The SEO audit is an increasingly demanded service, especially when companies launch a new website or store online, or want to boost your strategy in this new . In each of these cases it is essential that your digital presence is optimized for Google and other search engines.
Currently there are many agencies or consultancies that offer this service, but companies must choose well who they trust to audit their website from the point of view of search engine optimization or SEO .
At Top Position we have been conducting SEO audits for more than a decade, with our own methodology that we have been improving over the years.
It is worth distinguishing two types of SEO audits : The SEO audit focused on a website or the SEO audit report focused on a series of priority keywords.
The SEO audit focused on a website
When we talk about the first type, the SEO audit report focused on a website , our scope has three fundamental parts.
Review of internal (on-page) structural SEO factors
Here the analysis is not page by page, but covers the website as a whole . It includes:
The Dominion. Correct management of www, age, review of possible penalties of the domain, etc.
Quality of indexing, number of indexed pages
The accommodation (hosting), quality and location
Website structure, correct pagerank flow, hierarchy, menu and level optimization
Keyword strategy. Adequate strategic deployment
Quality of the content, especially of the texts: unique, original and natural
Freshness level of the website
Degree of optimization of keyword densities
Structural recommendations for optimization of internal links
Structural recommendations for outbound link optimization
General website loading speed
XML sitemap file optimization
Review of structural external SEO factors (off-page)
Profile of the links: quality, quantity and variety of domains from which the links originate, geographical origin, relevance, anchor texts
Link growth rate and trends
Analysis of external links of 3 competitors, reviewing the potential quality links that our website receives
Analysis of keywords in prominent positions (top 3, top 10, top 20)
Analysis of competitor positions
Online reputation of the brand and domain in Google
Presence and interaction in Social Networks
Comprehensive review of pages with errors and opportunities for improvement
In the third part of our audit we analyze the website pages by reviewing 44 SEO factors , assigning them a rating (correct, warning or improvable, and critical errors / errors).Ten of those 44 factors that we analyze for all pages are:
Pages with broken internal links. We analyze, page by page, all those that have an internal link that does not work, because Google penalizes them.
Pages with broken external links. We analyze, page by page, all those that have an external link that does not work, because Google penalizes them.
Pages without title tag. This is a basic mistake that should be avoided at all costs.
Pages with duplicate title tag. Likewise, it is an error that costs us dearly and we must remedy.
Pages with very long title tag. The title tag, the most important for Google, has an optimal length, and it is a mistake that it is too long.
Pages with very short title tag. We must also correct the pages that are excessively short.
H1 and title tag mismatch. This error is common and should be corrected.
Pages without H1. It also happens frequently and we must avoid it.
Pages with multiple headings H1. If we have several H1s on the same page we are confusing Google and probably users.
Duplicate content. This is even more serious, Google does not index duplicate content, and penalizes us for it. It happens very frequently.
To these criteria we add 34 more, and in the report we detail all the errors and opportunities on each page, one by one.
Of course, this type of SEO audit report of the entire website will take into account what type of website it is. When we talk about an e-commerce website or online store, the structure and hierarchy of the website takes on special relevance, as well as the optimization of the product pages. We have been doing SEO for e-commerce and SEO for Amazon for years .
SEO audit focused on keywords
If we are talking about a second type of SEO audit, more focused on a few strategic keywords, then we have to look more at Google results and the pages that manage to appear in the first positions, to make a comparative report (SEO Benchmark Report) that indicates the optimal parameters for each keyword or group of keywords.
It is vital that these audits are translated into detailed, visual and clear reports that allow recommendations to be managed with ease. We also add annexes with the detail of errors and opportunities of the pages, one by one.
In summary, if you need an SEO audit, ask for several proposals, and do not focus only on the price, because cheap can be expensive. Make sure you entrust this service to a consultancy or agency with experience and a solid methodology that guarantees a useful audit with high added value.