Uncovering Issues and Best Practices for Conducting an SEO Audit

An SEO audit is a crucial analysis of how well your website is optimized for search engines. The more visible your website is on search engines, the more traffic you can potentially receive. Conducting an SEO audit can help identify any issues that may be hindering your website's visibility, and revealing hidden areas for growth.

An SEO audit is essential for developing an effective SEO strategy. It enables the evaluation of perspectives and scope of work required. It serves as a crucial stage preceding website optimization.

An SEO audit is necessary in four common situations:

• When a company is launching a new website or making significant changes to an existing one and wants to ensure that the site is optimized for search engines to achieve the maximum SEO results.
• If a company is regularly working on SEO but has hit a ceiling and stopped growing in search rankings, then an SEO audit can be a valuable tool to identify potential issues.
• When a company needs an independent perspective on their SEO strategy, an external audit can be beneficial. In many cases, a company's marketing department or contractors may be responsible for their SEO efforts. A third-party audit can provide an unbiased and objective analysis of a website's performance, including a review of their current SEO strategy and tactics.
• If a company is looking for ways to identify areas for improvement, and discover hidden opportunities for growth.

The format of an SEO audit can vary depending on the type of business. The specifics of e-commerce, services, and medical industries are different. For example, in the case of e-commerce, the site's catalog structure, sections and subsections, and product page content will be thoroughly analyzed.

Although SEO audits can differ depending on the type of business, there are common stages that can be applied to different spheres of business and types of websites.

1. Technical Audit
2. On-Page Optimization
3. Off-Page Optimization
4. Website SEO Traffic Audit

Practical recommendations for the site's SEO strategy are presented after each stage of the SEO audit. In the following sections, we will explore each stage of the SEO audit process, providing detailed explanations and examples.

Technical optimization is the foundation of SEO, as it directly affects the indexing of the website. If the website's functionality is set up incorrectly or errors are made, then other SEO work may not produce desired results.

Improving website speed, optimizing images, creating a sitemap, and making sure the site is open for indexing (this mistake is rare but occurs) can lead to quick results.

So, what exactly do we analyze?

Technical errors. On e-commerce websites, the number of pages is usually substantial. At this stage, we can uncover various issues such as duplicate content, errors in meta tags, 3xx format redirects, broken pages, problems related to robots.txt and sitemap.xml files, slow website loading speed, and HTML code validity errors.

Broken pages are high-priority errors in SEO auditing. These are URLs that are inaccessible due to connection interruptions, exceeding server response time, or pages that return server response codes such as 4xx or 5xx.

Properly configuring redirects to the main mirror of the website and avoiding technical duplicate pages are crucial for the correct indexing of the site by search engine robots and achieving successful rankings.

Ensuring the validity of HTML code involves using the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) for the website that fully complies with all rules and standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Analysis of website code for SEO compliance. During this stage, it is possible to identify various issues that impact the website's SEO performance. These issues may include inadequate SSL certificate quality, problems with microdata and Open Graph markup, inconsistencies in the site's structure, errors in URL generation and URL readability (user-friendly URLs), and incorrect metadata implementation. For instance, the headers may not be optimized effectively for targeted search queries.

Website indexing audit. We examine the number of pages indexed by Google and draw conclusions based on the total number of pages on the site. It is not uncommon for the number of site pages to be three times larger than the number of pages indexed by Google. In such cases, it is crucial to analyze the data from Google Search Console regarding excluded pages and investigate the reasons behind their non-indexation.

1. Configure proper functionality of the sitemap.xml file:

• Verify that it includes all important pages of the website that are crucial for attracting traffic.
• Ensure the last modified date of each page is being updated correctly.
• Check for any empty or duplicate pages within the sitemap.xml file.

2. Review directives for search engine robots in the robots.txt file and prevent robots from crawling administrative URLs and other addresses like utm-tags that may lead to the creation of external duplicate pages.
3. Set up canonical attributes and rules for indexing pagination pages.
4. Confirm that the sitemap.xml file has been added to Google Search Console.
5. Analyze the structure of internal linking between pages.

In theory, the resolution of technical errors also falls under the concept of on-page optimization. However, for the purpose of the audit, we distinguish them for convenience. At this stage, greater attention is given to ensuring that the website meets search engine requirements in terms of structure and content optimization for relevant search queries.

Analysis of website directory structure. We examine how well the directory structure of the website is developed and whether it aligns with user needs, such as search queries. We assess whether it is necessary to deepen the directory structure (category-section-subsection) or if there are opportunities for expansion (product variations). This stage often reveals significant growth opportunities for the website, as well as any errors that may impede its progress (such as duplicate pages or the absence of important intermediary pages).

