We usually associate the word ‘audit’ with something negative – namely, the last thing anyone wants to be performed on their taxes. However, an SEO audit is one of the best things to happen to your website.

You’re probably aware of how vital search engine optimisation is and why it’s imperative to your online presence. Regular SEO audits help to ensure that your website meets the ever-changing standards set by search engines, effectively improving your ranking on results pages.

This is done by providing a clear picture of your website’s current health and performance. The analysis will reveal the missing actions and activities that can be done to get ahead of the competition and not be convinced. Let’s look at five reasons every website needs an SEO audit.

SERP positions matter

According to a recent study, over 25% of people only click the first search result. To add to the confusion, search engines frequently improve the user experience by changing their algorithms, thus altering how websites are ranked.

Allowing your website to leave the first page is suicide. The moment that happens, all of the time, money and effort you put into developing it goes down the drain. SEO audits give you peace of mind, knowing this will never be the case by assessing the factors determining a website’s position in SERPs (search engine results pages).

An SEO audit will also identify any issues that could hurt your ranking.

Technical problems abound

Here are a few examples of technical problems that an SEO audit will identify and solve:

1. Website speed

Search engines consider your website’s time to load as one of the foremost considerations when determining your ranking. This is because UX (user experience) is a significant priority, and a fast website is indicative of a good one. Large images, redundant code, and server response times will be analysed to ensure that everything is in working order.

2. Redirects and errors

Three hundred one redirects, 302 redirects, and 404 errors negatively impact the user experience. They can act as roadblocks that make navigating a website frustrating. A professional SEO audit will ensure that these are non-issues.

3. Crawlability

This refers to how easy it is for Google to find and index your website. Things like your robots.txt file and HTTP header status code, in addition to not having a dynamic sitemap, can be detrimental to your site’s crawl ability.

4. Site architecture

How your website is structured is another factor that determines its ranking on results pages. Using subfolders and sticking to short but descriptive URLs can help. Again, an SEO audit will identify and resolve any potential problems.

Technical issues aside, SEO audits will also cover on-page elements. This includes meta titles and descriptions, headers, content, internal linking and more. There are a whole lot of factors that you won’t have to worry about.

Know thy Competitor

You can’t build the world’s tallest skyscraper until you know how tall the others are. Similarly, you need to know what your competitors are up to and their tactics to gain the upper hand over your website on SERPs. You can also benefit from identifying and leveraging their weaknesses.

At this point, it should be no surprise that an SEO audit can help you achieve that. It will help you figure out what you can implement into your strategy by considering the competition’s recipes for success.

Cost Savings

Depending on your current approach, you may be sinking dollars into making changes on your website that aren’t paying off. This is often the case for businesses with cheap or unreliable marketing agencies. Getting your website audited will reveal any mistakes that are being made.

But what about the cost of the audit? Well, you’ll be glad to know that local professionals can perform an SEO audit on your website for free. SEO Perth agency PWD is a great example. You can read about their free SEO audits here, which include errors, warnings, issues, notices, crawled pages, and a total score for your website.

From there, you can partner with them and use their web design, SEO, PPC, or branding services to determine the best way forward for your digital presence.

Content Strategy

With the abovementioned information, you can use what you learned from the SEO audit to develop a more robust and effective content strategy. This can go a long way in ensuring that the time and effort you invest in your website is used to its fullest potential. There’s no telling just how much money that could save you.

So, it stands to reason that an SEO audit is undoubtedly worth doing – especially since it doesn’t have to cost you anything. Be sure to add it to your to-do list for the week ahead.

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As an experienced business and finance writer I understand the corporate landscape and the driving forces behind it. Over the years I’ve shared my insight and knowledge with key industry publications and dedicated my time to showing how business leaders can make their organisations more effective.