An SEO audit is an in-depth evaluation of a website. It checks the quality and freshness of content to make it more trustworthy according to Google’s standards. It also uncovers opportunities for improving on-page optimization.
There are a variety of SEO audit tools available. Some offer dedicated audit features, while others are part of a larger marketing suite. Discover more at SEOAudit.me.
On-page optimization
A good SEO audit should cover a variety of on-page factors. This includes content quality, h1 tags, headings, and keyword usage. It also looks at how easily your pages are navigable for users and how easy it is for Google to understand your page hierarchy.
A site audit should also cover Core Web Vitals, which are key ranking signals. You can check these metrics by going to Google Search Console and looking at the pages that are being indexed.
A well-timed audit helps you stay ahead of your competitors. It can also uncover new opportunities that you can leverage for better visibility. It can also help you prioritize your SEO fixes. This allows you to focus on the most important issues and ensure that your campaign is on track for success.
Keyword research
Search engine optimization is an ongoing process that requires regular check-ups to ensure that your website is performing as well as possible. It includes elements that are both on- and off-site, such as content, page speed, links, and web security.
Keyword research is a critical part of SEO auditing. It involves balancing traffic potential, keyword difficulty, and business potential to find the right keywords for your website.
A comprehensive SEO audit can help you identify issues that are affecting your organic reach. It can also identify opportunities to increase your search engine ranking. For example, if your site has a high bounce rate or poor user engagement, you may need to improve your content and link building. Also, if your site isn’t secure, you may need to switch to HTTPS for better SEO.
Link building
The process of getting your website to where you want it to be starts with an SEO audit. This will reveal the areas of a website that need improvement to drive traffic and sales.
An SEO audit should include a review of your backlinks and a comparison of them to your competitors’. This will help you identify any links that may be harming your performance and should be disavowed or disassociated from your site.
Using white-hat link building techniques, such as guest blogging and content marketing, is an excellent way to build a quality backlink profile. These strategies are also highly effective in building brand awareness. However, you should make sure that you do not create spammy links, as these can be a major ranking factor for your website.
Site architecture
A well-thought-out site architecture is an essential aspect of a successful SEO strategy. It helps to ensure that your pages are properly indexed and improves user experience by making it easier for search engines to find the content they’re looking for. A solid site architecture is also a prerequisite for implementing sitelinks, which help increase the visibility of your pages in search results.
Another critical factor is to avoid orphaned pages, which are pages that don’t have links from or to other pages on your website. Orphaned pages are difficult for both visitors and search engines to discover, which can result in decreased traffic.
Finally, a good SEO audit should include a check for indexability issues and a review of your page speed. Tools like Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights can be used to identify these issues.
Web security
Just like a car needs regular inspections and maintenance, your website requires ongoing SEO maintenance to stay competitive. An SEO audit helps you identify errors that prevent search engines from properly indexing and ranking your site, as well as opportunities to boost visibility.
A good SEO audit should also check for web security vulnerabilities. These include a lack of SSL certificates and links to unsecured external sites. These can affect your search engine rankings if Google decides that they aren’t safe for users.
Another important aspect of a technical SEO audit is checking for backlinks from high-quality sources. These are a key ranking signal and should be linked to your site using the proper naming conventions and structured data markup. A good audit should also analyze your competitors’ backlink profiles.