“An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.” – Benjamin Franklin

Taking small steps to prevent potential problems can often save you a lot of time and energy in the future. For example, getting your car inspected and repaired regularly can prevent small problems from turning into a big mess. Much like a car, your website requires maintenance and repairs regularly in order to perform. Any problems can be Identified by utilizing an SEO Audit. An SEO Audit will tell you what is keeping your website from ranking high in search engine results, and how you can fix the issues.

In this article, we’ll discuss “what is an SEO audit”, and explain how it works, the steps involved, and the actions you need to take. Let’s dive in!

An audit evaluates how well your online marketing campaigns are aligned with the best SEO practices. Therefore, your first step in developing a measurable and realistic strategy should be an SEO audit.

With an Audit, you will determine all issues that are impacting organic search performance. An SEO audit provides the following information:

• Technical SEO issues
• Website structure mistakes
• On-page SEO problems
• Potential off-site pitfalls
• User experience issues
• Gaps in content and opportunities
• An insight into the competitive marketplace

A website should be audited periodically, not just once – think of it as a “health check.”

Although SEO audit software may differ slightly, they usually all include basic SEO “key data” such as sitemaps, server errors, and metadata. For instance:

• Broken Links
• Page Speed
• Meta description tags missing
• Poor keyword usage
• Toxic backlinks

An audit also examines the accessibility, indexing, and optimization of all pages. An SEO audit expert will consider the following:

• How many 301 pages (permanently moved) are on the site?
• How many 302 pages (temporarily moved) are on the site?
• How many 401 pages?
• How many 403s?
• How many 404 pages?

After the audit process, experts can provide accurate, effective recommendations tailored to the specific needs of your website and situation.

SEO audits need to be deep and thorough. They must include an analysis of the website’s structure, content, and technical elements such as page speed, image optimization, and meta tags. In general, there are three rules for conducting an SEO audit:

SEO Audits Must Be Comprehensive

A good audit needs to be detailed. Your SEO strategy should take into account both structural and content factors that affect your visibility in search engines. Ideally, it should provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of your operation. Be aware that missing information can lead to inappropriate or unnecessary recommendations.

A comprehensive audit includes an analysis of technical elements such as website speed, server architecture, mobile responsiveness, and editorial elements like keyword usage and content quality.

Most Often, free audit websites will not provide you with a full detailed SEO Audit, and will keep the best features locked behind a paywall.

If you would like a real, comprehensive, and detailed audit that is actually free; then try our very own dedicated Free SEO Audit Service!

SEO Audits Must Be Understandable

An SEO audit should be easy to comprehend. Every business owner should understand how SEO issues affect their online visibility discoverability, goals, and revenue. The recommendations you receive should be clearly related to your overall business objectives.

For example, if you aim to improve traffic to your website, the audit should include recommendations for improving the site’s usability, creating more engaging content, and increasing backlinks from other websites.

SEO Audits Must Be Actionable

A clear path forward should accompany each SEO audit recommendation, with a projected impact and associated efforts. An SEO audit should result in a roadmap that’s easy to follow.

For example, a specific recommendation might be to update the meta titles and descriptions of 10 of the top-ranked pages, resulting in an estimated 10% increase in organic traffic.

It is advisable not to rush an SEO audit. Identifying the root causes of problems affecting your online status simply takes time. A proper audit can take anywhere from two to six weeks, depending on the scope of your website. Before making any major changes to a website, SEO experts must evaluate all details thoroughly.

It should be noted that while some technical elements are required for any website, an assessment of the current situation should also be done at the beginning of an SEO audit. This will help identify the focus areas for the website in question.

SEO Audit Tools

A successful SEO audit must be based on solid data about your website’s technical health, traffic, backlink profile, and more. The following are two tools that our business uses:

Google Search Console

Google Search Console provides a set of dashboards and reports to monitor and troubleshoot issues related to your website’s presence in the digital world. For example, the console’s performance report lets you monitor your site’s clicks, impressions, CTR, and average ranking for specific search queries on Google.

SEMrush

SEMrush, An all-in-one SEO toolkit that helps you analyze your website’s performance and improve it in all aspects of search engine optimization. The toolkit offers keyword research, backlink analysis, traffic analytics, and competitor benchmarking to improve your ranking. This software does offer some free trial services, but you will need a subscription to access all of the features.

You will probably be very surprised at the results of your first audit. If you’re not an expert website builder, then there are, most likely, hundreds of small and large issues that can seriously effect your rank on Google. 

For example, a typical audit may show that certain pages are missing meta titles and descriptions, or that the website structure is not optimized for search engines. Additionally, an audit may reveal that the website lacks internal links or that pages are not optimized for speed and mobile responsiveness.

Why It’s Critical To Audit Your Website Regularly

Make sure your website is running smoothly by scheduling regular maintenance. Also, keep in mind that your website is a living digital asset. In other words, it does not usually remain static over a long period of time. Content can be added, revised, or removed at any time during the year. Therefore, regular audits should be conducted. It is best to audit websites at least once a year. This way, your team will be able to address critical issues as they arise.

Remember that a successful SEO audit or assessment does not end with a technical review. You also need to track your site’s performance in terms of organic traffic and review your competitor’s backlinks to discover new link opportunities.

When Is The Right Time To Get An SEO Audit?

The answer is whenever your organic traffic drops or falters, before, during, and after a redesign or even when everything is going well.

Unfortunately, by the time business owners decide to do an audit, it’s often too late. They have already experienced a drop in traffic, lost important and valuable keywords, or their content has been removed from search engine results.

Therefore, it is advisable to perform an audit when things are going well. There could be a lot of surprises waiting for you.

SEO requires extra work and time, but a properly optimized website will perform and rank high on Google. Professionally optimized website see more traffic from real users, and attracts those that are already interested in the products or services the website offers.

At Momentum digital, our experts have the knowledge and experience to get the job done, correctly. If you need our help, please do not hesitate to contact us.

It’s best to work with a professional team that has experience with SEO. Through search engine optimization, Momentum Digital can maximize your company’s search results and credibility. Contact us to increase your sales and online presence with our customized SEO plans.

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