Ah, the timeless art of SEO, where one must navigate the labyrinth of search engine algorithms like a digital Odysseus. Let's delve into the intricacies of running an SEO audit, shall we? Because, as we all know, in the vast ocean of the internet, a website without SEO might as well be a ship without a compass.
Why bother with an SEO audit, you ask? Well, only the brave dare to ignore the ever-shifting tides of digital marketing. SEO is not a static endeavor; it’s a perpetual dance with Google’s ever-evolving algorithms. After all, in the fast-paced world of the internet, if you're not moving forward, you're probably getting left behind.
Remember the days when the internet was a quaint little village, and everyone accessed it from their trusty desktop computers? Ah, nostalgia. Fast forward to the present, and we find ourselves in a world where mobile reigns supreme. If your website isn’t optimized for the palm-sized screens of today, well, you might as well be sending smoke signals.
And let’s not forget the importance of loading speed. In a world where patience is as scarce as a unicorn sighting, a sluggish website is the digital equivalent of a snail race. So, unless you enjoy watching potential visitors abandon ship faster than you can say "page load," it might be wise to ensure your site loads faster than a speeding bullet.
Ah, Google, the benevolent overlord of the internet. With its ever-watchful eye and complex algorithms, it’s like playing chess with a grandmaster who also happens to be a supercomputer. If you’re not keeping up with Google’s latest algorithmic acrobatics, well, good luck trying to outmaneuver the competition.
So, who needs to run these audits, you ask? Well, anyone with a website and a modicum of digital savvy, really. Because in a world where visibility is key, ignorance is most definitely not bliss.
But before you embark on your SEO audit odyssey, a word of caution: there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Like a fine wine, an SEO audit takes time to mature, and rushing through it is about as wise as chugging said wine straight from the bottle.
And as for tools, well, let’s just say there’s no shortage of shiny gadgets promising to make your SEO audit a breeze. But like any good detective, you’ll still need to roll up your sleeves and do some old-fashioned sleuthing.
And finally, the mobile-friendly check. Because in a world where smartphones are practically extensions of our hands, ignoring mobile optimization is like trying to swim upstream in a river of iPhones.
So, there you have it, folks. The world of SEO audits, where the stakes are high, the algorithms are complex, and the rewards are... well, let’s just say they’re worth the effort.
SEO META in 1-Click Plug-In for Chrome: If you want to display the page title of a single page, this plug-in is enough for now. For example, it is useful for an SEO audit that is only intended for one URL.
Google Search Console: This Google tool can show you duplicate, missing, or overly short meta descriptions. To do this, click “Display in search,” then “HTML improvements.” The incorrect page titles can be downloaded directly as an Excel spreadsheet.
Although the meta-description is not relevant for ranking, it can positively influence the click rate in SERPs. Google can use meta-descriptions for snippets in the SERPs. Thus, this meta element is one of the first components of your website that a user sees during a web search.
Does each URL have an individual meta description?
Have I exhausted the maximum length of over 250 characters per description?
Does the meta-description contain the central keyword of the target page?
Does the meta-description contain a call to action?
Tools to help you control the meta-description:
Ryte: The Website Success module shows you existing meta-descriptions and can identify short or missing description texts.
Google Search Console: Like with the title, the GSC lets you search for URLs with duplicate or overly short meta descriptions. You also can find the report in Ryte under “HTML Improvements.“
Check headline structure, especially the H1 tags
With the help of headlines, you can tailor your URLs’ con- tent for users and search engines alike. Users can capture content better and faster using headlines, and the same applies to Google headlines which are created in content as H-tags. The H1 heading is particularly important. It is the central heading of the target page and should only be used once on each URL.
Is there only one H1 heading?
Have the H-tags been inserted in chronologically descending order?
Are H-tags used exclusively for formatting headlines, but not for formatting other layout elements?
ALT attributes: What is displayed without a picture?
ALT attributes are displayed if a browser cannot display images for technical reasons. For example, screen readers for the blind use these texts. Therefore, ALT attributes are an important element of your website in terms of accessibility and alternative displaying of images. In addition, the texts
of ALT attributes strengthen the keyword focus of a target page.
Thus, check whether all graphics on your pages use ALT attributes.
Are there URLs without ALT attributes?
Does the ALT attribute contain a relevant keyword?
Check URLs: Length, structure, and coding
Length, structure, and letters in the URL can help users share URLs or enter them into a browser easily. Erroneous URLs can lead to an accumulation of error pages and nega- tively affect the user experience.
For this reason, you should take a closer look at your URLs. In principle, Google also can read longer URLs, with over 1,000 characters, but for usability, it makes sense to keep URLs as short as possible.
Are my URLs as short as possible?
Do I use talking URLs?
Do I avoid session IDs?
Are there any special characters in my URLs? Is the encoding of my URLs correct?
Nothing can interfere more when surfing the web than a website that loads very slowly. This is also not a good sign for Google and for shop operators; very millisecond more loading time means a loss in sales. That makes it all the more important that your website has the appropriate load- ing speed.
