By helloDarwin
February 19, 2018
How to carry out an SEO audit for your website?
For some time now, you've been noticing that your website's positioning on search engines is underperforming. However, your organic search engine optimization is following the rules of good SEO practice. You use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track your site's progress. However, the situation persists and is not improving.
So how do you find the problem? Why has website performance dropped? When the problem persists or becomes more serious, you need to carry out a complete review, i.e. an SEO audit of your website. This is the first step. Here's how to do it yourself. But first, let's take a look at what an SEO audit is.
What is a website SEO audit?
An SEO audit is a complete analysis of your website. This process analyzes each page and presents data such as the number of words on a page, the subject, the link, the page's positioning on the web and many other aspects. This information helps us to understand how your site works. Subsequently, an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy can be established based on the data and interpretation of these figures. The SEO audit is used to improve the site's performance on search engines. The site scan contains a minimum of fifty criteria.
The scan indicates a precise moment in the site's condition. You could say it's like a photograph. If the scan was done six months ago, a new scan is necessary, as the site's performance has surely changed. New methods will be created to keep the site running smoothly.
By focusing on individual pages and their content, the SEO website audit identifies the keywords that are essential for improving visibility on Google and other search engines. It examines the relevance of inbound and outbound links, assessing their impact on site traffic and ranking. This analysis tool also details the technical and structural aspects of each page, highlighting elements such as loading speed and user experience, which are crucial for SEO.
In this way, the audit reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the site's content in terms of search and search engine optimization. This enables us to develop a customized SEO strategy, targeting specific improvements to increase visibility and traffic. By incorporating these modifications, the site can better meet search engine criteria and attract a wider, more relevant audience. The SEO audit, therefore, is a dynamic and indispensable tool for staying competitive in the ever-changing digital landscape.
Why have an SEO audit?
In general, the audit report produced by an SEO auditor contains :
- details of the current state of your site, including social networks and inbound/outbound links;
- the elements evaluated, with explanations
- a list of SEO recommendations and opportunities to improve site performance.
As we mentioned earlier, an audit is like a photo taken at a specific time and place. As a result, performing an audit twice a year is one way of maintaining site performance. New ways of doing things on the web are evolving fast. So, an audit allows you to see how your business is evolving according to the sector in which it operates, and to readjust if necessary.
Performing an SEO audit is crucial to identifying technical problems and opportunities for improving your site's content. The audit analyzes pages in detail, offering a clear perspective on their performance in Google search results. It highlights the keywords used and their effectiveness in attracting natural traffic. This enables us to develop a targeted SEO strategy to optimize these pages and improve their ranking.
The tools used in an SEO audit examine the quality of content, check the presence of relevant backlinks and evaluate the competition. This process highlights where your site excels and where it lags behind its competitors. The audit also reveals how changes in search algorithms may affect your site, and suggests solutions for adapting to these evolutions.
By carrying out a regular SEO audit, you can not only analyze current results, but also anticipate future trends. This helps you adjust your strategy in real time, ensuring that your site remains competitive and visible in an ever-changing online environment. A well-conducted SEO audit is an investment in the sustainability and long-term success of your online presence.
How do I carry out an SEO audit?
It's possible to run an SEO audit online, free of charge. Depending on the distributor, it may take a few minutes or a few hours. After the analysis, you need to know how to interpret the data, the figures and your positioning in relation to your industry. So, if you have the necessary skills, don't hesitate to use the various tools available on the web. If not, consult an SEO audit specialist. This is a person trained in SEO who knows how to interpret information to improve a site's performance. He or she performs a complete analysis of your site and then makes recommendations.
To carry out an effective SEO audit, it's essential to follow a structured approach, using a suitable auditing tool. Here are the key steps to optimizing the process:
- Technical analysis: This first step involves identifying technical problems on your site that could affect its performance in search engines. Use an audit tool to detect crawl errors, loading speed problems, and other technical aspects requiring optimization.
- Content review: Evaluate the quality and relevance of your site's content. Check whether keywords are being used correctly and whether the content meets the expectations of your target audience. This means ensuring that content is unique, informative and aligned with your audience's needs.
