SEO audits are immensely important to maintain the presence of a site on search engines. One can rightly say that SEO audits for websites are what routine medical check-ups are for our health and fitness. Site audit is where you start from if you are planning any large-scale SEO or website redesign projects. This step helps in determining if the site is properly optimized to achieve your set goals. It further enables you to strategize how to increase the site’s performance and visibility on search engines. So, if you are a beginner and have never audited a site before, here’s why and how you should audit the site framework.
WHY AUDIT THE SITE FRAMEWORK?
In order to accomplish any task effectively, establishing a strong “Why”, meaning a valuable reason to do the task is extremely important. So, here are some top benefits of auditing the site framework, which will inspire you to start the process right away. Take a look.
- Inspect website performance and robustness
A website audit is conducted in two major parts. First is evaluating the site content and the second is analyzing the site’s technical performance. The process helps to ascertain the strength of site’s infrastructure by making sure it is error free, which means there are no barriers to indexing activities. It also allows you to assess if the site is search-engine friendly. The audit ensures that the site optimized for usability and also easy to navigate for the visitors.
- Identify SEO Opportunities
Site audit allows you to identify and remedy any missed or poorly executed SEO opportunities. While doing so always focus your SEO efforts to make it user-centric, meaning more attention towards providing better user experience than on pleasing the search-engines. If your website’s user experience is enhanced, the bounce rate will fall and repeat visitors will increase. This approach also helps you to safeguard your website from constantly changing search engine algorithms.
- Increasing Conversion Rate
Maximizing conversion rates is the main motive of any internal audit that is performed on the site. Website audit enables you to evaluate how effective your lead generation strategy is. It also allows you to analyze the landing page, content and calls-to-action in order to ensure maximum conversion. The audit allows you to spot deficiencies and opportunities to convert visitors into leads and boost conversions.
- Improved Organic Search Visibility
Organic searches play a major role in sites overall traffic and website audit allows you to optimize the site for better visibility on search engines. Website audit enables you to increase your search engine ranking and enhance your site’s online presence.
HOW TO AUDIT YOUR SITE FRAMEWORK?
Now that we’ve established that auditing the site framework is an extremely essential task, it’s time to come to the how. A thorough website audit entails examining the content and the technical aspect of the site. Here’s how to audit the site framework.
- Optimizing the Website Content
Content plays a key role in making the site found by more and more people, engaging them and inspiring them to return to the site. Therefore, the content housed on the site must be relevant, interesting, should cater to the need of the users and at the same time offer a solution. In order to optimize the content, research your target audience’s perspective and your buyer’s persona. Then evaluate the content to match the requirements.
Make sure the content is high quality, well-written and leaves the reader with the next step. Apart from that also make sure that the content on your web pages are properly optimized with keywords. You can consult the Google Analytics to check the keyword performance and create a content strategy, targeting those specific keywords. Also review URL’s, page titles, Meta description to make sure they include keywords wherever relevant.
- Examining the Usability and Navigability of the site
What makes the visitor stay on the site? The overall efficiency, design and ease of navigability are what helps attract the visitors and keeps them engaged. Therefore, the website design must correspond with the visitors. The main goal here should be making it easy for people to find what they are looking for. Great usability and navigability of a site is sure to improve conversion rates.
In order to audit the site for usability, you need to consider if the main value propositions of your business are easily accessible through the menu items. The design and page layout of the site should be simple, less cluttered and void of ads, CTAs or links. You should also make sure that the conversion paths are free of distractions.
- Evaluating the Technical Framework
Improved technicality results in improved user experience and hence, is an essential element of website audit. While conducting a technical assessment for the site following are some key points you should look for.
- A responsive website design, which is mobile friendly.
- Cleaning up broken links and making the website error message free.
- Optimizing the website URLs so that it is easy for search engines to index.
- Making the site structure optimal for search engines by properly interlinking the internal web pages.
- Examining the site’s overall performance which includes site speed and optimized pages etc.
- Evaluating the site’s robots file and tags, sitemaps to define how the web pages are crawled and indexed by search engines.
Optimizing the Site for Lead Generation and Conversions
Optimized calls-to-action, marketing offers and landing pages play a major role in attracting visitors to the site. It allows you to capture visitor’s information so that you can follow up and keep the visitors familiar with your brand.
In order to audit the website for maximum conversion, you need to look into the marketing offers, landing page/conversion forms on the website and use of calls-to-action effectively. This guarantees maximum potential for lead generation and conversions on the site.
It is recommended that you establish an audit framework in order to enhance your online presence and gain an edge over your competitors.
Author Bio – Janice Howard is a content marketing professional at seoservicesusa.co, Previously Janice worked as a marketing manager for a tech software startup. She graduated with honors from Columbia University with a dual degree in Business Administration and Creative Writing.
