If you’re not on the first page of Google, you should consider doing an SEO audit of your website. You won’t reap the benefits of showing up on Google if you’re not on the first page for your main keywords, and an SEO audit will help you figure out why you’re not there. 

An SEO audit is an in-depth analysis of a website’s search engine optimization, which involves evaluating various technical and on-page elements to identify potential areas for improvement. By conducting regular SEO audits, you can stay ahead of the competition, maintain a well-optimized website, and boost your organic traffic.

To effectively carry out an SEO audit, it is crucial to understand the different aspects of SEO, including keywords, backlinks, content, and website structure. 

In this article, we’re going to cover SEO audits and how to do one.

Key Takeaways

• An SEO audit is important for maintaining search engine rankings and identifying areas for improvement.
• A combination of tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, and Semrush can provide valuable insights during the audit process.
• Regular SEO audits help in developing action plans to optimize websites and maximize organic traffic.

Understanding SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a crucial aspect of managing and maintaining a successful online presence. It primarily involves optimizing a website, its content, and other related factors to improve its visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) and attract more organic traffic.

There are three main categories of SEO:

1. On-page SEO: This encompasses all the elements within the website’s pages, such as title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, keyword usage, URL structure, image alt tags, and overall content quality. Ideally, the primary focus should be on providing users with valuable information and a positive user experience. We have an in-depth article on doing proper On-Page, which you can find here.
   
2. Off-page SEO: This focuses on external factors that impact a website’s ranking, such as backlinks, social signals, and online reputation. Acquiring high-quality, relevant backlinks from reputable websites is crucial for boosting off-page SEO and ranking higher on search engines. We go into more detail on Off-Page SEO practices in our guide.
   
3. Technical SEO: This refers to the behind-the-scenes optimization that ensures a website is running smoothly, loads quickly, and is easily crawlable by search engines. Some critical technical SEO factors include site speed, mobile-friendliness, HTTPS, structured data, and XML sitemaps.
   

What should an SEO audit include?

Performing an SEO audit is an essential step to identify and analyze any issues affecting a website’s performance, and it helps to unveil possible improvements to enhance SEO efforts.

A comprehensive SEO audit should include the following areas:

• Indexability: Ensuring that all essential pages are indexed by search engines.
• Content quality: Evaluating the relevance, depth, and uniqueness of the content on a website.
• Keyword targeting: Identifying the most relevant and high-traffic keywords to target for improved visibility.
• Metadata: Ensuring that the metadata for each page is optimized, concise, and relevant.
• Site architecture: Analyzing the website’s overall structure and organization, so that both users and search engine bots find it easy to navigate.
• External links: Assessing the quantity and quality of backlinks pointing to the website.
• Technical factors: Reviewing various technical aspects like page speed, mobile-friendliness, and sitemap availability.

Keep in mind that SEO is an ongoing process. Search engine algorithms constantly change, as do user behaviors and expectations. Regular SEO audits help to stay on top of these changes and maintain a competitive edge in the digital landscape.

Importance of SEO Audit

One of the most significant benefits of an SEO audit is the potential for increased rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).  By knowing what’s wrong with your website, you have a clear idea of what action needs to be taken to grow it.

Another important aspect of an SEO audit is ensuring that your website remains current and engaging for both users and search engines. Websites need to be regularly updated with fresh content and modern design, as these factors can impact your site’s ranking. By taking note of these elements during an audit, you can identify areas where content needs to be updated or where a page’s structure might be hindering user experience.

In addition to improving rankings and user experience, SEO audits can be invaluable for uncovering technical issues that may have gone unnoticed. This can include broken links, slow page loading times, and faulty redirects. These issues can not only affect your website’s search engine rankings but can also lead to a poor user experience, making it less likely that visitors will stay on your site or become customers.

Lastly, conducting an SEO audit can provide valuable insights into your competition⁴. By analyzing their strategies and tactics, you can identify gaps in your own approach and look for areas where you might gain an advantage by implementing changes that address similar issues. This competitive analysis can help you stay ahead in your industry and be more effective in reaching your target audience.

In summary, SEO audits are an essential tool for maintaining and improving a website’s performance in search results. Regular audits can result in increased rankings, an up-to-date website, resolution of technical issues, and useful insights for staying competitive in your niche.

Tools Required for SEO Audit

For a successful SEO audit, there are three essential tools you should use: Google Analytics, Search Console, and a dedicated SEO audit tool. This section will introduce each tool and explain its utility in the audit process.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is an invaluable tool for analyzing your website’s traffic, user behavior, and overall performance. With Google Analytics, you can identify opportunities for improvement, such as pages with low engagement or high bounce rates. Utilizing this data is crucial in optimizing your site’s overall user experience and search engine ranking. Some key Google Analytics metrics to analyze during an SEO audit include:

• Organic search traffic: Gauge your site’s visibility and performance in search engine results.
• Bounce rate: Determine if your website engages users or if they leave quickly without viewing other pages.
• Average session duration: Assess how long visitors spend on your website.
• Page load time: Ensure that your website loads quickly to improve the user experience and search engine ranking.

