How do you audit your SEO project?

Align your SEO objectives with your overall business goals to ensure they contribute to the success of your organization. Everything needs to follow the same theme.

As part of this process, it's also important that you set a specific budget for your project that aligns clearly with your goals. Jim Rohn once quoted: "don’t put a small effort into a big result. If you have large growth goals don’t expect to invest less than 10% of the monetary number you’re trying to achieve." Using this principle, if your business wants to generate an additional £250,000/$250,000 through SEO, spend a minimum of £25,000/$25,000 to achieve it. You may go up to as much as 30% but it will pay itself back exponentially because it creates a measurable system that can run and make money on its own. Equally, don't put a small effort into a big result. If your budget seems disproportionate to your goals, it probably is.

In my years working in SEO, I've learned that clear goals are the starting point. Before diving into the technical stuff, I always set specific targets, like boosting website visits or getting a page to rank higher on search results. I then pick a few key metrics to track our progress. This approach helps me stay focused and adjust tactics when needed. It's all about setting clear goals, tracking them, and being ready to adapt. That's how I've seen real success in SEO.

It might be expensive to crawl, but it's worth it in the long run. You need to identify small problems now before they become larger in the future.

Website crawling is pretty standard practice in the industry, and off-the-shelf tools like Horseman, Screaming Frog, and Sitebulb are industry-leading, and relatively cheap for the amount of data they gather (sub $100 per month). You can also use the audit tool in Ahrefs... Or contract a consultant, or agency, to not only pull the data but analyse it, prioritise it, and help you maximise your business impact.

I've always emphasized the importance of a detailed website 'crawl'. Using top-notch tools, I dig deep into every corner of a site. This isn't just about spotting broken links or slow pages. I analyze the structure, ensuring pages are interconnected correctly. I scrutinize meta tags to guarantee they're optimized for the right keywords. Duplicate content? I'm on it, ensuring each page is unique and offers value. And it doesn't stop there. I check the site's mobile responsiveness, security protocols, and even the technical files that guide search engines. Every detail matters, and that's where true SEO expertise shines.

Take advantage of multimedia elements, such as videos, infographics, and interactive content, to enhance the user experience and provide different formats for consuming information. This can help capture and retain your audience's attention while improving your overall content quality.

Content is always at the heart of my analysis. It's like the main course of a meal. I start by checking if the content is fresh, engaging, and provides real value. Does it answer what users are searching for? I also look at the depth: Is there enough meat on the bone, covering all the important points? Presentation matters too. Just like a well-plated dish, content should be easy to digest with clear headings, bullet points, and relevant images. I also ensure it's sprinkled with the right keywords and has useful links woven in. By answering these questions, I make sure the content is both user-friendly and search engine-approved.

Only smart marketers focus on off-page factors because it's difficult to track them. Some simple actions that you can take are: 1. Compare your backlink profile with that of your competitors. 2. Monitor instances where your brand or website is mentioned without a direct link. 3. Look for any signs of manual or algorithmic penalties from search engines. By examining these off-page factors, you can gain valuable insights easily.

What happens outside your website is just as crucial as what's on it. Think of off-page factors like the reputation of a brand. I start by looking at backlinks, which are like votes of confidence from other sites. It's not just about how many you have, but where they come from. Are they from reputable sites? Are they relevant to your content? Then, I check out social media. It's essential to be active, consistent, and engaging on platforms where your audience hangs out. The more people talk about and share your content, the better it is for your site's reputation. By keeping an eye on these off-page elements, I ensure that the website stands out not just for its content but also for its credibility in the online world.

These could be some indicators of your competitors' weaknesses: - Poor mobile experience of the page or pages - The page is more than 6 months old - The page takes more than 3 seconds to load - The page looks more like a forum site. - Page title does not include terms of your target keyword - In most cases, if the page has less than 1000 words  - The spam score of the page is more than 10%

It's vital to compare with top competitors to identify strengths, weaknesses, and content gaps. I identify competitors based on keywords and online presence, then analyze their sites. This reveals content topics they cover that we might've missed or areas they excel in. By measuring against them, we see our market position. It's about learning from their successes, innovating, and filling content gaps. Spotting weaknesses and addressing gaps keeps us ahead in the SEO race.

I created a Site Content Audit approach with a 21-point checklist focused on the messaging for starters. SO MANY WEBSITES have unclear or basic (boring) messages with no exciting, unique promise, no invitation/CTA, and no SEO effort. Kind of a head scratcher. I love fixing this!

Pam's Site Content Audit program is an excellent place to start. You can always adjust it to suit your own needs or your individual client's needs based upon your experience. But Pam's materials can get you up and running - and earning.

After a thorough audit, the next crucial step is crafting a solid action plan. This isn't just a to-do list; it's a strategic roadmap. I prioritize tasks based on their impact, ensuring we tackle the big wins first. Firstly, I set clear goals, like boosting organic traffic or improving page load times. Then, I allocate resources, both time and budget, to each task. For instance, we might start by fixing broken links, optimizing images, or updating outdated content. New keyword opportunities? We'll create fresh, engaging content around them. And if backlinks are lacking, I'll focus on earning quality ones from reputable sources.

SEO is a long haul strategy, let me make that very clear. Audit is one of the best ways to stay on track of your initiatives and can be split across three threads: - On-Page Audit: Content on the website/ wepage/ inter-linking, meta checks, etc. (Reviewed 1-2 times a week) - Off-Page Audit: Bookmarking across relevant sits, external article submissions, submissions across sites, etc. - Tracking down the ranking of Keywords across SERPs (needs to be done monthly/ quarterly) SEO projects are time-taking and requires patience. Audit too needs in-depth checks and thus, movement tracking is of the essence. Tx

Google Search Console is also one of the best tools to audit your website. It's an all-rounder and is often overlooked. You can: - Analyse your crawl logs to understand which pages are being crawled and indexed - Identify click-through rate drops and increases, which helps to determine the priority order of your keyword strategy and understand your website's current visibility. As well as identifying accurate search volumes via impression data. - Assess for duplicate content and potential indexation issues - Identify potential sitemap issues (i.e. non-indexable URLs) - Understand user experience - Review your website's structured data for potential issues

While working with Bruce clay.inc India office I was doing overall website or platform auditing. SEO auditing was part of it. I worked as product delivery head in this position I have taken up websites and web platforms like Jabong, MagicBrick, TimesJob etc. And smaller websites like American Swan, Design emporia. International projects US based Saavn no known as jio Saavan & some different language ecommerce, some to mention. So people or company looking for Auditing their websites/platforms or professionals looking to learn website Auditing, can connect with me over DM on LinkedIn or message me on WhatsApp or call +91 9899068566

Hi Devan, Thank you for your insight and observations. It's always valuable to take into account various viewpoints. In the early days of computer audit/investigation they used the "black box" approach. This ignored what was going on inside the computer (the black box) but sought to reconcile the "input" with the "output". Then a handful of us learned the programming languages and systems and looked "inside the box". We found many frauds being perpetrated that had previously been invisible to those using the "black box" approach. Similarly, I have no doubt as more copywriters and web developers use Pam's Site Audit system they will help develop it even further, with valuable insights like your own.

In my years in SEO, I've realized it's not just about numbers and rankings. It's about understanding the audience. I recall working with a client who had all the right keywords but still wasn't seeing conversions. Upon deeper analysis, I found their content didn't resonate with their target demographic's values and pain points. I revamped the content strategy, focusing on storytelling and addressing user concerns. The result? A significant boost in engagement and conversions. Moreover, staying updated with industry trends is vital. SEO isn't static; what works today might not tomorrow.