Analysis of section/subsection page structure and optimization. We carefully analyze the composition and arrangement of blocks within section/subsection pages to assess their usability. We examine the development of the semantic core on these pages and compare it with competitors.

We also evaluate the internal linking between pages, as this provides search engine robots with an understanding of the site's structure and enhances user experience. Internal linking of content has a significant impact on SEO: using anchor texts in internal links targeting specific search queries helps in improving page rankings, while user interactions through these links contribute to behavioral factors such as increased page depth and session duration.

Analysis of product page structure and optimization. For e-commerce websites, product pages are crucial for lead generation, and they require special attention. We have a checklist that we use to analyze these pages, which consists of over 15 criteria.

Analysis of commercial factors. They influence not only the ranking of the website for commercial queries but also the website's conversion rate. For example, these factors include: having prices on all catalog pages, filtering and sorting options for products in the catalog, information about availability, delivery and payment conditions, product photos, an order button, and the ability to add products for comparison. There are more factors, and we have mentioned only a part of them.

Analysis of the blog for compliance with SEO principles. Informational queries attract additional traffic. We analyze the structure of the materials, their optimization, uniqueness, volume, and expertise, the presence of internal links, a cross-linking block with related articles, the presence of alt attributes for images, proper use of HTML tags, regularity of publications, and behavioral factors.

Audit of significant recurring elements (header, footer) and utility pages of the website.

Through the header and footer, several aspects can be addressed across all website pages:

1. Mentioning important queries and "long-tail" keywords (e.g., mentioning the city).
2. Internal linking. The header includes the main site menu, and the formation of this menu will determine the distribution of link authority among pages (i.e., each page of the website should have a link to the page specified in the menu). The header is also often utilized to enhance internal linking by adding links to the most important pages.
3. Usability, behavioral, and commercial factors. The header is part of the first screen visible on every page of the website. It should contain elements with concise information about the site, such as the brand, city, and field of activity. It should provide easy navigation for both the catalog and utility pages. The same applies to the footer.
4. Utility pages of the website, such as "Contact," "Delivery," "Payment," and others, should provide users with accurate information on order processing and receipt. They should include instructions on how to place an order, details on terms and conditions, and information on locating the company (including a map). All of these aspects also contribute to the commercial factors considered by search engines.

Off-page optimization refers to the process of building a high-quality backlink profile. It involves increasing the number of links pointing to the website from external sources.

Audit of the dynamics and quality of the backlink profile of both the clients' websites and their competitors. At this stage, we analyze the backlink profile, taking into account the quantity of backlinks, their quality, and the overall domain rating. We apply the same analysis to the backlink profiles of competitors. Based on a comparative analysis, we provide recommendations for improvement.

Among the recommendations, there can be some universal ones:

• Remove links from your backlink profile that hinder growth. If search engines see your link on an untrustworthy resource, it can negatively impact your website's ranking. These links are often remnants of the past when black hat SEO methods were prevalent, and links were placed on so-called link farms.
• Build your backlink profile through crowd marketing, which involves posting reviews on forums and websites.
• Register your website in regional directories and business listings.
• Publish guest posts on prominent platforms.

Analysis of traffic dynamics is conducted at this stage. The focus is on examining the fluctuations in traffic: identifying any sudden drops, determining which search engines generate the most traffic, analyzing the conversion rates of different traffic sources, and identifying the sections or pages that generate the most traffic.

Based on the analysis, recommendations are provided. For example, it may be observed that the website receives less traffic from Google, but that traffic has a higher conversion rate. In such cases, it would be advisable for the company to prioritize efforts in attracting organic traffic from Google.

Analysis of behavioral factors. At this stage, we analyze bounce rate, page depth, and time spent on the website. This analysis is performed for each search engine, different devices, and various types of pages. For instance, if the bounce rate is higher on mobile devices, it could be attributed to the slow loading speed of the mobile version of the website.

SEO audit serves as a vital initial stage in website optimization. It plays a crucial role in determining the subsequent steps of building a comprehensive strategy, setting priorities, and defining the order of tasks. Adopting such a holistic approach allows for establishing the primary direction for the website's further development.

For example, during audits, we have frequently encountered websites that suffer from systemic errors in technical optimization, lack provisions for catalog adjustments and expansions, and exhibit outdated design and functionality. In such cases, significant improvements would be necessary for SEO optimization, requiring additional investment. Ultimately, it would be more efficient (and less costly) to develop a new website from scratch, taking into account the principles of SEO optimization during its development.

Conducting an SEO audit is one of the services we offer. You can rely on company name to enhance your website's traffic acquisition and promotion more effectively.