Find pages or links that return (404) errors as broken links frustrate users and hurt SEO. Then, identify oversized assets that slow your page load time, such as images, JavaScript, and CSS files. Last but not least, make sure that canonical URLs are properly implemented to avoid duplicate content issues. Spotting internal linking problems on your site is crucial for maintaining your SEO health. When search engines struggle to understand the relations between content, certain pages may not be crawled or indexed correctly. That’s why this step of the SEO audit checklist is extra important.
This experience goes a long way in digesting the wealth of information provided in site speed tools and making intelligent, budget-focused improvements. An enterprise SEO audit will determine what keywords are currently being targeted and how well your enterprise website is optimized for those keywords. It will also determine if there are more appropriate or lucrative keywords that make more sense for your business to SEO Anomaly target.
Step 5. Analyzing internal links
For example, a page providing instructions for how to tie a friendship bracelet that’s missing instructional images and essential keywords will rank poorly. Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool includes a page experience factor that considers both page load speeds and UX. If your site has long loading times, visitors may become frustrated and navigate away from your page to seek a better experience from competitors. SEO and online presence are deeply interconnected, so improving site performance is a bit of a circular challenge. More engagement leads to better SEO and a higher search engine results page (SERP) placement, but higher SEO leads to more visibility and higher user interaction. Website audits are necessary to ensure your site is getting traffic.
Website audits also enable you to re-evaluate the effectiveness of your website in terms of lead generation and conversion. While you can create these on your own, it’s much easier and more efficient to use managed solutions, like a privacy policy generator. From there, go through each account to determine if they’re all consistent with the company’s branding — using the same images, logo, tone of voice, etc. Essentially, a competitive audit allows you to see what’s working for other companies in your market so that you can incorporate those tactics into your own strategy. Before I dive into the things you should keep an eye out for, let me go through some of the different types of audits you can perform. I’ve also spoken with some SEO consultants and specialists who’ve shared actionable tips, which you’ll find interspersed in the article.
SEO vs SEM: Key Differences and Which One You Should Focus On
It is a great way to improve performance allowing you to rank better in the SERPs. I’m Anil Agarwal, a passionate SEO expert and the founder of BloggersPassion, a leading digital marketing blog, attracting over 100,000 visitors monthly. With over 20 years of experience in SEO and web hosting, I’m here to guide ALL aspiring bloggers and online entrepreneurs to achieve their full potential.
- Screaming Frog is one of the most trusted names in this, but Sitebulb is another highly recommended one.
- Scores varied from 80 to 90 depending on the tool, and tools that use a letter system to score the site generally returned an “A”.
- But it’s still important to check you’re not dead in the water before you even start.
- It is also capable of generating a sitemap, finding duplicate content, and scanning for malware.
- There are two types of links to consider — internal links and backlinks.
- Through machine learning, AI, and billions of data points, its delivered a 25% greater marketing ROI — on average — for our clients.
Think of backlinks as “votes of confidence” from other sites – they remain one of the strongest ranking factors. But quality matters far more than quantity, and bad backlinks can actually hurt you. This tool compares your website to your competitors in several ways, including by keywords, organic traffic, and more. It also provides data-driven recommendations for moving past your competition. With an SEO audit, your business can start improving your online visibility in search results.
In 2021, Google’s Core Web Vitals became an official ranking factor. But a good target is scoring 90+ in Google PageSpeed Insights (mobile and desktop), and a load time of under 2 seconds in GTmetrix. We’ve covered the topic in detail in this Page Speed Optimization Guide.
This approach led to a complete recovery of the site’s performance. This not only improved time-on-page and bounce rates but also sent stronger engagement signals to Google. We kept an eye on newly found spammy backlinks for a few months, while focusing on building high-quality backlinks by reaching out to reputable sites within the client’s niche.
High organic traffic indicates you’re bringing in and engaging users with targeted interests, which grows your site’s credibility. Google often modifies its search algorithm through routine updates, which usually focus on limiting spam, vetting content quality, and addressing other SEO concerns. Google PageSpeed Insights is a tool that works in tandem with the Chrome User Experience Report.
A high bounce rate or a generally poor experience causes your site to lose relevance for Google. It is very important that user experience complies with standards and aligns with search intent. Before joining Yoast, he worked for a top-tier web design magazine, where he developed a keen understanding of how to create great content.