SEO audits are the single best way to figure out why you’re not getting SEO results. It is the first activity my agency does when bringing on a new client.
1. Make sure your site is indexable
If a search engine can’t crawl your site, it won’t be able to index it and it won’t show up in search results.
There are a few things that can cause a search engine to not be able to crawl your site. The most common of these are robots.txt files and meta robots tags that tell search engines not to crawl your site.
To check if your site is indexable, you can use Google’s robots.txt tester. To check a specific page, you can use the robots.txt tester in the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console.
2. Check the number of pages indexed by search engines
The number of pages indexed by search engines is the number of pages from your website that the search engine has scanned and stored in its database.
To check the number of pages indexed by Google, just type in site:yourwebsite.com in the search bar.
If you see a number that’s close to the number of pages on your website, you’re good. That means Google has indexed most of your website.
If you see a number that’s much lower than the number of pages on your website, that means Google hasn’t indexed all of your website’s pages.
3. Find out if your site is penalized by Google
If your site has been penalized by Google, your rankings will drop.
There are a few different types of penalties you can get from Google, but the most common is an algorithmic penalty. This means that your site has been flagged by one of Google’s algorithms and your rankings have been affected.
The best way to find out if your site has been penalized is to check your rankings. If you notice a sudden drop, then it’s possible that you have been penalized.
You can also use tools like Google Webmaster Tools to check for penalties. If your site has been penalized, Google will send you a message letting you know.
4. Find out which search terms are already bringing visitors to your site
The next step is to find out which search terms are already bringing visitors to your site. This helps you to understand what your website is currently ranking for.
If you have a Google Analytics account, you can link it to your Google Search Console account to view the search terms that are already driving traffic to your site.
To do this, go to the “Performance” tab in Google Search Console and click on “Queries” to see the search terms that are currently driving traffic to your site.
If you don’t have a Google Analytics account, you can use a tool like SEMrush to view the search terms that are currently driving traffic to your site.
To do this, go to the “Organic Research” tab in SEMrush and click on “Positions” to see the search terms that are currently driving traffic to your site.
5. Check your click through rate
Your click through rate (CTR) is a good indicator of how well your content is performing. Your CTR is the percentage of people who see your content in the search results and click on it.
To calculate your CTR, divide the number of clicks your content has by the number of times it has been shown in the search results, and multiply the result by 100.
A low CTR is a sign that your content isn’t relevant to the search query, so you’ll need to optimize your title and meta description to make it more compelling.
6. Check if your site is mobile ready
In 2019, mobile traffic accounted for more than half of all website traffic worldwide.
And, the percentage of mobile traffic has only been increasing. That’s why Google uses the mobile version of your site for indexing and ranking.
So, it’s important that your website is mobile ready. You can test the mobile-friendliness of your site using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
This tool will let you know if your site is mobile ready and if not, it will provide you with some suggestions on how to improve your site’s mobile-friendliness.
7. Check your site’s speed
If your site’s speed is slow, it can lead to a high bounce rate. If users are bouncing from your site, it sends a signal to Google that your site isn’t valuable, and that can hurt your rankings.
To check your site’s speed, you can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. This tool will give you a score for your site’s speed on both desktop and mobile, and it will also give you suggestions on how to improve your speed.
If your site’s speed is slow, you can take steps to improve it, such as optimizing your images, using a content delivery network (CDN), and enabling browser caching.
8. Find out if your site is ranking for keywords that are not bringing visitors
If you have a blog or content marketing area on your website, you may be ranking for keywords that are not driving traffic to your website.
This is a good thing, and it’s also a good idea to find out what those keywords are and then work to optimize your content for those keywords so that you can start driving more traffic to your website.
9. Check your title and meta description
Title tags and meta descriptions are HTML elements that you can customize to reflect the content of your web page. The title tag is displayed in the search results as the clickable headline, and the meta description is displayed as the snippet below it.
If your title tag and meta description are too short or too long, they will be truncated, which may lead to a bad user experience. If your title tag and meta description are missing, they will be filled in by Google, which may not accurately reflect your content.
To see if your title tags and meta descriptions are properly optimized, check the length and relevance of each tag. Be sure to look for duplicate tags, as well.
10. Check the number of backlinks to your site
Backlinks are links that point from another website to your website. They’re a key off-page SEO ranking factor and help to build your site’s authority.
The more high-quality backlinks your site has, the more authoritative it will appear to Google, and this will help to boost your search ranking.
You can check how many backlinks your site has using the SEO audit tool in Semrush. It will also show you the authority of the sites linking to yours and the anchor text used in the links.
As with other checks, you’re looking for any sudden drops or increases in the number of backlinks to your site.
11. Find and fix all broken links
Broken links are links that point to a page that no longer exists. They can be a big problem for your website’s SEO and user experience.
When a user lands on a page with a broken link, they’ll likely leave your site and look for the information they need elsewhere. This can increase your bounce rate and decrease the amount of time users spend on your site, both of which are negative ranking factors.
To find and fix broken links on your site, use a broken link checker tool like Dr. Link Check or Dead Link Checker. These tools will scan your website and identify any broken links so you can remove or update them.
If you have a lot of broken links on your site, it’s a good idea to create a custom 404 error page. This page will display a message to users when they land on a broken link, and it can help keep them on your site and guide them to other pages.
12. Check your social media activity
Social media activity doesn’t have a direct impact on your website’s SEO, but it does help to drive traffic and boost your online reputation.
Check to see if your social media profiles are active. If they’re not, start posting here as a lead gen tool! You can use tools like Hootsuite to schedule posts in advance so you don’t have to worry about it every day.
You should also make sure that your social media profiles are linked to your website. This helps to drive traffic and it’s a good signal to Google that your website is legitimate.
13. Check your competitors
Your competitors can be a great source of inspiration for your business, and that includes your SEO strategy and gap keyword researchIf your competitors are doing well in search, it’s worth taking a look at their websites to see what they’re doing right. You can use tools like SEMrush to see which keywords your competitors are ranking for and to get an estimate of the traffic their website is getting.
You can also use tools like Moz’s Link Explorer to see which websites are linking to your competitors’ websites. This can be a good way to find new link building opportunities for your own website.
Finally, take a look at your competitors’ websites to see how they’re structured and what kind of content they’re creating. This can give you a good idea of what you need to do to stay competitive in your industry.
Conclusion
Don’t forget to check how fast your page loads. A slow website is bad for user experience, and it’s bad for search engines and it will affect your rankings.