Search engine optimization are three words that can carry huge impact for the marketing efforts of any business.
No matter how new to inbound you are, the chances that you’ve heard of SEO are pretty high. You’ve probably already begun implementing SEO in your marketing strategy. But have you conducted your first SEO audit yet?
As intimidating as an audit may seem, SEO audits can uncover tons of useful information, and are well worth your time. Conducting an SEO audit can help you in a few ways:
- Stay up-to-date: Search engines algorithm updates might as well be stuck in an eternally revolving door. A review will help you ensure your site is always on top of the algorithm changes.
- Catch mistakes: Any time you add or change your site’s content, broken links can occur and end up lowering your rankings. When you conduct an audit, you’ll be able to see the mistakes and keep visitors on your site longer.
And with all the information you collect in an audit, it’s no wonder that analyzing your current SEO now can have an enormous impact on your future growth.
SEO Audit: What You’ll Find
Whether you’re conducting a simple 5-minute audit or taking a deeper look, every SEO assessment should have the same basic focus. You should review traffic, social media, SERP/NAP consistency, technical factors, and domain authority. Here are a few things you might discover in an audit:
Missing SEO Basics
As surprising as it might be, many times an SEO audit will reveal a significant lack of basic practices that make up SEO. For example, you may find a page that is optimized around one single keyword. The simple fix? Optimizing each page around two or more keywords, and keeping an eye out for other “old school” SEO tactics being used throughout your site.
Other fundamental SEO mistakes? Missing page titles, headers that aren’t optimized, URL composition issues, and media without ALT tags or optimized file names.
No Off-page Optimizing
Off-page optimization is crucial when it comes to a well-executed SEO strategy. So it’s important to use an SEO audit to catch small mistakes like inconsistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) or any slight differences in your social media profiles that might be affecting your visibility.
To confirm that nothing has fallen through the cracks, have someone else take a look at your site and primarily focus on the function, content, and appearance of the entire website. Depending on a second set of eyes is always a good idea!
SEO Consult Resources
Here at HeadsUp, your friendly local Atlanta SEO consultant team relies on many different SEO tools to conduct deep dive analysis’. These are just a few of our favorites: