SEO audit: How to perform a site audit?

What is an SEO audit?

What is SEO analysis? What is an audit?

One SEO audit is a complete diagnosis of a website to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the site in order to improve its visibility on search engines (Google and Bing in particular).
More precisely, it will provide a lot of data that will make it possible to have an overview and understand the evolution of the site in relation to the overall performance and the natural referencing.

Why do an SEO audit?

Once we understood what was the purpose of a site audit, it is necessary to understand why it is necessary to link the audit to its SEO strategy. Launching your business and launching your website is all well and good, but if it doesn't bring you any benefit it's useless. So when you notice that your site is generating visits but you are not converting, you have to react and carry out an SEO audit to understand what is wrong.

It is commonly suggested that your company's web marketing manager, or the person in charge of managing the website, should carry out this audit. In fact, as soon as you have the right knowledge and the right tools, anyone can complete this SEO audit.

What can be analyzed during an SEO audit? The 5 criteria for success

Visibility audit: general positioning and keywords

The first step here is to best visualize the posturing of your site on search engines: you need to conduct a competition analysis and examine the presence of your site on the SERP. On which pages is the site positioned? Who are my organic competitors?

The (Google) Search Console will be very useful in this search but also other tools such as Semrush, MyPoseo or even Google Analytics for example. We identify the pages and the keywords where my site is positioned, and we Compare with competitors.

In a second step, we will focus on a study focused on keywords. What keywords is the site ranking on? Are they specific or long-tailed? How many pages rank on which keywords? We will talk about the keyword “branding” or notoriety when they are linked to the brand name, and specific keywords when they affect a search intent related to products, services or a user's search for information. We then do an overview and we then establish an exhaustive list of these keywords to be able to analyze them.

Attention, realizing that Internet users mainly find your site by your brand name is not necessarily a good sign: it means that we only find you because we already know you, which can result in the misuse of your SEO potential. In the same way, if the keywords are relevant and achievable but your site does not generate that many leads, it is likely that the problem comes from elsewhere.
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Technical audit: How to do a technical seo audit?

THEtechnical audit is one of the most important criteria in this audit.

It allows you to estimate the overall performance of your site and to list the errors it generates. The particularity of this criterion is, as its name suggests, “technical”, because it includes all technical aspects of a website including the structural foundation of the site, tags, structured data...

You will always start by setting up a “crawl” of your site to analyze technical performance.
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We can use tools dedicated to crawl but also robots.txt file as well as an XML sitemap to explore all URLs. At the end of this practice, we will see if his site is well indexed and accessible by Internet users, if the loading speed of web pages is not too long, if the site does not have404 errors, if there are not already 301 redirects (or 302 redirects)...

What you need to remember here is that Google's algorithm has established several rules that a site must respect in order to be “up to standards”. So, even though you have optimized content, if you don't correct your technical problems, your site will continue to be penalized and lose places on search engines.
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Semantic analysis: carrying out an editorial audit

THEsemantic analysis is undoubtedly one of the most important criteria ofSEO audit. If you don't know it yet, we'll tell you, the natural referencing is one of the major assets of your marketing strategy. If your content is well-structured, well-written, and well-optimized, we can guarantee that your site will bring you leads.
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And that is why semantic analysis is essential. In this part of the audit, the objective is to focus on building and optimizing your content.

Start by analyzing the structure of your content (the Hn structure), while paying particular attention to respecting search intent, an essential element for optimizing your content to meet user needs.

Remember to assess how your content demonstrates E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Reliability), a set of criteria that is increasingly valued by Google. Make sure your content highlights the expertise of its authors, includes reliable sources, and demonstrates a thorough understanding of the subject matter. E-E-A-T is particularly crucial for sites dealing with YMYL (Your Money Your Life) topics, such as health or finance.

At the same time, don't overlook the internal networking of your site, which is just as important. However, before tackling these tasks, it is crucial not to forget to search for keywords. This step will be very beneficial for the drafting And theoptimizing your content. (and we obviously avoid any duplicate content, the golden rule of Copywriting, which could once again penalize your site here).

However, it is also relevant to discuss URLs, title tags and meta descriptions, although these elements are sometimes a source of debate and conflict in SEO, because they encroach on the field of technical audit...

In summary, all this constitutes the semantic criteria for the success of a website and it is what will allow you to be solid in your SEO strategy.

