Have you been working on your SEO, but not getting the results you want?
Performing an SEO audit could help you discover why.
It is possible that your SEO efforts are underperforming because of just one or two minor issues with your HTML code or your website structure.
These issues are not always easy to spot, but performing an SEO audit can help you identify them and find solutions before they snowball into serious concerns.
What Is an SEO Audit?
An SEO audit is a comprehensive analysis of your website to determine the effectiveness of your on-page and off-page SEO activities.
It includes:
- Identifying problems related to website architecture
- Analyzing backlinks
- Reviewing social media engagement
- Scanning the site for keyword density problems
- Examining duplicate content concerns.
Think of an SEO audit as an important health checkup for your website.
It will help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your website and set you up for long-term business success. Here’s why!
Why SEO Audit is Important for Your Business?
1. Keep up with search engine algorithm updates.
Search engine algorithms are always changing.
The SEO strategies you were using last year, or even just a couple of months ago, may not be enough to keep you on Google’s good side now.
You may not see a huge drop in rankings immediately after an algorithm update. However, this may affect your SEO in the long-run.
Regularly performing an SEO audit lets you keep up with Google’s algorithm changes and adjust your SEO strategy to match the current ranking factors.
2. Update your content for higher rankings.
Have you ever stumbled upon a great blog post, only to discover that all of the data was from 2002?
It is pretty disappointing and may result in your visitor leaving your website immediately. This will, in turn, cause your bounce rate to go up and lower your search engine rankings.
An SEO audit can help you identify places where your content could be updated with relevant information to keep your customers engaged longer.
It can also help you identify opportunities for SEO tweaks, like increasing keyword density in a particular blog post or updating your titles and meta descriptions.
Plus, updating your content will automatically make your website rank higher! This is because search engines favor websites that regularly publish new, high-quality content.
3. Review on-page SEO to improve user experience.
Improving your user experience is important for improving your search engine rankings.
User experience determines how long a visitor sticks around your site, which, again, affects your bounce rate.
If you do not regularly perform an SEO audit, some on-page SEO issues could be inadvertently driving visitors away and lowering your rankings.
It could be that you need to update your navigation or your font size to make your website easier to use.
Or, perhaps, you need to invest in responsive website design to improve the overall user experience and boost conversions.
Without an SEO audit, you will never know!
4. Catch any red flags ahead of time.
An SEO audit gives you an opportunity to identify any red flags before they snowball into larger problems.
SEO issues have a way of compounding over time, and relatively minor issues could easily snowball into serious concerns if left unaddressed.
For example, if you see your bounce rate creeping up, it may be time to review your landing page content to avoid a drop in rankings.
Regularly performing an SEO audit for your website means you won’t wake up to a huge drop in rankings.
The damage resulting from a sudden drop in rankings can take months to repair and is generally a very costly endeavor.
Doing a comprehensive SEO check-up every 6 months is much more cost-effective.
5. Keep up with your competition.
Keeping up with the latest SEO strategies is essential if you don’t want to get left behind in the dust by your competition.
It’s not just that the SEO landscape is always changing (which it is).
You also want to be aware of which SEO strategies are actually working for you, and which ones are not.
That way, you will avoid wasting time and money on tactics with a low ROI and be able to focus your attention on the ones that truly matter.
An SEO audit will look at your current SEO strategies to see what’s working for you, and what’s not.
It is also important to analyze your competitors (e.g. the keywords they rank for) to see if there are any SEO opportunities you are missing out on.
Based on the information in your audit report, you can adjust your tactics and strategies to remain ahead of your competition.
How Handmade SEO Can Help
An SEO audit might be all that’s standing between you and more high-quality traffic.
We actually offer one as a part of our FREE Digital Marketing Assessment.
The assessment helps you zero in on which marketing strategies are working for you (and which ones are not) to maximize your ROI.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach us.
