With top free SEO tools like Ahrefs Backlink Checker, you can research your competitors’ backlink strategies and identify link-building opportunities for your site. Ready to conduct a competitor analysis but don’t know which tools you can use to check website traffic? For example, a page providing instructions for how to tie a friendship bracelet that’s missing instructional images and essential keywords will rank poorly. Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool includes a page experience factor that considers both page load speeds and UX. If your site has long loading times, visitors may become frustrated and navigate away from your page to seek a better experience from competitors. SEO and online presence are deeply interconnected, so improving site performance is a bit of a circular challenge.

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The issue is that many times a 404 page is not useful for users, and it is not useful for search engines. When looking at the results of your website crawl, find any 404 pages that are linked from your content. Regardless of your business, industry or niche, a great process to have in your arsenal is mastering an SEO audit. Even if it’s a minimal, quick process or full-scale audit, the results are sure to pay off.

seo audit

The fastest way to check whether you’ve been hit by an update is to plug your URL into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer and see if any traffic drops align with an update. Once you’ve authorized with Google, selected your site, and clicked Import, the audit will start. To do this, start by heading to Site Audit, click on + New project, and allow Ahrefs to authorize your account. It’s recommended to perform an SEO audit at least once every 3 to 6 months, but if your website undergoes significant changes or sees traffic drops, a more frequent audit is necessary. Make sure your main menu is clear, and that important pages are easily accessible.

A more likely scenario, if you have duplicate content, is that it’s happening unintentionally. Given the above section on types of SEO audits, we’ve compiled a checklist for a pretty well-rounded SEO audit that incorporates technical, off-page, and on-page SEO. Generally speaking, to perform and SEO audit, you need a good checklist and proper SEO tools. That means maximizing your visibility in the search results of Google and other search engines is essential. Use “red shoes” or variations of this keyword in the anchor text of any internal links pointing to that page. While not directly influencing rankings, meta descriptions remain an important part of SEO.

The most important thing for Google is that its users find what they are looking for. A well-structured website is easier for both users and search engines to navigate. By analyzing your site with an SEO tool, you gain a clear understanding of what needs to be done to improve your ranking on Google. Many tools are out there, and they help you with different elements of the SEO audit at different levels of expertise. Neglecting SEO audits result in missed opportunities, declining traffic, and loss of potential customers. Staying proactive makes sure your site remains aligned with search engine guidelines and user expectations.

  • Since websites are ever-changing, it’s easy to miss best practice elements that can help to move your results forward.
  • Screaming Frog is a powerful and widely-used SEO tool that crawls and analyzes websites to provide insights into various aspects of on-page and technical SEO.
  • Use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to identify pages that have lost rankings.
  • Want to know how an SEO audit keeps you ahead of competitors and how to perform a complete SEO audit?
  • That means we’ll work to keep this audit checklist up-to-date as SEO changes, so be sure to check back for new updates.

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seo audit

Before you partner with an agency for an SEO audit, discuss their implementation rates. It won’t provide your team with an exact price, but it offers a general idea of what implementation could cost — and if it aligns with your budget. For example, an expedited SEO audit for a 100-page site could have double the cost of an expedited audit for a 50-page website. In comparison, a larger agency can handle a much higher workload. They have enough team members, which allows the agency to charge a lower rate for their services. The experience of the agency, however, can offset these decreases.

seo audit

Eventually, I discovered that a word revealed a link at the bottom of the browser tab and the rest is history. This approach led to a complete recovery of the site’s performance. This not only improved time-on-page and bounce rates but also sent stronger engagement signals to Google. We kept an eye on newly found spammy backlinks for a few months, while focusing on BHS Links building high-quality backlinks by reaching out to reputable sites within the client’s niche. Disavowing the harmful links and reaching out to webmasters to remove them was tedious but effective. The real game-changer, though, was focusing on creating genuinely helpful content that matched search intent and naturally attracted high-quality links.

seo audit

Over time, these efforts resulted in improved keyword visibility and organic traffic recovery. It was a clear example of how addressing content credibility can turn a content devaluation into an opportunity for growth. Meanwhile, shift your focus to creating value—whether that’s through blogs, tools, or interactive content. Consistency in quality over time is your best ally for regaining rankings and trust.

In today’s SEO world, you require at least 500 words to be visible. Your article needs to provide value to the reader, to be unique, to have LSI keywords, it needs to have proper grammar and to read well. In this case, the owner of the website tries to rank for the same keyword from different pages.

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