If you are not already conducting regular SEO audits of your website, we can guarantee that you are missing out on forming connections with valuable leads, which could help you to increase conversions and revenue at a time when the online space is more competitive than ever before.
But what exactly is a search engine optimisation audit and why is it so important?
Back to Basics: Search Optimisation 101
Every time a searcher enters a query into a search engine, a variety of ranking signals are analysed to determine whether a web page will:
1) appear on the search results page (SERP) and, if so.
2) how prominently on the SERP it will appear
As search engine visibility is an essential component of building brand awareness and driving high-quality traffic to your website, it is imperative to invest in a strong search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy and out-rank your competition.
SEO is not a one-and-done activity. After all, search engine algorithms are evolving all the time as search engines endeavour to provide the best possible experiences to their users. This means that your search optimisation strategy should be regularly refreshed to ensure that you are leveraging the power of every update to your advantage.
And this is where an SEO audit comes into play.
What is an SEO audit?
SEO audits are designed to identify elements of your online presence that can be improved to further increase your online visibility and drive additional search traffic.
By examining everything from landing pages to page loading times, an SEO audit will provide you with a to-do list of tasks that will help you to capture a greater share of your potential market.
But My Website is Performing Well, Do I Still Need an Audit?
Yes. And here are just a few reasons why.
1. An SEO Audit Will Uncover Technical Issues
Comprehensive audits are designed to dive into the nitty gritty, taking the time to understand what the foundations of your website look like and whether there are any weak areas that could collapse at any moment.
For starters, audits can help you to understand how to boost your page loading times, which will allow you to hold onto a higher percentage of visitors who are clicking through from search engines. Additionally, audits can reveal coding issues such as duplicate HTML and CSS, problems with your site architecture which may be impacting your navigation, and potential problems with 404 redirects.
2. SEO Audits Highlight On-Page Issues
Covering everything from meta titles and descriptions to headers, content, internal linking structures and more, there are numerous on-page optimisation considerations that will impact your SERP ranking position.
Audits are structured to highlight even the smallest on-page errors, many of which are easy to fix and could have a big impact on your overall online visibility.
3. SEO Audits Improve your Understanding of your Competitors
With more businesses than ever entering every possible marketplace, you need to ensure that your business rises to the top and stays there. By improving your understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your closest competitors, you can identify powerful target keywords that will help you to drive traffic whilst also getting the most out of your marketing budget.
4. SEO Audits Contribute to Stronger Content Strategies
When you have a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your website, you are better placed to invest in a more robust content strategy which will ultimately help you to out-perform your competitors and secure higher SERP ranking positions.
Your audit will reveal opportunities to create new and highly valuable content designed to drive traffic and encourage backlinks to further boost your authority. Audit information can also be used to create on-site content that answers the questions your target audience are asking, anticipating their needs and ensuring that your brand is placed right in front of them at exactly the right moment.
Ultimately, SEO audits are one of the most effective ways to identify areas of your own website that can be enhanced and deepen your understanding of your marketplace to ensure that you remain competitive both now and into the future.
Try out our FREE SEO audit to get started!
