Picture this: You’ve got a website for your business, but it’s not quite hitting the mark in search results.
It’s frustrating. But you really shouldn’t sweat it.
By auditing your site’s SEO health, you can climb to the summit of the search rankings again.
Remember that these audits are no secret sauce to boosting your site’s performance.
It will still take a lot of work, but in this guide, you should be able to get started on the right foot by learning:
- What’s An SEO Audit And Why Do You Need One?
- When Should You Conduct An SEO Audit?
- What To Do Before Starting An SEO Audit?
- How Should You Conduct Your SEO Audit?
- BONUS FREEBIE: Free SEO Audit Checklist For Businesses
So, grab a cup of coffee and settle in because we’re about to explore the nitty-gritty of SEO audits and how they’ll help your business grow online!
What’s An SEO Audit And Why Do You Need One?
An SEO audit is crucial for any business’s website optimization strategy.
It’s like a health checkup for your website, revealing what’s working and what’s not.
When done correctly, the SEO assessment should help your business:
- Have a detailed analysis of what can be improved in content, design or code structure.
- Stay current with SEO best practices, ensuring your strategies remain relevant and practical.
- Identify their competitors’ weaknesses and gain insight into their rankings.
Implementing omnichannel strategies shows that you value your customers and the experiences they desire. So, focus on unifying and optimizing touchpoints to benefit both your customers and your business.
When Should You Conduct An SEO Audit?
Your business website is your home online. You have to keep it clean to attract visitors and traffic.
And as you’ve learned earlier, SEO Audit lets you achieve a clean and SEO-friendly website.
Does this mean you must always check every nook and carney for dead links?
No, but there are a few red flags you need to watch out for. You should roll up your sleeves and start a thorough SEO audit when these signs show!
Below are a few signs that can mean your site needs a tune-up:
- Your website’s SEO state health: If your website has been underperforming for three months, you must run an audit to remedy the problem quickly.
- Your business’ revenue stream: Businesses who rely on online traffic to gain a revenue should consider conducting regular SEO audits to keep their websites and profits off the charts.
- Your website’s bandwidth: If your website has lots of optimized content, expect a more frequent SEO checkup.
- Your competition’s SEO capacity: Your main competitors always outranking you on search. You have to check your website health frequently if you want to keep up.
Again, it’s important to note that there are no restrictions on how often you should do an SEO audit. But one thing’s for sure: it’s not a one-time job. To ensure the health of your website, run a manual audit at least twice a year, and use automated tools to look for any new issues regularly.
Watch for warning signs, and don’t hesitate to conduct an SEO audit when necessary. It’s the key to unlocking your website’s full potential and staying ahead of the competition. Now, let’s move on to what you should do before starting your SEO audit.
What To Do Before Starting An SEO Audit?
Before you start an SEO audit, there are a few things you’ll need to get right. You need to determine your goals, identify your stakeholders and decide which tools you will use.
Determine Goals
The first step is always to establish what you’re trying to achieve from the audit. What areas need improvement? Maybe it’s organic visibility, higher rankings or content optimization? Understanding what you want from an audit before starting will make the entire process smoother.
Identify Key Stakeholders
Are there any stakeholders outside your company that need to be alerted and consulted with? Knowing this before starting your audit will help ensure everyone’s on the same page when it comes time for results.
Choose Your Tools
An SEO audit requires a tailored approach—we don’t recommend using just one generic tool for every situation. Depending on the type of data and insights you require, consider selecting from tools such as Moz Pro, Search Console, SEMrush, and more for better coverage and data accuracy.
Getting all this set up in advance means that once you start with the SEO Audit Checklist (which we explain below), everything else should flow naturally from there!
How Should You Conduct Your SEO Audit
Now that you’re all set up, you can start conducting your SEO audit.
To ensure you cover all the essential aspects of your website’s SEO, follow this 15-step SEO audit checklist:
Analyze your website’s loading speed: Faster sites rank better. Check your site’s performance with Google PageSpeed Insights.
Ensure mobile-friendliness: Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to gauge how well your site performs on mobile devices.
Verify your XML sitemap: Submit your sitemap via Google Search Console to improve indexation.
XML sitemap is a file that lists all the pages of a website, helping search engines crawl and index them. It’s crucial for SEO, ensuring search engines can quickly discover and understand a website’s content, leading to better visibility and higher rankings in search results.
Examine site navigation: Ensure your website has a straightforward structure for a better user experience.
Review meta tags and URLs: Optimize title tags, meta descriptions, and URLs for target keywords.
Assess the content quality and keyword usage: Create valuable content with relevant keywords that appeal to users and search engines.
Analyze backlinks: Use tools like SEMrush or Moz’s Link Explorer to evaluate your website’s backlink profile.
Inspect image optimization: Compress images and use descriptive alt tags to improve load times and accessibility.
Evaluate internal and external links: Strengthen your site’s structure with relevant internal and outbound links.
Identify broken links and redirects: Use tools like Screaming Frog to find and fix broken links or set up proper redirects.
Implement structured data and schema markup: Enhance your site’s appearance in SERPs with schema markup.
Monitor site security: Ensure your site is secure and uses HTTPS, as search engines favour secure sites.
Review Google Analytics and Search Console data: Analyze user behaviour, search queries, and site issues to optimize your website.
Optimize your local SEO: Ensure consistent NAP (Name, Address, And Phone Number) information and optimize Google My Business listings.
Analyze competitors: Research competitor strategies using tools like SEMrush to stay ahead.
By following these 15 steps, you’ll be well-equipped to optimize your website, boost rankings, and improve your online visibility. Remember, a regular SEO audit is vital for long-term success.
Free SEO Audit Checklist For Businesses
We know those fifteen steps are a lot to take, but don’t worry!
To help you track each of these steps, we have compiled a list of essential SEO audit questions in our SEO Audit Checklist. With this checklist, you can easily track your progress and stay on top of each SEO item you need to audit.
The checklist includes questions such as:
- Do my page titles use the right keywords?
- Is my site secure?
- Are my URLs SEO-Friendly?
It also includes tips and tricks to help you optimize each step of your SEO audit. Download your copy here.
Regular SEO Audit Keeps The Traffic Flowing
An effective SEO audit is essential for any website to reach its full potential and succeed in the ever-changing world of search engine optimization.
Regular audits will keep your content up-to-date, your website running smoothly, and your rankings and traffic high.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a novice or an experienced SEO expert.
With the right resources and a focused approach, your website will stay ahead of the competition and become a true leader in its field.
Beanstalk Growth Marketing can help you maximize your website’s full potential with our free SEO assessment service. We provide actionable insights and recommendations to improve your website’s performance and visibility. Contact us today and let our experts uncover hidden opportunities to boost your rankings.
