If you didn’t say anything about an SEO site audit, you should ask yourself, when was the last time you did one? If you’re a website owner, you’ve probably heard about the importance of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and its impact on your business’s online presence. But how can you ensure that your website is optimised for search engines? That’s where an SEO site audit comes in.
Just think about Google for a second and how many people are searching on Google every day; if you’re a brand, this is where you want to “show up” and not too far down the list if you know what we’re saying.
You’ll need to evaluate your site comprehensively if you’re looking to boost your website’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs for short). And, if you’re wondering what an SEO site audit is, don’t worry; you’re in the right place; we’re about to cover that here.
Why should I focus on SEO?
First, let’s look at why you should be thinking about SEO. A website should be optimised for search, but if it isn’t, well, you’re having a party, but the only visitors coming to your party are people you’ve had to pay to come.
We’re not saying that “renting a crowd” is bad. Google Ads, and Social ads, definitely have their place, but wouldn’t it be better if you had some invitations lying around on the first page of Google? People see the invitation, they say… “Hey, this looks like a good party”, they click, and boom, you have a new visitor. We suggest having a good mix of paid and organic visitors.
Search engine optimisation might seem straightforward at first. Still, it needs constant laser focus to keep up with the continuous evolution of the digital world. Algorithm updates, changes in consumer behaviours, and a growing competitive landscape will keep you on your toes. But, this makes SEO one of the more complicated elements of digital marketing to leverage.
Interestingly, 64% of marketers say they invest in SEO as a marketing channel.
What is an SEO site audit?
An audit is a comprehensive analysis of a website’s search engine ranking, including an assessment of both on-page and off-page SEO and technical performance. By conducting an SEO site audit, you can identify areas of opportunity to improve and gain recommendations to enhance your site’s search position.
We’re talking about a deep dive into your website to evaluate various factors that impact your ability to rank well in search engine results pages. Typically this is referred to as an SEO site audit and involves taking a closer look at a range of factors that could impact your site’s performance in search.
You analyse the site for both on-page and off-page SEO and look at the technical aspects of your site’s performance. An SEO audit can uncover opportunities for improvement, which include:
- site speed
- content gaps (which could be an opportunity for a new blog)
- technical SEO issues that reduce traffic
- where competitors are outranking you
- ways to improve UX (which is User Experience)
As you can see, an SEO audit covers all significant areas of your website. The short of it?… It is essential for improving your SEO ranking. Performing an SEO site audit is critical in optimising your website and boosting your business’s visibility in search engine results pages.
Why should you do a site audit?
Now, you might be thinking: “why do I need an SEO audit?” There are a lot of reasons why, but the primary reason is that it can drastically improve your website’s search engine ranking, which boosts your website’s visibility.
SEO audits can be time-consuming! It’s worth the time spent, though, when you appreciate incredibly valuable findings that’ll help improve your website’s online visibility. It enables you to identify issues that need attention. Spend time optimising your titles, headlines, and meta descriptions; you’ll be able to improve your click-through rate and drive more traffic to your website.
Several errors can negatively affect your site, including missing meta descriptions, 404 errors, duplicate content, and other ranking factors. SEO audits are a great way to clearly understand where your website stands in terms of your SEO strategy and ranking. They can drastically improve your website’s ranking.
In addition to that, an SEO audit can help you optimise your titles, headlines, and meta descriptions and images. It can help you analyse what your competitors are doing and measure the quality of your backlinks, text length, and URL keyword opportunities. It enables you to assess your loading times and mobile accessibility for optimal customer experience.
Why is a site audit so helpful?
By analysing your website’s code, content, and structure, an SEO audit can help you find and fix any mistakes. You can stay competitive by providing actionable insights and identifying whether you’re ranking for your chosen keywords and where you’re showing on the SERPs. It can also help you update your content to align with the algorithms, decide which content to refresh, and optimise your titles, headlines, and meta descriptions.
But an SEO audit goes beyond just content analysis. It helps you stay on top of the competitors, measures the quality of backlinks, text length, and URL keyword opportunities, and assesses loading times and mobile accessibility for the optimal customer experience. By analysing all the different areas, you’ll understand where your website stands regarding SEO strategy and ranking and identify ways to improve.
Benefits of site audits
One of the most important benefits of an SEO audit is that it can help you identify mistakes in your website’s code, content, and structure. These mistakes can negatively impact your website’s ranking and prevent you from getting the traffic and attention you need. An audit can help you identify and address these issues.
Another significant benefit of an SEO audit is that it helps you stay competitive. By analysing your competitors’ performance and identifying areas where you can improve, you’ll stay ahead of the competition and ensure that your website is optimised for those searches.
An SEO audit can also help you identify whether you’re ranking for your chosen keywords and where you’re showing on the SERPs. This information is critical for ensuring your website gets the visibility it needs from search engine results pages.
Updating your content to align with algorithms and changes is also essential to an SEO audit. Search engines are constantly changing and updating their algorithms. You need to ensure that your website keeps up with these changes. By updating your content, you’ll be able to improve your website’s ranking and visibility.
Keep your SEO strategy up to date with an audit
To keep your SEO strategy up to date, you should conduct site audits.
Pinpoint mistakes in your website’s code, content, and structure, stay competitive with actionable insights, assess your ranking for chosen keywords, and refresh your content.
So we’re saying, if you’re not performing site audits, you’re pretty much doing the “fingers crossed” thing, and we all know how the old saying goes when you “assume”. An SEO site audit is a necessary and valuable tool in your digital marketing toolkit.
