If you're running a website, it's important to make sure that you're doing everything you can to optimize the pages for search engines. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as it sounds.
There are a lot of factors that go into improving your site's SEO, including leveraging audit capabilities of advanced audit software. That's where SEO audits come in. This crawling tool allows you to analyze your website and find areas where you could improve your SEO errors and SEO issues.
What Is SEO?
SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization.” It is the process of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results. SEO is important because it can help you get more organic website visitors, a goal that SEO agencies strive to achieve for their clients.
To rank higher in search results, your website must be relevant to the keywords that people are searching for. You can improve your website’s relevancy by optimizing your website’s title, description, and content.
You can also build backlinks to your website and show Google Search Console that your website is important and popular.
Search Engine Rankings
It is the position where your website appears in the search results. The higher your website ranks, the more likely people are to find it, especially when using webmaster tools to enhance site performance.
But how do you improve your website's ranking? That's where an all-in-one SEO platform comes in.
Top Search Engines
There are many different search engines, but the most popular ones are Google, Yahoo and Bing. When somebody types a query into one of these browsers, the search engine will use its algorithms, refined through regular site audits using audit software, to find websites that are relevant to the query.
- Google - is the most popular search engine, with over 75% of the market share.
- Yahoo - is the second-largest search engine with 12% of the market.
- Bing - is the third-largest engine, with about 11% of the market share.
What Does An SEO Audit Cover?
In short, SEO auditing, a crucial audit feature, is the process of assessing and improving your website's visibility and search engine ranking. By using a comprehensive SEO audit tool, you can identify areas of your website that need improvement, such as website design, website content, website structure, etc.
Why Do I Need An SEO Audit?
- There are a number of reasons why you might need an SEO audit. Perhaps you've noticed that your website traffic has been declining, slow page load or your website isn't appearing as high in the search results as it used to.
- Maybe you're launching a new website and want to make sure you're starting off on the right foot with your SEO and web design.
- Or, you could be considering working with an SEO company or consultant and want to get an idea of what areas your website needs improvement in before making a decision.
Is An SEO Audit Worth It?
- Whether or not an SEO audit is worth it depends on a few factors, including how competitive your industry is and how much work needs to be done on your website.
- If you're in a highly competitive industry, it's likely that you'll need to put more time and effort into your SEO, utilizing tools and strategies recommended by SEO professionals, to rank high in the search results.
- Likewise, if your website is in dire need of an SEO makeover, an audit can be a helpful first step in getting your website on the right track.
- In general, an SEO audit is a worthwhile investment if you're serious about improving your website's search engine ranking. However, if you're not willing to put in the work to implement the changes that an audit recommends, it may not be worth your time and money.
How Do I Audit For SEO?
- The first step is to identify what you want to achieve with your website and what kind of website design and backlink SEO service will best suit your needs. Many website design companies offer website audit services, but not all of them are created equal.
- The best website audits will take into account your website goals, target audience, and competition to create a customized report that will give you actionable insights on how to improve your website.
Best Free SEO Audit Tools
1. Google Search Console
The Google Search Console is a free website auditing tool that is a must. It tracks website SEO performance, finds and fixes website errors, and submits websites to Google for indexing. One of the most popular website audit tools that is both free and effective.
2. Screaming Frog SEO Spider:
The Screaming Frog SEO Spider is not a cloud-based software but rather an installable tool that crawls your website while extracting on-site data and analyzing results. It has a free version that allows you to fix any potential problems to increase search engine rankings for keywords you want to be ranked.
3. HubSpot Website Grader
This is a free website auditing tool that helps website owners assess their website's SEO performance & provides recommendations for improvements. Great tool if you want to start with search engine optimization, check your site status or use the best free SEO report generator.
4. SEObility
This SEO Tool will analyze your website and then provide you with helpful tips on how to optimize it for long-term success. A useful SEO tool for any business owner or professional who is a beginner or pro as it offers comprehensive website analysis that will help with technical SEO issues.
5. SpyFu
SpyFu website auditing tool offers features such as competitor analysis, keyword research, and PPC campaign management. Full-packed SEO software that offers a free version and paid SEO pro.
6. SEO Checker
The SEO Checker by DefiniteSEO is an easy-to-use free audit tool perfect for beginners and pros alike. It analyzes your website’s technical health, on-page SEO factors and backlink profiles, offering actionable recommendations to boost your search rankings. Paid plans unlock advanced features, including competitor insights and deeper crawling options.
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Paid SEO Site Audit Tools
All the above-mentioned SEO tools apart from Google and HubSpot are available in paid plans too with additional features which could help you further increase your ranking.
The following paid tools however have limited features in the FREE plan and for the best results are recommended as paid SEO toolkits.
7. Moz Pro [$99 to $599/month]
We all need a comprehensive SEO tool to help us increase traffic, rankings and visibility in search results. Moz Pro gives you the highest quality data so that your job can be done more quickly with higher quality metrics - including Page Authority or Domain Altitude! Basic features and free tools are available.
8. SEMrush [$129 to $449.95/month]
This is a paid SEO auditing tool that offers SEO features such as competitor analysis, keyword research, backlink checker and site audits. One of the most popular website audit tools that is available in both free [limited version] and paid versions.
A leading digital marketing suite that has over 40 integrated tools available. 10 Free searches/day are free. Plus, offers an embedded SEO audit tool, SEO strategy and keyword tool as a free version with limited features.
