SEO audit – what is it and what it contains?

SEO audit - what is it and what it contains? Everything you want to know in one place

WordPress is one of the leaders when it comes to content management. At its main core it is a user friendly plarform and on top of that its unparalleled when it comes to SEO (search engine optimization). One of the main strategies in terms of website optimization is running SEO audit that will provide necessary data which will help to optimize your site and its content to the fullest.

What is SEO audit ?

SEO Audit is a specific analysis based on crucial factors which affect visibility of your site in search engines. As a final result it will provide complex optimization report which includes suggestions and amendements that are necessary to take your site to the next level.  To implement those you need either webmaster or programmer. Some of those changes are being done during the audit if website owner agreed to that (ie meta tags optimization). One of the crucial elements of SEO audit is implementation control, which should take note of all the elements that need optimization as requested in the report.

SEO audit is a diagnosis of your website prepared by SEO specialist. It shows the perfect path to healing.

SEO Audit  - HOW TO  ?

Preparation of SEO Audit takes from few up to several hours. It all depends on website size, its characteristics,  type of trade and how big is a competition. But one of the main factors is  scale of problems we bumping into. Auditors  use dozens of analitical tools in their work. Some of them are free to use and easily obtainable but others require investement.  The key  to get right diagnosis is checking dozens of factors that are important to SEO, furthermore obtaining the data and draw right conclusions from it.  You can also find applications in the internet that will do SEO Audit completely for free but bare in mind that those are only showing basic information and you can not compare them with many hours of auditors work.

SEO Audit – ingredients

Professional SEO specialist can assess website comprehensively. The audit result is based on his knowledge, experience and the ability to analyze a lot of data.  What will be included in the final report depends mostly on the package offered by the SEO agency. However  many of them  will provide  full service which will give you access to detailed technical analysis of the website along with the analysis of content and sometimes also key phrases. The document will contain a list of elements of the site that should be improved. There will also be a list of errors on the site that affect its visibility.  You should also receive ready-made solutions that you can use straight away.

Let's take a look at an example of several elements examined during the audit along with their brief description:

• Evaluation of the content on the website - is a qualitative and quantitative analysis. In order for the site to position itself well, it should contain as much content as possible. It is assumed that there should be at least 3000 characters on the main page. This amount however is relative and largely depends on the industry as well as the degree of competition saturation.  Therefore during the audit a comparison of several parameters of the content on the website is performed. The results are compiled with pages that occupy top positions in the Google search list. Thanks to this, it is easy to determine what quantity and what content should appear on the website. Also remember that in addition to the amount of text its quality is equally important. Google is paying more and more attention to it. What appears on the page should be unique and can not be repeated with content on other websites. From the SEO point of view it is important that the text is filled with keywords.

• Titles and meta tags - these are fundamental elements for the visibility of the site. Their appropriate configuration based on the analysis of keywords allows you to position the page on the most important phrases. SEO audit in particular deals with <title>, <h1> tags as well as meta tag description. The latter, however, does not directly translate into SEO, but is important from the point of view of usability and should contain attractive CTA (call to action).

• Indexing and accessibility for search engines - sometimes webmasters, by designing or changing websites, block them from indexing for the duration of their work. After completing the task, however, they forget to make them available to Google robots again. An SEO audit is designed to detect such situations, as well as other indexing errors, including pages that have no value for either the user or Google's robots. It is worth remembering that some CMS systems generate subpages that the ordinary user does not know about, and negatively affect SEO.

• Canonicity of the page - each page should only work on one URL. However, this is not about obvious differences such as page.com and webpage.com, but about the situation in which both www.page.com and https://page.com occur. For Google these are two different websites. Their common occurrence will lead to duplication of content, and this can result in penalties and decrease in visibility in search results. During the SEO audit, the canonicity of the page is assessed. In the case of a duplicated address, 301 URL redirect should be created.

• Building URLs - the site should consist friendly URLs. So what are unfriendly addresses? These are those that contain unnecessary numbers, characters, parameters that conflict with the actual message, which indicates in the address what content is on the given subpage.

