Have you ever wondered what an SEO audit involves?
We’re currently running a promotion for our SEO audit service, and some people have asked, “What does that entail?” Well, an SEO audit is essentially an evaluation of your website’s current standing, both in relation to your competitors and your target audience.
RELEVANCE TO YOUR COMPETITOR
Now, when it comes to SEO, we’re taking a look at where you stand right now, but also in relation to your competitors. From an SEO perspective, there are competitors from a business perspective, and then there are competitors from a ranking perspective, and to me, they’re not always the same. So we take a look at your competitors.
And then we say, “You know, what needs to be done to move the needle so that you rank higher for your most important moneymaker keywords?” We can’t decide where we’re going to go if we don’t know where to start.
CURRENT RANKING FOR MONEY-MAKING KEYWORD
So when we have someone that requests an SEO audit, the first thing we do is look at their rankings for those money-making keywords. We also take a look at what they’re currently ranking for. Because again, they might be different.
WHY AN AUDIT
We recently conducted an SEO audit for a business called Applied Business Solutions, which operates in the human resources industry, and through the audit, we discovered:
1. Where they were currently ranked
Now, this business was kind of in the human resources industry. So we took a look, using a tool called Ahrefs, at where they currently stand. And aside from the brand name there, they weren’t ranking for any of their money-making keywords.
Now, it’s important to note that any keywords that someone might be searching in Google that could potentially lead to a new customer were just brand keywords, which means that most of the time those people are actually already customers. That could be referrals. But most of the time, they’re already customers.
2. Content
There were a lot of blogs, but most of them were very short and had no chance of ranking because Google likes quality content. Usually, I say I don’t like the number of words, but people always ask, and I always say around 600 words or more. But the purpose is to have quality content. But if it’s short content, they’ll have no chance of ranking. That goes for your pages as well.
SEO ranking pages are usually a little bland and dry. But they rank, and at the end of the day, you want people to find you.
And so when we build websites, finding that balance between bland and dry and engaging can be challenging because there can be on the other sides of the spectrum.
3. Technical Elements
So this is your site speed, your 404 errors, and your redirects, especially for those that keep going all over the place, such as missing alt text; it’s called on-page SEO, and it’s the number one culprit 90% of the time for site speed that takes too long based on core web files and thus won’t rank very well.
4. Backlink
So a backlink is where a third-party website points to you. And Google has established not just the quantity but also the quality of backlinks. And there’s a term in the industry called “Domain Rank”, which is kind of arbitrary. It’s on a scale of one to 100. Amazon is like 98. So if you have any links pointing to your site from Amazon, it’s a really good, strong signal.
Your domain’s ranking is based on how trustworthy your site is. Obviously, Amazon is a very trustworthy site, but it’s very hard to get a backlink.
So, how many backlinks do you have? And is there an opportunity to improve your rankings based on the quality of the backlinks that we generate?
A tangent from backlinks is your Google My Business page. That is a huge one. If you’re a local business, you need to have Google My Business optimized.
Optimization for Google My Business is a one-time thing, but generating reviews and posting on it is an ongoing thing.
5. Citations and Directories
Like Yellow Pages and the BBB and all that kind of stuff, you submit them as a one-time thing using third-party tools like Yext or BrightLocal in order to make sure that your name, address, and phone number (your NAP) are consistent across all platforms, and that again tells Google that you’re trustworthy.
Our SEO audit process is manual and thorough, rather than relying on automated tools that may not provide a complete picture. We provide a detailed report that outlines where your website stands and recommendations for improvement.
If you’re interested in learning more about your website’s current SEO status, take advantage of our promotion this month. We’re only offering 10 audits due to the time and effort involved, so act quickly to secure your spot!