- Backlink analysis: Backlinks are essential for improving your site's natural ranking. Use a tool to examine the quality and relevance of existing backlinks. Look for poor-quality or irrelevant links that could harm your SEO.
- Competitor evaluation: Analyze your competitors in your field to understand their SEO strategies. This will help you identify opportunities to stand out and improve your own strategies.
- User experience and mobile version audit: Finally, make sure your site is optimized for mobile devices and offers a good user experience. This includes elements such as usability, adaptive design and ease of navigation.
Each of these steps plays a crucial role in the overall optimization of your site. By proceeding methodically, you can identify and correct problems, improving your site's search engine results and increasing its attractiveness in the face of the competition.
SEO on your website
To begin, let's take a look at your website and its structure. First we look at the titles and descriptions. Titles should be filed with H1 tags. The maximum number of characters is 65. For the meta-description, the text should be inviting, short, with a maximum of 160 characters and include a call-to-action to encourage people to click on the link. Your subject keyword should be in the title too.
To avoid the URL being automatically created with letters and numbers, it should be formatted according to the subject. You can write the URL yourself, separating the words with a hyphen. Ideally, a maximum of five words is recommended.
For subheadings, use the H2 and H3 bases to prioritize your text. This way, Googlebot will be able to recognize headings and subheadings according to their level of importance. The most important subjects are at the beginning of the text.
For content, make sure you choose the right keywords to create relevant and unique content. For example, for blog posts, a length of 1,500 words is a good start. Also check that there's no duplication of text. If there is, combine or restructure them to avoid repetition. You can also update older texts.
Make sure robots and sitemaps are updated before the search engine indexes your site. Integrate the 301, 302 or 404 code for referrals to avoid losing potential customers.
Don't forget to include images and videos to make your text easier to read on web pages. Make sure you have the right compression and name them to describe the image or video. Ergonomic interface, download speed and site architecture are also elements to check for a pleasant customer experience.
Continuing with SEO on your website, it's crucial to pay attention to the tags, technique and performance of your pages. Here are some additional steps to follow:
- Tags and Content Marketing: alt tags on images and videos play a key role in SEO. They must be descriptive and contain relevant keywords. As part of your content marketing strategy, make sure these tags are optimized to improve the visibility of your pages on Google.
- Technical errors and indexing: Check for technical errors that could prevent your pages from being indexed effectively by search engines. Common errors include broken links, redirect errors and indexing problems. Use specific tools to scan your site and identify these errors.
- Redirects and Site Performance: Redirects, especially 301 and 302 codes, must be used correctly to avoid losing traffic. Ensure that redirects are strategically implemented to maintain your site's performance and ranking.
- Technical Optimization for SEO: Page load speed, site architecture and user experience are essential technical aspects of good SEO. Fast-loading pages and an easy-to-navigate site improve not only user experience, but also Google rankings.
By applying these techniques, you can significantly improve your site's SEO. Each step contributes to building a solid foundation for your online presence, increasing the visibility of your pages on search engines and providing an optimal user experience.
Control your website with an SEO audit
Google Analytics and Google Search Console are the two tools you need to monitor the effectiveness of your pages. The statistics show which pages are performing well and which are not. From there, you can investigate and make any necessary corrections.
To effectively monitor your website as part of the SEO audit, it's essential to complement the use of Google Analytics and Google Search Console with other powerful tools like Semrush. Semrush offers in-depth analysis of your site's performance in natural searches, enabling you to understand how users interact with your pages and where your traffic is coming from.
With these tools, you can:
- Analyze site performance: Use Semrush to gain detailed insights into how your pages are performing in natural search results. This includes information on the keywords your pages rank for, the volume of traffic they attract, and their position in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
- Identify optimization opportunities: By analyzing the data collected, you can identify areas where your pages can be optimized to improve their ranking. This could include adjustments in keyword usage, improving content quality, or resolving technical issues.
- Track user engagement: Use Google Analytics to see how users interact with your pages. Observe click-through rates (CTR), time spent on page, and bounce rates to assess user engagement.
