✍️ Website Audit
I provide comprehensive audits that dive deep into every aspect of your website’s performance, SEO health, and technical setup to uncover issues that may hinder your online growth. This process helps in identifying challenges and recommending solutions to improve your website’s ranking, user experience, and visibility.
Key Elements of a Website Audit:
1. Index Status
- Check if your site’s pages are indexed by Google using tools like Google Search Console. This ensures your content is discoverable. I use the command site:yourwebsite.com to check how many of your website’s pages are indexed and identify any pages with indexing issues.
- Not Found Pages (404 errors) are critical issues that need to be redirected to appropriate live pages. These could cause a drop in ranking if left unresolved.
2. Canonical Tags
Canonical tags are used to prevent duplicate content issues by ensuring search engines understand the original version of a webpage. I will review canonical tags through the page source to see if the correct page URL is being prioritized by search engines. For dynamic URLs generated by social media platforms or third-party sites, this is especially important.
3. Technical SEO Issues
- Using tools like Screaming Frog, I crawl your site to detect key technical issues. This covers:
- Title Tags: Ensure each page has unique, keyword-optimized title tags of optimal length.
- Meta Descriptions: Review and optimize meta descriptions to improve click-through rates on search engines.
- H1 Tags: There should be only one H1 per page, and it must be relevant and optimized for search intent.
4. Duplicate Content
Duplicate content, both internal and external, can negatively impact SEO. Tools like Copyscape and Siteliner help detect duplicates. I assess if your site has copied content from others or if pages within your site are duplicating themselves. Internal Duplicates often occur in headers and footers, which is normal, but a match percentage above 70% signals a problem.
5. Image Optimization
Large image file sizes (above 100kb) can slow down page load times, negatively impacting SEO. I recommend converting images to WebP format for better optimization. This reduces the load time without sacrificing image quality.
6. On-Page SEO Elements
Assess and optimize:
- Alt Tags: Ensure all images have descriptive alt text for accessibility and SEO purposes.
- Breadcrumbs: For easy navigation and SEO optimization. Breadcrumbs also enhance search visibility via schema markup.
- Internal Linking Structure: Analyze internal linking patterns to improve website navigation and authority distribution.
- Broken Links: I identify and fix any broken internal or external links to avoid a poor user experience.
7. Mobile Usability
I check your site’s mobile responsiveness, ensuring that it’s optimized for smaller screens, including proper text size, clickable links, and mobile-friendly navigation. With more users accessing sites via mobile, ensuring fast load speeds and usability is key to SEO success.
8. Schema Markup & Microformats
Structured data (schema) enhances how search engines read your site content. Using Google’s Rich Results Testing tool, I check if your site utilizes rich snippets like Breadcrumbs, Local Schema, or Product Markup to improve how your site appears on search engine result pages (SERPs).
9. Website Security
An SSL certificate is mandatory for SEO and user trust. I use tools like SSL Shopper to check if your site has a valid SSL certificate. Additionally, I ensure that there are no malware issues, as they can lead to search penalties and damage your reputation.
10. User Experience
Review your site’s usability, including elements like a visible & clickable phone number on the header, a customized 404 page, and a clear navigation menu. Simple design adjustments can significantly improve user engagement and conversion rates.
11. Loading Speed
Page speed is crucial. I assess both desktop and mobile load speeds using Google PageSpeed Insights and offer solutions to enhance them, such as reducing server response times, optimizing images, and minimizing CSS and JavaScript files.
Tools I Use for Website Audits:
- Screaming Frog: A powerful SEO crawler for auditing technical issues.
- Google Search Console: To track your website’s indexing status, crawling errors, and overall health.
- Copyscape: To detect external duplicates (copied content from other sites).
- Siteliner: For finding internal duplicate content.
- Ahrefs or SEMrush: To analyze your site’s backlink profile and identify areas for improvement.
- PageSpeed Insights: For checking site speed and offering optimization solutions.
Recommendations & Action Plans:
After the audit, I’ll deliver a report with actionable insights:
- Detailed findings and recommendations for improving your site’s technical and on-page SEO.
- Suggested fixes for issues related to titles, meta descriptions, broken links, duplicate content, image optimization, and more.
- A comprehensive action plan to implement these recommendations, ensuring ongoing optimization and growth.
For any questions or inquiries, feel free to contact Grace SEO Services. I’m here to help!