The loading time of a web page should be kept to a mini- mum and can be influenced by many factors.
Check if loading times of important pages are too long
How long is the time “Time to first byte”? Are large CSS/JS/HTML files compressed? Are image sizes optimized?
Canonical Tags: Are they used correctly?
With the help of canonical tags, you can show Google that there is an “original page” for the same content on different URLs. Google then uses the canonical URL for indexing
and ignores the other one. This prevents duplicate content. However, if the canonical tag is implemented incorrectly, duplicate content remains and cannibalizes your site in SERPs.
Does the canonical tag point to itself?
Does the canonical tag contain an absolute URL, not a relative URL?
Is only one canonical tag implemented per URL?
Does the canonical tag point to a page tagged with noindex or redirect?
Step 3: Check Your On-Page Elements 31
Pagination: Are the tags implemented correctly?
Pagination can be used to tell Google that a series of pages will follow. Google pays particular attention to the first page of this series. The HTML tags “rel=next” and “rel=prev” are used for this.
Does “rel=prev” or “rel=next” point to a page with noindex?
Does the canonical tag always refer to the page itself when paginating?
STEP 4: Monitor Your Rankings 32
Using the rankings of your page in Google search re- sults, you can control the success, as well as the errors, of your optimization measures. Thus, strong ranking losses can indicate technical errors or inadequate content.
To be vigilant for possible errors, it is important to check your rankings, which particularly depend on changes. Therefore, you should always look at your URLs’ rank- ings regularly.
To control SERP rankings, you can use both the GSC and Ryte Search Success, which uses 100% real Google data.
Were there major ranking fluctuations within three months?
Are there significant ranking losses compared with last year?
Did you make any changes to your website before the ranking losses? If so, which ones?
Were links to your website set up before the ranking changes?
Has content been removed or added?
STEP 5: Evaluate Your Content
If you have too many ad blocks on your site, you should reduce them.
Make sure your ads add value for your users.
Check whether the section “above the fold” can be read without advertising.
Content plays a central role in how your website is ranked in search results. It should be unique and provide added value for your site’s users.
Check the relationship between content and advertising
If your website contains ads, you should ensure that they do not take up a disproportionate amount of space, which can lead to lower Google rankings.
In the GSC you can check whether the balance between your non-ad con- tent and ad content on your website is reasonable. Use the Ads-to-Content Ratio function in the GSC’s “Web Tools” section.
The keyword focus ensures that all relevant content elements are aligned with the central keyword of the target page, which forms the page’s thematic focus.
Does the page title contain the main keyword? Does the H1 heading contain the main keyword?
Can the central keyword be found in the meta-description?
Is there a main keyword in the body text?
Are synonyms of the main keyword used in the subheadlines?
Do ALT tags contain the main keyword?
Did you use the main keyword in the URL?
Do you have any instances of keyword cannibalization?
Check individual pages for duplicate content
Duplicate content always exists when the same content is accessible under different URLs. Duplicate content can mean that search engines can no longer determine exactly which URL in your domain is more relevant, which can lead to keyword cannibalism in SERPs. Google then must weigh your URLs and decide which one best fits the re- spective request. This means that a less-important URL could receive high priority, and users could end up looking at a page that does not contain the information they are supposed to see.
Set up 301 redirects to avoid duplicate content when browsing your site with or without www.
Add noindex and nofollow to pages that only offer thin content or nearly duplicate content.
Use pagination to show Google that this is a list of pages.
Use the canonical tag to link Google to the canonical page for the same content.
STEP 5: Evaluate Your Content 36
Perform a TF*IDF analysis of individual pages
The goal of any content optimization should be to create the best, most unique content on your topic with the greatest added value for your website’s users. A TF*IDF analysis can help you easily create value-adding content for your website.
TF*IDF is a formula that determines the relative frequen- cy of a word within a document. A TF*IDF analysis helps you determine whether your target page contains the key terms related to the focus keyword. The result of a TF*IDF analysis can be used to determine the quality
of the written content from the perspective of a search engine.
With Ryte Content Success, you can perform a TF*IDF analysis on any URL.
TF*IDF analysis is only an orientation for content opti- mization. Your text can follow the curve, but should be well-structured, easy to read and offer added value.
With the help of the TF*IDF analysis, you can determine possible missing terms that strengthen your target page’s topic relevance.
Content is not just text. When optimizing content, pay attention to appealing and thematically suitable images, videos, information graphics, etc.
STEP 6: Optimize Site Architecture and Internal Links
Optimize Your Site Architecture and Internal Links
Web-page architecture and internal links are important for the “blood circulation” of your website. This ensures that the link juice is distributed evenly on the website.
How many links should there be on my URL?
The more internal links you find on a page, the less the link force that a single link can distribute to other URLs on your page. Additionally, a large number of internal links on a page makes Googlebot crawl the page even deeper, using up the crawl budget faster.
Check the horizontal and vertical link structure
To ensure that the link force is optimally distributed across all your website’s directories and pages, internal links should be set systematically, e.g., based on menus or content. For Google, the relevance of a subpage also can be strengthened by ensuring that as many internal links as possible always refer to it with the same link text.
