Website Security SEO Audit Checklist for SEO

Overview

Website security directly impacts SEO. Google uses HTTPS as a ranking signal, flags insecure sites in Chrome, and can delist sites affected by malware or hacking. This checklist covers security issues that affect search visibility and user trust.

HTTPS and SSL/TLS

Check	Status	Priority	Notes
SSL certificate installed and valid		Critical	Check expiration date
All pages served over HTTPS		Critical	No HTTP-only pages
HTTP to HTTPS redirects in place (301)		Critical	Site-wide redirect
SSL certificate matches domain (including www)		Critical	Include all subdomains
TLS 1.2 or higher enforced		High	TLS 1.0 and 1.1 are deprecated
HSTS header enabled		High	Strict-Transport-Security
Certificate chain complete		High	No intermediate cert issues

Mixed Content

Check	Status	Priority	Notes
No HTTP images on HTTPS pages		High	Triggers browser warnings
No HTTP scripts on HTTPS pages		Critical	Blocks script execution
No HTTP CSS on HTTPS pages		High	Blocks rendering
No HTTP iframes or embeds		Medium	Third-party content
Internal links use HTTPS		Medium	Avoid unnecessary redirects

Security Headers

Header	Recommended Value	Current Value	Status
Content-Security-Policy	Restrict script sources
X-Content-Type-Options	nosniff
X-Frame-Options	DENY or SAMEORIGIN
Referrer-Policy	strict-origin-when-cross-origin
Permissions-Policy	Restrict camera, microphone, etc.
X-XSS-Protection	0 (rely on CSP instead)

Google Safe Browsing

Check	Status	Notes
Site not flagged in Google Safe Browsing		Check transparency.google.com
No manual security actions in Search Console		GSC > Security & Manual Actions
No “This site may be hacked” warnings in SERPs		Search site:yourdomain.com
No malware detected by scanner		Use Sucuri SiteCheck or similar

Vulnerability Checks

Check	Status	Priority	Notes
CMS and plugins up to date		Critical	Outdated software is the top attack vector
Default admin URLs changed		High	/wp-admin, /admin paths
Directory listing disabled		High	Prevents file enumeration
No sensitive files publicly accessible		Critical	.env, wp-config.php, .git
Form inputs sanitized (XSS prevention)		High
SQL injection protection		Critical	Use parameterized queries
File upload validation		High	Restrict file types

Spam and Injection Detection

Check	Status	Notes
No hidden text or links injected		Check source code for display:none spam
No unauthorized redirects		Check for conditional redirects to spam sites
No unknown pages indexed		Search site:domain.com for unfamiliar URLs
No suspicious new user accounts		Review CMS user list
No cloaking detected		Compare what Googlebot sees vs users

Monitoring Setup

Monitor	Tool	Frequency	Status
SSL certificate expiration		Weekly
Uptime monitoring		Every 5 min
Malware scanning		Daily
Google Search Console security alerts		Real-time (email)
File integrity monitoring		Daily