The Role of SEO Audit Service in Ranking Improvement
A detailed SEO audit service addresses various issues depending on a website’s specific problems.
We’ve had a client recently, a major e-commerce site, where localisation has been a really big problem. They’ve got locations all over the world and set up their hreflang tags. But they also had all sorts of redirect issues, which took a long time to diagnose. Google crawlers were redirected, and therefore, only one location was indexed as opposed to the other four. That’s just one example where a big issue can negatively affect ranking. In such cases, a much more advanced and detailed SEO audit is necessary.
Nobody can cover every type of SEO audit there is.
In this article, we’ll provide a basic overview of how to approach the SEO audit service to truly help website owners.
Additionally, we’ll give you examples of the basic things that we look for in our SEO audit analysis. All will be followed with an extensive example and supported with tools we use and highly recommend.
Initial Steps in SEO Auditing
The first thing we look at is if there is an SEO tool on the website and if the basic SEO issues are addressed. When we see the presence of Yoast or RankMath, we know that the website doesn’t need the basic SEO audit service. When the basic SEO is done well, the issue tends to be with content or links or maybe some more serious technical problems. Remember, never forget to check the site speed. Often overlooked, the loading times are a major ranking factor that significantly damages your ranking.
You can check your website’s speed for free using Google’s testing tool Page Speed Insights or GT-Metrix.
If you use RankMath or Yoast properly but are experiencing issues with your website, we’re looking at bigger, broader problems, such as content and links, rather than having to dive down into individual missed titles and things like that. If you analyse older websites built 3 or more years ago or custom builds, you’ll find all sorts of SEO issues.
The majority of designers and developers build websites without any knowledge of SEO. Although websites cost lots of money, you’ll find dozens or hundreds of wrong basic SEO technical issues all over the place. In such cases, we recommend first performing a page-by-page basic SEO audit and then digging deeper into schema markups, halflings, canonical URLs, content and link structure.
Case Study: SEO Audit Service for an eCommerce Website
For example, we picked a website entirely at random in the cannabis CBD niche.
- The first step is to use the Ahrefs Chrome extension and have a look at the overall website traffic.
- Secondly, check the trends, whether traffic is climbing over time or not.
- Thirdly, look at one of the top pages to try and work out what the opportunity is to really improve. Only by improving basic SEO or refreshing content, you push the page up.
Remember: position one on Google gets double the traffic than position two, which gets double as to position three. For improvements, it’s best to start with a page positioned as four. The chances are you will massively increase your traffic just by pushing that one page.
At the beginning of SEO improvements, do not worry about all the hundreds of pages that are down at position 30. Focus on your initial big wins. Since the page ranks on the first page, you know that Google already likes it, and it just needs that final push to get into the top three.
The First Step in SEO Audit Service
Every SEO audit service and improvement method must start with exploring actual SERP for the targeted keyword. Many overlook this vital step.
For example, when providing SEO audit service for an eCommerce website, check if the SERP results offer products, product categories, or long-form content. Adjust improvements to the current situation. Keep in mind that SERPs are changing over time.
SEO audit service and the following improvements are not a done deal. That is an ongoing process, and you should check the ranking of each page at least once a month, preferably once a week.
Correlational Analysis: The Second Step in the SEO Audit Process
The next step is correlational analysis. The best correlational analysis tool is Surfer. Here is how to use it to perfectly optimise your page:
- Open Surfer and choose Content Editor from the left panel;
- Enter your primary keyword and choose the country you want to rank in;
- If unsure what your primary keyword should be, use our free keyword tool;
- Click “Create for 1 Credit” and wait 30-60 seconds;
- When Surfer finishes, click on your keyword from the list:
- In the Surfer doc file, you’ll see the SEO score meter and below, you’ll find all the keywords you should use in your content. The list is based on the current first 10 ranking web pages;
- Use Chat GPT and the prompt that works great – tested hundreds of times. To generate the prompt for your keyword, you can use our free prompt generator tool. The entire process is explained in our 4-minute video: How To Craft PERFECT SEO Blogs in 10 Minutes With ChatGPT + Surfer(That really ranks!);
- When optimizing content generated with Chat GPT, reach the Surfer score of 70. No need to go further;
- Paste the generated content on your page;
- Add internal links and apply Omega for instant indexing so you don’t wait for weeks for Google crawlers to notice the change.
Page Speed Test: Often Overlooked, but Still Extremely Important FOR SEO and Ranking
As said before, do not forget to perform a basic PageSpeed test. You want to take the actual page you’re looking to rank, not just the homepage. That’s a classic mistake we see people making over and over again.
