Undoubtedly, it’s the game of ranking now. I am sure you would agree as a higher ranking on search engine results can give your website all the visibility it requires to rise and shine. The only way to achieve a better ranking is by developing an SEO strategy that has the potential to bring all the recognition to your website that it requires. But how can you be sure that the said SEO strategy is producing the required outcomes?
How can you be sure that you are making the best out of it? Well, this is where the website fstraSEO audit checklist~~ kicks in.It helps you comprehend both strengths and weaknesses. It gives you an insight into the areas of your website that need your attention to resolve these technical issues that might be hindering your search engine results ranking.
15 steps to create your SEO website audit checklist 2023
Here, we have formulated some comprehensive yet straightforward ways to create an ultimate SEO website audit checklist that can help you strengthen your SEO game.
Check how many versions of the website are live and index-able
Here are something that might be pretty interesting to you. Your website might have various versions that are indexed by search engines. For example, for Google, the following URLs of the same website are entirely different:
- http://www.xyz.com
- http:// xyz.com
- https://www.xyz.com
- https://xyz.com
- https://www.xyz.com/
- https//xyz.com/
Commonly, the above-given URLs might be the same, but for search engines, they are different. So, in your SEO audit, must check these points. There must be only one live version of the website. If there are multiple versions available, put either canonical tags or redirect different URLs to one single version.
Robots.txt file analysis
Let me give you a brief definition if you might be wondering what the robots.txt file is. Robots.txt file indicates and guides the search engines about which web page/folder to index and which one should be left. It’s essential for your website’s privacy that the search engine cannot access some pages of your website. It is the first file that is crawled by any search engine on the website.
Therefore, analyzing your robots.txt files is a super important part of your SEO audit. First, you must have a clear idea of whether the robots.txt file is present and, if yes, which search engines can crawl the website. Also, one must be informed which folders are non-indexable and cannot be accessed by the search engine.
XML sitemap analysis
As its name indicates, an XML sitemap analysis is like a roadmap. It guides the search engine to all the essential pages of your website. Therefore, XML sitemaps are essential as they assist the search engine to access the critical pages quite swiftly and efficiently. Therefore, XML sitemaps analysis is taken as a necessary part of the SEO audit checklist. A comprehensive SEO strategy requires regular sitemap analysis to check whether all the critical web pages are present in the sitemap or not.
Mobile-friendly test
Right mobile SEO plan is crucial for the ranking of your website. Does it sound a little exaggerating? Well, not. You know why because more than 60 percent of Google users use mobile to search about particular things online. Also, you will be astonished to know that Google now prioritizes the mobile version of your website.
So if you are not able to provide them with an efficient and effective mobile-friendly experience, you might be in danger of losing them altogether. So running a mobile-friendly test for your website is a must entry in your ultimate SEO audit checklist. Mobile-friendliness tests can be done by Google’s mobile testing tool. All you have to do is enter your website in the tool, and it will let you know if your website is optimized correctly for mobile users or not.
Check the website’s responsiveness.
A responsive website looks seamless on all devices. Its web layout is designed so that it gives its users an interactive experience irrespective of the device or browsers they are using. It’s a significant factor in the audit checklist and affects your rating big time. So it would be best if you never ignored it at any cost. Checking website responsiveness gives you a clear picture of whether your website is displaying in the same way on all devices and browsers or does changes in screen resolution affect it.
Check out for server errors (5XX)
The error codes categorized under the 5XX category are usually related to the server. They indicate that something that is up with the server needs to be fixed. For example, if anyone wants to visit your website, the browser they are using sends a request to your website’s server. And if there are some issues with the server, usually 5XX errors are returned. Server errors can affect your SEO strategy in one way, or another, which is why it should be your priority to checkout for these errors and resolve them completely.
Broken link (4XX) analysis
Broken links are never a good thing. As they severely affect your user experience. Also, search engines, especially Google, are not oblivious of the broken links on your website. So analyzing broken links and fixing them makes your SEO audit more comprehensive. You can identify your broken links by index report on the Google search console. Also, various tools can help you find broken internal and external links. Once you have identified them, it’s a lot simpler for you to resolve the issue and get your webpages backup pretty swiftly.
Check the configuration of Google Analytics and Search Console.
Google Analytics is a powerful tool. It can give you insights into how well your website is working and track your traffic efficiently. Similarly, Search Console will help you to get up to date with clicks and impressions against different queries on your website. So, it is important to check whether both Google Analytics and Google Search Console are properly configured with the website.
Check out Meta description optimization.
Optimization of your Meta descriptions can contribute significantly to better rankings. So it won’t be wrong to say that it should never miss your SEO audit checklist. You must regularly check if all your meta descriptions are well optimized.. Meta descriptions of important pages help in improving the CTR of your website.
Content analysis
Content analysis is another factor that is crucial in SEO audit. SEO is greatly dependent on good quality content. And if you are not providing that to your users, you might lose them irrecoverably. It is why updating your content by making it more attractive and informative for your users is simply crucial. The content analysis doesn’t require a lot of effort. Just having an attentive eye on the quality of content, looking out for duplicate and thin content on your web pages etc. can highly improve the quality of your content
Website load speed analysis
In this fast pacing multiverse, who likes to wait? No one. Also, Google has confirmed various times that your website load speed is a ranking factor. So how can you ignore it? To analyze your website load speed, the first thing you need to do is run a speed website load time test. This test can give you a clear picture of dragging things down.
Check image optimization
Image optimization might seem insignificant, but in reality, it’s not. Image optimization involves developing perfect images in format, size, resolution, etc. It should also be labeled in a competent manner that helps the search engines crawlers understand their context completely. Therefore, checking the optimization of your website images can bring out many positive changes for you. In an SEO audit, you must check whether all images alt tags are properly optimized or not.
Look for opportunity keywords.
Opportunity keywords are keywords that might be helpful for your business. You can find out through comprehensive keyword search from different keyword research tools and also from keywords on which competitors are ranking. So identifying these keywords can be very opportunistic for your rankings. So always look out for them as they can be a simple and easy way to multiply your organic traffic.
Competitor analysis
Keeping a keen eye on your competitors will bring you nothing but positivity. it is why competitor analysis makes it to our SEO audit checklist 2023. You can start competitor analysis by simple steps like looking for the keywords they are using and checking out the pages they are ranking on, their backlinks, etc. Having a clear idea of your competitor’s strategies can help you up to your SEO game.
Backlink analysis
Backlinks analysis helps you evaluate and identify the number of websites that provide a link back to your website. Quality backlinks are undoubtedly a backbone of a strong SEO roadmap strategy. So analyzing your backlinks, improving their quality and quantity regularly, looking out for any broken backlinks, etc., will significantly strengthen your SEO power.
Final thoughts
If you want your website to make a mark, you need a comprehensive SEO plan. And to check the credibility of that plan and evaluate its performance, you need a complete SEO website audit checklist. The above-mentioned simple steps make a kickass SEO audit checklist, and we are very sure that it can help you boost your website SEO performance in no time.
