The Ultimate Guide to SEO Audits for 2021

Digital marketer’s SEO audit checklist and action items for staying ahead of the curve, and meeting website and business goals.

If you’re a digital marketer or website administrator, you know SEO is always changing and adapting to Google’s next algorithm update. It’s important to stay ahead of the curve and continuously create up-to-date marketing strategies.

One of the key elements of this is conducting regular SEO audits, which is the process of analyzing how well your web presence relates to best practices. This enables you to create an implementation plan that will have measurable results.

SEO Audits: The Basics

Most of today’s SEO audits tend to have a short shelf life and can become outdated quickly. That’s why one of the most important things to consider when conducting audits is to pull and analyze accurate and live data. There are many ways to do this. For example, you can use tools like: Be sure to cross-reference all of your data to make sure it is as accurate as possible.

SEO Audits With A Twist

Proof Digital has a unique approach to SEO audits that gives clients an added advantage. Our team built a custom tool containing a live platform populated with data that is updated automatically. Why is that important? It’s vital that SEO audits continuously update client data automatically because sites and the way they interact with search engines (like Google) change daily. Our exclusive tool gives clients a competitive edge that translates into better results.

The Importance of Updated SEO Strategies

If your competitors’ websites are appearing above your website, then it may be due to outdated SEO or SEO strategies that have become ineffective. In the era of competition, SEO has become the prime necessity of every website.

SEO Audit Checklist

guide to yoast seoAn ultimate guide wouldn’t be complete without a checklist, so we compiled a list of action items that are important to include when you begin to focus on SEO as a company or organization. In addition, Proof Digital offers larger and more comprehensive SEO checklists that are included in our SEO audit package. Not sure what you need? We offer customized SEO audits based on your industry, website, and business goals. Contact us now to learn more about how SEO audits can help in getting you the attention you deserve.

# Basic Setup

  • 1. Install Google Tag Manager
  • 2. Install Google Analytics
  • 3. Install Google Search Console
  • 4. Using WordPress? Install RankMath SEO
  • 5. Check your website’s speed via tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights and GT Metrix.

# Keyword Research

  • 6. Identify keywords you want to optimize and rank higher for
  • 7. Discover keyword opportunities using tools like Ahrefs, Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest
  • 8. Find related and similar searches
  • 9. Do some competitive analysis. Check out what PPC campaigns they have running and what organic keywords they are ranking for. Platforms like Spyfu and Ispionage are great for in-depth competitive analysis for SEO/SEM. Unfortunately, you have to pay to play with those platforms, but they do give you a preview of competitive data.

# On-page SEO

  • 10. Crawl your website with tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Ahrefs
  • 11. Check for broken links, errors, and crawl problems
  • 12. Check your URL structure for pages
  • 13. Optimize Title Tags for search using Keywords
  • 14. Optimize Meta Descriptions for better click-through rate
  • 15. Make sure you have keywords implemented into your H1, H2, and H3 on webpages
  • 16. Optimize Images
  • 17. Internal and External links

# Technical SEO

  • 18. Make sure your website is being indexed by Google
  • 19. Make sure your site is Mobile Friendly
  • 20. Use HTTPS
  • 21. Create an XML sitemap
  • 22. Check for crawl errors in Google Search Console
  • 23. Submit sitemap to Google Search Console

# Other Stuff

  • 24. Claim your brand name on social sites
  • 25. Keyword Rank Tracking
  • 26. Double-check everything with an SEO audit tool
  • 27. Build Local Listings and make sure they are accurate on existing sites

SEO Bottom Line

Achieving SEO success isn’t a simple or easy process. For companies to top the list in search engines, it takes lots of hard work combined with the perfect combination of strategies, continuous effort, and time. But it doesn’t end there. Once you get to the top of that search engine list, it takes even more of the same to sustain it. Conducting regular and effective SEO audits is crucial for digital marketing success. Utilizing this comprehensive SEO audit checklist will help eliminate most of the contributing factors that lead to unsatisfactory SEO results.

Contact Us for More Information

Still, feeling overwhelmed over the best way to get the word out about your business? Let us help! Marketing strategy is what we do. Let’s start a conversation about your pain points and how we can help resolve them. Get in touch today.
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