Search Console

Google Search Console is another vital tool for conducting an SEO audit. This free service provided by Google helps monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your website’s presence in Google search results. Some of the key features Search Console offers include:

• Index coverage: Identify any potential crawling or indexing issues impacting your site’s visibility.
• Sitemaps: Submit sitemaps to help Google efficiently discover and index your site’s content.
• Mobile usability: Evaluate and improve the mobile-friendliness of your website.
• Core web vitals: Analyze your site’s performance metrics, such as loading speed and interactivity.

SEO Audit Tool

A dedicated SEO audit tool is essential for conducting a comprehensive analysis of your website’s technical SEO. These tools typically offer insights and suggestions to improve on-page and technical aspects of your site, helping you achieve better rankings in search engine results.

These tools can help you:

• Detect broken links or 404 errors.
• Examine your website’s meta tags, title tags, and header tags for proper optimization.
• Evaluate your site’s internal and external link structure.
• Analyze the effectiveness of your site’s content and keywords to attract organic traffic.

There are a lot of great tools for SEO audits. Most SEO software such as SEMrush and AHrefs will do audits for you as part of their services. Our favorite tool for audits though is Screaming Frog. It’s a program designed specifically for audits and will show you on a granular level what you’re doing wrong.

In conclusion, using these three tools—Google Analytics, Search Console, and an SEO audit tool—will help you systematically analyze your website for any SEO issues and opportunities for improvement. Investing time and effort into these tools will ultimately benefit your website’s search engine visibility, user experience, and overall performance.

Performing SEO Audit

Keyword Analysis

Begin your audit by conducting a keyword analysis. This involves identifying and evaluating the most relevant and valuable keywords for your website. One effective and affordable way to do this is by using  Google Keyword Planner. Compile a list of target keywords and assess their search volume, competition, and potential for ranking improvement.

• Primary keywords: These are the main terms and phrases directly related to your product or service.
• Long-tail keywords: Longer, more specific phrases with lower search volumes but potentially higher conversion rates.

Competitor Analysis

Next, examine your competitor’s strategies by researching websites that rank highly for your target keywords. Analyze their on-page and off-page SEO efforts to identify strengths, weaknesses and possible opportunities for improvement. Tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush can be extremely helpful in obtaining valuable insights. Some key aspects to focus on include:

• Their site structure and user experience
• The quality of their content
• Backlink profiles

On-Page SEO

Evaluate your site’s on-page SEO by examining factors such as content, title tags, meta descriptions, URL structure, and header tags (H1, H2, etc.). You should optimize these elements to include target keywords in a natural and meaningful way. Here are some general guidelines to follow:

1. Ensure that your title tags are unique and accurately reflect page content.
2. Write informative and compelling meta descriptions.
3. Use keywords in headings and subheadings to create a logical content hierarchy.
4. Create engaging and informative content that adds value to your readers.

Off-Page SEO

Analyze your off-page SEO by evaluating your site’s backlink profile. High-quality, authoritative backlinks signal to search engines that your website is a credible and trustworthy source. Identify link-building opportunities by:

• Analyzing competitor backlinks
• Searching for unlinked brand mentions
• Building relationships with industry influencers and guest blogging opportunities

Tools like Ahrefs can also provide valuable information on your site’s off-page SEO performance.

Technical SEO

Lastly, focus on technical SEO to ensure that your website is easy for search engines to crawl, index, and rank. Key aspects of technical SEO include:

• Site speed: ensure your site loads quickly by optimizing images, using browser caching, and minimizing HTTP requests.
• Mobile-friendliness: ensure your site is responsive and works well on a variety of devices and screen sizes.
• XML sitemaps: create a well-structured XML sitemap to help search engines navigate your site.
• Crawl errors: identify and fix any crawl errors detected by tools like Google Search Console.

Analyzing SEO Data

Traffic Analysis

Analyzing your website’s traffic is a crucial part of an SEO audit. By examining your website’s traffic, you can gauge the effectiveness of your current SEO strategies and identify areas for improvement. Start by reviewing your site’s organic traffic, which refers to visitors who found your website through search engines.

To analyze your organic traffic, use tools like Google Analytics or Semrush that provide detailed insights into your site’s performance. Some key metrics to consider include:

• Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who leave your website after visiting only one page.
• Average Session Duration: The average length of time a user spends on your site.
• Pages per Session: The average number of pages a user visits during a single session.

By comparing these metrics with industry benchmarks, you can identify aspects of your SEO strategy that may need improvement.

