5 Steps to Perform an Effective SEO Audit
Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2025 5:52 am
Why do an SEO audit? SEO audit: definition SEO is like gardening. First, you plant the right seeds (with the right keywords). Then, you make sure they get enough light and water (through quality content or backlinks). And you have to be patient, to get the results you want, no matter the season. But that's not all! You also need to regularly ensure that you improve your current SEO strategy. Like a beautiful plant, it needs to be monitored. This is the whole point of the SEO audit: an in-depth analysis, which allows you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your current strategy... And to implement the necessary improvements. Indeed, an SEO audit (or Search Engine Optimization) is the complete analysis of the visibility of your site, on the web.
It allows you to evaluate the optimization of your website and your content , for search engines like Google. Thanks to such a process, you identify what generates good results, or on the contrary, the errors that limit your performance. An SEO audit typically examines the following elements: User experience The keywords Link building Website architecture Indexing and Navigability If all this is still a little vague (or crazy) for you, don't panic: here, we explain everything to you. Why is this so important? Before, to perform in SEO, it was enough to add a few links and a few keywords to your content (obviously, we are exaggerating). But today, search engine algorithms are more and more sophisticated. New updates are even completely changing the rules of SEO, like Google SGE (or AI Overviews).
So, on a very regular basis, it is necessary to take stock. And look at how your company's website is positioned, compared to the many other contents. Especially when we know that SEO is an essential lever for your performance. And especially in B2B! 57% of B2B marketers say that SEO generates more leads than their other marketing initiatives. At Plezi, we confirm this data. Moreover, SEO is the central pillar of our marketing strategy. It allows us to generate qualified traffic, to position ourselves as a reference player in our market and above all, to generate leads in a sustainable manner. On a market scale, the observation is the same: SEO is by far the most effective channel for generating MQLs (59.3%) and customers (45.8%) … Far ahead of other levers, such as events and paid (such as SEA).
However, it only represents on average 16% of the marketing budget of the companies surveyed, compared to 31% for events, according to our B2B digital marketing barometer in France (2024 edition). Marketing levers Our advice: prioritize SEO investments for a better ROI! Especially since this lever can be optimized effectively, thanks to the performance bosnia and herzegovina businesses directory of an audit… At the right time. When to do an SEO audit? Some people go to the doctor as soon as they are sick. Others prefer to anticipate even without symptoms, to do a complete check-up. It is the same for your website: the audit can be carried out at the first clinical signs (example: a drop in traffic or a drop in conversions, to act as quickly as possible), or on a regular basis , even when “everything is fine”. This is also our recommendation: favor frequent analyses .
For example, plan a technical SEO audit every quarter. And carry out a UX and conversion SEO audit at least once a semester. In the meantime, if events occur ( website redesign , website launch in another language, unexpected drop in performance, etc.), do not wait to move on to analysis ( discover 6 free SEO analysis solutions ). Step 1: Analyze the structure and technique of the website The first step of an SEO audit is to examine the structure and technical aspects of your website. The goal? To ensure that search engines can easily explore (or “crawl”) and index your pages, without encountering obstacles and problems. To facilitate the work of indexing robots, while benefiting from good technical SEO… Here are the key points to check: Page indexing : use Google Search Console to check that all your important pages are indexed by Google.
From the console, you can also identify any crawl errors that could penalize your natural referencing. Warning: unindexed pages are not included in Google's database... And they cannot be classified! Loading speed : A slow website is a drag on user experience and SEO. Every millisecond counts! Use tools like PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to analyze your page loading time and get optimization recommendations (image compression, code minification, etc.). 404 errors and redirects : Pages not found (404 errors) and chain redirects harm the navigation and crawling of your site. Take inventory of these errors and set up the necessary 301 redirects to active and relevant pages. Mobile compatibility : With over 50% of web traffic coming from smartphones, a site that is not optimized for mobile is heavily penalized by Google. Make sure your website displays correctly on all screens and that your pages are easily navigable on mobile.
It allows you to evaluate the optimization of your website and your content , for search engines like Google. Thanks to such a process, you identify what generates good results, or on the contrary, the errors that limit your performance. An SEO audit typically examines the following elements: User experience The keywords Link building Website architecture Indexing and Navigability If all this is still a little vague (or crazy) for you, don't panic: here, we explain everything to you. Why is this so important? Before, to perform in SEO, it was enough to add a few links and a few keywords to your content (obviously, we are exaggerating). But today, search engine algorithms are more and more sophisticated. New updates are even completely changing the rules of SEO, like Google SGE (or AI Overviews).
So, on a very regular basis, it is necessary to take stock. And look at how your company's website is positioned, compared to the many other contents. Especially when we know that SEO is an essential lever for your performance. And especially in B2B! 57% of B2B marketers say that SEO generates more leads than their other marketing initiatives. At Plezi, we confirm this data. Moreover, SEO is the central pillar of our marketing strategy. It allows us to generate qualified traffic, to position ourselves as a reference player in our market and above all, to generate leads in a sustainable manner. On a market scale, the observation is the same: SEO is by far the most effective channel for generating MQLs (59.3%) and customers (45.8%) … Far ahead of other levers, such as events and paid (such as SEA).
However, it only represents on average 16% of the marketing budget of the companies surveyed, compared to 31% for events, according to our B2B digital marketing barometer in France (2024 edition). Marketing levers Our advice: prioritize SEO investments for a better ROI! Especially since this lever can be optimized effectively, thanks to the performance bosnia and herzegovina businesses directory of an audit… At the right time. When to do an SEO audit? Some people go to the doctor as soon as they are sick. Others prefer to anticipate even without symptoms, to do a complete check-up. It is the same for your website: the audit can be carried out at the first clinical signs (example: a drop in traffic or a drop in conversions, to act as quickly as possible), or on a regular basis , even when “everything is fine”. This is also our recommendation: favor frequent analyses .
For example, plan a technical SEO audit every quarter. And carry out a UX and conversion SEO audit at least once a semester. In the meantime, if events occur ( website redesign , website launch in another language, unexpected drop in performance, etc.), do not wait to move on to analysis ( discover 6 free SEO analysis solutions ). Step 1: Analyze the structure and technique of the website The first step of an SEO audit is to examine the structure and technical aspects of your website. The goal? To ensure that search engines can easily explore (or “crawl”) and index your pages, without encountering obstacles and problems. To facilitate the work of indexing robots, while benefiting from good technical SEO… Here are the key points to check: Page indexing : use Google Search Console to check that all your important pages are indexed by Google.
From the console, you can also identify any crawl errors that could penalize your natural referencing. Warning: unindexed pages are not included in Google's database... And they cannot be classified! Loading speed : A slow website is a drag on user experience and SEO. Every millisecond counts! Use tools like PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to analyze your page loading time and get optimization recommendations (image compression, code minification, etc.). 404 errors and redirects : Pages not found (404 errors) and chain redirects harm the navigation and crawling of your site. Take inventory of these errors and set up the necessary 301 redirects to active and relevant pages. Mobile compatibility : With over 50% of web traffic coming from smartphones, a site that is not optimized for mobile is heavily penalized by Google. Make sure your website displays correctly on all screens and that your pages are easily navigable on mobile.