An SEO audit is a thorough evaluation of your website that examines both technical and content aspects to detect any issues that negatively affect SEO rankings.
Depending on the nature of the audit, it may also include an analysis of competitor websites to gain a competitive edge and implement best practices into your own website.
1. Increased traffic
Increased traffic and leads can only benefit any business, and an SEO audit is the ideal way to evaluate whether or not your site is optimized for popular keywords among your target audience. Furthermore, an audit can reveal any technical issues such as slow page loads or broken links which could hinder search engine optimization efforts.
Google regularly makes updates to its algorithm, and an SEO audit is an ideal way to make sure that your website complies with these new standards and guidelines. When selecting an agency for this audit, make sure they possess industry recognition, awards and certifications demonstrating their dedication to up-to-date SEO best practices – this way you’ll know your audit will meet with industry best practices and yield optimal results.
2. Higher conversion rates
Search engines strive to deliver pages that provide relevant answers for their user queries in an accessible fashion, so user experience should always come first when developing SEO strategies.
An SEO audit will identify any obstacles preventing customers from enjoying the best experience online, such as websites that load slowly or display incorrectly, broken links, or unresponsive navigation systems. When these issues are identified and rectified, customers can enjoy better online interactions which leads to higher conversion rates.
An SEO audit will ensure that keywords are targeted toward the right target audience and industry, and are optimized to maximize search engine performance. With search engines constantly shifting their algorithms – for instance ten years ago it was common practice to cram as many keywords into page titles – auditing your site regularly allows you to stay abreast of changes and update content as necessary. Tools like GTmetrix and Screaming Frog provide excellent ways of measuring SEO performance as well as pinpoint any areas needing improvement.
3. Increased revenue
SEO is a long-term marketing strategy that requires considerable dedication, but can bring great returns for any company. An audit is important in understanding how well your website and digital marketing campaigns are performing.
An SEO audit will highlight pages that aren’t receiving any impressions, sessions, or page views, such as due to poor-performing content or technical issues such as broken links. Recognizing these issues will allow you to increase organic search performance and drive more visitors towards your site.
An audit will also give you a comprehensive view of your competitors’ strategies and results, such as which keywords they rank for, blog headlines they write about, website hierarchy structure etc. This knowledge can help build upon competitors’ successes to enhance your ranking potential and boost it yourself.
4. Increased brand awareness
Search engine optimization (SEO) can help your business stand out in an oversaturated marketplace and become visible to new leads and sales prospects, increasing leads and sales opportunities for your company. A thorough SEO audit can identify both strengths and weaknesses within your website’s SEO structure.
Keyword analysis allows you to identify the optimal keywords to target for organic search rankings, decreasing your need for paid ads. Furthermore, conducting an in-depth examination of current competition provides insight into their latest strategies.
An SEO audit provides a valuable opportunity to examine technical SEO elements, such as page speed and site crawlability, which is especially important as Google algorithms change frequently and you must keep abreast with them. Furthermore, an audit may help identify issues such as broken links and redirections and address these effectively.