For maximum visibility, there are a few best practices you’ll want to follow. Because layout shift is really the important issue here, it’s best to run a speed audit of your site using something like Google’s Page Speed Insights, and see what your CLS score reflects. If it’s low, there’s a good chance you have images without defined dimensions.
How to Migrate from Ahrefs to Search Atlas: Step-by-Step Guide
There are 16 steps to follow when doing an SEO audit to identify issues affecting your website’s organic performance and discover opportunities for improvement. These are questions asked over and over again by SEO professionals, consultants, and website owners. Seasoned professionals typically have a quick list of technical SEO items to check off when looking to solve ranking and indexing issues.
Common Mistakes with On-Page Optimization
Among other things, our audit can help you identify significant technical SEO problems on your site, so you don’t have to move forward with an audit blindly. If you’re just starting out, this could be a great opportunity to look into how SEO professionals conduct an audit behind the scenes. If you’re a veteran, this audit plan is suitable for launching your own audit business on the side if you choose to do so.
An audit might reveal errors, such as missing fields or outdated information (e.g., event dates in the past). Structured data is an area where details matter – a small syntax error can mean Google ignores it. Find out what a backlink audit is and how to perform one for your own website in five simple steps. Semrush offers a suite of SEO tools that help you both identify opportunities and execute effectively. To learn more, check out this guide on how to start a link building campaign with the Link Building tool.
Check that your heading structure creates a logical hierarchy that both users and search engines can easily follow. Assess your content quality by examining factors like comprehensiveness, originality, readability, and engagement metrics. Beyond general SEO audits, SE Ranking includes AI-powered tools for auditing backlinks and on-page SEO performance. The AI Results Tracker sets its sights on conquering AI snippets by providing data on site position specifically in AI snippets, including historical data. This is a neat addition to the AIO insights in the Competitive Research and Keyword Research tools, where you can see which keywords get AI snippets. An SEO audit is a complete analysis of all factors that affect a website’s visibility in search engines.
Get an impartial 3rd party review of your website and third party SEO efforts (if any). Find out the true trajectory of your keyword performance, understand query coverage and share of voice growth or decline over time. An audit for lost website rankings and traffic – get to the root cause & resovle with guidance.
- Faulty or incomplete structured data can prevent a site from appearing in enhanced search results such as featured snippets, carousels, or product listings.
- This saves me time when I’m trying to understand what makes top-ranking pages successful.
- By addressing technical deficiencies first, you ensure that search engines can efficiently index and rank your site, maximizing visibility and traffic.
- Optimize your crawlability and make the most of your crawl budget.
- I like that Google Search Console monitors, debugs, and optimizes your website — and you don’t need to know how to code to benefit from this tool.
The Moz Keyword Explorer is one of the best keyword research tools available, helping us understand your strategic objectives and make recommendations for your SEO Anomaly campaign. You receive regular backlink reports included in your standard monthly SEO work reports. We find the best content assets on your website, worthy of inbound mentions and backlinks.
In the SEO audit, prioritize optimizing images by compressing them to reduce file size without compromising quality. Use appropriate formats, such as JPEG for photographs and PNG for images with transparency, to enhance website performance without sacrificing visual appeal. You also have the option to schedule crawls to be performed at specified intervals.
When duplicate URLs exist, search engines may struggle to determine the preferred version, leading to split ranking signals, lower authority, and duplicate content warnings. Addressing duplicate versions of your site makes sure that all authority is directed to a single canonical version, supporting better ranking performance and indexing clarity. Regular backlink assessment allows you to capitalize on successful link-building tactics while avoiding potentially damaging practices that could undermine your SEO efforts. Site speed optimization should be viewed as an ongoing process rather than a one-time task. As your website evolves with new content, features, and design elements, regular performance testing helps maintain the competitive edge that comes with delivering a fast, smooth user experience. The two essential steps to perform an SEO audit are checking crawlability and indexability, and analyzing on-page SEO.
He has more than 18 years of practical experience with SEO and digital marketing. Alex holds an MSc Degree in eCommerce and has consulted with Fortune 500 companies in different industries. He blogs regularly about SEO and Digital marketing, and his work has been referenced by leading marketing websites.Connect with Alex on Twitter and LinkedIn. The above SEO audit checklist covers the technical SEO, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO checks you need to make to improve your SEO.