Here is our free, instant Downloadable SEO Audit Checklist
Carrying out an SEO audit is an important part of your digital marketing strategy and plan. A SEO audit will uncover areas of strength, weakness and improvement for your website and your digital marketing strategy. A good SEO audit covers various parts of technical, content, on-page and off-page auditing. By continually checking and optimising important SEO elements, you can boost your rankings, website traffic, and consequently, conversions and revenue.
Below, we will cover the basics of an SEO audit and provide an easy to use checklist tailored for Bournemouth businesses so you can be on top form and effectively build your online enterprise.
Technical SEO Issues
Technical SEO is the foundation of a good SEO strategy. Technical problems on your website can harm your search engine rankings and user experience. Here’s what to look out for:
Site Speed: Page speed is a signal Google uses to rank pages, so slow websites will negatively affect your search rankings and increase your bounce rate. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to audit for site speed and fix issues like large images, server response time, or code bloat. If your website is suffering with slow page speed, it might be worth contacting a professional technical SEO expert to assist.
Mobile-Friendliness: With increasing numbers of users accessing the web through their mobile phones, it is essential that your website is mobile-friendly. Google’s mobile-first indexing implies that it prefers your site’s mobile version for ranking. Test your site’s mobile-friendliness using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. It is key to your success that your mobile version of your website is responsive, easy to use and fast.
Crawl Errors: If search engines cannot crawl your website, they are not going to be able to index it. Check using Google Search Console for crawl errors such as broken links, unreachable pages, or redirect issues which may be stopping your site from being crawled and indexed. Unfortunately, here at Majestic One, we come across a lot of websites with hidden indexing issues. Having taken the time to research, create and post brilliant content, companies find their page never actually receives any traction or web traffic. Identifying and resolving indexing issues is extremely important and may require a specialist SEO expert.
XML Sitemap: Update your XML sitemap regularly and submit it to search engines. This allows search engines to spider your website efficiently, indexing all pages. You can usually find your sitemap at www.yourwebsite.co.uk/sitemap.xml .
HTTPS Security: Make sure your site is secure with HTTPS instead of HTTP. Google prefers secure sites, and clients will feel more comfortable trusting a site that has SSL encryption.
Conduct an On-Page SEO Audit
On-page SEO involves optimising individual web pages so they rank higher and drive more traffic. The below are the primary areas to consider:
Title Tags and Meta Descriptions: Make sure your title tags and meta descriptions are descriptive, unique, and keyword inclusive. These are the first things potential customers will see on the search results page (SERP’s), so make sure they clearly reflect what your page is about and entice clicks. Effective Meta titles and descriptions can increase click through rates.
Headings and Subheadings: Properly apply headings (H1, H2, H3) in order to organise your content. Apply your top page title for the H1, while using H2 and H3 for subheadings. Both the search engines and users are able to establish the organisation of your content based on these. Tip: Make sure your page only has 1 H1 tag, a common problem we see on websites is multiple H1 tags, this can confuse the order of the page when crawled.
Keyword Optimisation: Make sure your target keywords are used naturally across your content, headings, image alt text, and URLs. Do not keyword stuff, as this can result in Google penalties. Use long-tail keywords that are specific to Bournemouth businesses, such as “best SEO agency in Bournemouth” or “cheap web design in Bournemouth.” Use variations of your keyword and remember to make sure its naturally input across your pages.
Internal Linking: Internal linking is a great way to help the visitor navigate around on your site as well as pass link equity across your pages. Make sure your site has a good internal linking structure and links important pages from your service pages or blog posts. Utilising strategies such as pillar pages / posts with supporting cluster posts that drive internal links to your most important page is an effective method.
Content Quality: SEO demands high-quality, original, and engaging content. Ensure that your website content is useful to your audience and answers their questions or problems. Google penalises pages that offer low quality, superficial content. With AI on the tip of everyones tongue, be careful not to fall into the trap of creating hundreds of spammy, AI generated blog posts. Focus on content quality and understand what your users want from your content.
Assess Local SEO Factors
For Bournemouth businesses, local SEO can really improve your visibility and increase customers enquiring to your business. Local search optimisation ensures that your business will be visible to users in your area who are looking for your products or services. Read our recent blog post for more information on how to rank your website for local search in Bournemouth.
Google My Business Profile: Claim and optimise your Google My Business (GMB) listing. Make sure your business name, address, phone number (NAP), website link, and hours of operation up to date and consistent on all sites. Add relevant categories, photos, and encourage customers to leave reviews.
Local Citations: Have your business featured in local directories and citation platforms such as Yelp, Yell, and local business chambers. Having a consistent NAP information on all these will contribute largely towards securing your local SEO and trustworthiness.
Local Keywords: Incorporate geographic keyword phrases in all of your content pages on the site, i.e., “Bournemouth SEO services” or “Bournemouth website design.” The search engines are able to figure out your desired area geographically from this.
Customer Reviews: Positive reviews on platforms like Google, Facebook, and Trustpilot can really boost your local SEO rankings. Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews and always respond to them, positive and negative ones, in a professional manner.
Review Your Backlink Profile
Backlinks are one of the most important ranking signal in SEO. They are utilised to construct your website’s authority and trust. Here is how to review your backlink profile:
Quality Over Quantity: It is always preferable to have fewer high-quality, relevant backlinks than lots of low-quality ones. Evaluate your backlinks and scan for toxic links that can harm your SEO using software like Ahrefs or SEMrush.
Competitor Backlink Analysis: Look at your Bournemouth competitors so you know where their backlinks are originating from. Use software like Moz or Ahrefs to find backlink opportunities that you can also target.
Local Backlinks: For businesses in Bournemouth, obtaining links from local authority sites such as Bournemouth-established blogs, news sites, or local associations will boost your SEO locally. This shows you are a relevant and authoritative source of information for your niche in the local area.
Monitor Performance
Once you have identified area of interest, concern and improvement by carrying out a full SEO audit, it is important to make changes and improvements and continue to monitor on an on-going basis. SEO is a continued process of improvement and requires regular monitoring and updating to stay ahead.
Google Analytics: Check Google Analytics to track statistics such as website traffic, bounce rate, conversion rates and engagement times. Find out which pages are doing well and should not be touched, and which ones need to be corrected. Use these statistics to make website design and SEO adjustments.
Google Search Console: Check search queries, impressions, and click-through rates in Google Search Console. With this tool, you can identify possible keyword opportunities and see any problems that could be affecting your rankings. You can compare date ranges to see which pages are increasing in clicks and which might be loosing clicks or impressions.
Conclusion
It is important for Bournemouth businesses to carry out regular SEO audits to improve their search engine ranking and internet presence. Using this SEO audit checklist, you can ensure that your site is optimised both for the user and the search engine, which will help you attract more local visitors and stay competitive in your niche. SEO audits should be part of your online marketing routine, helping you understand your strengths, weaknesses and opportunities.
If you need help, advice and guidance on carrying out a SEO audit or are looking for SEO service in Bournemouth, contact us today.
Don’ forget to download our free Downloadable SEO Audit Checklist
