Seo Audit
Performing a groundwork engine improvement audit (SEO Audit) of your web site is vital for several reasons.
First, you'll be able to determine problematic areas that require improvement and build associate action conceive to correct them and second, a decent SEO audit can keep your web site up-to-date with the most recent developments in search promoting and on high of the competition.
What is associate SEO audit?
Before getting in the main points on the way to perform associate SEO audit, it's necessary to clarify what's it and what to expect from it.
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An SEO audit could be a method for evaluating the computer program friendliness of an internet site during a variety of areas.
The SEO auditor can check the web site against a listing and are available up with recommendations of what has to be fastened (because it's wrong) and what has to amendment so the performance of the web site in search engines is improved.
While there ar varied tools you'll be able to use to SEO audit an internet site, the most effective approach is to either do the audit employing a guide (like the one you're reading now) or rent associate SEO Auditor to try and do the work for you.
The cost is cheap and therefore the recommendations of a manual audit ar specific to your web site and aren't generic like those created employing a tool.
What to expect from associate SEO Audit?
You should expect three things:
A description of the present state of your web site – this can be a detail analysis on however your web site is performing arts in search, social media, variety of internal/external links and the other info associated with your website’s existing state .
A list of actions supported a SEO audit listing beside explanations for every and each item within the list.
A report describing an entire web promoting strategy for taking advantage of all obtainable sources of traffic and opportunities on the net and not simply SEO.
Why it’s necessary to SEO audit your web site on a daily basis
Things amendment terribly quickly within the SEO trade and what's operating nowadays might not add six months from currently.
It is necessary to perform regular SEO audits (at least two times per year) to make sure that your web site is up-to-date with the most recent developments.
How to perform your own SEO Audit?
Now that you simply ar convinced that associate SEO audit could be a should for each web site, let’s see however you'll be able to perform your own audit.
After reading most obtainable articles on the way to SEO audit an internet site and testing variety of audit tools, I came up with an inventory of sixty things that covers everything you wish to see.
To make it easier to figure with the list, it's separated into five sections: on-site SEO, web site management, social media, off-site SEO and web site promotion.
Note: If you're feeling assured you'll be able to jump to the SEO Audit listing directly and skip the speculation, otherwise we will take it in small stages.
On-Site SEO listing
On-Site SEO Audit listing
On-site SEO is that the most vital a part of the SEO Audit listing. In fact, several audits cowl this half solely however our approach, as explained higher than, is for checking alternative areas furthermore.
To check if your web site is optimized for search engines, you wish to require into consideration the subsequent factors:
Titles and Descriptions – ar they distinctive for every page and at intervals the required size? will the user tell from the title what the page is all regarding and is that the description a billboard of what the page needs to offer?
URL Structure – you must certify the urls for every page ar distinctive and properly formatted. For example:
This is a non-optimized URL: ‘http://www.example.com/12/badformattedurl/121358898
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This is a decent URL: ’http://www.example.com/good-formatted-url’
Good URLs embrace keywords (but they're not keyword stuffed), embrace hyphens (‘-‘) to separate the keywords, ar distinctive for every page and ar but 255 characters (including the domain name).
Text format – certify {that you|that you simply|that you simply} don’t just have plain text in your pages. Any text ought to be properly formatted mistreatment H1 (for the most title) and H2 (for the most headings), daring and italics for the necessary components, lists wherever necessary etc.
Content – The content of your web site needs to be distinctive. you'll be able to use copyscape to see all of your pages for individuality and if you discover duplicate content you've got to get rid of or de-index these pages.
Use Google Analytics to seek out the foremost common pages (both landing pages and with the foremost visits) and certify that these have prime quality content (free of writing system and synchronic linguistics errors, properly formatted, properly promoted in social media etc.).
You also ought to check content length and content freshness.
If you've got pages with very little or no content or pages with similar content, you wish to merge them along mistreatment 301 redirects.
If you content is recent or superannuated, produce a publication set up and certify that your web site is updated on a frequent basis.
You don’t have to be compelled to post daily however you wish to keep up a gradual posting programming.
Hint: the way to write SEO friendly content
Internal linking – Linking your pages along is beneficial to each search engines and users.
Check and certify that you simply ar so linking connected pages along by taking into consideration these four factors:
That you aren't solely mistreatment keyword anchor text for the interior links however you employ each the complete page title and non-keyword anchor text.
The pages you would like to rank higher in search have the larger variety of internal links.
The pages you would like to rank higher in search ar joined from your home page.
You have between two – ten internal links per page.
Images – pictures ar helpful of creating an online page easier to scan and a lot of enticing to social media (especially Pinterest) however they will work against your SEO efforts if they increase the loading time of a page.
In general you wish to see three things once it involves images:
Image filenames ar descriptive to what the image is regarding. you'll be able to use keywords within the file name however don't do it.
All pictures have the altitude tag outlined
All pictures ar compressed to attenuate their size. If you're employing a ton of pictures in your pages you will ought to think about employing a content delivery network (CDN).
