Conducting an SEO Audit is very important to advance your search engine rankings. One could say it is just as important as having reliable webinar software during a global pandemic.
An SEO audit helps in escalating your website’s organic traffic, and in turn, helping you achieve new customers, earn more income, and realize a high return on your SEO investment.
Before beginning with the procedure of conducting SEO audit we should be clear about what actually SEO is.
What is SEO?
An SEO audit is a procedure for assessing the search engine friendliness of a website in a number of regions. SEO audit should be performed at regular intervals to improve your working efficiency. Its importance is undisputed, so it’s important to know exactly what your current and potential users want, which is easily achievable with software like ClickMinded. This tool reveals the secrets of keyword research, content optimization, link building and ultimately brings you to the top of search results with the latest data and researches to back it up.
For Performing SEO Audit There Are Two Different Ways. They Are:
- Using SEO Audit Tools
- Manual Method
Using SEO Audit Tools
To perform an SEO audit on your website you need to have a lot of data. Before starting your review, you must also check the performance of your web hosting. Given below is the list of the tool which will help you to collect the data and evaluate it to obtain new decisions.
Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog can be downloaded and is free of cost for up to 500 URLs. It works likes a search engine’s spider which crawls through your whole website to recover important SEO data. The scan is conducted for certain parameters like content, images, tags, URLs, titles, sitemaps, and other errors. Screaming Frog require Java for working.
As Google Search Console and Analytics will have their data accessible already, screaming frog necessitates us to run the crawl first before we get any data. Run the program, fill your website address in the search bar and then click Start. There are several advantages of a paid license for Screaming Fog which includes the aptitude to make changes like setting up your preferred user agent, configuring cookie handling, JavaScript, and other internet technology.
Moz Crawl Test
Moz Crawl Test is actually a complete audit tool. It practices a diagnostic report which contains a list of errors, bugs, and glitches which it ultimately fixes successfully. If you actually desire you, this tool will also create a weekly report with all the data.
BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is a perfect tool for the people who have content marketing as their niche. It recognizes the type of content that works in a specific niche.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console – Previously called as Webmaster tools, they offer the closest site of search engine technology. They provide tons of information about the indexing status, visibility level, health, and optimization level of your site which will be a great help in auditing. Usually, people opt for Google webmaster tools. But if you want to make use of a different search engine, says Microsoft’s Bing, then you can go for Bing Webmaster Tools.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is actually good to be aware of the number of visitors you have on your site. Derive information regarding the visitors from the site’s analytics report. Even though there are a number of solutions for this out there but Google Analytics holds Google and hence it is the most applicable one. Learn how to install Google Analytics.
SEMrush
SEMrush is an imperative element of the core technological SEO sphere. This tool will help you to get all the backlinks, keyword research, and ranking, etc. Even, it will get you familiar with the competitors’ tactics.
Manual Method
The manual method of SEO audit involves the assessment of some significant elements on the appropriate pages. It is directly linked to your website and the factors distressing your SEO audit. While creating a blog keep these factors in mind.
HTML – The data present in this markup language is necessary to SEO. The theme which is used usually takes care of this aspect. So choose a top-notch one. A good theme normally gets continuously restructured thereby keeping you in the safe zone.
Meta Description – A maximum of 165 Characters as per the suggestions from top SEOs must be there. It should be exceptional and appropriate to each page. Try to fit in a few keywords.
URLs – It is the permalink to a post/page. URL’s should be short, crisp and easy to use. Check if they comprise of keywords. To give more clarity. Use hyphens for differentiating the words.
Titles – Make sure that the title you choose is clear, crispy and exclusive. Furthermore, it must be related to the content of your website and have suitable keywords.
Headings – Numerous Heading tags play a critical role in structuring content and making it scannable. Each page can have one H1 tag.
Keywords – Yoast SEO detects all the keywords for you and hence makes the audit process a simpler one. It is better to have only one page per keyword.
Duplicate Content – There is an easy way to check duplicate content. It is, Google Search Console -> Search Appearance -> HTML Improvements. If you are fond of tools, “Siteliner” is an influential tool for finding duplicate content
Images – Alt tags and titles are important SEO markers for images. Make sure they contain keywords and are expressive.
Content – Content is the basic key. It should be educational, exclusive and significant. The placement of keywords in the content is an essential part. However, keywords stuffing should be ignored. For creating answer-focused, SEO-friendly content, you should resort to a tool like Frase to help you deliver exactly what your audience wants.
Links – As the website keeps growing, the probability of having dead links keeps rising. Therefore, the relevancy of links has to be constantly checked to avoid SEO failure or leak. To check this there are a number of WordPress plugins and dead link checking tools available.
Errors and Bugs – Use Google Search Console to check your website and unmask technical errors. The “404 error” is of great use to optimize your website effortlessly. Once done, redirect the URLs appropriately and to links with related information.
In conclusion, there is no appropriate time for conducting SEO audit. You can do whenever you feel like but it actually depends on the performance of your site. However, if things are going great. I advise conducting regular audits once in 2 months or so as a precautionary measure.