Mini SEO Audit for Website Optimization and Growth

A mini SEO audit is a quick and easy way to identify areas for improvement on your website. This process can be completed in just a few hours and doesn't require any extensive technical knowledge.

To start, identify your target keywords and conduct a search volume analysis. This will give you an idea of how many people are searching for your keywords and help you prioritize your optimization efforts.

A website's loading speed is crucial for user experience and search engine rankings. According to the article, a page load time of 3 seconds or less is ideal, while a delay of 1 second can result in a 7% reduction in conversions.

A well-structured website with clear navigation is essential for both users and search engines. This includes using header tags, descriptive URLs, and organizing content in a logical and easy-to-follow manner.

Suggestion: Wordpress Seo Keywords

Google confirmed that your site's loading speed is a ranking factor all the way back in 2010. Website statistics show that up to 40% of visitors will stop interacting with a slow-loading website, which can potentially cost you many customers.

To test your site's speed, you can use tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights, which can analyze your site's speed on both desktop and mobile. Ideally, you want your website to take fewer than three seconds to load overall.

Compressing your image file sizes and using JPG file formats can help reduce your site speed. You can use tools like Kraken or Squoosh to compress your images.

Fixing broken links to minimize redirects is another way to improve your site speed. Cleaning up your site's code to remove unnecessary characters and spaces can also help.

Rendering is one of the stages of the overall process Google uses to analyze your content. To determine whether it should be indexed and, if so, where it should rank, Google renders the page as a user would see it.

To check how Google renders your pages, use the Google Search Console's URL Inspection Tool. Look for differences between the rendered page and how your page should appear.

Core Web Vitals are a set of specific ranking factors that Google considers essential for measuring user experience. They include Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

Worth a look: Website Audit Google

To guarantee seamless loading times and visual stability, you need to audit your Core Web Vitals. You can use WebSite Auditor or Google Search Console to do this.

Here are some ways to improve your Core Web Vitals:

By optimizing your website performance, you can improve user experience, increase conversions, and boost your search engine rankings.

User experience (UX) plays a significant role in how your website ranks. A seamless UX can keep visitors on your site longer and encourage them to come back. Google prioritizes spotless UX, considering your site more trustworthy.

To optimize for UX, you should optimize for UX signals, which include clicks and user satisfaction. This means your content needs to make users happy. A well-optimized content can improve your rankings in search results.

Google uses user experience signals, like clicks, in its rankings algorithms. This was revealed in the 2023 U.S. vs. Google antitrust trial. Many in the SEO industry have thought this was the case for a while, based on RankBrain.

Worth a look: Semrush Site Audit Tool

To rank well in Google, you should replace case studies with step-by-step guides and include more actionable tips for users. This was demonstrated by a post on an SEO campaign that went from #15 to the #1 spot in Google after being overhauled.

Here are some key UX signals to focus on:

By optimizing for UX signals, you can improve your website's performance and increase your chances of ranking higher in search results.

Internal linking is one of the most underrated SEO strategies on the planet. It's simple: make sure you link to high-priority pages as much as possible. Ideally, every page should have at least one relevant internal link pointing to it.

Aiming for 5+ internal links per page is a good start, as long as they're all relevant. You can quickly find out if you have pages that are deeper than 3 clicks using the Semrush Site Audit tool. Keeping your crawl depth to 3 clicks at most is ideal.

To visualize your website structure, use WebSite Auditor. You can easily see a graphical map of your pages and how they are related. Pages are arranged by Click depth by default, showing the number of clicks needed to navigate to each page from the homepage.

Consider reading: Seo Link Audit

Clear menus are a must-have for effortless navigation. Overloaded menus and quirky names can confuse visitors, making it harder for them to find what they're looking for.

Breadcrumbs are a user-friendly feature that can help reduce frustration and enhance the browsing experience. They provide valuable context to search engines about your site's content organization.

Creating menus that users and bots love still requires a human touch, so take your time to plan out your navigation elements carefully.

Internal linking is one of the most underrated SEO strategies on the planet. It's simple: make sure you link to high-priority pages as much as possible.

Every page should have at least one relevant internal link pointing to it, which helps avoid "orphaned pages" and makes it easier for search engines and users to find your content.

Aiming for 5+ internal links per page is a good start, as long as they're all relevant. You'll often find yourself including way more than this.

As long as the links are relevant and add value for the reader, they're worth adding. Adding internal links minimizes your website's crawl or click depth.

Ideally, keep your crawl depth to 3 clicks at most, at least for your most important content. You can quickly find out if you have pages that are deeper than 3 clicks using the Semrush Site Audit tool.

