How to Conduct A Basic SEO Audit: Uncover Hidden Ranking Killers

Hey, I know you're busy running your business, and you don't have time to become a Google SEO expert. But what if I told you a few simple tweaks through a simple SEO audit could significantly affect how many people find you online?

Think of it like this:
your website is like your storefront. No one will find it if it's hidden down a back alley. We're going to make sure it's on Main Street. We're going to look at your website the way Google does. Think of it as ensuring your business has clear signs and a clean, inviting window.

Let's provide you with the big picture or a simple way to understand how Google approaches ranking sites - Google wants to display the most authoritative, relevant and helpful content on the web that satisfies or answers a searcher’s query or search.

 Through SEO, we can help build this reputation with Google so that it trusts us and wants to show our website. Here’s an important point: Google implicitly endorses a website when it shows one in its search results. And our goal is to give it every reason to show ours.

The last thing Google wants to do is show a bad website because if the experience is poor, people will stop using Google, which will lead to less traffic and ultimately fewer ad sales for Google.

So, let’s go through our simple SEO audit checklist:

These are our Keywords if you will. If you own a bakery, imagine someone searching for 'fresh bread near me.'

Does your website use those words?

Google looks for words and how they are used to understand what your business is about.

Or, for example, if you’re a med spa, if you offer laser hair removal, laser tattoo removal, IV therapy, do you have pages for each of those? (related post on Med Spa SEO).

And are those keywords used on your page at least once? Now keep in mind that Google is far more sophisticated than just looking at keywords, but keywords can be a good framework for our quick SEO audit purposes. 

So, go to your website. Read through your pages. Do you have dedicated pages to each service or product, or what you want to show up for in search results?

It’s common that businesses will put multiple services or products on one page, but if you're going to rank well, you need standalone service and product pages that provide details like your unique selling proposition, features and benefits, trustmarks, testimonials, images or videos of the product or service.

All this matters because if your website doesn't use the right words and the words people use when searching for your products and services, Google won't know how to show it to people searching for your business. (related post here on how to choose keywords for SEO).

So, back to our bakery business example, if your bakery sells wedding cakes, make sure you have a dedicated page about that with that keyword. Don't just say 'specialty cakes.' Wedding cakes are specialty cakes, but you need a page dedicated to just wedding cakes.

This is our Mobile-Friendly website check.

Most people use their phones to search for things. Does your website look good on a phone? Grab your phone and go to your website.

Can you read the words?

Can you tap the buttons easily?

Are you fat-fingering the buttons or links?

Google knows if it's hard to use, and people will leave.

And this matters because Google likes websites that work well on phones. If yours doesn't, it will hurt your SEO search ranking.

Remember, Google implicitly endorses sites that rank well, so give it every reason to show yours. For example, if a site is too small to read on a phone or the buttons are too close together, it needs fixing. (related post, Website Redesign SEO Checklist).

So here I’m talking specifically about links from other websites to yours. Think of links like recommendations.

If other websites link to yours, it tells Google your website is trustworthy. Check if any local business directories or community websites link to your business’s website.

Action item:

If you partner with other local businesses, ask them to add a link to your site on their website.

Why it matters:

Links from other websites help Google determine that your website is popular and reliable. Think of it like networking, if nobody knows you or can recommend you, you’re not likely to get much attention or business. 

Here’s an Example: 

If your local chamber of commerce lists your business on their website with a link, that's a good thing. Reach out to any alumni or business organizations and make sure you have a link back to your website. 

Free Tools:  

And two free tools I recommend for checking for backlinks to your website are Google Search Console and using simple URL operators in Google.

First, Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google, and it has many insights from Google about your site. So, If you don’t have Google Search Console set up, I would set that up now. It will have to be active to build data, but get started with that now.

And the 2nd tool is just using an advanced URL operator like this -
Go to Google and instead of typing in a website URL, type this:
allintext:"and then a URL in quotes" - the URL you enter is one you believe might link to you, or a competitor. This advanced operator will find sites that have the URL in the content of the text on pages within that website. You can even use that to find links your competitors have that you can get.