What is an SEO audit check list 2023-24?
An SEO audit check list is a set of items that you need to review and optimize on your website to improve its search performance. An SEO audit can help you identify and fix technical, on-page, content, and link-related issues that may affect your rankings and traffic. Here is a simple but effective SEO audit checklist for 2023:
– Check for manual actions: Go to Google Search Console and see if your site has any manual actions from Google that may prevent it from showing up in the search results. If you have any, follow the instructions to resolve them.
– Check for HTTPS-related issues: Make sure your site uses HTTPS, a secure protocol that protects your visitors’ data and gives you a ranking boost. Use Ahrefs Webmaster Tools or another site audit tool to check if all your pages and resources are using HTTPS, and fix any mixed content issues.
– Check for site speed issues: Site speed is an important factor for user experience and SEO. Use tools like PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, or GTmetrix to measure your site speed and find opportunities to improve it. Aim for a loading time of less than 3 seconds on both desktop and mobile devices.
– Check for indexation issues: Make sure Google can crawl and index all your important pages. Use Google Search Console to check your coverage report and see if there are any errors or warnings. Use robots.txt, meta robots tags, canonical tags, and sitemaps to control what pages you want Google to index or ignore.
– Check for duplicate content issues: Duplicate content can confuse Google and dilute your ranking signals. Use tools like Siteliner or Copyscape to find and remove any duplicate content on your site. Use canonical tags, 301 redirects, or parameter handling to deal with duplicate URLs.
– Check for keyword optimization issues: Make sure each page on your site targets a relevant and specific keyword that matches the search intent of your audience. Use tools like Ahrefs Keywords Explorer or Google Keyword Planner to find keyword ideas and metrics. Use tools like Ahrefs Site Explorer or Screaming Frog to check your title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and content for keyword optimization.
– Check for content quality issues: Make sure your content is original, informative, engaging, and satisfying for your visitors. Use tools like Hemingway Editor or Grammarly to check your content for readability and grammar. Use tools like Ahrefs Content Explorer or BuzzSumo to find popular content in your niche and get ideas on how to improve yours.
– Check for internal linking issues: Internal links help Google understand the structure and relevance of your site, and help your visitors navigate and discover more content. Use tools like Ahrefs Site Audit or Screaming Frog to check your internal link structure and find broken links, orphan pages, or crawl depth issues. Use tools like Ahrefs Site Explorer or Moz Link Explorer to check your internal link anchor texts and distribution.
– Check for external linking issues: External links help Google evaluate the authority and trustworthiness of your site, and help your visitors find more useful resources. Use tools like Ahrefs Site Explorer or Moz Link Explorer to check your external link profile and find broken links, toxic links, or link opportunities. Use tools like Ahrefs Content Explorer or BuzzSumo to find relevant and authoritative sites to link to in your content.
An SEO audit check list is a simple way to figure out why the website is not getting SEO results.
What is an SEO audit check list?
ON-SITE SEO AUDIT CHECKLIST
- Titles are unique for each page.
- Titles length is between 50 – 65 characters?
- Description tag is between 150-160 characters?
- Description tag is not keyword stuffed?
- URLS are SEO friendly?
- H1 Headings for title?
- Use of H2 and H3 for subheadings
- Small paragraphs and use of bold, italics
- Is there a unique logo for the web site?
- Is there a favicon?
- Content on the web site is fresh?
- Content length on post pages?
- Internal linking – Do you link internal pages?
- Internal linking – Use of anchor text (is it varied?)
- Trying to rank for high competitive keywords?
- Is there an ALT tag for all images?
- Are image files names descriptive?
- Image file size is optimized?
- Blog comments have the ‘nofollow’ tag?
- External links have the ‘nofollow’ tag (if not from trusted websites)?
- Banner ads have the ‘nofollow’ tag?
- Are pages with duplicate or no content, noindex and nofollow?
- Too many ads above the fold?
- Checked for invalid use of 301 and 302 redirects?
- Site implements rel=canonical to identify the original content?
- Site checked for broken links?
- Page speed: Average time to load home page?
- Page speed: Average time to load other pages?
- Are most important pages linked to from home page?
- Are most important pages linked to from Sidebar?
- Is there a user sitemap (html) in the main menu?
- Is there a ‘related posts’ section below each detail page?
- Is there an author for all site pages?
- Is there an About, Contact and Privacy policy page?
- Is there a breadcrumb on all pages?
- Is there a custom 404 page?
WEB SITE CONTROL CHECK LIST
- Is the web site registered on Google Webmaster tools?
- Is the web site registered on Bing Webmaster tools?
- Checked robots.txt?
- Is there a valid XML Sitemap?
- Is the web site registered with Google Analytics?
SOCIAL MEDIA CHECKLIST
- Social media buttons on all pages?
- Is there a Facebook business page?
- Is there a Google+ business page?
- Is there a Pinterest business page?
- Is there a twitter account?
- Are social media profiles SEO optimized?
- Facebook Like box?
- Google+ Add to circles button?
- Newsletter and RSS registration?
OFF-SITE SEO CHECKLIST
- Number and type of inbound links?
- Opportunities to acquire new links?
- Competitor analysis
WEB SITE PROMOTION CHECK LIST
- Does the web site have a mobile friendly version?
- Is the web site listed in Chrome Web Store?
- Is there a native android app in Google Play?
- Is there a native amazon app in Amazon Store?
- Does the web site have a dedicated YouTube channel?
An SEO audit check list is a set of items that you need to review on your website to ensure that it follows the best practices for search engine optimization. An SEO audit can help you identify and fix technical, on-page, and off-page issues that may affect your site’s performance and ranking in Google. Some of the items in an SEO audit check list are:
- – Check for manual actions from Google that may penalize your site.
- – Check your organic traffic trend and see if it aligns with Google algorithm updates.
- – Check for HTTPS-related issues and make sure your site is secure and fast.
- – Check your titles and descriptions for each page and optimize them for keywords and click-through rate.
- – Check your heading tags and text format and use them to structure your content and highlight important points.
- – Check SEO for content and ensure that it provides value, relevance, authority, and trust to your audience.
- – Check your image SEO and optimize them for size, alt text, and captions.
- – Check the internal link structure and use it to guide users and crawlers through your site.
- – Check your backlinks and see if they are from high-quality and relevant sources.
- – Check for broken links and fix or remove them to avoid user frustration and crawl errors.