Today we are going to see how you can do an SEO Audit of a project to remove all the possible errors and then to draw a plan of positioning work in search engines. SEO often consists of analysing what is already there and improving it in the face of Google. That is why it is called optimisation because it consists of taking care of many aspects that we could have overlooked.
In this article, we will learn about those 26 steps which help us to do a complete SEO audit for a website. Let’s go for it.
26 Steps of an SEO Audit
1. Indexing
Analyse what is coming out in search engines of your web page. There will be content that you prefer not to index and there will be other content that you may not find. For that, you can use the Google search for “site: yourdomain.com”. From those results, you can also start to see the next steps, how your SEO titles and meta descriptions are shown in the search engine.
2. SEO Titles
Titles are the most important thing in SEO because they decide what searches you are going to position and which CTR (percentage of clicks you are going to generate). Take care of the size, have a hook and include the desired keywords. Also, try not to repeat the same words in many titles because you would be cannibalising some content with others.
3. Meta-Descriptions SEO
Many people do not read descriptions, but other people do. And it is another of the most important factors to point out to Google that you want to position and at the same time convince people to click on your result. For better ranking, Meta description should consist of 156 characters.
4. Placed keywords
Study for searches that are already on the first page of Google or at least in the first 100 results. Let them be annotated so that you can study evolution in their positions. You can use Search Console if it is an Internal Audit, or Sistrix or Semrush if it is an External Audit.
5. Keyword research
Now search for which keywords interest you and have interesting search volume. All that you did not have in the previous list are words that you can consider to work later. For this, you probably have to generate new content or distribute them better in the content and titles you already have.
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6. Contents to generate
All those keywords that interest you that you have not been able to optimise and position in the previous ones, will be a guide for you to what new contents you need to generate. Be it commercial content or content of value. Later you will make a calendar of contents to try to position you in those searches. If there is no content then there is no SEO.
7. Domain Analysis
Page Rank no longer works, so we’re going to rely on Moz’s “Domain Authority” metrics and Majestic’s “Trust Flow”. This will tell you which league you are playing in and which competitors you have near and which are not. Over time, good links and good content should go up of authority.
8. SEO Optimisation of content
Writing for SEO I think this is one of the most known factors of SEO. As you already have decided which keywords you will use for each URL, now you have to insert it into the URLs, subtitles, images, first paragraph, meta descriptions and repeat it as per necessity (between 0.5% and 1% of the whole text).
9. Analyse the images
The images have to take care of its size, its weight and its alternative text. Raise them to the size they are displayed, optimise them before uploading them to the internet and get Google to understand them.
10. Duplications of content
If you do not want to be punished by Google Panda, then analyse that if you have duplicate content on other websites or even yours. With Siteliner and Copyscape you can help to know if a domain is badly affected by this factor. In this case of many errors, it proposes a plan to change them.
11. Incoming links
The good links to your page will give you authority and relevance, so you always have to follow up to see if your link building techniques are working. Also to see if the domain you are going to work part of a good base or not. And on the contrary, it can also be a key. If you have toxic or very bad links to your website, it can hurt you very much. Google Penguin will not be benevolent with you. You can use PRO tools like Majestic or Ahrefs, or you can sweat a simpler but free as RankSignals.
12. SEO Penalties
If you have not liked by the Panda and the Penguin, then your highest priority will be to solve it. Because even if you do all the other steps very well, you will always be sunk. Quitting an automatic or manual penalty is not easy.
13. Speed Measures
WPO (Web Performance Optimisation) is key to get a good response from the user and also as a signal to Google that your site is fast. See that your site loading speed is high so that Google will help you to some extent. You can use Gtmetrix or Google Page Speed to optimise it.
14. Mobile version
Mobile optimisation is very important and it is a key to get good traffic. No matter how good it looks, but the optimisation plays a vital role when it comes to Google. So, check how your website is visible on Mobile and do settings accordingly.
