How will you know if the best SEO methods for your company are achieving the expected results when you devote your time and hard-earned money to using them?
The solution is an SEO audit. Simply put, it’s the finest approach to evaluate your SEO tactics.
The SEO tactics that are effective now might no longer be relevant in six months due to the highly dynamic nature of the industry. An SEO audit can help you stay educated and current about the changes as Google and other search engines continually improve their ranking algorithms.
At least twice a year, SEO audits ought to be carried out. This will undoubtedly assist in ensuring that your website is current with the most recent SEO advances. You may do an SEO audit and raise your search engine rankings by using a variety of SEO audit tools.
The SEO factors you need to check out are listed below.
Technical Audit Checklist
An audit of your technical SEO is essential since it can raise your search engine rankings. The following technical SEO elements need to be taken into account in your SEO audit:
Create a mobile-friendly site
Recently, Google unveiled the mobile-first index. This implies that if your website is not mobile-friendly, it might not rank well. Therefore, you must make sure that your website is designed with mobile devices in mind.
With Google’s new Mobile-Friendly Test tool, you can always check if your website is mobile-friendly or not. You only need to type in the URL of your website or web page to receive a straightforward “yes” or “no” response. If your website fails this test, the program will give you pertinent instructions on how to fix the problem.
Fix broken links
Your website’s or web pages’ user experience will suffer if there are broken links. Your rankings will be negatively impacted by this as well.
Determining any broken links on your website and replacing them with genuine ones will help you avoid this and boost your search engine results. You can utilize the Check My Links Extension for Google Chrome. It is highly effective at locating broken links.
Secure your site with HTTPS
It’s crucial that you protect your website right away if you haven’t already switched from HTTP to HTTPS. This is due to Google’s 2014 introduction of HTTPS as one of their search ranking factors.
Remember that HTTPS and your search engine rankings have a direct correlation. On Google’s first page of search results, 50% of the web page results are HTTPS. Consequently, it’s crucial to switch your website from HTTP to HTTPS in order to boost its search engine rankings.
On-Page SEO Audit Checklist
You must pay attention to an on-page SEO audit in addition to the technical SEO elements. Here are a few techniques for content optimization using an on-page SEO audit.
Use short URLs
If possible, use short URLs. This is because short URLs provide Google a far better knowledge of your web pages and the subjects you’ve covered. Backlinko examined around 1 million Google search results and discovered that short URLs aid in better ranking when compared to long URLs.
Long URLs may also direct users to pages that are too far from the homepage. Because of this, a certain web page may have a low authority, which will negatively affect its search engine ranks.
Use your keyword in the title tag
Additionally, you must make sure your title tag contains your focus keyword. It can be challenging to decide where to place the keyword in the title tag, though. The keyword should always be added at the start
Use the focus keyword in the first 150 words
The first 150 words of your post are the most crucial for Google. Therefore, it’s crucial that you use your focus keyword at least once in the first 150 words of your content.
Use your keyword in H1, H2, or H3 tags
Using the primary keyword in your H1, H2, and/or H3 title tags is crucial in addition to the title tag. But make sure you incorporate the core term whenever it makes sense.
Keyword Research Audit Checklist
Keyword research is a crucial component of SEO. The list of suggested keywords for your content is provided below.
Identify low-competition keywords
Utilizing a lot of widely used keywords could hurt your search engine rankings. This is due to the fact that ranking them becomes nearly impossible due to the possibility of excessive keyword usage.
Finding and using distinctive keywords with less competition is necessary for this reason. Your ranking on search engines will rise as a result. To find low-competition keywords, you can make use of a variety of tools like SEMrush or KWFinder.
Discover solid keywords in the Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is another tool you may utilize. You can use this free Google tool to research and choose the ideal keywords for your company.
This tool is intended for use with Google AdWords. But it can still be helpful for keyword research because the data is derived from Google, which generates reliable results.
Find long-tail keywords with “Google Suggest”
You may find long-tail keywords by using Google Suggest. The first keyword must be entered into the search bar without using the enter key or the Google Search button. Once it is finished, you can browse the list of keywords that Google displays.
These terms are directly from Google, which only indicates that users are searching with them. This demonstrates the enormous potential certain keywords have for your website.
Final thoughts
When performing an SEO audit, it is crucial to take the aforementioned SEO factors into account. Additionally, a boost in your organic traffic and search engine rankings will be seen if this checklist is followed.
Do you know of any further SEO factors to take into account for an SEO audit? In that case, feel free to reply with your ideas.