One thing that I do when I first start working with a client is I run an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) audit. Your SEO score tells you how easy it is for potential customers to find you in search engine results and provides metrics for the usability and accessibility of your website. I provide basic SEO audits as a free service, so clients can seed the data and understand this foundational aspect of their digital infrastructure. So if you’ve been asking yourself, “Do I need an SEO audit,” this is your sign to book one!
Recently I did a couple of scans for businesses with absolutely beautiful websites. Visually, the sites were attractive, modern, smooth – they were lovely. One of them was also relatively new.
Looking at these websites as a business owner, one could assume these websites were doing the job they were built to do, bringing in new customers and providing the appropriate information to support conversions. Unfortunately, the data did not agree.
If your website isn’t performing how you want it to, consider having an SEO audit to make sure everything is working correctly on the backend of your website. Here are a few signs it’s time for an SEO audit.
What is an SEO Audit?
An SEO audit looks at numerous factors, many of which are focused on website infrastructure. These are factors that impact whether devices can load the site pages, whether the site is usable on different devices, and – very importantly – does Google understand the information on the website and see it as a quality resource when customers are searching for your product or service online?
If you take your car to the mechanic, they don’t care how shiny the paint is. They want to look under the hood and assess the engine.
When we looked under the hood in these two websites, the SEO audit data revealed a number of key issues that were barriers to usability and accessibility, particularly on mobile. Additionally, there were several red flags related to content infrastructure that makes Google less likely to list these sites in search results.
Without strong SEO, your website can become a barrier to customer growth.
92% of search engine result clicks happen on the first ten links of a search result.
If you’re not showing up on those top links, you are not in front of your potential customers online.
Two things I tell clients regularly:
- You can have a beautiful modern website that’s not serving your business.
- It’s really important to have regular SEO audits, for this reason.
6 Signs You Need an SEO Audit
Wondering, ‘Do I need an SEO audit?’ If you’re experiencing any of the below, it’s time to book one.
- Declining Website Traffic: Sudden or gradual drops in organic traffic.
- Low Conversion Rates: High traffic but low sales or leads.
- Outdated SEO Practices: Using SEO tactics that are no longer effective or even penalized by search engines.
- Slow Website Performance: Page load issues that affect user experience.
- Competitors Outranking You: Losing visibility to competitors on search engines.
- No Mobile Responsiveness: User experience varies based on the device they use to access your website.
If it’s been over a year since you revisited your SEO strategy or looked at your analytics, you definitely need an SEO audit.
Benefits of an SEO Audit
All businesses can benefit from an SEO audit, especially if it’s been a while! After receiving a thorough assessment from our team, you’ll have everything you need to get your site up to speed.
These are some of the benefits our clients have seen after implementing our recommendations:
- Improved Search Rankings: Identifying and fixing issues that prevent your site from ranking higher.
- Enhanced User Experience: Making your site easier to navigate and more engaging for people.
- Better ROI on Content: Ensuring your content reaches the right audience.
You can see these same results! Contact us to schedule your free SEO audit today.
If you find yourself with a low SEO score – Don’t Panic.
There are a number of things that can be done to begin elevating your score. A quality SEO audit will give you actionable steps you can take to address the issues.
To raise your SEO score, you might need to:
- Add SEO titles and meta descriptions to your pages
- Update or add page headings
- Review or create a backlink strategy
- Increase word count
- Update title tags
- Fix broken links
- Update the focus keyword
- Reduce the size of your images
- Refresh or add new content
All of these things can make a significant impact on your website search ability and I’ve developed a free website SEO tool to help you with this.
If the SEO audit reveals challenges with your website usability or accessibility, you will probably need to connect with a website developer for support. These issues can include slow page load times or poor formatting when the page loads on a mobile device. These are bigger challenges to address, but an SEO audit can identify these issues so you know where to focus your investment.
Request a free SEO audit
Before you invest in marketing, ask yourself, ‘Do I need an SEO audit?’ to ensure your website is fully optimized. There’s no point in driving traffic to a website that isn’t serving your audience!
If you haven’t done an SEO audit on your website for a while, even if it’s a brand new site, it’s time to run the scan! Reach out to our team and request a free SEO audit. We will run a report for you and help you unpack the results and recommendations.