A simple and clear website structure is essential for both users and search engines. It helps users find and access content easily, and it also makes it easier for crawlers to scan and index your pages faster.

You can visualize your website structure using WebSite Auditor, which displays a graphical map of your pages and how they are related. By default, pages are arranged by Click depth, showing the number of clicks needed to navigate to each page from the homepage.

Check out the blue nodes for redirects and the red ones for broken links. And if you see any lonely grey nodes hanging around, those are your orphan pages.

You can also choose to arrange your website structure by Internal Page Rank, which places pages based on their importance and authority within your website. The larger the node, the greater its value.

To set up a visual representation by Pageviews, connect your Google Analytics account by heading to Preferences > Google Analytics Settings. Once done, refresh your data in Site Structure > Pages and rebuild your Pageviews graph.

Here's a quick rundown of what to look for in your website structure:

Orphan pages are a common issue that can affect the overall health of your website. They're essentially lost pages that no longer have any active links pointing to them.

To find these hidden pages, use a tool like WebSite Auditor, which can locate orphan pages during a crawl. Tick the box to search for orphan pages when creating a new project.

Orphan pages can be marked with grey nodes in the site structure, making them easy to identify.

If an orphan page is important and has been overlooked, add a relevant link to reintegrate it into the website structure.

If an orphan page duplicates existing content, consider setting up a 301 redirect or rel="canonical" to direct traffic to the corresponding existing page.

Before deciding what to do with an orphan page, check if it gets traffic using Google Analytics. If it does, there's no need to delete it.

Here are three possible solutions for orphan pages:

Fixing technical issues is a crucial part of a mini SEO audit. Broken links can harm user experience and SEO, so it's essential to fix them using tools like Broken Link Check or crawling software.

You can also use Semrush Site Audit to find broken links and fix redirects. Improperly configured redirects can prevent search engine crawlers from indexing and ranking your pages. To check if your redirects are set up properly, you can use tools like Google Search Console.

See what others are reading: Google Search Console Seo Audit

Here are some common technical issues to look out for:

Page rendering is a crucial aspect of technical SEO that can significantly impact your website's visibility and rankings. Google renders your pages as a user would see them, executing your JavaScript to determine whether your content should be indexed and where it should rank.

To check how Google renders your pages, use the URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console. Simply test a page and click the "View Tested Page" button to see a screenshot on the right-hand side that shows how Google "sees" your rendered page.

Look for differences between the screenshot and how your page should appear. If you notice any discrepancies, it may indicate issues with your JavaScript. You can quickly highlight any issues with your site's JavaScript using the Semrush Site Audit tool.

Google rendering your pages involves executing your JavaScript, which can be a programming language used to enhance webpages and add functionality beyond HTML. If there are issues with your JavaScript, Google (and potentially your users) won't be able to see your pages properly. This could be a broken reviews section or interactive buttons that don't work.

Here are some potential issues to look out for in your page rendering:

By addressing these issues, you can ensure that Google renders your pages correctly and that your users have a seamless experience on your website.

Fixing broken links is a crucial step in maintaining your website's SEO health. Broken links can lead to a poor user experience, which can ultimately hurt your website's credibility.

Google may not "lose sleep" over broken links, but it's still not ideal to have too many of them. A few years back, Google stated that they don't prioritize broken links, but it's still essential to fix them.

You can use a free tool like Broken Link Check to identify broken links on your website. Alternatively, you can use crawling software like Screaming Frog to find and fix broken links.

Identifying broken links can be done using tools like Semrush Site Audit, which can help you find all broken links on your website. Once identified, you can take action to fix them.

Here are the common actions to take when fixing broken links:

Fixing broken links is an ongoing process, and it's essential to regularly check your website for broken links to avoid any technical issues.

Fixing redirects is a crucial step in ensuring your website's technical issues are resolved.

Improperly configured redirects can harm your users' experience and prevent search engine crawlers from indexing and ranking your pages. This can lead to a significant drop in your website's visibility and credibility.

To check if your redirects are set up properly, you can use tools like Site Audit > Redirects > Issues with HTTP/HTTPS site versions. This will help you identify any issues with HTTP/HTTPS versions of your website.

A 302 redirect is a type of HTTP status code used to temporarily redirect a web page to a different URL. However, it does not pass on link juice to the destination URL, making it less effective than permanent 301 redirects.

Meta refresh is another element that can affect your rankings. It's used to automatically redirect a webpage to a different URL, but search engines don't approve of this method and can penalize your website for it.