If you do find that the Google speed test comes up in red or orange, it will be a simple fix. If you’re on WordPress, buy the plugin we use and recommend called Nitro Pack. Their whole business model is to make you pass core web vitals with one click. If you don’t have a particular high-traffic site, then you can get Nitro Pack for free.
If you pass the core speed test but your page is loading slowly, the most probable culprit is JavaScript.
Anything fancy on a webpage, like sliders, moving sections, flashing fonts, etc., are generated with JavaScript, and they are slowing the page loading time drastically.
How much PageSpeed impact rankings?
That varies on different Google updates. Also, conversion rates go down if the page is loading slowly. Bounces increase due to modern users’ impatience.
The server audit is now done.
Surfer’s Scores in SEO
Another question we often hear is, “Why is the Surfer document score different than the score of the page where that content is pasted?” The explanation is that when you’re writing in the editor, you’ve only got the blog post section – pure text, whereas when you publish that blog post, you’ll find headers, footers, and text at the bottom. All that is diluting your Surfer content score. You shouldn’t pay any attention to the lower score unless you’ve got a lot of content in the header and footer, which might also be a problem. We recommend running an audit once the page/post is published and deciding about improvements from case to case.
Surfer will tell you exactly what the scores of your competitors are. That should be your final deciding factor about how much improvements you’ll apply.
We recommend using the Surfers Audit tool to get the exact improvements you need to perform. The tool will give you detailed guidelines about which words to use and remove, whether you need more internal links or if there are too many, if you need to add words, etc.
The full example of how to perform SEO audit service, SEO Jesus recorded and published in his video “Profits Unlocked” 80/20 SEO Audit Transforms Websites in Just 10 MINUTES”.
Watch the Video and Become an Expert in 13 minutes
Identifying the Need for Additional Content
How do you determine if you truly need more words? If Surfer shows that one of the four competitors has many more words on their page than the rest, you should ignore it. Generate the average number of words compared to competitors.
Optimizing Headings for SEO
One of the most common SEO issues we find when providing SEO audit service are headings. We find generic, high-difficulty keywords the website doesn’t have any chance to rank for use in Hs. Also, we often see multiple H1s, which is problematic. H1 is just the main title in the HTML code, and you shouldn’t have more than one. Google’s going to get confused, and it will automatically lower your SEO ranking score.
Target keywords you have a chance to rank for. Also, we recommend adding more keywords into H2s and H3s to increase the overall number of keywords you might rank for.
The Final SEO Audit Step: DR and Backlink Analysis
To summarise: After you perform the speed test, the basic SEO audit, and the content correlational analysis, the next step is basically a backlinking check. Again, check the competitors’ DR. You must look for SERP results for the primary keyword you are targeting. If you do not have access to expensive SEO audit tools such as SemRush or Ahrefs, go incognito, type your keyword and check the DR of the top-ranking websites.
To check the DR, use the free Ahrefs domain checker tool. To outrank competitors, you must have DR in the range they have. If the websites that rank for the targeted keyword have a DR larger than 40, 50 or 60, you must increase your website’s DR to match.
Also, for each page you audit, check its ranking score, UR. As the DR, the UR depends on the number of backlinks pointing to the page.
How can you increase the website’s DR? With backlinks – you need high-value, relevant websites to point to your site. That will show Google that you have valuable content that is respected by established web authorities.
There are many strategies you can implement to increase the number of powerful backlinks. After you watch the entire video and grasp the intricacies of a successful SEO audit service, we suggest you contact us, and we can create your optimal SEO and link-building strategy to push your website to the top in search results.
Conclusion: Mastering SEO Audit Service for Optimal Website Performance
In summary, a comprehensive SEO audit is essential for identifying and resolving website issues to improve search rankings. Key steps include thorough PageSpeed testing, not just on the homepage but on targeted pages, and utilising tools like Nitro Pack for quick fixes.
Surfer’s correlational analysis and document scores offer valuable insights for content optimization.
However, be mindful of differences in scores between the editor and published content. Heading optimization, targeting achievable keywords, is crucial for avoiding common SEO pitfalls. Finally, a robust backlink strategy focusing on improving Domain Rating (DR) and URL Rating (UR) is fundamental. By regularly analyzing and adjusting based on these aspects, websites can significantly enhance their online visibility and performance.
For tailored strategies and deeper insights, professional SEO audit services can provide the necessary expertise to elevate a website’s search engine presence.
