Overview Guide to SEO Audits
68% of all online experiences start with a search engine.
When people want to shop for something, learn more about a topic, or look for a solution, they head to search engines.
They trust Google and other search engines to show them the answers to their questions, and the solutions to their problems.
And guess what, most won’t scroll past the first page for an answer.
This is why it’s so important to get your site ranking as high as possible for the relevant search terms and phrases.
But the competition is stiff.
To improve your website’s ranking and attract more of your target audience, you need to nail your SEO strategy.
That’s where an SEO audit can make a world of difference.
What exactly is an SEO audit and how does it work?
Today, we’ll share everything you need to know about this concept and what you can expect.
What is an
SEO Audit?
An SEO audit is a key process for improving the optimization of your website. It’s all about assessing your site from any errors that prevent it from ranking currently.
SEO audits include several parts like:
- Examining how your site is crawled
- Ensuring proper indexing of your site
- Evaluating the rendering of your site by Google
- Looking for on-page SEO problems
- Checking your off-page SEO for other issues (including improper backlinks)
- Evaluating the user experience of your site
- Assess keyword optimization throughout your content
- Checking for duplicate content or content that requires additions
- Setting up a reporting system
Backlink Audit
A backlink audit is part of an SEO audit. Backlinks are part of your off-page SEO strategy. According to Google, backlinks are one of the top three ranking factors that the search engine considers! Typically, a backlink audit is performed as part of your overall SEO audit.
However, it is possible to only audit backlinks. Some brands may be looking to improve this one facet, and only need to dive deeper into backlinks. In that case, they may perform an off-page audit or even just a backlink audit.
This comparison may be helpful for understanding the two. Think of your SEO audits like certification and the backlink audit as one course within the certification.
Types of SEO Audits
Assesses the optimization techniques on your website and looks for areas you can improve.
Evaluates the things you do off your site to help it rank better (like backlinks and social media). Read more about on-page vs off-page SEO in this guide.
The Importance of SEO Audits
Essentially, the SEO audit looks for areas of improvement. It may uncover issues with site speed, gaps in content, technical SEO issues, and more. Overall, it helps you identify where competitors may be outranking you.
The strongest SEO strategies begin with an audit. You need a clear understanding of your starting point before embarking on other digital marketing efforts.
Yes, the audit takes time and resources. However, it’s well worth doing!
Here are some of the top benefits you can expect:
- Gain actionable insights that can help you stay competitive.
- Set your SEO efforts up for success by knowing your starting point.
- Identify important errors in your website code, structure, and content.
- Learn about the content you should refresh.
- Crucial for competitor analysis.
- Determine the quality of your backlinks, keywords, and more.
- Find ways to improve the customer experience.
- Learn of key changes you can make to drastically improve organic traffic.
- Ensure your site is properly indexed.
When To Do It
When exactly should you do a website audit? Considering the time and resources it takes, you want to maximize the benefit by choosing the right moments.
Many organizations are tempted to immediately do audits. The truth is that when you first set up your online business is not the time for an audit. Why not? You have no data to go off of yet!
Before you can perform a valuable audit, you need website traffic and data to assess. So yes, when you set up your website you want to implement an SEO plan, but you won’t yet do an audit.
Once your site has gotten some time to gain visitors and data, then you will need an audit. Additionally, certain events may trigger you to perform one. If you’re facing any of the following challenges then you should do it now:
- Organic traffic rates falling.
- Conversion rate dropping.
- You notice a high bounce rate on your site.
- Your keyword rankings are rapidly dipping without a clear reason.
- Customer satisfaction dips (you notice more complaints, etc).
All of the above are tell-tale signs you need an audit to help you get back on track. In general, though, you don’t want to wait until disaster strikes. Instead, you should run an audit during a consistent interval. Many organizations find a quarterly audit to be helpful.
Parts of an SEO Audit
User Experience (part of on-page)
- Colors
- images/videos
- Location of the CTA (should be above the fold)
- Social proof/ Testimonials
- Security signals
- Site structure. Is it laid out in a logical, cohesive way?
- Internal search option and function.
- How to navigate the site, the ability to go back or “escape” pages.
General SEO
-
Page titles: Each page title should focus on a certain topic. All pages should use the same format.
- Look for: duplicates, missing titles, incorrectly brandedtitles, etc.
-
Meta Descriptions: The meta description is your site’s suggestion for Google. A well-written one helps your site get indexed and also attracts visitors. Nearly half of all pages have truncated meta descriptions, which means fixing yours can offer a huge advantage
- Look for: duplicates, missing ones, and use of the keyword in the meta description.
