The four figures below are for the series’ flagship tool, the All-in-One SEO Audit. Every other tool’s numbers are in the ranking further down.

75/100Median score
72.6Mean
38%Scored 80+
4,106Runs analyzed

This is the October 2026 edition. Every figure below comes only from scans run inside that month, and none of them will change again — a rate you quote today will still be at this address years from now. Each one is set against the month before, the September 2026 edition; what rose and what fell is the first section. For every published month added together, go to SEO Score Benchmarks: that page is refreshed each time a month is added. The figures here never are.

This edition at a glance
Data period1 October 2026 – 31 October 2026
Unique sites22,497
Total scans89,498
Benchmarks / tools25
Minimum sampleat least 500 scans per tool in the month
Data frozen on11 November 2026

A monthly snapshot does not change after it is published: the figures on this page stay exactly as they were frozen on that date.

What changed since September 2026

Set against September 2026, 12 of the 25 tools had a higher median, 10 the same and 3 a lower one. The largest fall was on the NLP Content Analyzer, where the median went from 65 to 56. The largest rise was on the Entity Extractor, from 58 to 79.

Before reading anything into that, look at the sample. October 2026 covers 89,498 scans of 22,497 sites, against 86,983 scans of 22,549 in September 2026. The two months are not the same sites measured twice; they are two different cross-sections. A median that moved may be reporting who was measured as much as what changed.

Reading a monthly difference. The two months are close in size, but they are not the same set of sites. A different mix of sites can move a median and a distribution by itself, so a monthly difference is not a change in scores: it does not show that sites improved or got worse.

  • September 2026
  • October 2026 — median up
  • October 2026 — median down
Change in the median score of 25 SEO tools between September 2026 and October 2026
Median scores, September 2026 → October 2026. The grey dot is the month before, the coloured dot this month. Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.

The same figures as a table are below; each tool name leads to that tool’s own October 2026 page, where its checks are compared one by one. Moves under half a point are marked “no change”: on a sample this size a difference that small is measurement noise, and dressing it up as a trend is the fastest way to make a benchmark series untrustworthy.

ToolMedian thenMedian nowChangeScored 80+Issues/run
Entity Extractor5879+21 pts24% +5 pp1.5 −0.4
Entity Coverage Analyzer5267+15 pts29% +2 pp2.4 −0.1
AI Visibility Checker5968+9 pts29% +5 pp5.7 −0.8
GEO Checker (Generative Engine Optimization)5362+9 pts23% +6 pp6.7 −0.8
NLP Content Analyzer6556−9 pts10% no change2.9 no change
Mobile-Friendly Checker9284−8 pts60% −5 pp2.0 no change
GEO & AEO Readiness Checker5864+6 pts19% +6 pp14.4 −1.7
LLM Readability Score7266−6 pts33% −6 pp3.3 +0.1
AI Citation Checker4651+5 pts9% +2 pp6.9 −0.5
Author Page Audit4954+5 pts12% +4 pp3.4 −0.4
Technical Site Audit (Crawler)6064+4 pts35% +9 pp4.4 −0.2
Meta Tag Analyzer8083+3 pts59% +8 pp2.9 −0.4
All-in-One SEO Audit7375+2 pts38% +10 pp14.2 −0.9
On-Page SEO Audit7476+2 pts38% +7 pp10.6 −0.7
AI Content Score6364+1 pts10% no change6.0 −0.3
Page Speed & Size Test9090no change75% no change1.2 no change
E-E-A-T Analyzer3838no change1% no change6.5 −0.3
Thin Content Checker3636no change25% +4 pp2.8 −0.2
AEO Checker (Answer Engine Optimization)4040no change2% +1 pp5.7 −0.3
Local SEO Audit2222no change1% no change6.0 −0.2
Content Freshness Score1313no change2% +1 pp4.2 −0.2
AI FAQ Optimizer3030no change2% +1 pp0.0 no change
Topical Authority Map4747no change9% +1 pp2.9 −0.2
Anchor Text Optimizer7979no change43% −2 pp1.1 −0.1
FAQ Gap Finder00no change3% +1 pp2.8 no change

For both editions on one page, check by check, see the September 2026 vs October 2026 comparison.

October 2026, tool by tool

Each of the 25 tools in this edition has a page of its own for October 2026: its score distribution, the SeoMods checks that went unmet, and — where the tool was also measured in September 2026 — which checks moved. The figure on each card is that tool’s median for the month.

