No matter the niche, every domain owner must abide by a certain SEO audit checklist to improve visibility and performance on Google Search Results. Undoubtedly, Google expands our business reach and therefore plays an integral role in business success. That is why being informed of the updates in google algorithms is crucial to improve ranking.

A website SEO audit aims to identify the problematic areas and make a strategy to resolve the issues that can hamper business growth. It also keeps you updated on the developments in search marketing and optimizes your website for google, thereby improving conversion rates.

Before digging into the details regarding the SEO audit checklist, being familiar with the term in its literal meaning is necessary.

What Is An SEO Audit?

High rankings on search engines are the main concern of everyone, and that is the main goal of an SEO Audit. It is a process of analyzing the factors that can affect the visibility of a website in search engines. It gives you a complete detail of website insights, individual pages, and traffic generated, aiming to optimize the website for a better ranking.

You can either handle the audit yourself by utilizing various tools or seek professional help. An SEO auditor analyzes the website using his/her expertise and recommends changes to improve ranking on search engines.

Why Is A Website SEO Audit Important?

Google makes numerous changes in ranking algorithms every year. If you are not updated on the developments, you are likely to lose traffic and attention from potential customers. SEO audit report helps in optimizing the website as per the latest developments and generates more traffic leading to long-term success. It is recommended to perform the audit twice a year.

Having said that, it is better to hire external SEO audit services to get a detailed audit report leading to an improved SEO approach in the future.

SEO Audit Checklist For Website Optimization

There is no universal approach for SEO audits, as everyone has different issues and concerns. Having said that, there are certain problems everyone should pay attention to. So, let’s discuss how to do an SEO audit for such basic issues.

Check For Google Penalties

The first step in the SEO audit checklist is identifying if you have gotten penalized by google. The reason behind this is that if you get a Google penalty, it will have negative effects on your website. Your target audience will be unable to find you because your site either no longer appears on search results, or the ranking of keywords will be dropped down. You must be aware of when a penalty is imposed to make a strategy and remove the penalty.  

You can either check it on the google search console, analyze organic traffic after Google released changes, or/and source professional help from experts. They will help in determining the issue and finding the best approach to meet Google’s standards.

Perform A Technical Audit

The second common issue in the SEO audit checklist is a technical SEO audit. It holds the top position because technical SEO manages your appearance on search results without problems. As it is technical SEO, you should hire an expert if you do not have much knowledge in this regard. Below are the main steps that come under a technical SEO audit.

·         Specify domain

Your website has many versions, like one that starts with www (https://www.company.com) and another without www (https://company.com). For Google, these are two different websites. So, it is necessary for the audience to have access to only one variation, and others should be under a master version. It is due to the fact that having accessibility to more than one website can cause indexing and duplicate content issues, thereby affecting your website negatively.

·         Indexing issues

An index is a database for hundreds of web pages as Google search results come from here. That is why domain owners must ensure their website does not face indexability issues to generate traffic and increase conversion rates. Indexing issues can get quite complicated. So, what do you need to do? Check the indexability report to identify if you have a noindex tag because such pages do not appear on search engine results.

·         Website speed

A poor website speed can drive users away. So, you must make sure your website loads faster than the competitors. There is no specific official limit on how fast the speed must be. Nevertheless, you can use Google tools to get recommendations about page speed metrics.

· Mobile-friendly website

With the spike in technology and its usage, websites that are not mobile-friendly face loss of traffic and ranking. Check your website with a Google Mobile-friendly test tool to ensure it is mobile-optimized.

On-Page SEO Audit

On-page SEO audit helps you analyze the content and visibility issues your website faces. That is why this step in the SEO audit checklist holds great importance to ensure good SEO health.  Without further ado, let’s discuss the steps that come under the on-page audit.

·         Optimize titles and descriptions

Make sure your tile and descriptions tell exactly what you offer and what customers look for. Also, they must have the required size and uniqueness.

·         Text formatting

Do not use flat text. Use H1, H2, bolds, and italics according to the content.  

·         Check content uniqueness

Post non-plagiarized content and make certain to post frequently on the page to keep your website updated.

·         Internal and external linking

Add internal and external links to rank your website for credibility because it can help with SEO and increase conversion rate.

·         Check broken links

Avoid linking pages with broken content because it affects your relationship with Google as well as provides a bad user experience.

Off-Page SEO Audit

Off-page SEO adds relevance, credibility, and trustworthiness to your page, which is why it secures a place in the SEO audit checklist. Here is how it helps:

·         Backlinks

Google works on a PageRank that requires backlinks to ensure quality content and higher ranking. So, make sure you have them to support your effort of website ranking.

·         Social Media

Social media helps in having an optimized website by giving exposure that brings natural links and direct links.

Summing Up

In all, the above-listed SEO audit checklist will help you identify and solve the common issues for good SEO health of your website. Having said that, being in touch with an SEO company to get notified about google updates and pinpoint issues is necessary, and Zoom Digital stops your search. A leading SEO company in Dubai, Zoom Digital aims to optimize your website and boost organic traffic by elevating your website ranking.