The ergonomics audit (User Experience): Analyzing SEO criteria related to UX

THEUX where the user experience is often the forgotten or overlooked criterion of the SEO audit. You might think that it has nothing to do with SEO and yet, it is a key element to take into account. This is also why we sometimes talk about SXO (Search Experience Optimization), some elements don't go without the others.

We then talk about user experience when it comes to analyzing its ergonomics, navigation and tree structure. That is to say study and improve the interface of its site and define a clear structure of its pages and menu.

Of course, theUX audit here does not end there. We will also be interested in mobile compatibility or even in the good construction and the presence of breadcrumbs for example.

All of these elements will allow you to build a Well structured and easy to use site for your users. Wouldn't it be better to have a site that is engaging and understandable? A bet that Internet users buy more easily on a site that is well done and that is simple to use.

The popularity audit: Analyzing your reputation

We call Popularity audit, the complete analysis of the reputation of a website and its presence on search engines and on the Internet in general. More specifically, we will try to find out if we are present on other sites, and if they are talking about us. And how? By carrying out an analysis of external links or Backlinks of our site, by looking The referring domains and looking at our social web engagement and dynamics.

First, you need to know if other sites cite you, or link to you. THEThe objective here is to obtain important referring domains (i.e. having inbound links from high-profile sites) because that matters to Google.

Secondly, the work comes from the root because you will have to vary and optimize your link anchors in the content of your site.

In a third step: your engagement on social networks. The latter is not easy at all, because the practice of publishing on social networks of any kind is a task that can be complex when you do not know what it is.

We will not forget that the development of a Google My Business sheet is essential if you want to be visible on the SERP.

Popularity is an aspect that is generally poorly maintained by websites, because it is not enough just to publish on LinkedIn or to have external links everywhere on your site to obtain notoriety. You have to analyze carefully who it is important to be seen and you have to think about the content produced.

This last stage of the audit is essential in some respects so that our site is more visible on search engines. However, we must not overlook the first aspect, which is The background before the form, that is to say to have a well-built and well-optimized site before trying to make yourself known.

What SEO tools are there to carry out a site audit?

The tools for a free SEO audit

To help you optimize your website and boost your natural referencing, you will need the help ofHigh-performance tools. There are many tools available in free or paid versions. We give you a list of free tools that will allow you to carry out your audit without breaking the bank, follow the guide:

• Google Analytics or Matomo are tools that will allow you toanalyze the behavior of your Internet users who visit your site and to measure your web actions. Very effective when you want to know about What is the positioning of our site on the SERP.
  
  
• Page Speed Insight, the infallible tool to know the performances of its site, and more specifically to find out more about loading speed. This tool gives you a detailed report in the form of a score, with recommendations to easily solve the problems encountered.
  
  
• For the part of netlinking (and therefore backlinks), Ahrefs allows you to detect the origin of external links and to know the broken links on your site.
  
  
• La Search Console will be your best asset to audit your site: this platform will Generate all the URLs of the site that are indexed and will bring up pages that are not performing well. The Google tool will also show you the errors that the robots. txt file detects, such as 404 errors, 500 errors...
  
  
• Ubersuggest, certainly the tool keyword generator the most widespread and popular on the internet. It will allow you to carry out a study of keywords adapted to your content and your activity, but also to improve your positioning on search engines.
  
  
• Free extensions on Google Chrome can also help you, such as “SEO meta 1 click”, which shows you semantic information such as the Hn structure of your site or even the presence or absence of Alt tags on your visuals, but also technical information such as errors detected by exploration robots.
  
  

SEO audit software: The essential tools

Unfortunately, free tools have a limit in their use. Some tools are not included in the proposed list but which are nevertheless very useful in carrying out an SEO audit.

In a paid version, we could mention for example SEMrush, Screaming Frog or even Yooda Insight or Sistrix... Each of them has very powerful and very effective analysis characteristics to audit its site.
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SEMrush, for example, is the complete reference tool for a site audit. There you will find all the information you need about your organic traffic, the quality of your backlinks, your positioning and your competitors...

Screaming frog will allow you a Full crawl of your site, and Yooda will give you more information about your external links.

Website audit report: How to present your analysis?

What is a good SEO audit report?

What should your SEO audit report include?

Doing an audit also involves knowing how to present its analysis and recommendations. Usually, the audit report takes the form of a presentation with several slides, but it is also possible to use an Excel workbook for those who prefer it.

In the written report, for each aspect studied, the analysis, the improvements to be made and the various recommendations proposed are described, supported by visual elements such as dashboards and graphs.

How is a good relationship beneficial?

