If you have been searching for a moz seo audit that does not require a paid subscription, you are not alone. Thousands of site owners look for a moz site audit, moz content audit, or moz crawl test every month because Moz has built one of the most recognized brands in SEO software. The challenge is that the most useful Moz features sit behind Moz Pro, while the free tools only scratch the surface. In this guide, you will learn exactly what a Moz-style SEO audit covers, what you can get for free, and where a dedicated free audit tool like WebsiteLinter fills the gaps.
What Is a Moz SEO Audit?
A moz seo audit is a comprehensive review of a website’s health using Moz Pro’s Site Crawl, On-Demand Crawl, and Rank Tracking modules. The audit looks for technical SEO issues such as missing title tags, duplicate content, broken links, redirect chains, slow pages, missing meta descriptions, and crawlability problems that prevent search engines from indexing your content.
Moz also scores domain authority through its proprietary Domain Authority (DA) metric and tracks keyword rankings over time. For agencies and in-house SEO teams, the value of Moz Pro is the combination of technical diagnostics, link data, and competitive keyword research in one dashboard. A small business owner who only wants a quick health check, however, may find the Pro subscription expensive and the feature set overwhelming.
If your goal is simply to find and fix the problems that stop Google from ranking your pages, you can build a Moz-style audit from free tools. The trick is knowing which checks matter most and which free tool handles each check best.
What You Get Free from Moz vs. Moz Pro
Moz offers several free resources, but they are intentionally limited compared with the paid product. Understanding the difference helps you decide whether you need a full Moz Pro subscription or whether a free stack can do the job.
Moz Free Tools
- Link Explorer – limited daily queries; shows a sample of backlinks, domain authority, and spam score.
- Keyword Explorer – limited monthly queries; gives keyword difficulty, search volume, and SERP analysis.
- Domain SEO Analysis – a one-page snapshot of a domain’s authority, linking root domains, and ranking keywords.
- MozBar – a Chrome extension that overlays page metrics such as PA, DA, and link counts while you browse.
Moz Pro Paid Features
- Site Crawl – automated weekly or daily crawls that flag hundreds of technical issues.
- On-Demand Crawl – instant deep crawls of any site up to a URL limit.
- Rank Tracker – daily rank monitoring for target keywords.
- Full Link Explorer – unlimited backlink and competitor link research.
- Custom Reports – branded PDF reports for clients.
For a single site, the free Moz tools are useful for spot checks. They will not give you a complete crawl of every page, they will not measure Core Web Vitals, and they will not check accessibility. That is where a specialized audit scanner becomes a smarter free alternative.
Moz SEO Audit Alternative: What WebsiteLinter Adds
WebsiteLinter is a free website audit tool built by Lindsey Web Solutions in Columbus, Ohio. Instead of spreading your workflow across multiple Moz menus, WebsiteLinter runs a single scan and returns a prioritized report covering SEO, page speed, accessibility, and security.
Where Moz Pro focuses heavily on authority metrics and keyword tracking, WebsiteLinter focuses on the technical barriers that stop a small-business website from ranking. Imagine a local bakery with a beautiful homepage that Google never indexes because the robots.txt file blocks all CSS files. Moz Pro might list that under “crawl issues,” but WebsiteLinter explains the fix in plain language and tells you exactly which file is causing the block.
WebsiteLinter also tests the factors Google has confirmed as ranking signals:
- Core Web Vitals – Largest Contentful Paint, First Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shift.
- Mobile usability – responsive design issues and viewport problems.
- HTTPS / security – missing SSL, insecure mixed content, and certificate errors.
- Accessibility – missing alt text, low contrast, and missing form labels.
According to Google’s Search Central documentation, page experience signals including Core Web Vitals have been part of the ranking systems since 2021. Backlinko’s 2024 CTR study found that the first organic result on Google captures roughly 27.6% of clicks, while results on page two drop to single digits. That means fixing technical issues is not optional; it directly affects whether your pages earn traffic.
Comparison Table: Moz Pro vs. Moz Free vs. WebsiteLinter
| Feature / Capability | Moz Pro | Moz Free Tools | WebsiteLinter Free Audit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical site crawl | Yes — automated weekly or daily crawls | No | Yes — instant full-site scan |
| JavaScript-rendered crawling | Yes | No | Yes |
| On-demand / single-page crawl | Yes | No | Yes |
| Broken links (4xx / 5xx errors) | Yes | No | Yes |
| Redirect chains & loops | Yes | No | Yes |
| Missing / duplicate title tags | Yes | No | Yes |
| Missing / duplicate meta descriptions | Yes | No | Yes |
| H1 tag analysis (missing / multiple) | Yes | No | Yes |
| Duplicate content detection | Yes | No | Yes |
| Canonical tag analysis | Yes | No | Yes |
| robots.txt & XML sitemap validation | Yes | No | Yes |
| Schema markup / structured data check | No | No | Yes |
| Image alt text check | Limited | No | Yes |
| Core Web Vitals test (LCP, FID/INP, CLS) | Limited | No | Yes |
| Page load speed score | Limited | No | Yes |
| Mobile usability check | Basic | No | Yes |
| HTTPS / SSL & mixed-content check | Basic | No | Yes |
| Accessibility scan (WCAG issues) | No | No | Yes |
| Backlink & referring domain data | Yes — full Link Explorer | Limited daily queries | No |
| Domain Authority / Page Authority scores | Yes | Yes — limited | No |
| Keyword rank tracking | Yes — daily | No | No |
| Keyword research & difficulty scores | Yes | Limited monthly queries | No |
| Competitor domain comparison | Yes | Limited | No |
| SERP feature tracking | Yes | No | No |
| Historical crawl & ranking trends | Yes | No | No |
| Custom / white-label PDF reports | Yes | No | No |
| API access | Yes | No | No |
| Plain-language fix guidance | Moderate | Limited | Yes — prioritized action list |
| Price | Paid subscription | Free | Free |
The table makes the choice simple. If your main need is authority scoring, backlink research, or keyword tracking, Moz Pro is the right investment. If your main need is a fast, actionable technical, speed, and accessibility audit, the free WebsiteLinter SEO checker is the better fit.
