Just having a website for your business is not enough in this highly engraved digital era. You need to do something more. You need to ensure that your website is easily discoverable on search engines by the people or potential customers who are searching for relevant information, product or services. This is where the so-called Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes into play. It is important to have an SEO audit regularly. It is something like a health checkup for your website. It helps in identifying areas for improvement and opportunities for better visibility of your website on various search engines including Google.
What is an SEO Audit
An SEO audit is simply the process of evaluating the performance of your website on search engines. It is to understand how your website is optimized for search engines. It involves examining various aspects including indexing and crawlability. It reveals user experience, site architecture, competitor benchmarking, keyword research, on-page SEO and backlink profile. In short, an SEO audit is a comprehensive checkup of your website to ensure that it is performing at its best.
Tools You Need
You need to have the right tools to conduct an SEO audit that is effective. Some of the important tools to name here are Google Search Console and Semrush. These two are highly powerful and provides valuable insights into you’re the performance of your website. Google Search Console helps you in monitoring the website and troubleshooting the issues. Semrush, on the other hand, offers a comprehensive look at the performance of your website and simultaneously suggests improvements in crucial SEO areas.
How to Do An SEO Audit
There are several ways to do an SEO audit. Here are some of those:
Check for Indexing Issues
First and foremost is to ensure that all the important pages of your website are indexed by Google or other search engines. Use Google Search Console to identify and fix any indexing issues. This may help to improve visibility on other search engines too.
Check for Duplicate Versions of Your Site
Make sure Google is indexing only one version of your site to avoid confusion and dilution of PageRank. Redirect alternate versions of your site to the preferred one.
Run a Site Crawl
You can use tools like Site Audit to simulate how Google crawl your pages and simultaneously identify any technical issues affecting the SEO health of your website.
Check for Manual Actions
Next in the to-do list is to look for manual actions from Google that may affect the rankings of your website. Take necessary actions to rectify them, if found.
Check for Mobile-Friendliness Issues
Mobile users are increasing at a rapid speed and it is important to websites to get visibility on mobile devices too. Do ensure that your website is mobile-friendly to provide a better user experience and improve your search rankings as well.
Analyze Your Site’s Speed
Do understand that page speed is crucial for both SEO as well as user experience. Identify and fix any issues that may be slowing down the loading time of your website.
Analyze Your Core Web Vitals
Pay attention to metrics like Largest Contentful Paint, First Input Delay and Cumulative Layout Shift. These they directly impact user experience as well as search rankings.
Analyze Your Internal Links
Internal links help search engines crawl and understand the structure of your website better. Do ensure here that proper internal linking is done to improve SEO and user navigation.
Check Your Organic Traffic
It is highly important to monitor your organic traffic frequently using Google Search Console to gauge the effectiveness of your SEO efforts and track your progress over time.
Benchmark Against Your Competitors
Compare the performance of your website with that of your competitors to identify areas where you can improve and thereafter try to stay ahead in the game.
Find Keywords You’re Missing Out On
Use tools like Keyword Gap to uncover keyword opportunities that your competitors are targeting but you are not.
Find Missed Backlink Opportunities
Use tools like Backlink Gap to discover domains that link to your competitors but not to you. Try to replicate those backlinks thereafter.
Audit and Improve Your Top Pages
It is also highly recommended to focus on optimizing key pages that drive conversions and target important keywords to improve their rankings and performance. This will definitely improve visibility and search rankings.
Monitor Your Rankings
Use rank tracking tools to keep track of the rankings of your website for target keywords and simultaneously get alerts for any significant changes.
Verdict
In this article titled ‘Mastering the Art of SEO Audits in 14 Steps’ we discussed some important steps to conduct SEO audit for your website. These are proven steps and result oriented. By following these and simultaneously utilizing the right tools, you can master the art of SEO audits as well as take your website to the next heights of success in this digital era where technology is ruling the game of success for almost all the businesses.
