Performing a basic SEO website audit is like giving your site a health check—it helps you uncover areas that need improvement and ensures your website is optimized for search engines. Did you know that 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine, and 75% of users never scroll past the first page of results? Knowing how to perform a basic SEO audit for your website can help you identify issues that may be holding your site back from ranking higher. In this guide, we’ll walk you through simple steps to evaluate your website’s performance, fix common issues, and set the stage for better visibility and traffic.
What Is an SEO Audit?
An SEO audit is a detailed review of your website to check how well it’s optimized for search engines. Think of it as a report card for your site’s performance, helping you spot problems like slow loading pages, broken links, or missing keywords. By answering “What is an SEO audit?”, you can understand the steps needed to improve your site’s visibility on search engines like Google. A good SEO audit checklist includes analyzing technical issues, content quality, backlinks, and overall user experience to ensure your website meets search engine standards.
Step-by-Step Guide to Performing a Basic SEO Audit
Here is a step by step guide performing basic SEO audit, you can follow these steps and perform a complete SEO audit of a website.
Step 1: Analyze Website Performance:
The first step in conducting an SEO audit of a website is to analyze its overall performance. This means checking key factors like page loading speed, mobile responsiveness, and overall user experience. A slow or poorly performing site can drive visitors away and hurt your rankings. For a basic SEO website audit, focus on metrics like bounce rate, average session duration, and page speed.
To get started, you can use free tools for SEO audit like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Google Search Console. These tools provide detailed insights into your site’s performance and suggest ways to improve.
To analyze your website’s performance with Google PageSpeed Insights, follow these simple steps:
- Visit Google PageSpeed Insights.
- In the search bar, type in the URL of the website you want to analyze and click “Analyze.”
- Google will provide a score for both mobile and desktop versions of your site, along with performance metrics such as loading time, time to interactive, and other important factors.
- Google will highlight areas that need attention, like image optimization, caching, or minimizing JavaScript. These suggestions can help you improve your website’s speed and performance.
Step 2: Review On-Page SEO Elements:
The next step in your basic SEO website audit is to review your on-page SEO elements. These include critical components like title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and keyword optimization in your content. These elements help search engines understand what your pages are about and improve your chances of ranking higher.
To check these on-page elements, you can use free tools for SEO audit like Ubersuggest, MozBar, or Screaming Frog SEO Spider. These tools allow you to easily spot issues, such as missing or duplicate title tags, poorly optimized meta descriptions, and improperly structured headers. You can then address these issues based on your SEO audit checklist to ensure your site is fully optimized and search-engine-friendly.
Visit the Ubersuggest website: Go to Ubersuggest
- In the search bar, type your website’s URL and click “Search.”
- Once your website analysis is complete, click on the “Site Audit” tab from the left sidebar. This will give you a detailed overview of your site’s on-page SEO health.
- Ubersuggest will provide a score that shows how well your on-page SEO is performing. It will also display specific issues, such as missing title tags, meta descriptions, or header tags.
- The tool will give suggestions for improvements. These may include optimizing title tags, fixing broken links, or improving keyword usage. Follow the recommendations to improve your website’s on-page SEO.
Step 3: Evaluate Technical SEO:
In this step, you’ll focus on the technical SEO analysis of your website. This includes checking your site’s structure, indexing, and crawlability to ensure search engines can easily access and understand your content. Technical SEO is vital for improving your website’s overall visibility and performance. Start by checking if your website has an XML sitemap and robots.txt file. These help search engines know which pages to crawl and index. Next, ensure your site is mobile-friendly, has a secure HTTPS connection, and uses proper redirects (301 vs. 302).
To check these aspects, you can use Google Search Console for an in-depth look at your site’s health, indexing issues, and crawl errors. This tool will also show you how to fix common issues and improve the technical structure of your website.
- If you haven’t already, add your website to Google Search Console. Go to Google Search Console and follow the instructions to verify your site.
- In the left-hand menu, click on “Coverage.” This report will show you which pages are successfully indexed, which are excluded, and any errors or warnings preventing pages from being indexed.
- In the Coverage section, look for any crawl errors, such as 404 errors (page not found) or server issues. These need to be fixed to ensure search engines can properly index your content.
- Under the “Experience” section, click on “Mobile Usability.” This report will identify any mobile usability issues, like text being too small or clickable elements being too close together, which can affect user experience and rankings.
- In the left-hand menu, click on “Sitemaps.” Ensure that your XML sitemap is submitted correctly, and that all relevant pages are included.
- Google Search Console will also provide suggestions on how to fix any issues. After making improvements, monitor the performance reports to see how your site’s health and visibility improve over time.
Step 4: Conduct a Content Audit
A content audit is an essential part of any SEO audit of a website. It involves reviewing the content on your website to ensure it’s relevant, high-quality, and optimized for both users and search engines. This helps you identify pages that may need updating, repurposing, or removing.
Start by checking if your content aligns with user intent and contains the right keywords. Ensure that your articles and pages have clear, engaging titles, valuable information, and well-structured headers. Also, check for duplicate or thin content, which can negatively impact SEO performance. To make this process easier, use free tools for SEO audit like Screaming Frog or Ubersuggest. These tools allow you to crawl your site and get a list of all your pages, making it easier to spot underperforming content. For a basic SEO website audit, focus on the quality, length, and keyword optimization of each page.