How to Run a Free Moz-Style Audit in 15 Minutes
You can approximate a full moz site audit without spending anything by combining Moz’s free data with WebsiteLinter’s technical scan. Here is a repeatable workflow that takes about 15 minutes.
- Check authority and backlink snapshot. Visit Moz’s free Domain SEO Analysis tool and enter your domain. Record your Domain Authority, linking root domains, and top keywords. This gives you a benchmark.
- Run a technical scan. Go to WebsiteLinter’s free website audit, enter your URL, and wait for the report. Pay attention to critical errors first: broken links, missing title tags, missing meta descriptions, and 4xx/5xx status codes.
- Test page speed and Core Web Vitals. WebsiteLinter includes a page-speed score. Google’s data shows that 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned when a page takes longer than three seconds to load (Google, 2023). If your Largest Contentful Paint is high, compress images, enable caching, and remove render-blocking scripts.
- Review mobile usability. Look for viewport issues, clickable elements that are too close together, and content wider than the screen. Mobile-first indexing means Google predominantly uses the mobile version of your content for ranking.
- Scan accessibility. Missing alt text is one of the most common accessibility failures. Add descriptive alt text to every image that conveys meaning. Check color contrast ratios and form labels, because accessibility improvements often improve conversion rates as well as rankings.
- Check security. Confirm that your entire site loads over HTTPS, that your SSL certificate is valid, and that there is no mixed content (HTTP resources on an HTTPS page).
- Prioritize fixes by impact. Tackle indexation-blocking issues first, then high-traffic page optimizations, then accessibility polish. Use the issue count from WebsiteLinter as your backlog. Once the urgent fixes are live, submit the page to Google Search Console for faster indexing.
This workflow gives you 80% of the value of a paid moz seo audit for technical health without the monthly cost.
When WebsiteLinter Is the Better Choice
There are three situations where WebsiteLinter is a stronger option than Moz Pro or a free audit from moz:
- You need a one-time health check. If you just launched a site or inherited a client’s site, a single scan tells you whether the fundamentals are solid before you commit to an expensive SEO platform.
- You care about page speed and accessibility. Moz Pro does not surface Core Web Vitals or WCAG issues in the same way. WebsiteLinter treats speed and accessibility as first-class citizens because Google treats them as ranking factors.
- You want plain-language fixes. Small business owners and non-SEO marketers often find Moz’s terminology dense. WebsiteLinter translates each issue into a concrete action, such as “Add a meta description between 120 and 160 characters.”
A business like yours might also want both tools in the stack: use Moz Pro or free Moz tools for keyword and link research, and use WebsiteLinter for monthly technical audits. They are complementary, not mutually exclusive.
FAQ
Is Moz’s site audit free?
Moz’s full site crawl is part of Moz Pro. Moz does offer a free Domain SEO Analysis and limited Link Explorer queries, but a complete moz crawl test of every page requires a paid subscription.
What is the best free alternative to a Moz SEO audit?
For technical SEO, page speed, accessibility, and security, WebsiteLinter is the best free alternative because it performs a full-site scan with actionable fix guidance. For backlink and keyword research, Moz’s free tools or other specialized tools are more appropriate.
Does WebsiteLinter replace Moz Pro?
No. WebsiteLinter replaces the technical audit portion of Moz Pro, especially for small businesses and agencies that want fast, free scans. Moz Pro still leads for keyword tracking, backlink analysis, and large-scale competitive research.
How often should I run a website audit?
Run a full technical audit at least once a month and after every major site update. Catching broken links, new 404s, or speed regressions early prevents ranking drops. If your site suddenly stops appearing in search results, our guide on why your website is not showing up on Google walks through the most common causes.
Run a Free WebsiteLinter Audit Today
A moz seo audit is a gold standard for many SEO professionals, but it is not the only path to a healthier website. If you want a fast, free alternative that focuses on the technical, speed, accessibility, and security issues that Google actually cares about, WebsiteLinter has you covered.
Run a free WebsiteLinter audit now and see exactly what is holding your site back. If you need hands-on help fixing the results, the team behind WebsiteLinter — Lindsey Web Solutions — offers professional SEO, web design, and maintenance services for small businesses across the United States.