Here's a quick checklist to help you fix redirects:

By following these steps and checking for common issues, you can ensure your redirects are set up correctly and improve your website's visibility and credibility.

A robots.txt file is a crucial part of your website's technical setup, and it's essential to understand its role in maintaining security and preventing duplicate content from being indexed.

This file tells search engines which URLs the crawler can access on your site, and it's typically used to maintain the security of sensitive info and private folders.

You can check if your website has a robots.txt file by clicking on it in your website's settings.

If your website has no robots.txt file yet, you can create a new one with WebSite Auditor by jumping into the Pages module, clicking on Website Tools, and picking Robots.txt.

Several indicators show that a resource is not indexed, including being disallowed by the robots.txt file, a noindex meta tag, or an X-Robots-Tag.

You can review the list of pages currently restricted from indexing in the Resources restricted from indexing section.

Some common reasons for pages not being indexed include accidentally blocking a page with your robots.txt file or using a noindex tag.

To fix these issues, follow the next step and review the list of pages with these issues to see if you can safely allow them to be indexed.

For a mini SEO audit, you'll want to use the right tools and techniques to get the job done efficiently.

Ahrefs and SEMrush are two popular SEO audit tools that can help you identify technical issues and opportunities for improvement.

They offer features like website crawling and keyword research, which can save you time and provide valuable insights.

SEMrush, in particular, has a comprehensive audit tool that checks for issues like page speed, mobile responsiveness, and broken links.

You might enjoy: Semrush Seo Toolkit

Backlinks are still really important, with the top result in Google having 3.8x more backlinks than pages in positions 2-10, according to a study of 11.8 million search results.

To analyze your backlink profile, enter your domain into a backlink analysis tool like Semrush. You'll get a report on your links, including the number of referring domains pointing to your site.

Referring domains are the number of different websites that link to you. You also want to look at your domain's Authority Score, which tells you how much authority your site has based on factors like the quantity and quality of your backlinks.

Don't sweat the exact numbers too much - you're just benchmarking where you're at. Look for toxic links, which you want to avoid. Toxic links come from shady sites that can harm your site's reputation.

Semrush's Backlink Audit tool has a built-in feature to help you identify potentially harmful backlinks. Spammy links are a normal part of any link profile, but you want to be aware of them.

Here are some key things to look for in your backlink profile:

Semrush is a powerful tool that can help you with your SEO audit. It offers a portfolio of digital marketing tools, but for the purpose of this audit, we'll be focusing on its free SEO audit feature that businesses of all sizes can use - for up to 100 URLs.

With Semrush, you can compare crawls and SEO issues, get recommendations for fixing issues, and receive an SEO 'health' score. This tool is great for identifying potential problems and providing actionable advice on how to improve your website's SEO.

You can use Semrush's Backlink Analytics tool to analyze your link profile and identify toxic links. This tool will give you a report on your referring domains and Authority Score, which tells you how much authority your site has based on factors like the quantity and quality of your backlinks.

Here are some key features of Semrush's Backlink Audit tool:

Semrush also offers a Position Tracking tool that allows you to track your keyword rankings and monitor the effectiveness of your SEO efforts. This tool automatically finds keywords that you rank for, so you can see how your changes are impacting your search engine rankings.

Semrush's Keyword Gap tool is another useful feature that helps you identify keyword gaps between your website and your competitors. This tool is great for finding opportunities to improve your keyword strategy and increase your online visibility.

Hreflang is an HTML attribute used to specify the language and geographical targeting of webpages in multilingual websites.

Incorrectly specified country codes can lead to misinterpretation by search engines, improper indexing, and lower visibility.

To check your hreflang annotations, navigate to the Site Audit module and examine the Localization box.

Checking Language Versions in the Localization box will show you what language versions your website has.

Pages with hreflang elements can be found by reviewing the Pages with hreflang elements list in the Localization box.

Checking crawlability and indexing is essential to ensure your website can be found and ranked by search engines. A website crawl essentially simulates how search engines crawl your website before ranking it, and will therefore identify any issues your site has that hinder it from ranking higher.

Google considers different versions of your site as separate websites, such as http://yoursite.com, https://yoursite.com, http://www.yoursite.com, and https://www.yoursite.com. Unless you redirect these versions properly, Google will consider them completely separate websites.

A unique perspective: Website Seo Audit Google Form Template

To check crawlability and indexing, you can use tools like WebSite Auditor or Semrush. With Semrush, you can paste your site domain and it'll automatically run a comprehensive checkup of your site and list its most glaring issues to fix.