Backlink Analysis

Backlinks, or inbound links from other websites, are a critical factor in search engine ranking algorithms. A strong backlink profile indicates that your content is valuable and authoritative, leading to higher search engine rankings. To conduct a backlink analysis, use tools like Ahrefs or Moz to gather data on your website’s backlinks. Focus on the following metrics:

1. Total Number of Backlinks: A higher number of backlinks indicates more external sources are linking to your content.
2. Referring Domains: The number of unique websites linking to your site. A diverse range of referring domains is preferable.
3. Domain Authority (DA): A metric calculated by Moz that measures the authority of a website on a scale of 0-100. Higher DA websites linking to your site improve your site’s authority.

Examine the quality of your backlinks and remove any low-quality or spammy backlinks that can negatively impact your SEO. Work on acquiring new high-quality backlinks through outreach or by creating high-quality, shareable content.

Creating an Action Plan

Optimizing Keywords

To create an action plan, begin by optimizing keywords. This involves researching and selecting the most relevant keywords and phrases for your content. Use tools like Semrush to identify high-performing and relevant keywords in your niche.

Create a list of primary, secondary, and long-tail keywords that you can use throughout your website’s content. Some important factors to consider while selecting keywords include search volume, relevance, and competitiveness. Organize your keywords in a table format to make it easier to refer to and optimize your content:

Improving Website Ranking

Another essential aspect of your SEO audit action plan is to improve your website ranking. Start by assessing your website’s current performance using tools like Ahrefs and Google Search Console. These tools will provide valuable insights into areas that need improvement, such as technical SEO, on-page SEO, and backlinks.

Here are some steps to consider for improving your website ranking:

1. Technical SEO: Fix technical issues such as broken links, slow page loading speed, mobile responsiveness, and sitemap errors.
   
2. On-page SEO: Optimize your content by incorporating targeted keywords, using descriptive metadata, and ensuring content is relevant and high-quality.
   
3. Backlinks: Develop a link-building strategy to acquire high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites. Guest blogging, content outreach, and digital PR are some effective ways to achieve this.
   

Remember, to achieve better website rankings, it’s essential to consistently update your action plan according to SEO best practices and monitor your website’s performance.

Reporting SEO Audit Results

When presenting the results of an SEO audit, it is crucial to organize and communicate the findings effectively. One approach to achieve this is by providing a list of the findings, preferably in a categorized format.

Begin by categorizing the audit findings into main areas, such as technical issues, content-related problems, and external factors. Create a bullet-point list that outlines each issue identified during the audit. For example:

• Technical Issues:
  • Broken links
  • Slow page load times
  • Missing or improper use of header tags
• Content-Related Problems:
  • Duplicate content
  • Thin or low-quality content
  • Lack of keyword optimization
• External Factors:
• Backlink profile
• Local SEO and citations
• Social media presence

By using a list format, the report becomes more reader-friendly and allows the audience to quickly identify key areas that need improvement.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the essential steps for an on-page SEO audit?

An on-page SEO audit involves several key steps to ensure your website effectively communicates with search engines. These steps include optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and content to target specific keywords; ensuring a proper URL structure; checking for duplicate content; analyzing site speed and mobile-friendliness; and optimizing images for size and alt text.

Which tools can be used for a comprehensive SEO analysis?

Numerous tools can aid in performing a thorough SEO analysis. Some popular tools include Google Search Console, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Screaming Frog. These tools can help identify areas of improvement in on-page, off-page, and technical SEO, enabling you to address issues and optimize your website more effectively.

How can I perform a local SEO evaluation?

Local SEO evaluations typically involve examining your website and online presence for factors that can help improve its visibility within a specific geographic area. Key aspects to consider include optimizing your content and meta tags with local keywords, ensuring proper use of schema markup for local business information, verifying and optimizing your Google My Business listing, and building local citations with consistent and accurate NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) information.

What factors should be considered in a website audit?

A website audit is a comprehensive analysis of your site to identify areas for improvement in relation to search engine optimization. Factors to consider include on-page SEO elements such as content, metadata, and keyword usage; technical aspects like website structure, mobile-friendliness, and site speed; off-page elements such as backlinks, local citations, and social media presence; and user experience elements like website design, easy navigation, and clear calls to action.

What is the significance of a Google SEO assessment?

A Google SEO assessment is crucial as it helps ensure your website aligns with the guidelines and best practices set forth by the world’s leading search engine. By following Google’s recommendations and addressing any potential issues, you can improve your chances of ranking higher in search results, increase traffic to your website, and, ultimately, achieve your business goals.

How can I conduct a free SEO examination?

We actually offer free SEO audits at our agency! 

If you’re not on the first page of Google and are wondering why, simply click here to contact us and we’ll gladly break it down for you.