Broken links – Broken links ar dangerous for the user expertise associated so not smart from an SEO perspective. There ar two ways in which to see for broken links:
Use a tool like Xenu for checking all of your external links. The tool is free and may provide you with a report of all broken links. you'll be able to then fix them by either removing them fully from your web site or redirecting them to a sound uniform resource locator.
Use the ‘Crawl errors’ report in your Google and Bing webmaster tools to seek out broken links at intervals your web site. you'll be able to additionally fix them by correcting the links or doing 301 redirects to a sound uniform resource locator.
Use of banner ads higher than the fold – a couple of year agone, Google started penalizing websites that have too several ads higher than the fold.
While {they ar|they're} not specifying specifically what do they mean by ‘too several ads’ you'll be able to use this guide from Adsense to induce an inspiration what's allowed and what's not (even if you're not mistreatment Adsense the examples within the guide are still useful).
If your ad implementation isn't per standards you've got to get rid of or amendment the position of the ads.
good-banner-positioning
User friendliness – though it's tough to evaluate what's a user friendly computer and what's not, as a result of this relies on the sort of web site and the way it's designed, there ar a couple of checks you'll be able to make:
What happens once a user sorts a wrong url? is that the 404 page friendly?
Can the users realize what they need is a smaller amount than three clicks?
Does it have a clearly outlined main menu?
Can you distinguish between website content and ads?
Does it have the same interface across all pages?
Does it have a user sitemap?
Page speed – From my expertise lecture shoppers, handling computer page speed is one amongst the foremost tough tasks a minimum of for the non-technical users.
Unfortunately it's additionally one amongst the foremost necessary SEO factors and needs to be addressed with success. There ar several studies showing that page speed affects each your rankings and you conversion rates.
Your web site ought to load quick and ideally quicker than your competitors. There ar tools by Google that may provide you with recommendations regarding page speed however generally what you'll be able to do is that the following:
Compress pictures or use a CDN
Minimize HTTP calls by mistreatment sprites and browser caching
Minify your CSS and hypertext mark-up language to create their size smaller
Use a compression plugin or page speed service
Remove inessential JavaScript from pages
If the higher than list doesn't create a lot of sense to you, you higher rent a developer or SEO professional to try and do the work for you.
It will not value you lots and it's one thing you've got to try and do if you would like to enhance your rankings.
Web site structure – notwithstanding the sort of web site you're running, there ar bound parts common to any or all, necessary for SEO functions and a decent user expertise. What I sometimes check is that the following:
Does the web site have a transparent content structure? is that the content classified into relevant classes and pages?
Does it have a contact, privacy policy, disclaimer and regarding page?
Does it have a crumb on all internal pages?
You can scan detail explanations for all the higher than factors in my post SEO Tips for beginners that additionally embrace real examples from our websites.
Web site management listing
Are you mistreatment all the mandatory tools to properly management your web site? have you ever registered your website with Google webmaster tools, will the search engines bots access your computer with none problems?
Do you recognize the foremost necessary analytics reports to monitor? These ar just a few of the queries you've got to answer during this section of the audit listing.
Web site management was deliberately position when on-site SEO and before the opposite components (off-site SEO, social media and promotion) as a result of if you don’t recognize basic info regarding your web site (including current state and potential problems) you can't with success go on to succeeding steps.
So, if you discover out that there's area for improvement during this half then I recommend that you simply offer this high priority in your implementation set up.
Hint: Our comprehensive DIY SEO Tutorial covers of these steps in details.
Social Media listing
social-media-seo-audit-list
You cannot survive on-line while not social media; it's as easy as that.
If you neglect social media and rely entirely on search promoting then it’s like swing all of your eggs in one basket and your risk is higher.
To make a living on-line you've got to differentiate each your traffic and financial gain supplys and dependency on one source (i.e. Google) isn't the thanks to go.
You may be speculative, however is social media associated with associate SEO audit?
That’s a decent question and there's a really easy answer: Social media affects your SEO efforts each directly (in the shape of links) and indirectly (more exposure which can produce a lot of natural links and direct visits) therefore it's an element that may influence your efforts to own a properly optimized computer.
Basically what you've got to see during this section is whether or not you've got a correct presence within the most vital social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest), whether or not it’s straightforward for folks to seek out and follow you in those channels and if your social media profiles ar SEO optimised.
Off-Site SEO listing
Off-site SEO is vital however if you're not careful of what you're doing and if you don’t recognize specifically what you're allowed to try and do and what not, it's additionally terribly risky.
Although there ar solely three things within the listing, you wish to try and do somewhat of research before having a transparent image regarding your off-site SEO current state.
Incoming links profile analysis – determine United Nations agency is linking to your computer
You can determine regarding your incoming links either by employing a tool like SEMRUSH or by mistreatment the ‘Links to your site’ report from Google webmaster tools.
If you have already got a subscription to semrush, you'll be able to additionally use it to match your web site in varied areas together with your main competitors.
Hint: If you're not aware of webmaster tools, you'll be able to scan my fast guide: the way to use Google and Bing webmaster tools for beginners.
