How to conduct seo audit – this is a question the team at WeOptimise faces on a weekly basis. Why? Becauste in today’s digital landscape, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a vital role in the online success of businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ireland.
Conducting an SEO audit is a crucial step toward optimizing your website for search engines and improving your online visibility. In this article, we will provide a breakdown of the different elements of an SEO audit specifically tailored to Irish SMEs. We will also discuss essential tools used by our team during the audit process and what should be included in an SEO report.
Note: It’s important to know that every business is different and therefore report recommendations should reflect this as well as corrective strategy. Imagine these different business, a similar strategy should not be implemented for each business.
- An Irish business engaged in online sales only
- An Irish business trading in Galway v Dublin locally
- An Irish Business operating also in the UK
Ok, lets get down to the process of conducting an SEO audit.
How to Conduct SEO Audit
Firstly lets break the SEO audit down to 5 main areas. This is essentiall the “how to conduct an SEO audit” or essential steps in the process. Below we will explain each of the steps and identify some of the tools we use in calculation of our data. When working with companies, the more data access you can provide to us the better. Normall we require access to as many as your platforms as possible to gain insights into your business.
I. Keyword Analysis:
Performing keyword research is fundamental to any successful SEO strategy. Start by identifying relevant keywords and phrases related to your business and industry. Consider using tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to discover valuable keywords with a high search volume and relatively low competition. Another great tool we use here is web analytics, this enables us to determine how your business is doing in certain areas. Some keywords you will perform well for, others not, but this can present a new opportunity for growth.
II. On-Page SEO Audit:
Evaluate the on-page elements of your website to ensure they are optimised for search engines. So what does this involve? One of our team members will review the internal web pages of your website and identify what is done right and what then needs correcting. This process is different for different business and depends on your initial technical setups etc. Generally we want pages to target specific keywords. Imagine all the elements below, we want them pointing the same direction or working towards the same keyword goal per page.
This includes:
Title Tags and Meta Descriptions: We review these elements to accurately reflect the content of each page while considering relevant keywords. This is crucial for page ranking
URL Structure: Check for clear and concise URLs that include target keywords whenever possible.
Header Tags: Examine the usage of H1, H2, and H3 tags to ensure they are appropriately used to structure your content.
Content Optimisation: Assess the quality and relevance of your website’s content. Aim for well-written, informative, and keyword-rich content that engages users.
Image Optimisation: Optimise image filenames, alt tags, and file sizes to improve accessibility and search engine visibility. Again, here we are considering the name of images, is it working in conjunction with the title tags or URL structure…all should be aligned.
Internal Linking: Analyze your internal linking structure to ensure it is well-organized and allows search engines to navigate and understand your website’s hierarchy.
III. Technical SEO Audit:
A technical SEO audit focuses on the backend elements of your website. Here are some key areas to consider:
Site Speed: Check the loading speed of your web pages using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix. Optimize images, leverage caching, and minify code to improve site speed. We also like to use SiteKit from Google. This is often done on both desktop and mobile versions of your website.
Mobile-Friendliness: Verify if your website is responsive and provides an excellent user experience across various devices. Utilize Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to evaluate your website’s mobile compatibility.
Site Architecture: Evaluate your website’s structure, sitemap, and navigation to ensure they are user-friendly and easily understood by search engines.
Indexing and Crawling: Ensure search engines can crawl and index your website effectively. Check for any crawling issues, such as broken links, duplicate content, or blocked pages. Here the WeOptimise uses software such as Google Search Console and Insights to ensure proper indexing of key pages on your website are working.
IV. Off-Page SEO Audit:
While you have limited control over off-page factors, it is essential to assess your website’s backlink profile. While there is no quick fix here, its one of the key determines in your website ranking. Often we engage in 12 month projects to increase the off page results.
Backlink Analysis: Evaluate the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to your website. Identify any toxic or spammy backlinks that could harm your search rankings.
Domain Authority: This is a key factor we use to understand how difficult it will be for you to increase traffic to your website and understand the overall strength of your web presence online.
Local Citations: For Irish SMEs targeting local customers, ensure your business information is consistent and accurate across online directories, review sites, and social platforms.
V. Tools Used in an SEO Audit by WeOptimise:
Here are some valuable tools that can aid in conducting an SEO audit for Irish SMEs:
Google Analytics: Provides insights into website traffic, user behavior, and conversion metrics. Most businesses should have this setup, if not our team can setup and review the data as it updates. Its always best to gather as much data as possible before completing the audit.
Google Search Console: Offers data on indexing status, search performance, and crawl errors. Imagine the search console as an area where Google asks certain questions about the content of your site and where we address these issues to enable Google to qualify your business better and rank higher on search.
SEMrush or Ahrefs: Allows comprehensive keyword research, competitor analysis, and backlink auditing.
Screaming Frog: A website crawling tool that helps identify technical SEO issues, such as broken links and duplicate content.
VI. SEO Report:
Keep in mind when you conduct seo audit, you have identified the problems and have a set of recommendations. These recommendations can be used for form a larger digital strategy for your business. An SEO report should include the following elements:
Executive Summary: An overview of the audit’s findings, emphasising key areas of improvement and potential opportunities.
Technical Audit: A breakdown of technical issues discovered, such as page speed, crawl errors, or indexing problems. These generally will require fixing and if you imagine overtime, like a car, can worsen.
On-Page Audit: Analysis of on-page elements like meta tags, header tags, content quality, and internal linking structure. This type of work can be done relatively quickly.
Off-Page Audit: Evaluation of backlink profile, including the quality, quantity, and relevance of backlinks. This type of work, generally takes a little longer to complete and you’re looking at completing across a number of months rather than weeks.
Recommendations: Actionable recommendations for improving SEO performance, prioritized based on their potential impact.
Understanding How to Conduct SEO Audit and having it completed is a critical step for Irish SMEs looking to enhance their online presence and attract targeted organic traffic. By following the elements and using the suggested tools mentioned in this guide, you’ll be able to identify areas for improvement and develop a solid SEO strategy to boost your website’s visibility in search engine results.
Click on the “Free Consultation” button to to learn about the SEO needs of your business and why your failing to optimise your channel. Or learn more about our SEO services.