Why SEO Audit Can Make or Break
Your Organic Search Performance

Author: Shei Wah, TAN

There is a reason why a high-quality SEO audit is not free.

Imagine going to a doctor consulting for a diagnosis concerning the pain you’ve experienced. As a person who values health above all else, the doctor’s expertise in diagnosing your health concern is your top priority. Your doctor will advise a series of tests to help correctly diagnose the cause of pain or discomfort.

Our SEO team adopts the same idea or principle whenever a prospective client asks us to do SEO work. An SEO audit is like a health check-up for your website, where we assess its performance, identify any issues, and optimise it for better search engine rankings.

In addition, an SEO audit is not just about fixing broken links or adding keywords; it’s about creating a holistic strategy that aligns with your business goals. Therefore, to successfully run an SEO campaign, we recommend hiring an SEO expert to help you conduct a proper SEO audit and identify opportunities for online business growth.

Furthermore, SEO audit might not be a life and death experience like the doctor diagnosing your health problem, but starting your SEO campaign with a poor SEO audit is detrimental to your overall organic search performance.

In this blog post, we’ll dive deep into everything you need to know about an SEO audit, from why it matters to how to conduct one effectively.

We’ve gathered insights from various members of our SEO team to put this whole blog post together. So, whether you’re a business owner, a marketer, or a web developer, read on to learn how to take your website’s SEO to the next level.

Benefits of Conducting a Proper SEO Audit

An SEO audit is a comprehensive evaluation of your website’s performance and optimisation for search engines. An SEO audit aims to identify issues and areas for improvement and develop an actionable strategy to optimise your website for better search engine rankings.

Why does this matter to businesses and website owners? Well, search engines are the primary way people discover new websites and content online.

According to a study by Advanced Web Ranking, the first five results on Google’s search engine results pages receive 67.6% of all clicks. It means that if your website is not ranking well in search engine results, you’re missing out on significant potential traffic and customers.

Another reason an SEO audit matters to businesses and website owners is that it can help you achieve your business goals. Whether you aim to increase website traffic, generate leads, or boost sales, a well-executed SEO strategy can help you achieve those objectives.

If you still need convincing about the importance of an SEO audit, we’ve listed four benefits of conducting a high-quality SEO audit.

a. Improve search engine visibility and rankings

One of the most significant benefits of conducting an SEO audit is improving your website’s search engine visibility and rankings. By making the necessary improvements to your website, you can increase its relevance and authority in the eyes of search engines, resulting in higher rankings and greater visibility.

For instance, improving your website’s on-page elements, such as meta tags, headers, and internal linking, can enhance your website’s relevance and help search engines understand what your website is all about. Similarly, optimising your website’s technical elements, such as page speed and mobile-friendliness, can improve user experience and lead to higher search engine rankings.

According to a study by WebFX, 2.61% of consumers are more likely to purchase from mobile-friendly sites. By improving your website’s search engine visibility and rankings through an SEO audit, you can attract more organic traffic and ultimately achieve your business goals.

b. Increase organic traffic to your website

Another benefit of conducting an SEO audit is increasing your website’s traffic quality. When you optimise your website for search engines through an SEO audit, you’re making it more relevant to the search queries of your target audience. It means that the traffic you attract to your website is more likely to be interested in your products or services and more likely to engage with your website.

For example, by conducting keyword research and analysis as part of your SEO audit, you can identify the search terms your target audience is searching for and optimise your website’s content to target those queries and their intent. By doing so, you’re attracting more traffic to your website and more targeted traffic that is more likely to engage with your website and convert it into customers.

According to HubSpot, 72% of consumers who did a local search visited a store within five miles of their location. Therefore, optimising your website for search engines through an SEO audit can attract more high-quality traffic and ultimately achieve your business objectives.

c. Identify technical and on-page issues

The third significant benefit of conducting an SEO audit is the ability to identify technical issues that may be hindering your website’s performance in search engine rankings.

Technical issues such as slow page speed, broken links, and non-mobile-friendly design can negatively impact user experience, and search engines consider user experience when ranking websites. For example, according to a report by Aberdeen Group, a delay of just one second in page load time can result in a 7% reduction in conversions. You can improve user experience and boost your website’s search engine rankings by fixing technical issues through an SEO audit.

d. Understand the competition and industry trends

Finally, it’s essential to understand the competitive landscape in your industry when conducting an SEO audit. By analysing your competitor’s websites and their SEO strategies, you can identify areas where you may need to catch up and opportunities for improvement. In addition, by analysing your competitor’s backlink profiles, you can identify high-quality websites that may be valuable targets for your link-building efforts.

Moreover, analysing industry trends and search engine algorithm updates can help you stay ahead of the curve and adjust your SEO strategy accordingly. For example, in 2020 alone, Google made 4,500 changes to search, which means Google search is changing, on average, 12 times per day.

Staying up-to-date with these updates and making the necessary adjustments to your website’s SEO strategy can help you maintain or improve your search engine rankings over time. In addition, incorporating a competitive and industry trend analysis into your SEO audit can create a more comprehensive strategy that maximises your website’s potential.

NEO360 SEO Audit Checklist

Now that you have read and are partially convinced of the benefits of conducting an SEO audit, your next question is, where do I start? Enter our NEO360 SEO Checklist, your ultimate guide to running a comprehensive SEO audit of your website.

Our SEO audit checklist covers various aspects of your website, including technical SEO, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, user experience, and analytics and reporting. By following this checklist, you can ensure that your website is optimised for search engines, user experience, and success.

1. Technical SEO Checklist

• Checking website speed and performance
• Checking mobile-friendliness and responsiveness
• Ensuring crawlability and indexability
• Checking for broken links and 404 errors
• Checking for duplicate content issues

2. On-Page SEO Checklist

• Conducting keyword research and analysis
• Optimising meta tags and descriptions
• Ensuring headers are properly optimised
• Checking for internal linking issues
• Reviewing content quality and relevance

3. Off-Page SEO Checklist

• Reviewing backlink profiles and identifying toxic backlinks
• Analysing social media presence and engagement
• Identifying local search opportunities

4. User Experience (UX) Checklist

• Checking website navigation and ease of use
• Ensuring website design and layout are visually appealing
• Reviewing website accessibility and readability
• Checking for website security issues

5. Analytics and Reporting Checklist

• Setting up Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console
• Analysing website traffic and engagement data
• Tracking keyword rankings and search engine visibility
• Generating an SEO audit report

Conclusion:

In conclusion, conducting an SEO audit is crucial in improving your website’s search engine rankings and attracting more organic traffic. To put it simply, it can make or break your SEO campaign. From technical SEO to on-page optimisation and off-page strategies, there are many factors to consider when conducting an SEO audit.

By following an SEO audit checklist and analysing your website’s performance, you can identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to boost your website’s search engine rankings.

However, it’s important to remember that SEO is not a one-time fix. Search engine algorithms are constantly changing, and user behaviour and search trends are evolving. Therefore, it’s important to continue monitoring and measuring your website’s SEO performance and making necessary optimizations to stay ahead of the curve.

As you move forward with your SEO strategies, always keep in mind that your ultimate goal is not just to rank high in search engines, but to provide value to your target audience. By creating high-quality, relevant content and providing a positive user experience, you can not only improve your website’s search engine rankings but also build brand credibility and loyalty among your audience.

About NEO360 SEO

We are a data-driven Digital Marketing Agency in Singapore that delivers results. We take a 360 approach to achieve SEO results for our clients in Singapore and Australia.

Get a complimentary initial 30-minute consultation from one of our SEO Experts. Our SEO team will respond within one business day or less with the next steps.

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