Did you know that there are several different types of SEO audits? It’s true! Not every SEO audit is created equal, and it’s important to know about the different types of audits if you’re expecting to see significant value from your efforts.
If you’re trying to figure out technical issues that are wrong with your website, you would not purchase a local SEO audit.
If you’re trying to figure out what kind of content has dropped following certain Google algorithm updates, a forensic content audit may be more your cup of tea.
If you’re trying to assess how you can improve your rankings in organic search, a strategic SEO audit is something that may be more along the lines of what you need.
These are just some of the types of SEO audits you may encounter. The following includes a number of SEO audits that you may run into as an SEO consumer.
What is an SEO Audit and Why Do You Need One
An SEO audit is an analysis of a website’s on-page optimization and architecture with respect to search engine ranking criteria. Simply put, it’s a report that provides actionable insights on how to improve a website’s SEO.
There are many benefits of conducting an SEO audit.
For example, it can help identify potential technical issues that may be hindering a website’s ability to rank in search results. It can also uncover opportunities for improving on-page optimization, such as title tags, meta descriptions, and heading tags.
In addition, an SEO audit can reveal holes in a website’s link building strategy and provide ideas for building new links. Ultimately, an SEO audit is a valuable tool for helping to improve a website’s search engine visibility and organic traffic levels.
Website Health Audits
Many businesses don’t realize how important it is to have a website audit done on a regular basis. Just like you wouldn’t let your car go too long without an oil change or tune-up, your website needs the same kind of love and attention.
A website audit assesses your site’s health in several areas, including content quality, design, user experience, markup, links, and performance. By using regularly scheduled audits, you can avoid potential problems and keep your website running smoothly.
In addition, an audit can help you identify opportunities for improvement. Whether you’re looking to attract more visitors, convert more leads, or simply improve the overall quality of your website, an audit can point you in the right direction.
So if you’re not already doing so, be sure to add website audits to your list of regular maintenance tasks. Your business will be all the healthier for it.
Performance Assessment Audit
A website performance assessment audit is a process of evaluating how well a website is performing in relation to its goals. The assessment looks at factors such as site traffic, conversion rates, bounce rates, and other key metrics.
It can also take into account user feedback and comments. The goal of the audit is to identify areas where the website is not performing as well as it could be, and to make recommendations for improvement.
The audit can be conducted by an external firm or by internal staff. Either way, it is an important part of ensuring that a website is meeting its goals and providing a good experience for users.
In-depth Technical SEO Audits
Technical SEO audits are essential for any website that wants to rank highly in search engine results pages (SERPs).
While traditional SEO techniques focus on optimizing website content for keyword relevancy, technical SEO goes a step further by examining the underlying code and structure of the site.
This ensures that search engine crawlers can easily index the site and that users will have a positive experience when they visit.
Technical SEO audits can be complex and time-consuming, but they are essential for any website that wants to achieve and maintain a high ranking in SERPs.
We also offer The Ultimate SEO Audit Template here for free.
Forensic Content Audits
A forensic content audit is an in-depth analysis of a website’s content. It is used to identify both strengths and weaknesses in a site’s content, as well as to investigate potential copyright infringement and plagiarism issues.
Forensic content audits can be incredibly useful for website owners, as they can help to improve the overall quality of a site’s content. They can also help to identify and resolve any issues that may be causing a site to rank poorly in search engine results pages.
If you are considering conducting a forensic content audit, it is important to hire a professional content auditor who has experience with this type of analysis.
Only a qualified professional will be able to accurately assess your site’s content and provide you with actionable insights that can improve your overall web presence.
Penalty Recovery Audits
If you’ve been hit with a penalty from Google, it’s important to take action quickly to help mitigate the damage. One of the first steps you should take is to hire an SEO professional to perform a recovery audit.
This will help you to identify the root cause of the penalty and put together a plan to address it. The sooner you can get your website back in Google’s good graces, the better.
There are two types of penalties: algorithmic devaluations, and outright manual penalties.
An algorithmic devaluation occurs when Google sees less value in your site, and you may receive less traffic than before. Typically on the order of 35 percent or more. Although it can be as low as a 20 percent reduction. It depends on how severe it is.
Algorithmic devaluations are harder to identify and should be tackled only by an SEO professional who has experience in these matters.
During a manual penalty, it’s much easier. You will receive a warning in your Google Search Console account about this manual penalty. Typically, it will also include some (vague) idea about what you have done to receive it.
Then, now comes the hard work of uncovering the issues and repairing them so that you can move forward with achieving recovery from the manual penalty at last.
Whether you have been affected by a recent core update, or you have issues from another recent algorithm update, your SEO professional should be able to identify the root cause and give you a good idea of what to do so you can recover from that penalty.
