Use an SEO tool like Morningscore to find broken links, and confirm your site is properly indexed in Google Search Console. Websites without an SSL certificate appear as “Not Secure” in browsers, which deter visitors. It is important to make sure your site is safe for both users and search engines. Do you notice a decline in content, such as a specific blog post or category page? Look at competitors who have overtaken your positions and analyze what improvements they have made.
While high-quality, search-engine-optimized content is a great way to boost your traffic numbers, it’s what happens once those visitors are on your website that really counts. It’s also crucial to audit the content you‘re publishing to ensure it’s actually solving your visitors’ problems. Ultimately, fast-loading and optimized pages will lead to higher visitor engagement, retention, and conversions. To quickly check a web page’s load time, download MozBar, a toolbar by Moz that you can attach to your browser for simple page analysis every time you visit a website. Are there excessive page sizes or long page load and server response times?
A) Identity broken links and redirected links
If not, your users will get a security warning in Chrome and other browsers. If your website is running on HTTPS (which hopefully it is) then all images and files should also be called via HTTPS. Because they’re one of the easiest ways to slip into indexation hell. Google will go nuts on them, and a site with 1,000 actual pages can quickly end up with tens of thousands of near-duplicate pages indexed. If an audit uncovers indexable pages with URL BHS Links parameters, then pay close attention — particularly if you’re running an eCommerce site. Then Google will recognise the H3 headings as a list, and you’ll have a shot at picking up the featured snippet for the “5 best widgets” query.
Content
This file allows you to specify and apply configuration directives on your site. This file enables you to call the shots on how users and search engines are directed to specific pages on your site, facilitate custom error pages and apply 301 redirects. The factors listed above are just some of the elements WebFX will address as a part of your SEO audit package. Each of these factors provides some impact in attracting search engine crawlers and — by extension — customers to your site. While all the tools listed above offer unique features and benefits, your website’s best SEO audit tool will depend on your specific requirements. Our SEO reports also let you know of any problems or technical shortcomings in your website that may be hurting your search engine rankings.
- Improve internal linking to your other articles to increase topic relevance and site structure.
- This is particularly important for websites like online stores that often generate multiple URLs for the same product due to filters or session variables.
- If you’ve already used WebSite Auditor before, just click New on the top bar to start a new project.
We also like the audit checklist by Benjamin Estes over at BrainLabs, in particular, the pass/fail selector for each item. While our own audit is substantially different, we stole incorporated this feature into our own. As an SEO consultant, I was always on the lookout for a good SEO audit checklist.
Local SEO is especially important if your business has a physical location or you’re a service-based business targeting customers in specific areas. See Bruce’s author page for links to connect on social media. This approach keeps your strategy sharp and ensures you’re always spending where you need it most. Set aside a portion of your SEO budget for unexpected challenges. This financial cushion ensures you can pivot without putting the rest of your strategy at risk. Every site is different, but one example of a quick win could be resolving crawl errors.
However, after deep diving and analyzing the content, we discovered that some links in the articles were redirecting to irrelevant websites. In terms of reparations, we ran a report of all the affected pages and manually worked our way through, removing pages, products, and internal links from the site as we did. Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques were employed to make content more conversational and relatable. Synonyms, related terms, and user-centric language enhanced the content’s context and relevance, helping search engines understand and rank it more effectively. Yes, I have successfully recovered from a manual action penalty related to spammy and hidden content on one of my test websites. The penalty was flagged in Google Search Console, and the site saw a significant drop in rankings and organic traffic as a result.
Mobile optimization
It shouldn’t list things like redirects, non-canonicals, or dead pages because those send mixed signals to Google. Core Web Vitals are metrics that Google uses to measure user experience. They measure a page’s load time, interactivity, and the stability of the content as it loads. If it’s not a manual action, you may need to check further for Google algorithm updates, as they can significantly affect your site’s organic traffic. Start by checking if your website is indexed by Google and if there are any crawl errors.
Identifying and fixing these on-page factors can have a significant, immediate and positive impact on your rankings. Choosing the right tool can be the difference between making minor tweaks and undergoing a full-scale SEO overhaul. By understanding your requirements and comparing the strengths of these tools, you can ensure that you’re making the most informed decision for your website’s SEO strategy.