Conduct an SEO Audit – The Checkpoints You Should Consider

SEO is a vast subject. Studying and understanding it takes time. And it also takes time for SEO to start showing results for your small, start-up or an established business. It’s a gradual process of customizing and following the best SEO practices that work for your company, constantly. And your company or online business most likely has got a consolidated budget to invest in the top SEO strategies for your business. But if these strategies are not working in your favor, then you will not get the desired outcome.

However, are you wondering whether the SEO initiatives you’ve implemented are providing with the best result or not? If yes, then there are ways to determine it. One of the ideal ways is an SEO audit, where you can know the SEO strategies that got you good outcome and the ones that did not. And for this, you need to reach out to an expert and professional service provider. If you want you can get in touch with SEO Golden Search Advantage and check how it works for your company.

The world of SEO and SEO audit

Before you decide to opt-in for an SEO audit as a tool, it is essential to understand what the world of SEO looks like. SEO is dynamic, and it is forever changing. That is the ultimate truth about SEO. Every time there is a change in Google algorithm, you will have to adjust your SEO strategies accordingly. Going by this logic, SEO strategies that work today might not work after six months or a year from now. You need to know about the search engine updates and you should know the strategy that you must implement now. With a suitable SEO audit, you will be able to make the most of these sudden changes.

It is essential for you to carry out an SEO audit for about twice every year! It is necessary to keep your corporate website completely updated with the latest SEO trends. Today, you have the chance of making use of multiple SEO audit tools and enhancing your online search rankings. However, before that, you also have to create an SEO audit checklist.

The SEO audit checklist

If you have decided to opt-in for an SEO audit, you will have to go about it systematically. Discussed below are some of the crucial aspects that you need to add in the check-list.

1. Check whether you have a mobile-friendly website

It’s been some time since Google came up with its mobile first index. Under this aspect, it is essential for your site to be responsive. It should function in the best way possible in all computers as well as mobile devices. And if that doesn’t happen, chances of your website ranking high in the online search results aren’t very bright. Therefore, it is imperative that you create a mobile responsive company website so that your users have the best browsing experience.

Also, there’s the Mobile-Friendly Test tool that Google had introduced recently. Here you have the chance to check whether your site is mobile responsive or not. The usage is very simple. All you have to do is type the web page URL and you will receive a clear answer. It will either say a Yes or a No. However, just in case your website doesn’t pass through the test, this tool also provides important suggestion on ways to correct the problem.

2. Go and fix the broken links

It is yet another important factor you need to look into. Having broken links in the site can be a deal breaker from the SEO performance perspective. It will negatively affect the user experience. And naturally, it will also negatively impact your online rankings. Hence, it is very important to recognize the broken links that exist. After that, you must fix the links for enhancing the search engine rankings. For this, you have a few tools to use. You can opt-in for Check My Links Extension in case you are using Google Chrome. You can find broken links effectively. Resolve the issue at hand before it affects your site performance and online visibility.

3. Get your website secure with HTTPS

Given the present-day SEO scenario, your HTTP website should move to HTTPS. It helps to secure the site. Google sees this as one of the crucial factors for search ranking.  That aside, you have an apparent association in between the search engine rankings as well as HTTPS. Almost 50% of the web page outcomes that arrive onto Google’s page one search results has made the shift to HTTPS. Hence, it’s vital that you make this change soon to get the desired search engine rankings.

The SEO audit checklist for on-page SEO

On-Page SEO is one of the critical aspects that you need to concentrate on as well. Therefore, other than the technical SEO, this is another aspect that you need to be concerned about. You can include the following components in the checklist.

• Ensure that your URL’s are very short

Shorten the URL’s whenever you get the chance. As the short URL’s provide Google an excellent opportunity to know what your web pages are all about. Google also gets to know about the topics that you have written in your site. According to a Backlinko analysis of millions of Google search outcomes, it was found that short URL’s score a better rank than the long ones.

• Make use of keywords in your title tag

Ensure that you concentrate on the keyword in the title tag. It is slightly awkward to determine where you should be adding your keyword in the title tag. According to experts, it’s always a smart call to add the keyword right at the start of the title tag.

• Make sure to use your focus keyword within the starting 150 words

It is one of the best SEO practices that you can follow. The starting 150 words of any content is the most critical section for Google. Hence, make sure that you make use of the keyword within these 150 words once to bring it in focus.

• Make use of the keywords in your H1, H2, and the H3 tags

Other than just the title tag, it is essential to make use of the primary keyword in all the H1, H2, and H3 tags. Also, ensure that you use the primary keyword at a relevant place within the content. It will help your article or post to rank for the keyword and appear in the search engine results.

• Always recognize the low competition keywords

You need to be slightly careful of using a lot of the typical keywords. Sometimes that has a chance of affecting the search rankings negatively. The reason is that most people are making use of this keyword. Hence, it becomes slightly complicated concerning the rank. It is essential that you come up with unique keywords which come with very low competition. It will play an essential part in enhancing the search engine ranks. You might also be able to make use of multiple tools for recognizing low competition, such as KWFinder as well as SEMrush.

• Make it a point to discover the best keywords in Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is Google’s free tool for exploring and then recognizing the ideal keywords that match your business. This tool is especially applicable to Google Adwords. However, it still is significant for keyword research as the data gets developed through Google. And it gives you the best outcome.

• Use Google Suggest to come across the best long-tail keywords

Other than the head keywords, it is also essential to make use of long-tail keywords in your content. And for determining the same, you can easily make use of Google Suggest to identify the best long-tail keywords. Using this tool is very easy. You just need to type in the initial keyword on the search bar. Don’t press enter. You will come across various keyword suggestions that you can make use of for long-tail keywords. Observe and analyze the options and then select the long-tail keyword suggestions that you find most apt.

There are several benefits of having an SEO audit. It helps you to stop spending on SEO initiatives that don’t yield any positive outcome. Also, it encourages you to concentrate on the SEO practices that do well for your brand and is useful in maximizing the online brand recall value, visibility and increase the organic web traffic. It also enables you to enhance the inbound link building strategy. It can help you secure the traffic that converts. Hence, it is essential to reach out to an expert SEO service provider and use their guidance to go about your SEO audit. The service provider will allow you to know the important checkpoints about your business. Today, most SEO service providers undertake a partnering approach that allows them to take note of the existing SEO condition for a company and suggest better strategies.