What we look for when performing an SEO audit
We often get asked to take a look at an existing site and tell the owner what our suggestions would be for improvement. What the site owner is really looking for usually is an answer to "why is my website not bringing me more leads/sales." Our audit covers a lot of areas, but one of the big ones is Search Engine presence and this is one you can run on your own site.
If you want to do a quick gut check on your site to see if there are any obvious areas that could be negatively impacting your Search Engine performance, take a look at:
1. Tech Check. Go to Google.com and do a search for site:yourdomainname.com. This will show you a list of pages that Google has indexed on your site. If you have had a website up for more than a few weeks, Google should return at least one result here (the homepage). If you get a page showing "No results found", there is likely a technical reason that Google is not indexing your site and that needs to get fixed ASAP.
2. Titles and Descriptions. After we make sure there are technical reasons Google may be blocking your site, we look at the site and page structure. Let's look specifically at the results page you just had up from Google:
The screenshot above shows the page titles and descriptions. This data comes directly from your website and provides Google (and the user) with keyword rich data that should tell them what they will find if they click on the link to your site. The title tag (the purple text) and the description (the text below the title) are extremely important for Search Engine Optimization.
What we look for in our SEO audits is that each page has a unique and relevant title and description on each page.
The title should be 50 - 60 characters and should contain the main subject of the page you are entering the title on.
The description should be no more than 160 characters and should use the same keyword used on the title at least once in a natural tone. The description is really just a short teaser sentence that will inform Google and the reader what they will find on this page.
Old (and shady) SEO tactics promoted stuffing your descriptions with keywords. Don't do that. Simply identify what keyword the page is about and then write a title and description that includes the keyword.
Once you have these written, add them to your site. This video will show you how to add them to your site using Yoast if you are a WordPress user.
3. URL Structure. Our next step in the SEO audit is to review the URL structure of a page. Something like www.pagename.com/what-this-page-is-about is way easier to understand than something like www.pagename.com/12348383?_ID2020_#jjjksuej
The first URL shows what you can expect to find on the page, while the second one has no relevant data in the URL string. Depending on how your site was built, you may not be able to change this. However, if you are using a system like WordPress, it could be as easy as changing the link structure to update your URLs to be more search engine and user friendly.
4. Page Review. On step 4, we finally take a look at the site itself. When we actually look at the page, we are still looking at the structure. Overall, Google doesn't care how pretty your site is. Some of the highest ranking sites leave a little to be desired in the design department, but they do provide great value to the people visiting the site. Providing value means that if Google sends traffic to the site, the user can easily find what they are looking for. To help Google and your users find what they are looking for, the are page elements that should be used when creating a content page. These elements are:
Heading Tags - The "Heading 1" tag shows Google what your page is all about. In the code, the tag looks like this <h1> Your Main Keyword or Important Title </h1>. Everything that appears between the tags, Google will interpret as your most important text. You should have one H1 tag on the site, followed by H2 - H6 tags all in descending importance on the page. For ADA compliance, you'll want to make your Heading tags go in numerical order down the page. Start with H1 and work down to H6 (if you're using all of them, and you do not need to use all of them).
Alt Text on Images - Google can't read what is on an image. If your page has an excessive amount of images if you don't add Alternative Tags (Alt Tags/Text) to the image, all Google (and those visiting the site with a screen reader) will know is the name of the image. Adding a descriptive alt-tag to your images will help ensure Google knows what the images on your site are depicting and will ensure that folks using a screen reader get the full experience of visiting your site.
Linking - Using links on keywords in the body copy of your page is another thing we look for. For example, if we were writing about Digital Marketing Services and encouraging you to Contact Us to learn more about these services, there should be links within that sentence.
Wrong Way: Our Digital Marketing Services will help you promote your services and close more sales. Contact us today to learn more!
Right Way: Our Digital Marketing Services will help you promote your services and close more sales. Contact us today to learn more!