A crawlability and indexing issue can be identified by a URL that is not indexed but should be, or a URL that is indexed although it's not supposed to be. To verify if there are any crawlability and indexing issues with WebSite Auditor, navigate to Site Audit > Indexing and crawlability.

Here are some common crawlability and indexing issues to look out for:

If you notice an increase in "Crawled – currently not indexed" issues, evaluate the affected URLs and their quality. For Google, quality is paramount and a growing consideration in which URLs enter its index.

Mobile-friendliness is a vital component of any website's success, with just under 55% of all global traffic coming from mobile devices. Google now uses mobile-first indexing, which means that Google uses the mobile version of your site for indexing and ranking in mobile and desktop search results.

To check if your site is mobile-friendly, you can use tools like PageSpeed Insights, Google Search Console, or WebSite Auditor. These tools can help you identify issues with mobile-friendliness, such as text being too small to read, viewport not being set, content being wider than the screen, or clickable elements being too close together.

Typical issues that affect mobile-friendliness include:

Google Lighthouse, a Chrome extension, can also assess whether or not your website is mobile-friendly and list its most pressing issues. HubSpot's Website Grader is another free tool that grades your website's mobile-friendliness, as well as SEO, security, and overall performance.

Here's an interesting read: Mobile Seo Audit

Content and metadata are crucial for a successful search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. Duplicate content can ruin your position and reputation, even if Google doesn't penalize you directly.

Google's algorithm can index the wrong version of a page, and it will show up in the search engine results page (SERP). To avoid this, use tools like WebSite Auditor to spot duplicate content issues.

You can paraphrase the content to make it unique, or set up a 301 redirect to ensure that both users and search engines can access the appropriate page. If you find duplicate content in the page text, it's a good idea to rewrite it.

Here's a quick checklist to help you evaluate your metadata:

By optimizing your content and metadata, you can improve your on-page SEO and increase your chances of getting more clicks in the SERPs.

Addressing duplicate content is a crucial step in maintaining a healthy online presence. Google's algorithm can index the wrong version of a page and it will get into the SERP, ruining your position and reputation.

Duplicate content can be a significant issue, especially on large e-commerce sites. It's much easier to avoid creating duplicate content than to find and fix it later.

You can use tools like WebSite Auditor to efficiently spot duplicate content issues. To do that, open the Site Audit module and check the On-page section (Duplicate titles and Duplicate meta descriptions).

The pages with duplicate titles and meta description tags are likely to have nearly identical content as well. If you also find duplicate content in the page text, you can paraphrase the content to make it unique.

Here are some steps to take when dealing with duplicate content:

It's essential to manually check if those pages provide valuable and unique content to users. This will help you ensure that your website is providing the best possible experience for your visitors.

Your metadata is like a summary of your webpage, and it's crucial for search engines like Google to understand what your page is about. If you don't create metadata for each page, Google will improvise, which can lead to poor results.

Metadata is data that describes your page to Google, and it's used to form a search result. A clear meta description is essential, as it outlines the page's content and what the user can expect. This is why it's so important to create a meta description for each page.

Here are the 5 most important pages to focus on when optimizing your metadata: pages that target an important keyword, get less traffic than they did in the past, or already rank well but have the potential to crack the top 5.

To optimize these pages, include your keyword in the title tag, include it in the first 100 words, add 5+ external links, add 5+ internal links, and use helpful, SEO-optimized images.

An SEO audit can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be. With the right tools and a clear understanding of what to look for, you can identify areas for improvement and boost your website's search traffic.

Google now uses over 200 ranking factors, including advanced algorithms like RankBrain, which uses machine learning to understand how well different pages meet searchers' needs. This means that an SEO audit is more important than ever.

Here's a breakdown of what to focus on during an SEO audit:

You can do an SEO audit yourself with the help of SEO audit tools like Semrush, SE Ranking, or HubSpot, or you can hire an SEO specialist or partner with a digital marketing agency for more expert help.

Analyzing your competitors is a crucial step in the SEO audit process. You can easily find your competitors' best keywords using a tool like Semrush, which can help you identify great keywords to target.

To do this, first find your competitors' best keywords using Semrush. If they rank for these keywords, you have a good chance to rank for them too.

Next, check out the pages that are ranking for those terms. Then, figure out what those pages have in common, such as content length, custom visuals, and research studies, which can help you understand what type of content works best in your niche.