To conduct a content audit using Screaming Frog, follow these steps:
- First, download Screaming Frog SEO Spider from their website and install it on your computer. The free version allows you to crawl up to 500 pages of your website.
- Open Screaming Frog, and in the search bar at the top, enter the URL of the website you want to audit. Click “Start” to begin crawling the site.
- Once the crawl is complete, you’ll see a list of all the pages on your website. You can filter through the data to find key metrics like title tags, meta descriptions, headers, word count, and status codes.
- Use the “Duplicate” tab to find pages with duplicate content or missing title tags and meta descriptions. Look at the “Content” tab to identify pages with very low word counts, which could be considered thin content.
- Once you’ve reviewed the crawl data, you can export the results into an Excel sheet for further analysis. This will help you keep track of any content that needs to be updated, improved, or removed.
- After identifying any issues, make the necessary updates on your website. This could involve rewriting or enhancing content, updating titles and descriptions, or removing outdated pages.
Step 5: Assess Backlinks and Domain Authority:
Backlinks are important for SEO, signaling trust and authority to search engines. To assess your backlinks, use tools like Ahrefs, Moz, or Ubersuggest to identify the quality and quantity of links pointing to your site. Focus on acquiring high-quality, relevant backlinks and removing harmful ones.
Also, check your domain authority (DA), which predicts how well your site can rank. Tools like Moz’s Link Explorer or Ahrefs can help. In your basic SEO website audit, improving your backlink profile and increasing domain authority will strengthen your site’s rankings.
To assess backlinks and domain authority using Ubersuggest, follow these steps:
Visit Ubersuggest: Go to Ubersuggest
- In the search bar, type your website’s URL and select your country, then click “Search.”
- Once the analysis is complete, scroll down and click on the “Backlinks” tab. This will show you all the backlinks pointing to your site.
- Ubersuggest will categorize backlinks by quality. Look for links from high-authority websites and identify any potentially harmful links that could impact your SEO.
- Ubersuggest also provides an overview of your domain authority score, indicating how likely your website is to rank on search engines. A higher score generally means better ranking potential.
- Regularly monitor your backlinks and domain authority in Ubersuggest to ensure that your website’s link profile improves over time.
Also Read: How much should small businesses spend on SEO?
Step 6: Review Local SEO (If Applicable):
For businesses targeting a specific geographic area, optimizing for local SEO is crucial. Start by ensuring your Google My Business (GMB) listing has accurate and consistent NAP (name, address, phone) information. Next, include local keywords in your website content, meta tags, and descriptions. Tools like Ubersuggest or Moz Local can help track local search rankings. In your basic SEO website audit, focus on gaining local backlinks, gathering reviews, and optimizing for location-based searches to improve your local visibility.
To review and optimize your Google My Business (GMB) listing, follow these steps:
- If you haven’t already, claim your business on Google My Business. After claiming, Google will ask you to verify your business through a postcard, phone call, or email.
- Fill out every section of your GMB profile, including business name, address, phone number (NAP), hours of operation, and website URL. Make sure the information is accurate and consistent with what appears on your website and other directories.
- Upload high-quality photos of your business, products, and services. Listings with images tend to attract more attention. You can also upload videos to showcase your business.
- Request reviews from your customers and respond to them. Positive reviews build credibility and improve your local rankings. Make sure to reply to both positive and negative reviews to engage with your audience.
- In your business description and posts, include local keywords that potential customers might use to find your services. This helps improve visibility in local search results.
- Use the Posts feature in GMB to share updates, promotions, events, or news related to your business. This keeps your listing fresh and engaging for users.
Tools to Simplify Your SEO Audit:
- Google Analytics
- Google Search Console
- Ubersuggest
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider
- Ahrefs
- Moz Pro
- SEMrush
- Yoast SEO
- GTmetrix
- Google PageSpeed Insights
- Bing Webmaster Tools
- Majestic
- BuzzSumo
- SpyFu
- Google My Business
Common Mistakes to Avoid During an SEO Audit
- Ensure your website is mobile-friendly. A basic SEO website audit should check for mobile responsiveness, as mobile-friendliness is crucial for ranking.
- Slow-loading pages can hurt rankings. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to measure and improve load times during your SEO audit of a website.
- Don’t forget to optimize meta tags, headers, and content. In your How to Perform a Basic SEO Audit for Your Website, make sure on-page elements are in check.
- Failing to include relevant keywords can limit SEO performance. Make sure your basic SEO website audit includes a thorough keyword review.
- Backlinks play a significant role. Ensure you review backlinks and assess their quality during your SEO audit of a website.
- Broken links harm both user experience and SEO. Fix any broken internal and external links as part of your audit process.
Conclusion:
Doing a basic SEO website audit is an important step to make sure your website works well for both users and search engines. By using a clear SEO audit checklist, you can spot areas that need fixing and improve your site’s performance. Learning how to perform a basic SEO audit for your website can help you find new ways to grow online. A good SEO audit of a website gives you the tools to stay ahead and keep your website visible and successful.
FAQS
What is the best tool for an SEO audit?
The best tool depends on your needs; popular choices include Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Screaming Frog for comprehensive audits.
How often should I perform an SEO audit?
Perform an SEO audit every 3–6 months to ensure your website stays optimized and competitive in search rankings.
Can I do an SEO audit without paid tools?
Yes, you can use free tools for SEO audit like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Ubersuggest for a basic audit.
