What Are the Basic Elements of a Real Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Website Audit?
A “real SEO website audit”, is one that is effective in helping you see where your website actually stands in terms of its ability to get visibility and new clients or customer. It is not a single element quick shot view of your website.
When you are considering a digital marketing or SEO provider, ask for an initial website audit. We do these on an ongoing basis for our clients and for new clients and some potential clients who want to see more.
There are three main components of an SEO website audit you will want to see addressed:
- Technical SEO audit
- On page SEO audit
- Off-site SEO audit
Read further to learn more about these important three audit components, with a little about the design of your website as well.
A website audit should include a technical SEO audit
A true search engine optimization (SEO) audit looks at technical backend of your website, for issues such as site and page loading speed, broken links or pages, and more. This is a very brief taste of “technical SEO”, optimization of your website through a use and improvement of the technical operating elements of your website.
We do over 70 technical SEO tasks in our first 2 weeks of accepting a new client. But an initial audit can help identify some of these important elements to help you know what needs to be fixed or improved.
Technical SEO is very important. It should be done every 6 months or on an ongoing basis to make sure all is functioning to the level you deserve. You can also get granular and compare it to your competitors’ sites. Giving the best possible user experience (UX) to your existing and potential clients is a foundation of optimization (using visibility-increasing tools) and should be an all-the-time consideration of your company.
A website audit should include an on-page SEO audit
On page SEO in an audit mode is really looking at the way your pages are laid out, designed, and how the content is presented, in terms of headings, fonts, and page structure. This includes looking at internal links and external links and seeing how they are tagged (do follow or no follow) and a number of other important elements of how the on-page content and layout is impacting visibility and UX. Even the most simple website audit can help identify improvements that can be made right away.
A website audit should include an offsite -page SEO audit.
If we are doing a preliminary audit for a new client, we provide an overview of everything about their website and how it is functioning in its digital environment. Since Google basically runs the show, we are responsive to their ongoing updates. These updates are constant and impact the universe in which your site operates.
An audit should assess your site and backlinks to and from your site, guest posts or blogs, social media integrations and more. Backlink quality is very important to the success of your site, and are becoming more important. Volume of backlinks is beginning to take a back seat to quality—unless you can have many high quality backlinks, which is optimal. Volume and quality together are the backlink world’s holy grail in terms of an important step to max visibility.
Berz Digital Marketing will also provide a niche/industry based design audit
We are a bit different in this way, but we like to look deeper at the website and how our client’s market might be responding.
Ask the SEO expert to look at your website and give concrete design recommendations based upon specific steps that will improve UX (user experience). But don’t stop there. An SEO provider who is also a website designer can offer some design recommendations or feedback as part of an audit based upon how well they think your color palette, font, messaging are being received by your target audience.
Not all SEO experts are designers. This can be an issue to consider if moving forward with SEO services. You don’t want someone working on web design that is not familiar with basic design principles—layout, flow, font combinations, color palettes, use of space, and more.
We have yet to see a website that is a “finished” product. The best websites that rank highest on Google are constantly improving and evolving, much like your business itself.
If the SEO pro doing the audit stumbles through this part of the audit, be very cautious about hiring them (basically, don’t hire them). This is a basic need for them to be able to meet.
Contact a Digital Marketing provider who can really help you take your vision to the next level
Berz Digital Marketing Services will go the extra mile in the first conversation to offer insight into all of these areas. Our first chats are known for creating value for those seeking growth and increased sales/revenue. Contact us today to set up a free consultation.