An SEO (Search Engine Optimization) audit is a comprehensive examination of a website’s performance in terms of search engine rankings, organic traffic, and overall online visibility. The primary goal is to identify areas for improvement and provide actionable recommendations to enhance the website’s search engine performance.
The deliverable of an SEO Audit is a report of findings with recommendations. Effectively, you get a list of To Dos. The purpose of the list is to help with your planning.
Findings from an SEO Audit guide you in prioritizing SEO tasks
For example, you might be considering hiring an SEO professional like myself to add SEO to your website for a new service you’ve started offering. The findings of the SEO Audit might show that there are numerous “Page Not Found 404 errors” on your website.
As an SEO best practices proponent, I would recommend fixing the “Page Not Found 404 errors” prior to adding any SEO to your website. “Page Not Found 404 errors” interfere with your content’s SEO earning potential. So, adding SEO in one area while ignoring SEO issues reported by Google in another, does not work to your advantage.
When is the best time to do an SEO Audit?
For me, the best time is Q4 when planning and budgeting for the upcoming year. Second best is Q1. The SEO Audit may reveal that you need a little work or need a lot. Either way, you start the new year with a plan and a budget.
What’s included in my SEO Audit?
So many things. My primary focus is to create a list of SEO tasks that non-techs can accomplish on their own. Secondarily, I include SEO tasks that are better suited (skill-wise and time-wise) for web professionals. Here’s a sample of SEO components I check.
- Browser Titles aka Document Titles aka SEO Titles
- Page URLs
- Page Titles
- Internal Links
- External links
- Images
- PDFs
- Structure of pages and posts
- Permalinks
- Broken Links
- Gallery and Portfolio pages
- Google Business Profile
- Google Analytics and Google Search Console
- more, more, and more
While my primary focus is on traditional SEO components, I review the website for usability aspects as well. Making a website more user friendly and more accessible, results in visitors spending more time which converts to better SEO earning potential.
How often should a website have an SEO Audit?
I recommend performing an SEO Audit once per year.
How do you get started with your SEO Audit?
- Order the SEO Audit ($397.00) by using the form below.
- Tick “SEO Audit” in the “I want this service” section.
- Upon receiving the Audit request, I will contact you (on the first business day following the request) to schedule the Audit and talk about access to several accounts in order to “look under the hood”. We’ll discuss how to make that happen.
- I’ll do the Audit and send you a PDF with the findings and recommendations.
What do You do with the SEO Audit report?
- Review and prioritize the tasks.
- Schedule the SEO tasks.
- Complete the SEO tasks yourself, OR, hire me or your web person to do all or a portion of the SEO work.
Ready to sign up for an audit? Fill in the form below. When this form is submitted, you will be taken to a Checkout page on Stripe in order to complete your purchase.