A Comprehensive Guide to Auditing Your Website
Imagine you're a small business owner who's launched a quaint online boutique selling handmade crafts. Over time, sales are dwindling despite having unique products and getting initial traffic.
The issue?
It might not be your products but instead how your website performs. Like a brick-and-mortar store needs periodic maintenance, your digital storefront requires regular check-ups.
Auditing your website is akin to these regular health check-ups.
It helps you identify weak points, enhance user experience, and boost SEO ranking for businesses like yours. With many resources available, including user-friendly tools and strategies, anyone can perform an effective website audit – even directly within browsers like Chrome!
So, how exactly do you get started? Continue reading to find out.
How to Do an Audit of Your Website?
Website auditing often feels daunting, but it can be much easier to do on your own when broken down into sections and given steps to follow to get it done.
An SEO audit will analyze each section of your website to give you an overall score of how well it is performing online:
Technical Analysis: Ensure your site functions seamlessly. Check for broken links, page speed, mobile compatibility, and 404 errors.
Content Evaluation: Content is king in the digital realm. Assess the quality, relevance, and optimization of your content. The Power of Content provides an in-depth look into crafting impactful content.
On-Page SEO: Examine meta titles, descriptions, headers, and URL structure. Remember, SEO: How to Boost Your Ranking offers valuable insights into elevating your SEO game.
Off-Page SEO: Review your backlink profile and the quality of sites linking to yours.
User Experience (UX): Analyze the site’s design, navigation, and user-friendliness.
How Much Does a Website Audit Cost?
Costs for website audits can vary widely based on the depth of the audit and who conducts it.
The cost of conducting a website audit varies due to several factors including the:
size and technical complexity of the site
depth of the audit required
expertise and location of the auditing agency
tools and resources employed
detail of the reporting
any urgency in turnaround time
Essentially, each audit's cost reflects its scope, depth, and the specialist expertise required, making it crucial to understand what's included to ensure value for money.
If hiring a professional, you may pay anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars.
However, there's also the DIY approach using free tools.
Which brings us to...
What is the Free Tool to Audit a Website?
Numerous free tools are available for auditing, but one of the most renowned is Google's Search Console.
It provides data about your site's visibility on Google. Pairing this with Google Analytics offers a comprehensive view of your website’s performance.
Another free resource is the “Mobile-Friendly Test,” allowing you to gauge how well your site performs on mobile devices—a crucial aspect given the increasingly mobile user base.
Other free resources to audit your own website include:
Ubersuggest: Developed by Neil Patel, this tool gives keyword insights, content ideas, and some site audit features.
Moz Free Domain SEO Analysis Tool: Gives a snapshot of critical SEO metrics for any domain, including domain authority and linking domains.
GTmetrix: Analyzes website speed and performance, vital for SEO, as slow-loading pages can affect your ranking.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider: In its free version, this tool allows for crawling and analyzing up to 500 pages of a website for issues like broken links, page titles, and meta descriptions.
SEOptimer: Offers a quick overview of a website's SEO, highlighting major issues.
Mobile-Friendly Test: A tool by Google that checks site performance on mobile devices, crucial given Google's mobile-first indexing.
PageSpeed Insights: Evaluates the loading time of web pages and offers improvement recommendations.
Broken Link Checker: Scans websites for broken links that can negatively impact SEO.
Woorank: The free version provides a brief analysis of various SEO factors.
For more insights on leveraging such tools for visibility, delve into Boosting Visibility and Sales: How Small Businesses Leverage SEO.
How Do I Audit a Website in Chrome?
Besides being a popular browser, Chrome is a powerhouse for developers and website owners. Here’s a simple way to audit your site using Chrome:
Open Your Site: Navigate to the website you wish to audit.
Right-click and Select 'Inspect': This will open Chrome's Developer Tools.
Click on the 'Lighthouse' Tab: If you don't see this, you might need to click the ‘>>’ icon to locate it.
Choose the Type of Audit: Lighthouse offers various audits - Performance, Progressive Web App, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO. For a comprehensive review, select all
Click on 'Generate Report': After a few moments, Chrome will provide a detailed report, pinpointing areas of improvement.
To improve website auditing skills and understand better the areas you should focus on, consider joining communities or seeking mentorship.
“How to” and masterclasses on various topics to make the most of your website, including content creation, copywriting, and AI, are available when you join my free community: SEO Made Easy for Female Entrepreneurs.
For women entrepreneurs, connecting with others in the digital sphere provides invaluable support. To learn more and dive deeper into this concept, read Thrive Together: Why Women Should Seek Support While Running Their Businesses.
How Often Should You Perform an SEO Audit?
An SEO audit should ideally be conducted 2-4 times yearly to ensure your website remains optimized for search engine performance.
However, if you make significant changes to your site, launch new products or services, or notice a sudden drop in traffic or rankings, it's advisable to conduct an audit sooner.
Regular audits help identify and address evolving SEO challenges, keeping your website up-to-date with the latest search engine algorithms and best practices.
Popular places to keep up to date with SEO trends include:
Google Webmasters Blog & Google Search Central: Google occasionally shares updates on its algorithms, policies, and best practices through its official channels.
SEO Tools' Data Insights: SEO platforms like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz often release studies and data insights derived from their vast datasets, revealing current trends.
Social Media: Following key SEO experts and influencers on platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn can provide real-time insights and discussions on emerging trends.
Conclusion
Navigating the digital landscape requires a proactive approach. Just as you wouldn't let your physical storefront disappear, you must ensure your digital one remains tip-top.
A thorough website audit clarifies areas that need attention, allowing for enhanced user experience and a better SEO ranking.
And remember, you don't have to embark on this journey alone. Join a community and let’s work together on your website and how it’s performing for you.
This month get a free five-minute website audit as a token of my commitment to your online success. It's a quick way to identify key areas for improvement.
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