-
Canonical URLs: A canonical URL is the original page source, which ensures that it ranks the original source.
- Look for: missing, proper alignment between canonical and regular URL.
- Template Code: You need to take a hard look at your template. A poor template code can prevent you from ranking.
-
Breadcrumbs: Your site should use breadcrumbs to help people keep track of where they are on your site. Google also uses them as valuable internal links.
- Look for: missing breadcrumbs
-
Mobile: Mobile can no longer be an afterthought. You want to ensure your site is responsive and readable on mobile devices.
- Look for: mobile load times, readability, and easy navigation on mobile.
- Heading structure: Leverage a strong heading structure so that people can easily skim your pages. The headings should
Speed
- Reduce JavaScrip and CSS files. Many files slow your web speed. Try to combine or minify JS and CSS files when possible.
- Caching. Caching is when your visitor's browser stores your website information for faster loading in the future.
- Check for your browser caching and optimize it when necessary.
- Check for your browser caching and optimize it when necessary.
Engagement/ Off-Page SEO
- Social Media: Social media is a clear marketer of engagement. Make sure to link your profiles to your website and vice versa.
- Backlinks: Quality backlinks are another key off-page SEO marker, yet 66% of pages have 0 backlinks. However, you need quality links from reputable sources. Bad backlinks can harm your SEO, which is why they are so important to evaluate in your audit.
Tools
There are several different tools you can use for your audit. We highly recommend using tools that integrate with Yoast SEO.
Here are some of the tools to consider:
- ScreamingFrog SEO Spider: This is a simple website crawler that’s great for quick checks. Even the free version provides many helpful processes. It looks for common technical SEO issues, and you can crawl 500 URLs with the free version.
- Google Analytics: Take a look at Google Analytics. It shares free metrics about your site’s performance, which can help you during your audit.
- Google Search Console: Here, you can check how Google is indexing your website. This way, you can know if it’s appearing in the SERP.
- Google PageSpeed Insights: PageSpeed helps you measure site performance for desktop and mobile versions. This gives key information about your site speed.
What to Expect
Your SEO audit should be extensive enough to cover the main components of your SEO strategy. Ultimately, it should offer a large picture view of your current SEO standing and provide insights for future actions.
Rushing an audit is not a wise choice. Instead, you should expect to spend the proper amount of time on it. The last thing you want is to rush your audit and miss out on key findings.
Additionally, your audit should be customized to your website and your brand. Not every aspect of technical SEO is required for every website.
So, how long should you expect to spend on the audit?
The time frame can vary significantly, anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months. As a general reference, you should expect to dedicate at least 2-6 weeks to your audit. Of course, future check-ins will not all need to be this long. After resolving many issues from your primary audit, more frequent ones tend to be quicker and simpler.
What to Do
After Your Audit
The audit is really just the first step to making huge gains in SEO. It should offer you a clear view of where you stand and where you need to improve.
The key is to leverage the insights you gain from your audit. Here are some tips to help:
- Start with the low-hanging fruit. What are the changes that are the easiest to make?
- Organize duties. Assign responsibilities. Who is responsible for what and when is it due?
- Bring in help. You may not be able to handle everything in-house, and that’s okay. Seek help from an expert where you need it.
- Incorporate findings into your future strategy. Use what you learned when planning your future content and off-page strategies. For example, maybe you need to focus on guest blogging to get more credible backlinks.
Engage 2 Engage is Here to Help
Along with our detailed guide of helpful advice, there are many excellent tools out there to help you with your SEO audit. The truth is, it’s doable even without expertise.
However, you need to dedicate significant time (and brainpower) to a successful, effective audit. While running your business, time is not something you can often spare. This is why so many small business owners and entrepreneurs forego their audits. In turn, they struggle with sinking traffic and conversion rates that are completely preventable.
The best solution for your SEO audits is our dedicated team here at Engage 2 Engage. We offer comprehensive marketing solutions for small businesses 3and entrepreneurs because we want to see you succeed!
You can count on us for all of your web tech, marketing automation, content, and design needs. Our done-for-you services will help you create and implement a powerful strategy to grow your business online.
Learn more about how we can help with your SEO audit and more today. Check out our Marketing Programs now!
Conclusion
Your social media campaign is only as strong as the content you produce. Social media metrics are vital tools to help you monitor your content’s performance. If your content is not getting attention, then you need to know as soon as possible so you can modify your approach. The sooner you connect better with your audience, the sooner you can drive views and revenue your way.t
