Over 60% of Digital Marketers know that their top priority is SEO when it comes to inbound marketing. For many business owners, failing to understand the importance of SEO is the main reason for online failure.
Ignoring SEO is ignoring sales in my opinion. Where should you begin?
We use tools like SEMRush, Ahrefs, and even Ubersuggest to gather data on website performance. We pay particular attention to the technical errors these platforms highlight.
Google has long stated that technical errors play an important role in Google's ranking position. Google prefers a mobile-optimized website and really pays attention to loading speed. Gone are the days of keyword stuffing and setting up pages variants for local search.
Google wants to match searcher intent with a technically optimized website with quality content that answers the searcher's keyword query.
If you are on a tight budget (no budget), then use Ubersuggest. It will give you a headstart and some directions on areas of your website to improve. We think it is very user-friendly. The only limitation is the amount of data you receive. It will only highlight some of the errors, not all.
If you want a serious technical website audit then consider paying for an audit from a freelancer or agency who uses tools like SEMRush or Ahrefs. Reports from these tools are very in-depth and drill-down to the finer details that make a difference.
The report often shows page speed, mobile-friendliness, security issues, code errors, google integration connectivity errors, on-page, and off-page SEO, along with other important factors. Expect a good report to be several pages long.
Once you have a detailed report we suggest that you schedule a good 30 minutes to an hour with your chosen provider. He or she should explain in simpler terms each section of the report. Once this process has been undertaken we suggest that you breakdown the important points down and add them into a spreadsheet. Use the spreadsheet to prioritize each stage and get your service provider to quote on each stage.
At this stage, we also suggest that you take a snapshot of your website's performance in Google Analytics. It's a great way to visualize the gains made once the technical work has been completed.
It is important that you quickly respond to any notifications that arise from your Google Webmaster account. From time to time, Google will update their algorithms and this may impact your website in a negative manner. When you see these errors we suggest you fix them ASAP.
We recommend at least quarterly by a professional. Why so regularly? The primary reason is that you want to get ahead of any issues fast. If you wait too long then your rankings could dip and you'll lose traffic and sales. If you act early then you minimize risk. As you add or edit content to your website, you increase the risk of broken links, poor schema markup, and duplicate content. In some cases, less is more. Focus on quality rather than quantity and you'll see exponential growth. Pick your content carefully and be strategic about it.
What are the key elements of an SEO audit?
There are three key factors to look at during an SEO audit:
Sometimes, you won’t have the time to address each pain point.
So, when deciding which audit insights are worth taking action on, I like to use the 80/20 rule.
The most important part of your site’s SEO is the part that your incoming traffic actually sees.
That’s all washed away if your site isn’t mobile-friendly, though.
Finish off by checking what Google sees of your website. Enter the following:
site:yourdomain.com.au - into Google's browser. The results are what Google sees of your website. If you see something wrong, fix it.
If you are totally confused by this, we suggest you find a professional and get some tailored advice.