Once you've got the report with incoming links you wish to answer the subsequent questions:
How many distinctive domains ar linking to you?
Which of those domains ar thought of trustworthy domains?
How several links ar inform to your home page and the way many links to your internal pages?
Which of your pages have the foremost incoming links?
What share of the links is keyword based?
Depending on the answers, you will have to be compelled to take thereforeme corrective actions so certify that these ar enclosed in your action set up.
For example, If solely a couple of domains ar linking to you, you wish to induce links from connected domains therefore you wish to form an inventory of doable websites to be used for guest blogging.
If you don’t have links from trustworthy domains you wish to induce up-to-date with the leaders in your niche and allow them to recognize that you simply exist (it’s easier aforementioned than done however if you get detected by the massive fish you've got a lot of probabilities living within the pot).
If all the links ar inform to your homepage, you wish to make sure that links ar inform to your internal pages furthermore. you'll be able to try this by either removing links from the house page or by building a lot of links to the interior pages.
If all the incoming links ar keyword based mostly (and you've got not however had a penalty by Google) you wish to desperately amendment them by creating them a lot of natural by mistreatment your name solely, your full post title and things like ‘click here’,’ link’ etc.
Unlike on-site SEO, off-site SEO isn't a simple task and that’s why you wish to understand specifically what you're doing.
Links ar necessary if you would like high rankings however you actually don’t have to be compelled to leave and build links like hell.
Instead, you must concentrate your efforts in building smart websites (with smart content) and links can flow in naturally.
For my internet sites I don’t do any huge link building (besides a couple of selective guest posts) and that they ar performing arts exceptionally well altogether search engines. you'll be able to read real cases studies and skim all regarding it in SEO eBook.
Web site promotion listing
The last a part of our SEO audit listing goes on the far side SEO and slightly touches the world of web promoting. definitely web promoting isn't solely regarding these six things however these ar tested to figure with minimum effort.
For example, you want to have a mobile version of your computer since over five hundredth of on-line searches ar created through mobile phones.
You need to own associate robot app once there ar lots of new robot users per day; you wish to own some presence in YouTube since lots of folks ar on YouTube each single minute.
In alternative words, you wish to appear for the massive image and the way you'll be able to promote your web site on the net (as a whole) and not simply on search engines.
A good SEO Audit can embrace recommendations for locating your missing opportunities, finding wherever your potential customers ar hanging out on-line and recommend ways in which on however you'll be able to create those your readers or perhaps higher your customers.
For all those that have created it to the current purpose, congratulations! If one thing isn't clear or there's a degree you probably did not perceive, let Pine Tree State recognize within the comments below and that i would be over happy to answer it.
SEO Audit listing (Updated 2017)
ON-SITE SEO listing
Titles ar distinctive for every page?
Titles length is between fifty – sixty five characters?
Description tag is between 150-160 characters?
Description tag isn't keyword stuffed?
URLS ar SEO friendly?
H1 Headings for title?
Use of H2 and H3 for subheadings
Small paragraphs and use of daring, italics
Is there a novel brand for the net site?
Is there a favicon?
Content on the net website is fresh?
Content length on post pages?
Content optimized for featured snippets?
Internal linking – does one link internal pages?
Internal linking – Use of anchor text (is it varied?)
Trying to rank for top competitive keywords?
Is there associate altitude tag for all images?
Are image files names descriptive?
Image file size is optimized?
Blog comments have the ‘nofollow’ tag?
External links have the ‘nofollow’ tag (if not from trustworthy websites)?
Banner ads have the ‘nofollow’ tag?
Are pages with duplicate or no content, noindex and nofollow?
Too several ads higher than the fold?
Checked for invalid use of 301 and 302 redirects?
Site implements rel=canonical to spot the first content?
Site checked for broken links?
Page speed: Average time to load home page?
Page speed: Average time to load alternative pages?
Are most vital pages joined to from home page?
Are most vital pages joined to from Sidebar?
Is there a user sitemap (html) within the main menu?
Is there a ‘related posts’ section below every detail page?
Is there associate author for all website pages?
Is there associate regarding, Contact and Privacy policy page?
Is there a crumb on all pages?
Is there a custom 404 page?
WEB SITE management listing
Is the computer registered on Google Webmaster tools?
Is the computer registered on Bing Webmaster tools?
Checked robots.txt?
Is there a sound XML Sitemap?
Is the computer registered with Google Analytics?
SOCIAL MEDIA listing
Social media buttons on all pages?
Is there a Facebook business page?
Is there a Google+ business page?
Is there a Pinterest business page?
Is there a twitter account?
Are social media profiles SEO optimized?
Facebook Like box?
Google+ augment circles button?
Newsletter and RSS registration?
OFF-SITE SEO listing
Number and kind of arriving links?
Opportunities to accumulate new links?
Competitor analysis
WEB SITE PROMOTION listing
Does the net website have a mobile friendly version?
Is the computer listed in Chrome net Store?
Is there a native robot app in Google Play?
Is there a native amazon app in Amazon Store?
Does the net website have an ardent YouTube channel?