How the scores fell

This is how the SeoMods scores of the 6 main measures spread across the five bands in October 2026. Every row totals 100%; what matters is not the height of any one band but the shape of the spread. These 6 main measures are part of the 25 tools in this edition.

  • 0–19
  • 20–39
  • 40–59
  • 60–79
  • 80–100
All-in-One SEO Auditn = 4,106
Page Speed & Size Testn = 3,838
Mobile-Friendly Checkern = 3,728
Meta Tag Analyzern = 3,824
AI Visibility Checkern = 3,803
E-E-A-T Analyzern = 3,798
Score bandAll-in-One AuditPage SpeedMobile-FriendlyMeta TagsAI VisibilityE-E-A-T
0–190% · 00% · 35% · 1745% · 2068% · 31020% · 744
20–390% · 152% · 655% · 2009% · 33813% · 48034% · 1,310
40–5920% · 8276% · 2321% · 4511% · 40517% · 66031% · 1,176
60–7942% · 1,71917% · 67129% · 1,09016% · 61633% · 1,25514% · 544
80–10038% · 1,54575% · 2,86760% · 2,21959% · 2,25929% · 1,0981% · 24
Total runs4,1063,8383,7283,8243,8033,798

All 25 tools, ranked

The chart above shows the 6 main measures. The table below ranks all 25 tools in this edition — the 6 main measures included — by median SeoMods score; each reached at least 500 scans in October 2026. Reading: in this month’s sample the tools that measure checks about how a page is delivered mostly sit near the top, and the tools that measure content and AI visibility signals mostly sit near the bottom.

ToolMedianMiddle half (p25–p75)Scored 80+Under 50Runs
Page Speed & Size Test9078–10075%4%3,838
Mobile-Friendly Checker8478–9260%10%3,728
Meta Tag Analyzer8360–9059%19%3,824
Anchor Text Optimizer7968–8943%4%3,376
Entity Extractor7942–7924%27%2,952
On-Page SEO Audit7663–8538%9%4,501
All-in-One SEO Audit7563–8438%7%4,106
AI Visibility Checker6845–8329%28%3,803
Entity Coverage Analyzer6737–8129%39%3,881
LLM Readability Score6658–8333%13%2,870
Technical Site Audit (Crawler)6420–8535%38%3,818
GEO & AEO Readiness Checker6446–7619%29%3,775
AI Content Score6453–7210%18%2,920
GEO Checker (Generative Engine Optimization)6241–7923%34%3,822
NLP Content Analyzer5641–7410%26%2,749
Author Page Audit5435–6512%43%3,798
AI Citation Checker5129–669%50%3,810
Topical Authority Map4731–569%51%3,641
AEO Checker (Answer Engine Optimization)4024–532%74%3,876
E-E-A-T Analyzer3825–531%74%3,798
Thin Content Checker3633–7925%55%3,877
AI FAQ Optimizer3030–302%92%3,741
Local SEO Audit2218–461%78%3,842
Content Freshness Score1313–482%75%3,767
FAQ Gap Finder00–03%95%1,385
Median score of 25 SEO tools in October 2026, highest to lowest
The October 2026 median SeoMods score of 25 tools. A frozen record, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.

“Middle half” is the range the middle 50% of results fall into (25th–75th percentile). A narrow band means the tool scores most sites alike; a wide one means sites genuinely diverge on that measure.

The SeoMods checks most often unmet

The SeoMods checks that were not met in the full audits during October 2026. The rates follow SeoMods’ own criteria; they are not Google’s assessment of these pages. What each check means, and the category breakdown, live on that tool’s own benchmark page; the month’s full breakdown is on the audit’s October 2026 page.

Author & date (E-E-A-T)83%
llms.txt present79%
Healthy text-to-HTML ratio74%
No fixed desktop widths62%
Question-style headings59%
All images have ALT text56%
HSTS header56%
Extra security headers53%
X-Content-Type-Options53%
Title length optimal (30–60)53%
Open Graph tags52%
Twitter Card51%

On Page Speed

Browser caching headers31%
Reasonable image count28%
Fast Time to First Byte20%
Limited render-blocking JS/CSS19%
Compression enabled13%
Quick total load5%
Reasonable HTML weight4%

On Mobile-Friendly

Responsive images (srcset)58%
No fixed-width layout55%
Responsive CSS (media queries)36%
initial-scale defined15%
width=device-width12%
Viewport meta tag10%
Zoom not disabled (a11y)8%
Charset declared5%