A qualified SEO professional is necessary so they can help you to perform a comprehensive recovery audit and develop a plan of action to help get your website back on track.
Information Architecture Audits
A site information architecture audit is an important process that helps to ensure your website is effective and user-friendly. The audit begins with an analysis of your current site structure and navigation.
This includes identifying the key sections and pages of your site, as well as any areas that are difficult to find or navigate. The next step is to evaluate the organization of your content.
This includes assessing how well your content is organized and labeled, as well as identifying any areas that need more clarity or focus.
Finally, the audit will identify any opportunities to improve the overall usability of your site.
By conducting a site information architecture audit on a regular basis, you can help to ensure that your website is always easy to use and navigate.
Link Profile Audits
A link profile audit is a comprehensive evaluation of the links pointing to a website.
The audit will identify any potential problems with the links, such as broken links, links from low-quality websites, or links that use anchor text that is not relevant to the site’s content.
The audit will also provide recommendations for improving the link profile, such as adding new links from high-quality websites or using more relevant anchor text.
By improving its link profile, a website can improve its search engine rankings and visibility.
Social Media Audits
A social media audit is a comprehensive review of an organization’s social media presence.
This type of audit provides insights into how well the organization is using social media to achieve its business goals. The audit process can be divided into four steps:
- Data collection,
- Data analysis,
- Recommendations, and
- Implementation.
Data collection involves compiling all of the organization’s social media activity, including posts, comments, and interactions.
Data analysis involves examining the collected data to identify patterns and trends. Recommendations involve developing strategies for how the organization can improve its social media presence. Implementation involves putting the recommendations into action.
For example, if data reveals that an organization is not utilizing influencers enough, then implementation may involve outreach and contact with influencers to help amplify that site’s content.
A social media audit can help any organization to better understand its audience, to identify opportunities for social media engagement, and to develop more effective social media strategies.
Local SEO Audits
As a business owner, you know how important it is to have a strong online presence. After all, most consumers now begin their product search online, and if they can’t find your business, they’ll likely go with one of your competitors.
That’s why it’s so important to invest in local SEO. Local SEO audits can help you identify where your website is falling short and what changes need to be made in order to improve your ranking on search engines. Local SEO audits typically focus on the local side, including, but not limited to:
- The overall profile of your business’s NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) information across the web.
- Your GMB (Google My Business) Profiles,
- Your presence across the various locations where you do business,
- How your site’s content may target local customers,
- Whether you need to improve on your local citations and link building strategies,
- And much more.
Local SEO audits also typically cover service industries that provide local services such as doctors, law firms, and dentists. They may also cover sites that engage in local e-commerce, with brick and mortar locations nationwide. In which case, your local SEO audit should be focused on a more national strategy for your business.
Working on identifying your strengths and weaknesses, and finding new strategies to improve on them, is something that should come standard with not just any SEO audit, but also any local SEO audit as well.
How to Choose the Right Type of SEO Audit for Your Business
If you’re running a business, chances are good that you’ve heard of search engine optimization (SEO).
Just so we are all on the same page: SEO is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results, making it more visible to potential customers.
One important part of SEO is conducting a comprehensive SEO audit, which can help you identify areas where your website could be improved.
But with so many different types of audits available, how do you know which one is right for your business?
Here are a few factors to consider when choosing an SEO professional to conduct your audit:
What kind of business do you have? If you sell products online, for example, you’ll want to make sure that your website is optimized for ecommerce. On the other hand, if you have a service-based business, you’ll want to focus on local SEO.
What are your goals? Do you want to increase traffic to your website? Improve your conversion rate? Boost your search engine rankings? Make sure that the audit you choose is focused on helping you achieve your specific goals.
How much time and money are you willing to invest? Some audits can be conducted quickly and cheaply, while others may require more time and money. Be realistic about what you can actually achieve given your budget and timeline.
Do you have the resources to implement the recommendations? Once you’ve conducted an audit, you’ll need to make some changes to your website in order to improve your SEO. Make sure you have the time, money, and manpower to implement the recommendations before you invest in an audit.
As a business owner or marketing manager, it’s important to understand the different types of SEO audits available so that you can choose the right one that applies to your specific situation.
The Benefits of an SEO Audit
Any business that wants to stay competitive online needs to invest in SEO.
Search engine optimization is an ever-evolving and complex field, which can make it difficult to keep up with the latest trends and best practices.
That’s where an SEO audit comes in. An SEO audit is a comprehensive review of your website’s SEO effectiveness. It can help identify areas where your site needs improvement, such as poor keyword selection, broken links, or duplicate content.
Furthermore, an SEO audit can help you benchmark your progress over time and track your ROI. In other words, an SEO audit is an essential tool for any business that wants to stay ahead of the curve online.