- Diagnose technical problems: Google Search Console can help you identify technical issues such as indexing errors, server problems, or crawl errors that may be affecting your site's visibility.
By integrating these tools into your SEO audit strategy, you'll be able to better monitor and optimize your site for search engines. If you'd like professional assistance with this audit, please click on the link to be put in touch with certified providers who can help you improve your site's SEO performance.
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Contact us to be put in touch with certified suppliers!
Check social networks
When it comes to social networks, make sure your posts are properly formatted. Complete your profiles with name, address, website name, mission statement and update regularly if anything changes. This ensures the credibility of your site in the eyes of your target audience. You can also integrate share buttons. Make sure you have content that interests your target audience and reliable links.
When checking social networks as part of the SEO audit, it's important to pay particular attention to several key elements to maximize your online presence and enhance interaction with your audience.
- Post formatting: Make sure your posts on social networks are well formatted and attractive. This includes the use of quality images, clear text and functional links. Publications should be visually engaging and easy to read.
- URL optimization: When sharing links to your site, use clear, descriptive URLs. This not only helps improve user understanding, but also boosts your sites' SEO.
- Complete and consistent profiles: Your social networking profiles should be complete and up-to-date. Include all essential information such as company name, address, website URL, and your mission statement. Consistent information across different social networks enhances your brand's credibility.
- Integrate sharing buttons: Make it easy to share your content by integrating social sharing buttons on your site. This encourages visitors to share your content with their network, increasing reach and engagement.
- Interesting content and key links: Produce content that resonates with your target audience. This includes articles, images and videos that capture the interest of your audience. Also make sure that links shared on social networks are reliable and relevant to your audience.
By following these points, you can optimize your social networking presence to better engage your audience and support your SEO efforts. For a more in-depth analysis, click on the link for personalized tips and strategies to improve your social networking strategy.
Off-site SEO audit
The off-site SEO audit is the analysis of sites referring to your website. The off-site audit checks these sites to validate their relevance to your site, as this has an impact on your web positioning. Indeed, if the referring site is well located on the web, your page will be optimized. So the site that shares your content becomes a positive lever for your site's positioning. However, if the site isn't well referenced, it's highly likely that it won't add anything to your site. So it's a win-win situation for both parties, who benefit from this exchange of services. So, check the pages and remove any external links that don't suit you.
The off-site SEO audit plays a key role in the overall SEO strategy, as it focuses on the external elements influencing your site's visibility and positioning. Here's how it works:
- Analysis of shared content: Take a close look at the content on your site that is shared by third-party sites. It's crucial that this content is relevant and of high quality, as it directly reflects your site's authority and credibility.
- Check external links: Click on and examine the links pointing to your site from other domains. Make sure these links come from reliable sites that are relevant to your industry. Links from poor-quality or irrelevant sites can harm your SEO.
- Competitor evaluation: Also observe your competitors' off-site strategies. This can give you insights into the types of partnerships or backlinks they use to improve their positioning. Use this information to refine your own off-site SEO strategy.
- Remove harmful links: If you discover external links that are harmful or irrelevant, take steps to remove them. This may involve contacting the webmasters of the sites concerned or using Google's disavow tools.
- Collaboration and content creation: Encourage collaborations with experts in your field to create quality content, such as guest articles or videos. This not only enriches your content, but also creates opportunities for natural, quality backlinks.
What's more, you can invite people in your field to write an article or make a video to promote a project or create a discussion on a topic of interest to your target audience.
By following these steps, you can effectively optimize your off-site SEO, helping to boost your site's online presence and improve its ranking in search results.
Check the mobile version
You can perform an SEO audit on the mobile version. For example, check that the design and screen are adapted to the screen format. Test the download speed, so that visitors don't leave the page after waiting a few seconds. The menu must be easy to navigate. You don't want users pinching their fingers to wander around your site or to read the information.
Finally, carrying out an SEO audit yourself requires many hours of work (on average 50hrs) for analysis and recommendations. Software such as Xenu, Majestic or Siteliner can help you carry out the analysis.
Related Tags
SEO
SEO Marketing
Search Engines
Website Optimization
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helloDarwin
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