How to perform a technical SEO audit

Due to your business’ ever growing online competition, it will become increasingly more difficult to rank well on Google’s search results page. Therefore, it’s important that you take necessary steps to ensure that your business’ website is fully optimised. Performing a technical SEO audit will help you learn what needs to be done on your website to boost rankings, and to ensure that your business stays on top. By taking the necessary precautions, you will find that you will improve your online presence, leading to an increase in sales and website traffic.

Even with a well built, website with solid foundations may struggle to succeed if you don’t invest time into SEO. If you don’t know where to start, read our guide to learn how to perform your own technical SEO audit.

Site crawl

Your first step should be a site crawl. If you’re not using paid SEO software services such as SEMRush or Moz, we recommend using this free tool: https://www.sureoak.com/seo-tools/seo-website-crawler-tool

After entering your domain, this checker will scan your website and look for top level technical SEO issues. The fewer issues that the scan detects, the more friendly your website is to Google. Once you’ve waited for your site to be crawled, you will be able to see the following information: 

On page SEO checks

First of all, you need to check whether your website has a clear hierarchy of pages. This is often more difficult for eCommerce websites as they generally have hundreds of pages to look through, however, it is vital that you take your time with this process. A website that is difficult to navigate will not only struggle with ranking, but potential customers will have a hard time too. A basic navigation structure should have 1 home page, linking to multiple main pages. These main pages should have subcategories underneath, giving your website a clear hierarchy.

Secondly, you should check your keyword placement within the text on each page. Conduct keyword research on a page by choosing a keyword and checking that it has search volume. Once you have decided on an appropriate keyword, ensure that it is used within the h1 (main heading on the page) in addition to the first sentence of the page. 

Site speed check

Most websites are slower than they need to be and, even if you can’t detect it, Google certainly will be able to. Since Google prioritizes user experience, a slow site speed will almost certainly impact your rankings, traffic and conversion rates.

To check your site’s speed, right click and hit inspect. Then, make your way to the audits section as follows:

Here, you can discover vital issues that you can then flag with a developer for them to fix. Ensure that all the categories are selected and check mobile devices first. This is because Google has begun to rank websites based on the mobile performance rather than their performance on a desktop PC.

You will then see a list of scores out of 100, as well as a list of important issues with the webpage. You can use this as a list of things to target if you’re looking to improve your rank on Google.

Backlinks

A thorough backlink audit will tell you whether you’re in a good position when compared to your competitors. Again, if you are looking for a free tool to help you with this, we recommend the following site: https://app.neilpatel.com/en/seo_analyzer/backlinks

Inputting your domain into this will inform you of how many other domains are linking to your site. You can also view the domain authority of these linking domains (higher DA is better) as well as the anchor text each domain has used. Anchor text should be relevant to your site, including either the brand name or relevant keyterms. If your backlink profile contains:

It would be best if you acquire some higher quality links through digital PR activities.

Social media

Make a list of all your social media platforms and check through each one individually. SEO and social media have a lot of crossover, so it’s important that each of your profiles contain the correct information.

Google My Business Auditing

Having an optimised Google My Business listing is an easy way to put your site at the top of the search results page instantly. This is a quick win, so you should definitely take the time to ensure that your profile is fully completed. 

Firstly, you should check whether you have a profile set up, if you don’t you should make one as soon as possible. Then, fill out every information box that is available to you in order to maximise the likelihood that you appear in the Local Pack. 

Ensure that your company’s name, address and phone number are accurate across all platforms, and ensure that they are spelled correctly.  

Select as many categories that relate to your products and services as possible. It is absolutely vital that you do this as it’s an easy opportunity to to appear on the first page of Google.