• Page load speed - Google has long been reiterating that page load speed will become more and more important for visibility in search results. Our observations however show that the importance of this factor can be overestimated (although it certainly is not without influence). Optimally page should load in 3 seconds. For many, especially more complex sites, this is a difficult result to achieve. It is important however, not to exceed about 8-10 seconds. After that time site is exposed to the loss of users (up to several dozen percent). During the SEO audit, various tools are used  which determine the page load time. Based on that auditor can indicate the elements that need to be improved in that area.

• Error page 404 - this is a popular message that appears when you try to enter a non-existent page. From the SEO optimization point of view it is important that the page works properly, i.e. that the server would pass the "404 Not Found" header.

• Optimization of graphics and photos on the website - they have an aesthetic aspect, but during the audit they are considered from a typical technical angle. Their size, resolution, name, extension and use of ALT markers is important. Often times leaving this are unoptimized results in lowering the page loading speed.

• Responsiveness and going mobile - more and more users use the Internet through mobile devices. That is why Google introduced Mobile First Index which favors responsive websites adapted to mobile in the search results, regardless of whether the searched phrase is entered on the smartphone or on the desktop. The SEO audit will answer the question whether the site is adapted to mobile devices, and if not, what changes should be made.

Mobile First Index - is a change introduced by Google. It  means that the mobile version of your website becomes the starting point for what Google includes in their index, and the baseline for how they determine rankings

• Profile of links leading to the site - testing the quality of links during the SEO audit allows you to determine their power and impact on positions on Google. Links can be of a diversified nature from the most valuable to dead or potentialy harmful ones. The auditor's work is aimed at systematizing them and indicating corrections (eg renouncement of suspicious links).

SEO audit - what tools ?

A good doctor needs access to the best equipment in his office. Why lead the treatment with old methods, if you can implement it more efficiently and faster based on technical innovations? This is also the case in the work of an SEO specialist. In his arsenal  there are at least  dozen of tools that are used to check the website in many aspects. Sure you can finde wide range of SEO software on the internet.  However there is no point in getting to know all the tools, especially since some of the functionality overlaps. We can, however, distinguish a certain set, without which no auditor can imagine his work.

• Google Search Console - a free tool for checking website statistics, and above all for obtaining information about the status of the webpage indexing. GSC provides up-to-date information about errors as well as manual actions performed on the website (ie imposing a penalty). It is a responsibility of every SEO specialist to monitor regularly data that is shown in this tool. An additional advantage of it is access to website statistics like impressions on specific key phrases in Google search.

• Ahrefs - one of the most important tools for link profile analysis and page positioning (Majestic is also a popular counterpart). Ahrefs also allows you to analyze keywords and visibility in search engines and social networks. By doing an SEO audit, Ahrefs will help you evaluate the links leading to the page. It is easy to see if the profile is "healthy" or whether you should implement corrective actions.

• Senuto - tool used primarily to analyze visibility in Google search. Senuto also contains a number of other extra functions. An interesting option is the ability to compile the results of a given website with potential competitors. Senuto presents visibility charts in three basic categories: TOP3, TOP10 and TOP50. In this way it is easier to observe the growth trends of a given website and to optimize its subpages.

• Clusteric - another tool for detailed analysis of the link profile. It allows you to eliminate these referrals that have a negative impact on the visibility of the site. In addition, Clusteric helps in making detailed analyzes in which it takes into account over 100 parameters and 50 formulas.

• SurferSEO - a great tool for comparing yourself with competitors. It allows for exact checking of specific parameters like the amount of content on the main page, the degree of filling with its key phrases or for specific words. Thanks to this we get to know cross-section statistical data for sites that have top positions for key phrases that interest us. It is also a good way to get to know the specifics of the industry and to know how much has already been optimized by SEO activities.

SEO Surfer is a tool that allows you to perfectly check trends for a specific industry or individual key phrases.

•  Google PageSpeed ​​Insights - an obligatory item to check the speed of loading the website. The analysis includes both desktop and mobile. Besides the result itself, we get elements and tips to improve. The speed of the website can also be measured with other tools, eg Pingdom Tools, GTmetrix.

The set of tools that the auditor can use is of course much broader.  For example : Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, SEO Optimer, Copyscape, Siteliner, SEO SpyGlass, SimilarWeb, SEO Power Suite.

The speed of the site's operation determines visibility on Google. That is  why it is a  good idea to watch how your site loads.

SEO audit  - When to perform?

