Website Copy Audit: Optimize for SEO Success

A website copy audit is a thorough examination of your website's written content to ensure it's optimized for search engines and resonates with your target audience. This process can help you identify areas for improvement and increase your online visibility.

During a website copy audit, we'll analyze your website's content to identify keyword gaps and opportunities for improvement. This will help you refine your content strategy and attract more relevant traffic to your site.

A well-structured website copy audit involves reviewing your website's content, including page titles, meta descriptions, headings, and body copy.

If your website copy sounds like a jumbled mess, it's time to consider a website copy audit. You're great at what you do, but your website copy just doesn't convey it.

Maybe you tried to write it yourself, but it's clunky and doesn't represent your business. Or perhaps you used AI or a cheap service, but the result is still subpar. Either way, your copy is leaving your audience confused and unsure of how working with you can benefit them.

Your website copy should be bringing you traffic and enquiries, but if it's not doing its job, it's costing you money every single day. It's time to fix it.

Here are some signs that you need a website copy audit:

If you're not sure how to improve your website copy on your own, a website copy audit is a great place to start.

A copy audit is a thorough review of your website copy to see what's working and what's not. It's an unbiased analysis of your existing website copy, taking into account your business model, target audience, and specific goals.

A copy audit typically involves checking if your core messaging is immediate and simple to understand. This means making sure your visitors can quickly grasp what you do, who you do it for, and how it will benefit them.

When conducting a copy audit, a professional website copywriter will analyze various aspects of your website copy, including your above-the-fold copy, SEO keywords, brand tone of voice, and readability. They'll also check if your copy includes all the elements needed to take your audience from prospects to paying clients.

Here are some key points a copywriter may analyze during a website copy audit:

By conducting a copy audit, you'll get a clear indication of what copy needs to be changed to improve your website's performance and turn your dream audience into paying clients.

A copy audit is an unbiased review of your existing website copy, and what you can expect from it is a clear picture of what's working and what's not. This includes identifying areas where your copy is confusing or not communicating your benefits effectively.

During a copy audit, a professional website copywriter will analyze your website copy against your business model, target audience, and specific goals. This involves checking if your core messaging is immediate and simple to understand, and if your above-the-fold website copy communicates what you do, who for, and how it will benefit them.

Some key areas that will be assessed during a copy audit include:

A copy audit will also identify areas where your copy is leaving your audience confused or uncertain about how working with you can benefit them. This is crucial, as a website copy that doesn't communicate its benefits effectively is essentially costing you money every day.

A copy audit is about reviewing and improving what's already there, not rewriting your pages from scratch. This means I'll help you optimize your existing content to get the best results.

I won't be rewriting your pages from scratch, so if that's what you're after, consider my brand messaging and website copywriting services. Instead, I'll identify what's working against you and spot missed opportunities so you can put my advice into practice.

I'll definitely point out any obvious typos or grammatical errors, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. A website copy review is about the strategy behind your words, including marketing and storytelling tactics to get your ideal clients to take action.

I only deal with the words side of things, not technical SEO aspects like website speed or Schema markup. This means I won't be checking those things during a copy audit.

Here's what a copy audit is not:

A copy audit is all about identifying what's working and what's not on your website. The first step is to conduct an unbiased review of your existing website copy to see what's effective and what's not.

Some key points to analyze during a copy audit include whether your core messaging is immediate and simple to understand, and whether your above-the-fold website copy communicates exactly what you do, who for, and how this will benefit them.

You should also check if your copy includes all the elements needed to take your audience from prospects to paying clients, and if your SEO keywords are being used correctly.

A consistent brand tone of voice is crucial, and your website copy should be easy to read, not making things harder for your audience. You should also ensure that your website copy offers a clear path and unmissable calls to action.

Here are some issues to look out for during a copy audit:

Your website copy should help you turn your dream audience into paying clients. So, every single day it isn't doing its job, it's costing you money.

You might be writing your own website copy, but if it's not conveying your business's unique value, it's not doing its job. Perhaps you've tried using AI or a cheap gig on Fiverr, but the result is clunky words that don't represent your business.

Here are some common signs that you need a website copy audit:

A professional website copywriter can help you fix your copy and create a plan to follow. With their guidance, you can improve your website copy confidently and without feeling lost or overwhelmed.

Having a clear goal is crucial when it comes to improving your website copy. Define your goal, such as improving SEO results, increasing engagement, or improving conversion rates.

To achieve your goal, you need to identify the metrics that matter. For example, if your goal is to improve SEO results, you'll want to focus on metrics like organic traffic, backlinks, keyword rankings, and dwell time.

You can use tools like SEMrush to help you identify areas for improvement. With a clear goal and the right tools, you can create a step-by-step plan to improve your website copy and start seeing results.

To get started, identify the specific benefits you want to gain from a content audit. Do you want to improve your SEO results, increase audience engagement, or improve conversion rates? Use the examples from SEMrush to guide you:

By defining your goal and identifying the metrics that matter, you can create a clear plan to improve your website copy and start seeing results.

Your tone of voice is crucial for copywriting, setting you apart from peers and competitors. It embodies your brand's personality values and drives your brand messaging in the right direction.

