SEO Site Audits: Valuable Insight for Struggling Brands

If you find yourself cringing at the word “audit,” you are hardly alone. Audits appeal to just about no one. They dig into the silky smooth surface and uproot the dirty facts. Meanwhile, your to-do list multiplies right before your eyes. An SEO Audit is a fairly new concept – but as you can probably guess, its purpose is to illuminate the reason your website is failing to receiving traffic or convert its visitors. The results of this kind of audit aren’t pretty – but they are valuable. In the back of a business owner’s mind is a voice of reason that understands how such intensive scrutiny can actually advance a brand in the long run.

Companies pump a significant portion of their budgets into the workings of their sites, sometimes without even knowing how effectively their dot-coms are performing. Here is a miniature audit that you can perform in ten minutes in order to get an idea of how much work is ahead of you:

1. Google yourself. Your brand, that is. Not you (although it’s always a good idea to see what results show up for that). Does your brand’s website showing up in the results? Depending on the name, history, and reputation of your business, you may own the first page real estate – or you may be pretty difficult to find. This step will help you gauge who is competing with you to rank for branded terms. Awareness is critical.
2. Perform a site search. Enter “site:yourdomain.com” in the search box and note the number of page results Google yields. Whether that is 38 or 3,800, compare it to the number of pages submitted in your sitemap (i.e. the number of pages that you actually want to be indexed). If there is a significant difference, you’ll know immediately to take a closer look; websites commonly have multiple versions of pages indexed (referred to as duplicate content), which causes all sorts of issues.
3. Evaluate the meta data. You’d be surprised to find out how many websites do not have specified title tags or meta descriptions. Searching your brand in Google allows you to gauge how interesting, relevant, and unique this meta data is to each page. If titles are cut off or the meta descriptions provide no sneak peek of the content, why would a searcher perceive that page to be worth visiting?
4. Do some stalking. You’re likely aware of who your competitors are, but how often do you Google them? Take five minutes to search for these brands, focusing on the quality of their meta data, how many URLs are showing up on the first results page, and which parts of the site are ranking. This will provide a rough idea of how your efforts compare.

For those who are interested in performing a more rigorous audit, we have assembled a free SEO Audit checklist for you to download and use. We know as well as anybody that it’s difficult to give a website a clean sweep without getting lost in the process; this checklist will help you stay on track. Evolve Digital Labs’ recommendation is that you open a blank Word document and simply dump in your findings as you move through the list. Happy auditing! Let us know what you think.

Evolve Digital Labs is a digital marketing firm that specializes in SEO, PPC, and website consulting. Located in St. Louis, MO, Evolve works primarily with B2B clientele and is dedicated to keeping clients involved in SEO and PPC processes. Derek Mabie, president of Evolve Digital Labs, has more than a decade of experience in the ever-changing World Wide Web and has worked with an impressive collection of brands, including Bacardi, Embassy Suites, and Dean Foods.