What's an SEO audit, and why do I need one?
As the volume of search queries increases, search engines are becoming more intelligent in determining whether or not a website should rank in a search. In response, there has been a rise in the number of businesses focusing their marketing efforts on SEO.
Whilst search engine optimisation is a relatively low-cost form of marketing; it can require more up-keep when compared to other forms of digital marketing. Additionally, more businesses than ever are competing in the digital landscape. As a result, it has become increasingly important to know how your business's SEO efforts are performing. One resource that offers an in-depth analysis of how a website is performing is an SEO audit.
An SEO audit is also a helpful tool for learning how effective your keywords are and if anything is structurally broken within a website. If you've seen a dip in website traffic or revenue, an SEO audit could reveal why.
This handy tool has a range of features, making it ideal for all types of businesses; from local shops wanting to reach a larger range of audience to large organisations looking to expand their sales.
We've outlined several key benefits of regularly using an SEO audit, as well as explaining what's included in each part of an audit and how you can measure your website's health.
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So, what's an SEO audit, and why do I need it?
An SEO audit is a custom-built tool that can analyse how well a website is performing. Most audits will give you a score out of 100 on how well optimised the website is, highlighting areas of weakness.
Regularly running an SEO audit will produce a technical analysis of how healthy a website is and, at the same time, highlight any areas that need amendments. In addition, an audit can give an overview of a variety of website aspects, including keyword density, analysis of backlinks and any structural flaws a site may have.
The purpose of an audit is to identify issues that could be affecting search engine ranking or website performance. Once you have received your results, you can see an in-depth overview of how your current website is performing and any weaknesses that may need some maintenance.
Keep up with the algorithm
Regularly auditing will keep you ahead of your competitors with the ability to identify any changes affecting your website. This is becoming increasingly important as search engines, such as Google, regularly change their algorithm. This can have drastic effects on websites with an outdated SEO strategy. Many businesses use an SEO audit to highlight how each algorithm update is affecting website traffic or any changes that need to be made to retain visitors.
Keep track of your loading time
Customers will use all forms of digital technology to access the internet, search engines (partially Google) are now reviewing mobile versions of websites before the desktop versions. Loading times can make or break a customer’s visit to a website as 40% of visitors leave a site if it takes over 3 seconds to load. An SEO audit will highlight any issues that may be slowing a website down, such as large image files.
Identify broken links
Broken links are links that no longer work. Anything that disrupts your website UX (user experience) will affect overall traffic and chances of appearing in a search. Google will not want to send a customer to a website whose links don’t work. Broken links have a real-world effect of causing a dip in revenue. An audit will highlight any broken links for you to fix. A far quicker process than scrolling through your website by hand.
Keep an eye on your competition
SEO audits is a great way of conducting competitor analysis. By running your competitor's URL through the audit tool, you'll be able to see their strengths, weakness and gain valuable insights into their SEO ranking. Additionally, you will be able to see keywords they are using and how successful they are.
Being able to understand your competitor's SEO strategy and keywords will provide valuable data and give you an upper hand. This could be extremely useful if they are ahead of you in search rankings.
The next step
More businesses than ever are prioritising their digital marketing efforts. Ensure that your business' SEO strategies are up-to-date and optimised. Search engine optimisation has become a popular form of cost-effective marketing. After putting hard work into your business take advantage of an SEO audit tool to see your website take off.
Whilst many organisations charge for an external SEO audit, we have a free SEO audit tool, which can give you an in-depth analysis of your website within a couple of minutes. Additionally, if you require further help with your marketing or would like to speak to a member of our team, please get in touch.
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