If you’re not already conducting regular audits, now is the time to start.
The Drawbacks of an SEO Audit
While an SEO audit can be a valuable tool for assessing the health of your website, there are some potential drawbacks to consider.
First and foremost, an audit can be a time-consuming process, especially if your website is large and complex. Additionally, an audit requires a certain level of technical expertise, which means it may not be suitable for all businesses.
Finally, an audit can be expensive, particularly if you hire an experienced outside firm to perform the work. However, despite these potential drawbacks, an SEO audit can be a helpful way to identify areas where your website needs improvement.
When used correctly, an audit can help you make your site more search engine friendly and improve your overall online visibility.
How to Get the Most Out of Your SEO Audit
First, you must choose an experienced and reputable SEO firm to perform your audit. This will ensure that you get an objective and unbiased analysis of your site.
Second, make sure that the firm provides you with a detailed report of their findings. This should include both positive and negative aspects of your site’s SEO.
Third, follow the firm’s recommendations for improving your site’s ranking.
Finally, monitor your site’s progress over time to ensure that the changes you’ve made are having the desired effect.
By taking these steps, you can be confident that you’re getting the most out of your SEO audit. In the end, recommendations are just recommendations until they are finally implemented correctly by an experienced professional.
Don’t fall into the trap of expecting SEO results for the SEO work that you did not do.
Why Do SEO Audits Matter?
A website’s search engine optimization (SEO) is vital to its success. Poorly optimized websites can be difficult for potential customers to find, and may rank lower in search engine results pages (SERPs), making them less visible and less likely to generate leads.
An SEO audit is a comprehensive review of a website’s SEO, with the goal of identifying areas that need improvement.
Areas that are typically evaluated during an SEO audit include things like keyword research, on-page optimization, link building, and competitive analysis.
By identifying areas that need improvement, an SEO audit can help to improve a website’s visibility and organic traffic.
As a result, SEO audits can play an important role in the success of a business’ online presence.
What is The Goal Of An SEO Audit?
An SEO audit is designed to help website owners identify opportunities to improve their search engine optimization. The goal of an SEO audit is to examine a website’s on-page and off-page factors in order to understand how it can be improved.
On-page factors include things like page titles, meta descriptions, and keyword usage. Off-page factors include things like backlinks and social media signals.
By understanding both types of factors, website owners can make changes that will improve their visibility in search engine results pages.
As a result, an SEO audit can be an invaluable tool for anyone looking to improve their website’s performance.
What to Expect From an SEO Audit
An SEO audit is an important tool for any business that wants to improve its online visibility. It can help you identify areas where your website needs improvement in order to make it more visible to search engines.
The audit will also give you insights into the competition and what they are doing right. Here’s what you can expect from an SEO audit:
1. A comprehensive analysis of your website’s structure and content. This includes an evaluation of your site’s title tags, meta tags, keywords, and other elements that impact your site’s ranking.
2. An assessment of your website’s link popularity. This measures the number and quality of links pointing to your site from other websites.
3. A review of your website’s coding and technical aspects. This ensures that your site is properly optimized for search engine crawlers.
4. Recommendations for improving your website’s overall visibility and ranking potential. This may also include specific suggestions for adding new content, optimizing existing content, or building more links to your site.
If you’re serious about improving your online visibility, then an SEO audit is an essential first step. By taking the time to understand the current state of your website, you can make informed decisions about how to improve it.
As a result, you’ll be able to attract more visitors and generate more leads.
How Often Should You Perform an SEO Audit?
There is no definitive answer to this question. The frequency of your audits will depend on the needs of your website and the speed of the industry you’re in.
That being said, most experts recommend performing an SEO audit at least once per year. This ensures that you stay up-to-date on the latest changes in the world of search engine optimization and gives you a chance to make necessary changes to your site.
Additionally, if you make significant changes to your website (such as a redesign), then it’s a good idea to perform an audit afterwards to ensure that everything is still optimized properly.
More frequent SEO Audits (at least once per quarter or even one a month) may even be needed if you typically make many hundreds (or thousands) of changes on a regular basis.
SEO Audits Are Critical and Can be Transformational for Your SEO Performance
Performing an SEO audit is a critical step for any business that wants to improve its online visibility, its brand awareness, and its overall goals.
By understanding your website’s current state and identifying areas for improvement, you can make the changes necessary to increase your ranking in search engine results pages.
An SEO audit can also help you understand the competition and what strategies they are using to rank higher than you.
The frequency of your audits will depend on the needs of your website, but most SEO professionals recommend performing one at least once per year.
By investing in an SEO audit on a regular basis, it’s possible to really nail down what’s causing your website to experience issues with its performance in the Google SERPs (search engine results pages).
