Using the extra tasks list in SEO by Zaweba

Step 5 of the guided audit in SEO by Zaweba is a list of optional jobs you can do by hand to make the audit more accurate. Each task shows how long it should take and how much accuracy it adds, and the list is ordered by accuracy gained per minute. Do the ones at the top and you get the most improvement for the least effort.

None of them is required. The audit works without any of them, and if you skip them the report says what was skipped and how much confidence that cost. But a few minutes here often changes what the action plan tells you to do first.

Why the tasks are done by hand

SEO by Zaweba never contacts Google search, suggest or autocomplete itself. That's a deliberate choice, and it means anything that comes from Google has to come from you, in your own browser. The extra tasks list turns that into a short, practical checklist. Rather than wondering what else might help, you're told exactly which searches or exports to make, and in what order.

The kinds of task you'll see

Modifier searches come first for many projects. These are searches for your term with words added that suit your site type: cost, best, vs, near me, UK, wholesale, bulk, next day and so on. A local service business sees different modifiers from a wholesaler. Pasting those results tells the app whether people searching with those words want a different kind of page.

Autocomplete a to z asks you to type your term followed by each letter and note what Google suggests. It's tedious done blind, but the task tells you what to do and why, and it surfaces phrasing real searchers use.

Site: searches for your domain and your competitors' domains, and site: page counts, give a rough sense of how big each site is in Google's eyes.

For your own sites only, there are Search Console exports and server access logs, with exactly where each export lives. There's also an optional backlink CSV if you have one from a backlink tool.

Choosing which to do

Start at the top and stop when you run out of time. Because the list is sorted by gain per minute, the first two or three tasks usually account for most of the benefit. The time and gain shown beside each one help you decide whether a task is worth it today. A five-minute modifier search with a large gain is an easy yes. A longer export with a small gain can wait for the next scan.

If you're auditing a competitor watch-list rather than your own site, the Search Console and access log tasks don't apply, since those need access to the site. The list only offers them for your own sites.

Where the results go

Each task feeds a part of the audit. Modifier results inform the suggestions for pages that should exist, such as a separate page for a near me or wholesale search. Search Console data feeds page-2 quick wins and weak click-through checks, through the Logs and Search Console page. Logs feed the server log analyser. The backlink CSV is used for authority and toxic-pattern checks in the advice.

Getting into the habit

The first audit of a project is the best time to work through the list properly. On later scans, a quick pass through the top few tasks keeps the data current. History keeps every scan, so the effect of better data shows up when you compare two scans side by side.

Treat Step 5 as an investment rather than a chore. Ten minutes spent here makes the single most important action at the end of the audit more trustworthy, and that's the bit you'll actually act on.