On Meta Tags

Title length (30–60)53%
Twitter Card50%
Meta description length (70–160)49%
Canonical URL33%
Open Graph tags31%
Meta description present25%
Charset declared22%
HTML lang attribute14%
Mobile viewport11%
Title tag present3%

On AI Visibility

llms.txt present79%
Author / byline57%
Publish / update dates56%
Question-style headings51%
Organization / WebSite schema48%
About page linked48%
Social / sameAs profiles linked45%
JSON-LD structured data44%
In-depth content (≥800 words)37%
XML sitemap available26%
Content in raw HTML (server-rendered)23%
AI crawlers allowed20%

On E-E-A-T

First-hand experience signals97%
Person / author schema93%
Reviews / testimonials86%
Author credentials / qualifications85%
Named author / byline71%
Publish / update date70%
Contact information50%
About page linked49%
Cites authoritative sources25%
Original media18%
Secure (HTTPS)0%

This month’s sample

In October 2026 the 25 tools in this edition recorded 89,498 successful scans across 22,497 unique domains in 48 countries. How the sample is collected, how it is anonymized and where its limits are is set out in the methodology on the hub — it governs the whole series, so it is stated there once. The table below shows the domain endings for the 6 main measures.

ToolDomain endings in the sample
All-in-One Audit.com 48% · .org 8% · .uk 4% · .net 3% · other 37%
Page Speed.com 46% · .org 10% · .uk 4% · .net 3% · other 37%
Mobile-Friendly.com 46% · .org 9% · .uk 5% · .net 3% · other 37%
Meta Tags.com 46% · .org 9% · .uk 5% · .de 3% · other 36%
AI Visibility.com 48% · .org 9% · .uk 5% · .io 3% · other 35%
E-E-A-T.com 47% · .org 9% · .uk 5% · .net 3% · other 36%

What these scores do not measure

  • It is not a Google ranking. A high score does not guarantee a better position, and a low one does not mean Google has penalised the page.
  • It is not an organic traffic estimate. No click, impression or visit data goes into it.
  • It is not Google’s E-E-A-T score. Google publishes no such score; E-E-A-T is a concept from its search quality rater guidelines.
  • It is not a Google PageSpeed Insights score. Nothing here is run in a browser, and Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) are not measured.
  • It does not represent the whole of the real user experience. What is measured is one URL’s HTML and server response at the moment of the scan.
  • It is not a direct measurement of the signals every AI system uses. Which system uses which signal, and how, is not public; the score measures the checks SeoMods chose.

About this benchmark. This benchmark is calculated from data on the sites SeoMods has scanned. The results do not necessarily represent all websites, or a random selection of them. The scores express SeoMods’ own measurement and scoring criteria; they are not ranking, quality, E-E-A-T or AI visibility scores issued by Google. Sample, anonymization and licence: the full methodology.

Frequently asked questions

What was the average SEO score in October 2026?

In October 2026 the All-in-One SEO Audit had a median of 75/100 and a mean of 72.6. 38% of scans reached 80 or above, while 20% landed in the 40–59 band. These figures are frozen and will not change.

Does this page ever change?

Its figures do not. A dated report is only useful if it stays put: someone citing the October 2026 numbers today has to find the same numbers at the same URL two years from now. The one thing added afterwards is a pointer to the next month’s edition once that is published — the data is left exactly as it was. For the running total across every published month, go to the benchmark hub; a new edition is published at the start of each month for the month that just ended.

Which SeoMods check went unmet most often in October 2026?

On the full audit, “Author & date (E-E-A-T)”, not met in 83% of audits, followed by “llms.txt present” (79%) and “Healthy text-to-HTML ratio” (74%). On AI visibility the check most often unmet was “llms.txt present” at 79%. On meta tags it was “Title length (30–60)” at 53%.

Did SEO scores rise or fall compared with September 2026?

Set against September 2026, 12 of the 25 tools had a higher median, 10 the same and 3 a lower one. The largest fall was on the NLP Content Analyzer (65 → 56) and the largest rise on the Entity Extractor (58 → 79). The two samples are close in size, but they are not the same set of sites. The difference should not be read as sites having improved or got worse: a different mix of sites can move a median and a distribution by itself.

Citing this edition

The figures on this page are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Suggested citation: SeoMods — SEO Score Benchmarks, October 2026 edition, https://seomods.com/seo-score-benchmarks/october-2026.