

Keep defaults unless server overload occurs.

Monitor and View Results

Check Site Audit Overview for Site Health score, errors, warnings, and notices. Switch to Issues Report tabs for details, affected pages, and fix explanations.

Re-run and Export

After fixes, click Re-run Site Audit. Export results as PDF, XLSX, or CSV from the Overview report.

Track trends over multiple crawls.

Common Issues & Troubleshooting

Broken Links (4xx/5xx Errors)

Remove or replace links to error pages. Use Semrush 'View broken links' feature; check for DDoS protection if browser works but Semrush reports broken.

Broken Internal JS/CSS Files

Verify file paths and directories. Use absolute URLs in references to ensure proper rendering and Core Web Vitals.

Duplicate Content

Identify via warnings; implement canonical tags or 301 redirects to consolidate duplicates.

Missing Meta Tags

Add required meta descriptions, titles, and other tags to improve indexing and SEO.

Slow Page Speed or Crawlability Issues

Optimize images/assets, check robots.txt, and ensure site accessibility to crawlers.

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