The success of modern businesses relies heavily on online presence, so it’s crucial to manage your company’s website effectively. And, it might seem like everything is fine with your website — you frequently update content and present all the necessary information beautifully on service pages. However, the site still doesn’t appear in the top search results.
This is where SEO audit services can be beneficial — they identify issues with your website and offer insights into how you can boost your search rankings.
What is an SEO audit?
An SEO audit analyzes and evaluates a website, identifying its issues and the ways it can be improved in terms of search engine optimization (SEO). In simple terms, it’s like a medical check-up for your website. It can show you how “healthy” your website is — in this case, how equipped it is to be found by search engines like Google and eventually be displayed to users in search results.
During an SEO audit, experts examine various aspects of your website, such as its structure, content, links, technical parameters, and more. They look for issues that may be keeping your website from ranking highly in search results. They can then provide recommendations for improving your website to increase its visibility in search engines and attract more organic traffic.
Who can conduct an SEO audit?
SEO audits should be conducted by qualified specialists or agencies with experience in search engine optimization. Here are several reasons why this is important:
- Expertise: SEO specialists, with their knowledge and experience, know what to look for and how to interpret data.
- Up-to-date knowledge: SEO rules and search engine algorithms change regularly. SEO experts keep track of these changes and can adapt strategies to meet new requirements.
- Objective evaluation: An independent analysis by an expert or agency provides an unbiased assessment of your website, identifying issues that you might otherwise overlook if you do the analysis yourself.
- Specialized tools: SEO specialists often use dedicated software and tools that allow them to conduct a high-level analysis of your website.
- Effective recommendations: After conducting an audit, specialists can offer specific and tailored recommendations to improve your website, which can help increase its visibility and attract more organic traffic.
How to do an SEO audit yourself
While seeking the expertise of professionals is often the best approach, there are certain website issues you can identify on your own:
- Check that 301 redirects are correctly configured. You can test different versions of your website by switching between WWW, HTTP, and HTTPS in the domain. If everything is set up correctly, regardless of which version you enter, the site should redirect you to the correct one.
- Examine page loading speed. People generally don’t like to wait, so make sure your website loads quickly. To assess speed, you can use Google’s free tools, which provide useful recommendations for resolving speed-related issues.
- Test the mobile version of your site by accessing it from a mobile device. If your site performs well on a computer but poorly on portable devices, it can have a negative impact on SEO.
- Utilize Google Search Console to discover errors on your site, identify indexing problems, and analyze traffic. This service also allows you to check if your site has any penalties imposed on it.
Please note that while these steps can help you identify some common issues, a comprehensive SEO audit conducted by professionals can uncover more complex issues and provide tailored recommendations for improvement.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, the significance of an SEO audit cannot be overstated in the realm of digital marketing. By systematically examining the various facets of a website’s performance, structure, and content, an SEO audit serves as a powerful tool to uncover hidden issues and opportunities.