There are many types of audits that help agencies keep their clients’ websites optimized for search and users. From content SEO audits to technical SEO audits, they can cover everything from page speed and load times to Core Web Vitals and user experience.
Like a health check at the doctor, audits can reveal issues that need to be addressed. But how often should you conduct them?
1. Every six months
Performing site audits is the best way to ensure that your clients’ content and technical SEO is up-to-date and to forecast restocking needs based on sales trends. These audits allow for the identification of errors that could be hindering their ability to be found in search or provide a positive user experience. Site errors can occur on a broad scale, such as NOINDEX tags that prevent search engines from indexing pages or 4xx errors that indicate broken links, and also on an individual page level, such as missing page titles, H1 tag content, or meta descriptions.
During an audit, a website is carefully examined with a fine-tooth comb to identify errors and make sure that everything is up-to-date. This process is time consuming and requires a variety of specialized tools. However, it is a necessary part of ensuring that your client’s SEO strategy is running smoothly.
How often a site needs to be audited depends on several factors, including the size of a website, how frequently new content is uploaded, and any other potential security issues. As a general rule, small sites that aren’t constantly uploading new content will require a full audit no more than once a year. However, larger sites and eCommerce websites that are adding new products or services will need a more frequent check-up to ensure that their SEO is keeping pace with their growth.
In addition to content audits, many of us perform a technical SEO audit on a regular basis. These types of audits isolate backend and technological issues with a site and take into account the performance of its Core Web Vitals, such as load times and page speed. We also conduct UX audits on a regular basis, as these reviews ensure that a site’s users can easily find and engage with the content they are looking for.
A website needs to run like a well-oiled machine, otherwise it will start to slow down or even grind to a halt. Think of site audits as your SEO mechanic, quietly aligning all the moving parts to keep the engine running at peak efficiency. Without a regular site audit, your SEO campaigns may not be as effective as they should be, and you could miss out on valuable traffic and revenue.
2. Every three months
When working on a website, it’s easy to add content and forget about older PDFs and white papers that may be languishing in neglected corners of the site. A content audit can help identify dated content and provide the opportunity to update it. It can also identify any broken links, which can hurt both SEO and user experience.
In the same way that a patient needs regular checkups, a site requires consistent audits to ensure it’s functioning at its best. For example, an informational site might not need to be audited as often as an e-commerce site. However, the latter should be evaluated at least once a year and more frequently as needed to ensure that the site is driving users down the best path to generate leads.
A comprehensive site audit is like a stethoscope measuring the heartbeat of a website’s SEO. It digs into a site to uncover tactics and technical elements that need to be addressed for continued success in search engine optimization (SEO).
For example, if a website takes too long to load, it could lose potential customers. Similarly, an incorrect meta description can negatively impact click-through rates and cause search engines to penalize a site. An SEO site audit can identify these issues and make sure the right keywords are being used to drive traffic.
Moreover, an SEO site audit can also help identify any errors on the page – from misspelled words to 404s – that need to be fixed. Studies have shown that consumers are less likely to trust a website with noticeable errors.
Performing a site audit every three months can help ensure that a client’s SEO is always in top form. This can help improve a site’s search visibility and lead generation, which will ultimately improve their bottom line. With the Capian platform, it’s easier than ever to conduct a full SEO site audit and track its progress over time. This will enable your team to deliver better results and keep clients happy. The platform offers real-time data, so you can spot errors as they happen and read into shifts in metrics.
3. Every month
Like a vehicle’s dashboard, website analytics provide information on how the digital body is functioning. However, just as you might take your car to a trained mechanic when the warning light flicks on, so it is important to have a professional take a closer look at any issues and provide detailed advice to rectify them. There are free online audit tools available, but these can be a little like the warning lights on the dashboard – they often give high-level insights and throw up a lot of information in one go.
An expertly conducted site audit will be tailored to each client and the type of website. It may include a content SEO audit, a technical audit, performance and a UX audit. Each will focus on different aspects of a website and how it can be improved both for search engines and users.
For example, for e-commerce sites, it is essential that product pages rank well and have a robust structure, so the site architecture is able to guide visitors through the purchasing process. The audit will highlight any areas where the structure of a website is limiting its SEO and user experience.
Another key element of a site audit is competitor analysis. By analysing your competitors’ content, social media activity, backlinks and organic/paid search performance, an audit will help you understand what online strategies are working for them and how your own can be improved to gain a competitive edge.
As a digital business, your site will likely be a dynamic entity that’s constantly changing. This might be due to new content being added, errors and bugs being uncovered, changes to the code, server configurations, etc. In this ever-changing environment, real-time data is more relevant and allows you to quickly respond to any shifts in the landscape that may affect your website’s SEO.
A site audit will also reveal any outdated SEO practices that your website may have adopted in the past. These might include link building, keyword stuffing or cloaking and could potentially lead to your website being penalised by search engines. Regular audits allow you to catch such practices early on and correct them before they have a negative impact.
4. Every week
A website audit is a critical process for making sure that everything on your client’s site is working and functioning as it should be. Much like a car that needs its regular MOT, it’s easy for your client’s website to fall into disrepair. In many cases, a technical issue will go unnoticed until the figurative wheels come off the car – which isn’t ideal for your client or their bottom line.
The goal of a website audit is to fix the issues on your client’s site so that it loads faster, is easier to navigate and use, and is mobile-friendly. All of these factors contribute to a great user experience and ultimately lead to more conversions for your clients’ business. The key is to do the research to identify which of these areas need improving, then determine the necessary steps to rectify those issues and implement them.
An SEO audit will uncover all of the tactics and technical elements that need to be prioritized to improve your client’s organic search positioning. This can include everything from ensuring that all of the content is relevant to their target keywords through to ensuring that images are properly tagged and that meta descriptions don’t exceed character limits. An on-page optimization audit will also look at things such as internal linking, link structure and content hierarchy and the quality of the page copy itself.
Once you have completed a full website audit, it’s a good idea to perform mini-audits on your client’s site every week so that any problems can be identified and resolved promptly. Using an online tool such as Capian will enable you to create and share reports with your clients, meaning that any issues can be discussed with them directly or within shared documents in a way that’s convenient for everyone involved.
Conducting regular site audits will ensure that your clients’ websites are visible to their target market, and will help them convert once they’ve found it. It’s all very well to rank highly for certain keyword terms, but if users are slipping away without ever converting, that’s going to be a problem for your client’s bottom line.
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