Starting an SEO Audit: Take These into Consideration
A search engine optimization (SEO) audit is devised to determine how well a website functions on different search engine pages like Google or Bing. A thorough audit can add value and provide insight into key details of how to optimize the site.
Analyzing crucial factors involved with an SEO audit can help a company or organization get an action plan based on priority. In turn, organic search results will also get a boost. With that said, there are many things to consider when conducting an SEO audit.
What Are Important Things To Consider When Conducting an SEO Audit?
There's a rather convenient process involved with a properly-conducted SEO audit. It shouldn't have to take much time, either; an SEO audit can take an hour at most. On that note, here are necessary factors to evaluate closely before the audit is actually conducted:
1 - Competitor Research
It is vital to conduct a detailed analysis of how they manage to rank among the best entries for certain keywords. An SEO audit should be done after you have taken a good look at your competition. You need to have a clear grasp of how competitors bring in organic traffic for various keywords.
The more thorough the competitive analysis is, the better. Don't forget to look into:
Domain authority
Inbound links
Keywords on the first page
Linking root domains
Monthly search traffic estimation
Search traffic value estimation
What the competitor keywords are
2 - Crawling and Indexing
Google reads websites through a process known as crawling. On the other hand, indexing is when web pages are added to the search results of Google. They are generally lumped together because they both form the core foundation of an SEO site audit's success.
To find out whether your website is being effectively indexed and crawled, you can turn to the Google Search Console. Check out the robots.txt file to see what resources are blocked by crawlers.
The worst-case scenario is finding out your whole website has already been blocked by Google search without you knowing. Make sure to look into your website's crawling and indexing in order to ensure a proper setup.
3 - Website Accessibility
Several things can get in the way of properly accessing a website, like 404 errors, slow webpage load speed, long server responses, and so much more. With a technical SEO audit, the issues can be detected easily. Most of the time, it’s only a matter of going to Google's Page Speed Insights.
This will allow you the opportunity to look into whether there are any accessibility issues on the websites. Google's Search Console will also be helpful at this point since 404 errors will show up there. Those are generally easily resolved by updated content.
When a website has accessibility issues, it can be fixed with resources provided by Google. Alternatively, a professional can be called for SEO services at an expert level.
Conclusion
Search engine optimization (SEO) auditing is a very important part of a website's long-term success. It will help to determine better ways to optimize the website. Factors to consider prior to an SEO audit include website accessibility alongside crawling and indexing, among others.
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