15. Structure of URLS
Google likes friendly URLs, written with words and separated by dashes. It is not the most important factor of all, but it always helps. Some platforms create URLs with variables, signs, and numbers. WordPress in fact also comes by default a strange URL system. I advise you to put it in the “Entry Name” type. Although depending on what project you will have to assess if it is better to change and make redirects or if it is better to stay as you were.
16. Web Architecture
How your website is built, how it is distributed and how it is linked also tells many things to the search engines. The level of click distance determines how many clicks the home page of a particular content is, and in a way, it also serves Google to know your priority to position it.
17. Technology of the web
Depending on what the web is built will make it easier or more difficult to develop improvements. Prior content managers like WordPress, Magento, Drupal, Prestashop or Joomla are easier because you have some easy features to put with plugins or components. Of course cheaper. But you can also have some limitations that if it were own code or made to measure. You can use Builtwith.com to find out what it is built with.
18. Internal links for SEO
It is important that the web has many internal links among all its URLs. It will make the rebound rate improve, the average time spent on the page increases and also serves to reinforce your keywords through the Anchor Text. With Search Console, you cab have an analysis of which pages are linking more internally and which are less.
19. Shared in social networks
Maybe the number of times you share in social networks or I like or +1 influence SEO. Or maybe not. But what is clear is that if you share a lot you will have quality traffic on your website and you may have a good user response. It can also help you to get closer to people who may link you tomorrow.
20. Sitemap and Indexing
The Sitemap tells search engines which URLs you have and keeps them updated so they do not miss any. With the content managers, you are usually automated if your domain is simple and only uses one installation. With other systems, you can create with tools like Sitemap-xml.com. You should analyse if the domain you are examining has the latest contents and if it is updated correctly. If it is an internal audit you should give the address of your sitemap to Google Search Console.
21. Robots.txt File
The file Robots.txt is super-important because it is with which you can block the access to Google of a URL, a whole directory or a type of files of your web. This will prevent you from accessing private content, duplicate content, and you can improve the speed of crawling your page. In Search Console, you have a Robots.txt tester if you are still familiar with it.
22. Broken links
Search engines do not value positively that the web has many links that are not going to anything or do not work. When analysing the web you must see if you have to do work to find them and correct them. With tools like Screaming Frog you can find out what they are, but Brokenlinkcheck.com is still simpler. After the audit you will have to analyse them periodically, because they break alone, believe me.
23. Errors 404
If you do not like broken links, imagine the pages of yours that people reach and do not work. They can be 3 or 4 or they can be thousands ie a previous migration has been done wrong. Make a list of all of them and make a proposal to correct it or redirect it to other content. With Search Console, you can detect the most important and keep track of evolution.
24. Redirects 301
The 301 redirects will be done through the .htaccess file that you must have in the main folder of your domain. With the redirects you make a 404 error become a content and a visit not lost. In addition, the 301 send part of the authority and positioning of the original URL to the destination URL. They can serve you to redirect old content that no longer interests you or do not position new ones to more optimised, fresh and powerful. If the audit is internal you should also look at what redirections are already done, to see if they are correct.
25, User response
How the user behaves on your website is one of the most important parts of the times. This is difficult to cheat and your only possible improvement is to make good content, good design, good usability. Each more influences the dwell time, the rebound rate, the number of page views per session.
26. Usability and conversion
And with this, we reach the last point. Usability influences many of the factors mentioned above, but above all in the user. It will also greatly influence your business and you will achieve the goals that you propose. I recommend that you ask for external opinions about your website and ask friends to try to do some homework or find something you ask them to do. It is possible that you bring many surprises. You can also use tools like Hotjar to make a more serious and methodical study of visitor behaviour.
These are the 26 steps that need to take care of while doing a complete SEO audit for any website. I hope this article helps you to do a better internal and external SEO audits.
If you have any other information to add to this article, write them in the below comments. If you are interested in discussing any of the subjects let us know the comment section below.
Which method do you use to do an SEO audit for a Website?
