The four audit modes.
Smart SEO Audit supports four ways to submit content for auditing: Single webpage, Sitemap, Bulk and HTML. Each covers a different use case. Here's when to use which.
Overview
All four modes run the same underlying set of 50+ SEO checks. What changes is what you submit and what gets audited:
🔗Single webpage
Audit one URL. The default mode for most situations.
🗺Sitemap
Submit a sitemap URL; we parse it and audit every page inside.
☰Bulk
Paste a custom list of URLs, one per line. Audits them all at once.
</>HTML
Audit raw HTML source code. For pre-launch pages not yet online.
To switch modes, click the 🔧 Settings button next to the URL input on the Dashboard. The mode selector appears under the input with four tiles. Click the one you want, fill in the input, hit Start audit.
Single webpage audits are available on every plan, including Free. Bulk, Sitemap and HTML audits are available on Starter and above. See the pricing page for the exact per-plan limits.
Single webpage
The most common mode. You paste a URL, we audit that exact page. Example:
https://example.com/aboutUse this mode when you're:
- Investigating a ranking drop on a specific page
- Checking one page after making SEO changes
- Spot-checking a page you're about to promote
- Running a quick health check on a competitor's page
A single webpage audit completes in around 10 seconds and counts as one audit against your monthly limit.
Sitemap
Submit a sitemap URL — typically https://example.com/sitemap.xml — and we parse it, extract every URL inside, and audit them all.
https://example.com/sitemap.xmlThis is the fastest way to audit an entire website. Most content management systems (WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Shopify, etc.) generate a sitemap automatically. If you're not sure where yours is, common paths are:
/sitemap.xml/sitemap_index.xml/sitemaps/sitemap.xml- Check
/robots.txt— it often references the correct sitemap URL
Use sitemap mode when you want to:
- Get a complete SEO snapshot of a site
- Find which pages have the most issues
- Audit a new site you've just inherited
- Compare SEO health across many pages in one view
A sitemap audit counts each URL inside the sitemap as one audit. A sitemap with 500 URLs consumes 500 audits from your monthly limit. For very large sites, check your plan limits before running — or use the bulk mode with a filtered URL list.
Bulk
Paste a list of URLs, one per line, into the textarea. Each URL gets audited separately.
https://example.com/page1
https://example.com/page2
https://competitor.com/landing
https://anothersite.com/articleBulk mode is the most flexible option. Unlike sitemap mode, URLs don't have to be on the same domain — you can mix and match freely. Use this when:
- You want to audit only specific pages, not the whole site
- You're comparing several competitors at once
- You've filtered your top-performing pages and want to check them
- You're running audits on behalf of multiple clients
HTML
The specialised pre-launch mode. Instead of (or in addition to) a URL, you paste raw HTML source code. We audit the HTML you provide for content, structure, on-page SEO, media optimization — everything that can be analysed from source code alone.
Optionally, you can also provide a live URL. If you do, we use the URL to run checks that require a real network response — HTTP headers, robots.txt, 404 handling, SSL certificate — while using your submitted HTML for everything content-related.
This is extremely useful for pre-launch auditing. See Pre-launch HTML audits for the full workflow.
How to choose the right mode
| If you want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| Audit one specific page | Single webpage |
| Audit the whole website at once | Sitemap |
| Audit a custom list of URLs (possibly across domains) | Bulk |
| Audit a page that hasn't been published yet | HTML |
| Compare competitors side by side | Bulk |
| Run a one-off technical check | Single webpage |