Few people know the true importance of doing an SEO audit . Nowadays, many clients do not understand that they should not start working on the positioning strategy of a new Web project without first having to carry out this complete analysis on them.
Simple, because this type of web audit helps us to know both. The seo strengths of the project and the different errors to correct. In order to improve its visibility on the internet.
As you can see in this guide. It is mainly a deep examination or check of a site. Focused on knowing its current health status in technical matters related to its positioning in search engines.
But, first, I would like us to better understand the definition of this concept:
An SEO audit is a process of reviewing
Studying a website in its entirety, in which its general state is analyzed in relation to its ability to rank in search engines, looking for errors that may harm its visibility and possible points of improvement in terms of SEO, traffic and conversions.
In short, when we carry out an analysis of this type, we have to examine each of the factors that influence the organic positioning of our website. And, through this study, we can get a rough idea of how the project has been worked on previously.
Do you want to learn how to do an SEO audit?
Then, keep reading and find out a little more about how to perform this analysis that is so important for a Digital Marketing Plan or business strategy that aims to be more competitive.
How to do an SEO audit in 7 steps?
Now it is time to move on to the “fun” part of this tutorial, which is the factors we need to audit.
Before starting, I would like to clarify that it is not about focusing on one or two aspects, but rather trying to analyze each factor that intervenes in organic positioning in a comprehensive way , so you do not have to follow a very strict order, since there is no pre-established rule, although thanks to this checklist it will be easier for you to guide yourself.
That said, let’s now look at the 7 key points (and the different factors that comprise them) that you need to study when performing an SEO audit:
Web Crawling and Indexing
Without crawling there is no indexing. And without indexing, you cannot rank. Our first step is to analyze the indexing and crawling of our site. This section is the most important, since here we will analyze if our content is indexed correctly or if there is an error in the crawling of the pages.
1.1 – Indexing
The first thing you have to consider is that we may not be interested in indexing all the content of a website, but only the content we want to rank in Google.
Generally, relevant content is content that provides value to users who perform a search on Google. Any content that does not respond to a user’s search intent can be considered “not relevant,” since Google is not interested in having filler content among its results.
To see which URLs are already indexed , in addition to using different tools, we can also use the site:websitename.com command in Google itself.
A “phone number library” is more than just a list of contacts; it’s an ecosystem in which each number has a backstory that’s shaped by interactions and phone number library experiences. Businesses hoping to establish a deeper connection with their audience may find new avenues for growth by comprehending this framework.
Use the command site:websitename.com in Google itself
1.2 – Tracking Frequency
At this point, we are trying to detect whether there is any problem or blockage that prevents Google Bots from reaching the different URLs and parts of our website.
What about crawl rate? Basically, Google is said to give each website a “ crawl budget ”, which determines the maximum amount of time the robot has to crawl it completely.
The important thing here is to try to optimize that time or Crawl Budget as much as possible by letting Google only crawl the pages that we need to position and avoiding wasting time on irrelevant content.
To analyze both indexing and crawling , you can use tools like Search Console and Screaming Frog .
Check the sitemaps.xml that are sent to Google
Another thing you should check is that you have submitted your sitemaps.xml correctly. Keep in mind that these files help Google understand the obesity treatment health tourism internal structure of your website, which makes crawling easier and therefore speeds up the process.
1.5 – Error Detection (Status Code)
This section aims to detect possible HTTP errors (Status Code) that we may have on our website, I am referring to 3xx , 4xx and 5xx . Errors of this type can affect the user experience and cause the Google Crawler to waste time and even skip some relevant URLs.
There is a simple method to detect these errors and it is through tools. Search Console can help you with this, but if you have the possibility to pay for a premium one, I personally recommend Screaming Frog or SEMrush’s Site Audit, since they are quite fast and give you a lot of interesting information.
nformation architecture
Poor information architecture can have a negative impact on many factors.
One of the essential parts of any SEO Audit is to check the internal structure of the website. A good
Architecture begins with the creation of clusters. That seek to improve the usability and crawling of the portal.
Depth, also called click levels. Is the number of clicks we need to make to reach a specific content starting from. The url with the highest authority on the site. Assuming that the home page is level 0, we start counting depth levels based on the clicks we. Make to reach it by navigating through the website structure.
Why is it important to know these depth levels?
The lower the depth level, the easier it is for. The user to reach that url and the greater the relevance in terms of the positioning that google gives to that page.
Here we must study the possibility of canada email lead making improvements. To try to reduce the number of levels that we have within the architecture of our website.
We can obtain this data thanks to tools such as Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, OnCrawl, DinoRank, SEMrush, Ahrefs and many more.
Crawl depth: ideally, you should try to have the important. Urls of your portal no more than 3 levels deep from the home page.
Properly optimizing the urls of a site, depending on the type of website and architecture we have. Plays an important role in its positioning. Therefore, check the syntax and structure of the urls and also make sure they are short, descriptive and easy to read.
Another important factor that we must analyze,
Because it can affect click levels, information hierarchy, architecture and is related to web crawling, is internal linking. See: How to make correct internal linking?
This is another way to guide the google crawler into. The structure of the website and optimize internal page rank .usability and performance of the sitean improvement in. Issues related to fluidity when browsing also optimizes the user experience. Something that google values very much today.