There’s a lot of questions out there about how to optimize an existing website and do a basic SEO audit. How your website is set-up and how your website is built can make a significant difference with how well you rank with the search engines.
Think about it like this. If you go to sell your house that’s falling apart and isn’t up to code, it doesn’t matter how great of a location it is, or how well priced it is. If the structure of your house isn’t up to code. Its not going to sell! In return, if your website isn’t clean on the CMS and code level, it can have a huge negative impact on your website’s SEO performance.
A simple SEO Website Audit that tells you what corrections and missteps you can correct can make a huge impact on your bottom sales. Take note that simple SEO Audits don’t involve content optimization, link building or social promotions. We are talking CMS/Page level fixes here.
What Results Did a Nationally Established eCommerce Site Get 4 Months After a SEO Audit & Clean Up?
The company I helped was a regional aftermarket auto parts dealer. Their website didn’t just talk about what brands they sold or blog about off-roading. All that was complimentary to their eCommerce sales.
Over the years they shuffled through different SEO investments like paid marketing placements, guest blogging and even buying links. They had some results but their website still wasn’t ranking like it sound nor were they seeing the SEO results they expected for their investment.
After a entry level SEO audit and optimizing their on-page SEO. Here’s what I was able to achieve in 5 months:
ALL Traffic Sources:
68% increase in users
77% increase in new users
45% increase in Contact Submissions (which was their overall goal) – Their close rate is 95%.
JUST Organic Traffic:
75% increase in users
88% increase in new users
57% increase in Contact Submissions (which was their overall goal) – Their close rate is 95%.
So, if you break that down. Let’s say an average month of sales is $100K (which it isn’t) and you increase your monthly contacts by 45%. With a 95% close rate you are looking at adding 50% more in sales a month, which would equate to $150K in sales.
What is a SEO Tech Audit?
A basic entry level SEO Audit includes checking the following:
-URL Structure
-Meta Titles & Descriptions
-Image Optimization
-H1 & H2 Tag Usage
-Duplicate Content
-Site Speed
-Schema
-Broken Links
-Domain Authority
-Indexing Status
-404s & 410s
-301 & 302 Redirects
-Links (Inbound & External)
The next level of an Audit includes everything above as well as:
-Local SEO Evaluation
-Content Optimization
-Keyword Ranking
-UX Recommendations
-Visitor Traffic Evaluation
-Competitor’s Analysis
Does it Really Work?
If a basic SEO Audit is going to help you convert more visitors for you, It’s going to depend on the current state of your website, other SEO efforts and the current state of the market you are competing with for traffic. What it comes down to at the end of the day is all you have to do is be slightly better than your competition. Anything to give you an edge in the eyes of Google.
If you have a dated website that you havent really touched in 12 months because you were short on time or had other priorities, a basic SEO audit could potentially be well worth the investment.
If your website is well maintained, you stay up to date with basic SEO task while implementing best practices – you can rank well and a basic SEO Audit might now be needed. You might be better served spending your budget on marketing, conversion optimization or linking ventures