The audit report helps to clearly understand the problems of a website while establishing a concrete action plan to solve them. It provides the project team with a framework to follow to improve SEO.

In addition, the report provides information on how the site is doing, but also on what competitors are doing. It is therefore a good way to show why it is useful to invest in SEO, while allowing you to better understand the competition.

In summary, a good SEO audit report is a communication, planning, planning, justifying, measuring, and competitive analysis tool that is essential for any business looking to improve its positioning in search engines and, finally, to achieve your business goals.

What KPIs should you choose for your SEO audit report?

When carrying out an SEO audit, it is essential to follow some key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the effectiveness of SEO efforts Here are the few KPIs that you can rely on for your analyses:

1. Organic traffic: The number of visitors who come to your site through search engines. It's a direct measure of SEO performance.
   
   
2. Keyword positioning: Where does your site rank in the search results for important keywords? If you're on the first page for relevant keywords, your SEO is probably on the right track.
   
   
3. Click-through rate (CTR) : For users who see your site in the search results, how many actually click to visit your site? A low CTR could indicate a problem with your metadata or the relevance of your content.
   
   
4. Bounce rate: Did visitors leave your site after viewing a single page? A high bounce rate could indicate that your content is not relevant or satisfying to visitors.
   
   
5. Page views per visit: How many pages do visitors view on average when they visit your site? The higher the number, the more likely it is that your content will be interesting.
   
   
6. Time spent on the site: How much time do visitors spend on your site? The longer the time spent, the more likely visitors are interested in your content.
   
   
7. Inbound links: How many other sites link to yours? The more quality links to your site, the more likely it is that you will have a good ranking in the search results.
   
   

Our tips and advice for SEO auditing

In what situation should we do an SEO audit?

An SEO audit is crucial in many situations.

First of all, during a launch or a website creation, an SEO audit allows you to start on a solid foundation in terms of SEO. More specifically, it ensures that the site is properly structured and optimized for search engines, and those, from the start.

Then, during a website redesign, carrying out an SEO audit is essential to avoid losing the SEO already acquired, but also makes it possible to identify new optimization opportunities that may appear after this redesign.

Otherwise, it is most often recommended to carry out an SEO audit if a website generates no or few conversions, because it will make it possible to identify ergonomic or content problems that could repel Internet users.

Finally, in the event of a change in website strategy, an SEO analysis and audit will help to understand how these changes could influence SEO and how to optimize them to achieve new goals.
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Advantages and disadvantages of conducting an SEO audit

An SEO audit has many advantages but also some disadvantages.

On the benefits side, the SEO audit provides a better understanding of the condition of a site, the identification of weaknesses, recommendations for improvements, and an overview of the strategies of your competitors. In summary, this provides a basis for measuring SEO progress.

Nevertheless, there are also disadvantages. It can be expensive and time consuming, it can be difficult to prioritize actions based on results, and improvements can take time to deliver concrete results.
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The limits of the SEO audit

An SEO audit is an important step in improving the visibility of a website and its positioning in search engines (and therefore on Google), but there are limits to what it can solve.

In reality, its true potential can only be realized through the assiduous and continuous application of the recommendations it generates. An SEO audit is only the first step in the process of improving your site. It is the strategic implementation of its recommendations that will allow your website to stand out and achieve its goals.

A few points may still be worth remembering:

• The SEO recommendations resulting from the audit only have an impact if they are applied and even then they do not guarantee an immediate improvement in the ranking of a site. SEO is a long term process and changes made as a result of an audit may take time to produce results.
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• When you do an SEO audit, you don't fix poor quality or irrelevant content. Even if a site is technically perfect from an SEO point of view, if the content is not useful and interesting for visitors, the site will have a hard time positioning itself well.
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• Finally, the recommendations following the audit cannot take into account algorithm changes search engines. These algorithms are constantly evolving, so you must keep a close watch on your site over the coming months following the audit and adapt an SEO strategy when the algorithms change.
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You got theSEO audit and want to know more about how to boost your online business? Take a look at our article on digital marketing to discover more tips and strategies!
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Conclusion

To summarize, here are the 4 points to remember to carry out your SEO audit:

• Focus on five key areas: visibility, ergonomics, popularity, technical aspects and content.
  
• Use specific SEO tools and analyze your competitors to get a complete picture of your performance.
  
• An SEO audit is not an immediate solution: the results can take time, especially if you only partially implement its recommendations.
  
• The audit must be repeated regularly to ensure optimal SEO performance and adapt to changes in search engines.