Is the home page linked to all important category pages?
Are there links from product pages to the thematically relevant category pages?
Horizontal link structure:
Are there links from category pages to other relevant category pages?
Are there links from product pages to other thematically suitable product pages?
STEP 6: Optimize Site Architecture and Internal Links 38
Check internal links in footer and content
By linking your subpages to the same link text, you ensure that the relevance of these target pages for Google is strengthened. In your SEO audit, you should check the internal links in the footer and content.
Do links from the content refer to other topic-rel- evant subpages?
Are the same link texts always used for internal links to the same subpages?
Are the anchor texts in the footer correct?
Are there larger link blocks instead of meaningful and user-friendly navigation?
STEP 7: Update Status Codes and Link Forwarding
Correct status codes and working redirects lead to a better user experience.
Perform a URL status-code check
When a client makes a request to a server, the server should output the status code “200 OK.” If the page is no longer available, the status code is “404 not found.” You can easily find the status codes of your pages with an SEO software, like Ryte. Go to the Status Code report in Ryte to get an overview of all of the status codes on your site.
Is a correct error page displayed for status code “404”?
Are there current server errors (5xx codes)?
Do most of your URLs deliver a status code of “200 OK”?
If a website can be accessed both with “www” and without “www,” duplicate content exists, i.e., the same content can be accessed with different URLs. To avoid duplicate content in this case, you should set up a 301 redirect that redirects from one URL version to the desired one. For this purpose, an entry can be made in the htaccess file, which forces the server to forward the URL.
Are all 301 redirects working?
If 301 redirects already have been set on your site, you should check them during the SEO audit to ensure they work correctly, i.e., that users will see the correct page when a URL is redirected. At the same time, forwarding is important for Google because it gives the search en- gine the URL it wants, then indexes it. In addition, page rank is forwarded from the “old” URL to the “new” URL with 301 redirects. Redirects are best found with an SEO software like Ryte. Ryte shows you all of your redirects in the “Redirects” report.
Is your website accessible with “www,” as well as without “www”?
Can you access your website with both “https” and “http”?
Are there any forwarding chains?
Are the 301 redirects working?
Is the page redirected to the correct one?
STEP 8: Technique, Scripts, and Coding
Technique, Scripts, and Coding
Scripts and technology can directly influence your website’s performance. For example, too many scripts can reduce load speed. It is also possible that when using the “wrong” technol- ogy, some users may not be able to access your entire site.
Where and how is JavaScript integrated?
With the help of JavaScript (JS), your website’s functionality can be increased enormously. At the same time, the scripts are mostly used for tracking user behavior. Check where Java code is implemented and if it works at all during the SEO audit.
You can use the GSC to access individual pages on your website. The tool shows you whether problems occur when rendering the page and whether JS files are affect- ing page structure or loading.
Is JavaScript used for content output?
Where are the JS files? At the beginning or end of the source code?
Do JavaScripts prevent pages from loading?
Do I use iframes, and if so, where?
With iframes, you can load content from other websites onto your website. For example, YouTube videos are often integrated via iframe.
Are there Flash elements?
Animated web content can be created with the help of Flash. However, Adobe will stop supporting Flash at the end of 2020. Since 2016, the Flash plug-in is no longer integrated into Google Chrome by default, as it often has led to security problems. Thus, you always should consider whether you want to continue using Flash.
Is content integrated via iframe? What content is delivered via iframe?
Are the iframes used really necessary, and do they offer the user added value?
Is Flash only used for individual elements or for the entire website?
Do Flash elements hinder the performance of the site?
Can Flash content be implemented with other technical solutions?
When websites are designed for international visitors
in different languages or for different countries, some special aspects need to be considered to ensure that Google indexes the content correctly and assigns it to the respective nation/language.
STEP 9: Internationalization
Are there country- or language-specific URLs?
URLs should be aligned with country- or -language specif- ic URLs to accommodate other languages/countries. For example, language/country versions can be clarified by using directories named with nations’ abbreviations. The URL’s language also should change. You can do these exams “by hand,” usually without any special tools.
Does the URL language also change when you select a different language version?
Have the country versions been stored in the GSC?
Have currencies or units been adjusted to the respective country?
Are hreflang tags implemented correctly?
Hreflang tags help Google correctly assign your website to a country and/or language. For the assignment to work smoothly, hreflang and rel=alternate must be integrated correctly.
With the GSC, you can check whether Google correctly assigns the target country or the language of your website. To do this, click on the tool in the section “Search queries ->International alignment.”
Are the hreflang tags implemented correctly? Do the pages have an rel=alternate reference? Are the language/country codes correct?
Are language versions forwarded correctly?
An SEO audit consists of many small steps that provide a thorough profile of your website’s health. The more detailed your report is, the better individual optimization measures can be derived from it.
Therefore, take enough time for your SEO audit. In addition, perform page checks at regular intervals. This is the only way to determine whether your website has made progress or whether there is a need for further action.
