How to Do an SEO Audit: The Ultimate Checklist

Writing meta descriptions and optimized title tags will help with SEO by encouraging users to click on your page and telling Google what your page is about. For example, it’s suggesting that we rewrite our list of the best keyword tools because it used to rank in the top three for its target keyword but now doesn’t even rank in the top 100. You can also double-check your organic search performance in Google Search Console. This is important to do because Ahrefs organic traffic numbers are estimations. Make sure your site uses HTTPS, which encrypts data and protects user information. If your site is still running on HTTP, install an SSL certificate and update all internal links accordingly.

Recrawling may take from a few days to several weeks, depending on how often the crawler visits the pages. Requesting a recrawl multiple times will not speed the process up. Keep in mind that you don’t need to force recrawling any time you change something on your website. W3C standards refer to the technical specifications established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These standards encompass protocols, languages, and guidelines that govern various aspects of web development, including HTML, CSS, XML, and more.

Using Chrome DevTools To Diagnose Site Issues In An Audit

Now, this may lead you to think that an SEO audit is a one-time thing where, once you’ve completed the most important fixes, you can simply sit back and watch the money roll in. For every search query, there are literally HUNDREDS of signals that determine where your site will rank. Interaction to Next Paint (INP) measures interactivity; aim for an INP of less than 200 milliseconds.

Create Compelling Content

Last, you demonstrate Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). In the audit, check if you use good author bios, cite reliable sources, and link references where necessary to develop expertise and trustworthiness. It allows you to know what works and what does not, and it allows you to make improvements based on what you find. This can lead to improved performance — both on the search results pages and how visitors engage with your website. It automatically pulls information from your Google Search Console property.

SEO Audit: The Bottom Line

From there, you can download the latest links and create a link audit spreadsheet. Afterward, you manually evaluate your links by paying attention to factors like anchor text, IP address, and page content. Google Structured Data Testing Tool is a free online tool provided by Google that validates and troubleshoots structured data markup implemented on websites. In today’s competitive digital landscape, on-page SEO audits are a must-have, so don’t hesitate to walk through our SEO checklist.

Spyfu has features for SEO, PPC advertising, and more, but we mainly use it as a competitive analysis tool in our SEO audit services. PageSpeed Insights is, as the name suggests, a tool for measuring the speed of your website. We source publishers with relevance and authority and pitch them content ideas that include backlinks and references back to your website. We find the best content assets on your website, worthy of inbound mentions and backlinks.

XML sitemaps are files that allow search engines to find and understand your website, making it possible to index and show your site to searchers. Every page you want to show up on Google or Yahoo must be in your sitemap, which SEO Anomaly means creating a map can become tedious if your site has a lot of pages. XML Sitemaps Generator simplifies this process by creating a customized map for you.

• If you haven’t updated your map in a while, that could be first on your list of SEO to-do’s.
• When selecting the best software for your needs, be sure to compare SEO solutions and pick the one that fits your requirements best.
• Since Google best understands digestible content format, the presence of structured data is your chance to get into rich snippets.

Generally speaking, to perform and SEO audit, you need a good checklist and proper SEO tools. That means maximizing your visibility in the search results of Google and other search engines is essential. Use “red shoes” or variations of this keyword in the anchor text of any internal links pointing to that page. While not directly influencing rankings, meta descriptions remain an important part of SEO. Sometimes there are valid reasons for allowing a page to return a 404 status.

Conveniently named Site Audit, it’s another option for crawling your site. As the name suggests, it is a comprehensive auditing tool, not just a crawler. So if you want to get higher Google rankings, you’ll love the actionable steps in this guide. Only after ensuring your on-page SEO and internal links are strong and confirming that backlinks are indeed the differentiating factor, should you invest in targeted link building. Log files track every visit from search engine bots, like Googlebot or Bingbot. They show which pages are crawled, how often, and what the bots do.