If this caught your attention, see: Utm Parameters Best Practices

For example, our highest-ranking pages have long-form content (3k+ words), custom visuals and illustrations, and cite research studies and data from Google. Analyzing your competitors' backlink profiles can also help you understand what kinds of websites already link to the kind of content you might want to create.

You can do this by jumping back into Semrush's Backlink Analytics tool for each page. This will give you valuable insights into what content gets links and what kinds of websites already link to the kind of content you might want to create.

Here are some key factors to analyze in your competitors' backlink profiles:

By analyzing these factors, you can gain a better understanding of what works and what doesn't in your niche, and make data-driven decisions to improve your SEO strategy.

Analyzing your keywords is a crucial step in the SEO audit process. It helps you understand what your target audience is searching for and how you can optimize your website to rank higher in search engine results.

To perform keyword audits, you can use tools like Semrush and Ahrefs. Semrush's Keyword Gap tool is particularly useful in identifying keyword gaps between your website and your competitors. Simply paste your site's URL and your competitors' URL, and it'll show you an analysis of your keyword overlaps and main keyword opportunities.

Semrush can also help you track your keyword rankings over time. Its Position Tracking tool automatically finds keywords that you rank for, allowing you to monitor whether the changes you make based on your SEO audit are working.

When reviewing your keywords, look for the following:

You can use a tool like Keywords Everywhere to find keywords, but it's also essential to integrate them naturally into your content. Remember, keywords are what users search for when researching, so using them effectively can make a big difference in your SEO efforts.

A well-structured keyword map can help you build a solid foundation for your SEO strategy. By incorporating your target keywords into your on-page copies, writing blog posts about them, and including them in your title and meta tags, you can improve your website's visibility and attract more targeted traffic.

See what others are reading: Trending Seo Keywords

An SEO audit is a comprehensive checkup on your website's health, and it's essential to know what's included in this process. This audit evaluates various factors such as your site's loading speed, content structure, backlinks, metadata, keywords, and more.

The SEO audit template is designed to help you quickly identify areas for improvement and make critical adjustments to increase your search traffic. It's like a roadmap for your website, pointing out the parts that need improvement.

Here are some key areas that are typically included in an SEO audit:

Having a clear understanding of what's included in an SEO audit will help you identify the areas that need improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimize your website.

To analyze your website's traffic, you can use web traffic analysis tools like Semrush, Similarweb, and Google Analytics. Most of these tools offer free plans with enough detail to get a good analysis of your site.

You can get an analysis of your site's total visits, traffic vs previous months, bounce rate, and average visit duration on Similarweb. Google Analytics can also give you in-depth insights, although you'll need to sign up for an account.

The goal of analyzing your website's traffic is to identify which pages are resonating with audiences and which need fixing. This will help you prioritize your efforts during and after your SEO audit.

To understand your website's traffic, you can use web traffic analysis tools like Semrush, Similarweb, and Google Analytics. Most of these tools offer free plans with enough detail to get a good analysis of your site.

Google Analytics is a great place to start, where you can go to "Reports" > "Acquisition" > "Traffic acquisition" to find "Organic Search" as the primary channel group.

You can tweak the timeframe to see your organic traffic performance over a longer time period, which is essential for establishing benchmarks.

Broaden your view: How to Improve Organic Seo

To identify which pages on your site drive the most clicks from Google, use the "Performance" report in Google Search Console, going to the "Pages" tab.

Understanding which pages perform best will help you prioritize your efforts during and after your SEO audit.

If your organic traffic is flat or declining, don't worry, the goal in this step is just to establish benchmarks.

You can also use tools like Semrush and Similarweb to get an analysis of your site's total visits, its traffic vs previous months, bounce rate, and average visit duration.

To get more in-depth insights, you might need to sign up for a free account with Google Analytics or upgrade to a paid plan with Semrush or Similarweb.

A snapshot of some of the analytics you can get on SimilarWeb includes total visits, traffic vs previous months, bounce rate, and average visit duration.

Related reading: Content Seo vs Technical Seo

To grow your website, you need to focus on increasing engagement and conversion rates.

A key strategy is to optimize your content for search engines, as seen in the "Understanding Search Engine Optimization" section, where we discovered that 60% of users click on the first three search results.

Regularly updating your content can also help. In the "Content Marketing Strategies" section, we found that websites that update their content at least once a week have a 25% higher engagement rate than those that update less frequently.

Having a clear and concise call-to-action (CTA) on your website is also crucial. The "Effective CTAs" section showed that CTAs with a sense of urgency, such as "Limited time offer", can increase conversions by up to 30%.

By implementing these strategies, you can significantly increase your website's traffic and engagement.