9. Ahrefs [£29 to £799/month]
Ahrefs is an SEO checker that has a powerful suite of tools that not only lets you check on your site's keywords and ranking but also provides SEO data for analysis. It has five different types: Site Explorer, Keyword Explorer, Rank Tracker, and Content Explore as well as an audit tool to help with website optimization efforts.
Free for basic features but is the best SEO analyser that has a local SEO audit tool.
10. Raven Tools [$49 to $479/month]
Use Raven smart reporting SEO tools for white-labelled SEO reports and utilize the rank tracking and backlink research tools to build your brand's image. Easily integrates with Google Analytics and Search-Console metrics.
11. SE Ranking [£45 to £189/month]
If you are looking for an SEO checker that can support your daily work and offers high mobile usability and extensive functionality, SE Ranking is a good choice. Affordable and meets every requirement for website optimization for technical and on-page SEO issues.
SEO Strategy For Beginners
Step 1: Define Your SEO Goals
- The first step in auditing your website is to define your SEO goals.
- What do you want to achieve with your website? Do you want to increase website traffic, improve conversion rates, or both?
- Once you know what you want to accomplish, you can create a plan of action and identify the metrics that will be most important to track.
- You can use the SEO auditing tools or you can hire a website design and SEO service agency or a freelancer.
- The best website audits will take into account your website goals, target audience, and competition to create a customized report that will give you actionable insights on how to improve your website.
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Step 2: Research Your Target Audience
- The next step is to research your target audience.
- Who are you trying to reach with your website?
- What needs do they have that your website can address?
- What keywords are they searching for that you want to rank for?
- Answering these questions will help you create content that appeals to your target audience and ranks well in the search engines.
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Step 3: Analyze Your Competition
- After the keyword rankings, the third step is to analyze your competition.
- What are they doing well that you can replicate?
- What are they doing poorly that you can improve upon? How can you differentiate your website from theirs?
- Competitive analysis is an important part of any SEO audit. By understanding what your competition is doing, you can create a website that is better optimized for the search engines and more likely to rank higher in the search results.
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Step 4: Choose the Bight SEO Audit Tool
- Once you've defined your goals, researched your target audience, and analyzed your competition, it's time to choose the right SEO audit tool. There are both free and paid SEO audit tools available, but not all of them are created equal.
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Step 5: Add Plagiarism Free Content
- Content is one of the most important elements of SEO, and adding plagiarism-free content to your website is essential for good rankings.
- You should create unique, valuable content that adds value to your readers and helps search engines understand what your website is about, perhaps focusing on key areas outlined by a keyword research tool.
- The best SEO audit tools will help you assess your website's current SEO health, identify areas that need improvement, and provide recommendations on how to fix them.
- You can choose from the above-mentioned free website audit tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights or sign up for paid one.
Is SEO site audit a free tool?
- There are a number of free web page audit tools available online, but not all of them are created equal. Also, free site audit tools often lack the depth and customization that paid web page audit tools offer. Paid SEO audit tools usually offer more comprehensive reports and allow you to customize your audit to focus on specific website goals.
How much should an SEO audit cost?
- Generally, though, paid website audits cost between £100 and £500. If you have a small website with fewer than 50 pages, you can expect to pay at the lower end of that range or get SEO analyses yourself. If you have a large website with more than 500 pages, you can expect to pay at the higher end of that range for SEO insights. Reach out to Fit Design for FREE Analysis and SEO audit price today.
SEO FAQ - Reach Rankings
HOW DO I GENERATE A WEBSITE AUDIT REPORT?
To generate a site audit report, you will need to use an SEO tool on this list above. There are many website auditing tools available on the market, both free and paid eg. AHREFS site audit, SEO Spider tool or SEMRUSH site audit tool.
WHAT IS A GOOD SEO AUDIT SCORE?
A good SEO audit score is one that is above 80%. This means that your website is in good shape and does not need much improvement whether it's on-page and off-page SEO.
HOW OFTEN SHOULD I AUDIT MY WEBSITE?
You should audit your website at least once a month to ensure that your website is in compliance with the latest SEO best practices but a weekly analysis is ideal.
WHAT IS THE BEST FREE SEO?
The best website audit tool for on-page SEO issues and off-page SEO are SPYFU, SEObility or SEMrush marketing tools as they're comprehensive technical SEO audit software.
HOW DO I IMPROVE MY SEO SCORE?
There is no sure-fire answer to this question as every website and business is different and will require its own unique approach. However, there are some general tips that you can follow to help improve your SEO score, such as improving your website's speed, optimizing your title tags and meta tags, meta descriptions and creating high-quality content.
Conclusion - SEO Site Audit
SEO website audits, a fundamental part of any successful digital marketing strategy, necessitate the use of advanced audit features to improve site performance. By auditing your website regularly, you can ensure that your website is in compliance with the latest SEO best practices and is optimized for the search engines.
Additionally, a site audit can help you identify areas of your website that need improvement and provide recommendations on how to fix them. There are many free and paid SEO audit tools on the market, but not all of them are created equal. The best SEO audit tools will help you assess your website's current SEO health, identify areas that need improvement, and provide recommendations on how to fix them.
You can choose from the above-mentioned free dedicated site audit tool or sign up for paid one. If you decide to buy an SEO audit make sure you reach out to the agency that has a good reputation and reviews. The best SEO validator will be flexible and helpful.
