4 Critical SEO audit strategies

Google, Bing, and other search engines are constantly refining their algorithms and rewarding activity. Security patches are routinely recommended. Best practices evolve. As a result, the last thing we want to do with our websites is set-it-and-forget-it.

Technical audits shine a light on issues that might not be apparent on the surface. User experience best practices help us engage and build trust. Visitor flow insights help us convert both those who are ready to buy, as well as the other 95% who aren’t.

Why should I get an SEO audit for my website?

Technical audits help you establish baselines that you can measure outcomes against later. They also identify loose ends such as orphaned pages, missing images, and broken links which are critical to improving your website. Creating a new website won’t make these things magically disappear.

Technical audits help you discover exactly how well (or poorly) your pages have been performing historically. Accurate data helps you make the right decisions should you plan to improve or decommission pages.

For pages you don’t want to keep, opting to delete them without setting relevant redirects can cause new issues such as broken links, which in turn, further diminishes visitor experience and trust in your content. In the past, it was common practice to redirect all pages to the home page, then build again. Those days are long past as it generally terminates existing SEO scores, resetting your place in the rankings.

How often should I perform an SEO audit?

Over time, technology changes, user errors occur, and business goals evolve. At a minimum, we recommend executing a pre-design audit, post-design audit, and following these up with regular audits no less than once every year. So, a minimum of 3 audits to start.

You’ll want to audit more often than once per year if your website is very active. For audits that reveal a large number of issues, we recommend auditing at pre-determined phases or stages as a means to monitor the progress and accuracy of fixes, as well as monitoring for outcomes.

Google’s more recent changes point more searchers to Google. Rich snippets, maps, competitors, and more push organic results further down the page. A website well-optimized for search means optimizing for these elements a well. Our audits will help you accomplish that.

Do I need all three types of audits?

If your goals include climbing search rankings, earning trust, or attracting leads, the answer is yes.

Technical SEO audits look at your website’s code, construction, and tech. Much of this may not be visible on the surface while affecting if and how search engines index your website pages. Our audits – when connected to your Google Analytics and Search Console accounts – compare what you see vs what Google sees. SEO Audits assess your website against more than 300 technical audit points, revealing what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s optional. We provide you with expert-level tips to help you make tactical decisions around website improvement.

User experience audits (UX/UI) view your website against current best practices for color use, spacing, structure, ease-of-use, and much more. Many people are familiar with visual design and how it can impact user experience. So do things like content length, content density, and language level. UX also looks at accessibility for visually impaired visitors. We provide you with recommendations on what to address.

Visitor flow audits look at how expertly visitors are guided through your content, based on intent. Core to visitor flow is the utilization of different link types, link relevancy, and anchor text. We provide you with recommendations on optimizing your website and your content for visitors, sharing strategies for improving the quality of your conversions, and routing visitors to the right types of pages.

Audit reports list all the issues that are discovered. You’ll want to address issues based on priority which can range from critical to optional. Need advice? SEO Audits is a service of Kayak Marketing, whose team includes experts in the creation and optimization of high-performance websites. Kayak’s team can help you fix your website, fix it for you, or recommend a skilled partner to you.

Should I audit my competitor’s websites?

Absolutely, yes! Auditing your competition can shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of their business, as discernable via their website. Selecting which competitors(s) to audit is critical. Select 2-3 that are legitimate competitors for your product or services. The technical audit part will not be as complete given you won’t be able to access their analytics. However, the SWOT insight you will from our audits gain can be immeasurable.

A technical audit may reveal how well their online presence has been built or is being maintained. Do they take their website seriously? A user experience audit may reveal how well they understand their customer’s needs. And, a visitor flow audit may reveal how well they understand how people use their website.

Money-back guarantee: If we cannot run your SEO audit for any reason, we will refund your money.