The key moment for every website is its creation. We must effectively let the world know about its existence.  SEO audit offers energetic value and will often determine website visibility in the search engine.

So first of all:

- construction of a new website.  Note that SEO agencies in their offer often have not only optimization and positioning but also website design. It is not a coincidence. New website always needs to be optimized  for best search engine visibility. It happens that webmasters creating a website completely ignore these issues. SEO agencies provide optimization along with the construction of the site, which is also already at the level of its structure adapted to the availability of Google robots . It saves time and money.

Unfortunately sometimes despite maintaining of good visibility on Google, the site suddenly "gets sick" and begins to decline in SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) . Then a quick examination and right diagnose are needed. That is why  it is worth reaching for a professional SEO audit.

- sudden decrease in visibility. High positions are not given once and for all, and the site can easily lose them (that is why positioning is so important). SEO audit will help detect website weak points and restore positions on Google.

When making any changes on your webiste remeber that they can effect visibility in search engine rankings for important keywords. That is another factor you should consider reaching out for professional SEO help.

- old page redisign. Website design changes with each passing year, and website owners face the challenge of updating the layout and content on sites every few years. This often reflects on search engine rankings. All changes should be consulted with SEO specialists. The SEO audit will verify that everything is still working correctly. Periodic checking of the website for SEO is recommended. In fact some agencies offer carring out audits every few months.

Changing the website is always a risk of a sudden loss of visibility on Google. Therefore, any modifications are worth consulting with SEO specialists.

When taking over from previous agency SEO auditor must re-examine , get to know the history and analyze the new environment or find potential threats. Without a detailed audit, continuing work may not be possible. So the fourth case:

- verification of the page after taking it over from another agency. Although the main guidelines for conducting SEO audits are widely known, each auditor has his own proven methods of operation. What is more you should be aware that some specialists may apply solutions punished by Google. In this case the SEO audit will have two tasks: to identify the actual state and eliminate any traps set by the previous agency or SEO specialist.

The prevention mentioned above always strengthens our protection against potential threats. Therefore when choosing the services of the SEO agency it is worth making sure that SEO specialists will also perform audits. Such actions will minimize the risk of sudden changes in search engine rankings and at the same time will ensure that the agency regularly supervises the website.

How much does an SEO audit cost?

The answer to this question depends on several factors. The cost of an SEO audit primarily determines the size and nature of the website. The age of the domain or the degree of complexity of keywords are also of great importance. The greater the competitiveness of phrases, the more often the higher the price of the audit.

In addition to technical issues, there are also objective issues, such as the size and experience of the SEO agency or the possibility of further cooperation. Usually, the agencies propose to carry out an audit at a preferential price if the client decides to order the site's positioning at the same time.

SEO audit for free

There are at least a few tools on the market that tempt you with the prospect of savings and perform a free SEO audit. However such solutions work best for ad hoc activities. The SEO audit for free is usually automatically generated and its subject is only the basic technical details. Such standardization can lead astray, because it does not take into account the specificity of the industry and is completely detached from the goals set for the website. Free tools will not indicate for example duplication of content, they will not measure the depth of the site structure or compare it against the competition. The advantage of this solution is to get a set of basic information on factors important from the point of view of SEO. Thanks to this at least we will know briefly what the specialists are looking at. But the quality of this diagnosis will be at least questionable.

SEO audit – when to expect for first results ?

When you receive SEO audit, try to implement  all of the indicated remarks. It happens more then ever that the website owners order an audit and then for various reasons give up or forget about implementing the recommended changes.

A graph illustrating the increase in visibility on Google after making comprehensive changes to the site for based on SEO audit.

What effects should the implementation of the SEO audit bring? Above all the visibility of key phrases will increase and this will turn into an increase in traffic to your website from organic search results. If your website is useful and well designed soon conversions should also go up and so should sales. When exactly? Much depends on the nature of the website and the scale of the changes. If the audit recommends modification of the meta tags, the first results of these changes will be noticeable already after 2-3 days from the introduction. As a rule, however you have to be more patient and wait at least a few weeks. If we want a dynamic jump in SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) we should also focus on website positioning which is often a natural continuation of the SEO audit. Its implementation also allows effective conducting of paid advertising campaigns (ie Google Ads).

Interested in an SEO audit? Contact us!