Brands like Oatly, Mailchimp, and First Direct have memorable tones of voice, which they've clearly defined through guidelines.

To check your tone of voice consistency, conduct a copywriting audit to identify areas where your tone or messaging drops. Make a note of any places where you shift from lively and accessible to jargon-filled and corporate.

A clear and inviting call to action (CTA) is crucial for conversions and user experience. It's not enough to persuade customers to believe in your brand, you also need to tell them what to do next.

Adding numbers to your CTA can be an effective way to encourage action, as seen in the example "Buy now and get 50% off!" This creates a sense of urgency and value.

Avoid using simple CTAs like "click here" or "shop now." Instead, give your customer a reason to take action.

Your CTA should be clear and inviting, and you can achieve this by adding adjectives, making a promise, or playing up your unique selling point (USP). For example, "Find your dream home with us!" or "Order our hand-made facemasks now!"

Here are some examples of effective CTAs that use these techniques:

SEO and website copy go hand in hand. A website copy audit can help you identify areas for improvement, and one of the key aspects is optimizing your content for search engines.

To do this, you'll want to conduct an SEO content audit, which involves reviewing the quality and relevancy of your content as well as how well you convey it to Google. This includes keyword targeting, content quality, and links.

Here are some key on-page factors to consider:

You can use tools like Semrush's On Page SEO Checker to analyze each page and identify areas for improvement.

SEO is all about providing accurate and reliable search results for users, which is why Google wants you to have expertise, authority, and trust (EAT) in your content. To achieve this, you need to conduct an SEO content audit, which covers the quality and relevancy of your content.

The primary focus of an SEO content audit is keyword targeting, content quality, and links. You should audit your highest-trafficked pages, highest value pages, and pages with significant traffic drops.

Here are the tools you'll need for an SEO content audit:

To determine the quality of your content, you should confirm whether it's optimized for on-page SEO. This includes checking the title tag, meta description, header tags, content quality, keyword optimization, and URL slug. You can use Semrush's On Page SEO Checker tool to analyze your content and suggest improvements.

Keyword rankings are also an essential aspect of SEO. You should use Semrush's Position Tracking tool to find out where your content pages are currently ranking for their primary target keyword. This will help you identify which pages need optimization.

To use Semrush's Position Tracking tool effectively, you need to input your domain name, select a search engine, device, location, and language, and then add your primary keywords to the campaign.

Here are some tips for using keywords effectively in your copy:

Remember, the goal of SEO is to provide value to your users, not to manipulate search engines. By following these tips and conducting regular SEO content audits, you can improve your website's visibility and drive more traffic to your site.

Backlinks are incredibly important from a ranking standpoint. To pinpoint content pieces that may be underperforming due to a lack of quality backlinks, you need to get backlink data for each of your content pages.

You can use Semrush's Backlink Analytics tool to get this data. Open the tool, enter one of your content sections, and click "Analyze." The "Indexed pages" report will show you a list of your content pieces along with how many backlinks each one has.

Add the data in the "Backlinks" column in your content audit spreadsheet. Repeat the process for all the other content sections you're auditing. After you're done, add all the numbers together using the SUM function.

Record that number in the "Total Backlinks" column in the content audit spreadsheet. This will give you a clear picture of your content's backlink performance.

A website copy audit is an unbiased review of your existing website copy to see what's working well and what isn't. This involves analyzing your core messaging, above-the-fold website copy, and other key elements to identify areas for improvement.

To ensure your website copy is effective, consider whether it communicates what you do, who you serve, and how you can benefit them. You should also check if your copy includes all the necessary elements to take your audience from prospects to paying clients.

A thorough website copy audit should also examine your SEO keyword usage, brand tone of voice, and readability. This will help you create a clear path for your visitors and include unmissable calls to action.

In terms of measuring results, there's no definitive time frame for waiting before analyzing performance. However, if your goal is to improve SEO results, it's recommended to wait at least three to four months before analyzing the performance. This allows enough time for search engines to process updates and for positive ranking impacts to materialize in organic traffic.

Measuring your results is a crucial step in the audit process. After implementing your action plan, you need to check if you've achieved your set goal.

There's no one-size-fits-all time frame for waiting before measuring results. However, if your goal is to improve SEO results, waiting at least three to four months allows time for search engines to process updates and for any positive ranking impacts to materialize in organic traffic.

Revisit your audit template and open the dedicated "Post-Audit Analysis" tab to reassess performance using the same data sources from the initial audit. Compare the new numbers against your baseline to see if you're making progress toward your goal.

An SEO audit template is a vital tool for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your website's content. It helps you systematically analyze and assess all the content on your site to adapt your content plan to your current marketing goals.

The template should have a tab for SEO content audit, where you can check page-specific items. This can be overwhelming if you have a large number of pages to audit, but having a list of pages to check can make the process more manageable.

A content audit involves evaluating what works and what doesn't on your website. It's essential to perform this task to get the best results from your site.

To start your SEO audit, you'll want to check the on-page optimization of your content. This includes various elements within the page itself that influence how well it can rank in search engines.

Some key on-page factors to consider are:

You can use Semrush's On Page SEO Checker tool to analyze each page and suggest ideas for improvement.