- Quicker loading times
Typically, a website audit assesses not only the site content, but its technical performance should also be dealt upon as well. It is an opportunity to check whether its innards are still compliant with the requirements of today’s version of search engines. There have been confirmed results that Google will rollout an update to its algorithm that will tag and penalize websites with slow loading times. Because of this, we’re bumping up this step as a priority on your next audit.
- Content assessment
Website audits cover the entire content of the site. Identify where you miss SEO opportunities, or correct inappropriate SEO (for example, keyword stuffing or matching of anchor text).
In addition, the direction of SEO measures can be redefined so that users are considered first, not search engines. That way, every time the search ranking algorithm changes, you’re not forced into major website overhauls, and you don’t have to take misguided measures just to get back to a higher ranking.
When assessing content quality, look at your site from the perspective of your target audience. Become a user, “are you be satisfied with the information you’re seeing?” “Are you able to find the answers you’re looking for on why you landed on this website?” “Is there enough information about the topic?” “Are you motivated to learn more about the topic after reading it in your site? “, these are the kind of questions that will set your site apart if you’re able to achieve the goals where these questions lead towards.
- Improve conversion rate
Website audit can also aim to re-evaluate website effectiveness in terms of lead generation and conversion. Identify where you missed conversion opportunities from visitors to leads and place the right CTA, identify missing elements on the landing page, and optimize for higher conversion rates.
This approach of evaluation touches both the content and your site’s technical aspects, which gives you the opportunity to drastically improve traffic and conversions.
Quality content is any media that meets the likes / wants of the buyer persona, content that is interesting, readable and valuable, provides in-depth knowledge on specific topics, next steps (e.g. CTA, links, related information) to the reader, which will ultimately lead them into a positive purchasing decision.
- Fix on-page SEO on your website content?
Remember that all web pages on your site need to follow on-page fundamental SEO strategies. Run analytics to see how keywords are performing. Find which one’s are the best contributor to traffic and lead acquisition? Evaluate how keyword performance is reflected in your strategy of publishing content. How accurate is the content added to your site to target the keywords of interest? Check the (URL, page title, meta description, copy, etc.). Make sure that the keyword is in the correct location.
Do you want to see detailed information on business topics, related materials, product and pricing information, or customer feedback? This part depends mainly on the business of each company. The biggest goal here is to make it easy for users to find the information they are looking for. That alone should increase the conversion rate naturally.
- Review website usability
How many visitors are turned off because the main navigation and menu items on your site suck?
Your site’s design and page layout should be evaluated on how it can be made simpler and more intuitive to use. Make sure your pages aren’t crowded, don’t stuff too much ads / CTA / links, and use internal links properly. Is the conversion path, shopping cart, and payment process intuitive? Gather information from first time users on how your site’s entire process made them feel. Do this by conducting user tests that will help people who are your target audience.
- Technical assessment
This is where you should ask for the cooperation of developers and IT staff. Alternatively, you can get help from an outside contractor, like Joel House Search Media.
There is an overlap between content assessment and technical assessment, but the ultimate goal is the same. In the technical assessment, you aim to improve UI from the perspective of polishing the technical aspects.
Below are some technical elements to watch out for in website auditing
- Eliminate all errors
If there are pages anywhere on your site with the status codes indicating errors such as 302, 404, 500, etc., this is a problem. Find out what’s causing them and solve all errors. Usually, these errors appear when links are broken, and the user directed on a dead end. Find out these broken links and take appropriate action.
- Is the site URL optimized?
Are you using URLs that have become too long because you’re too focused on keywords, or URLs with a lot of session IDs or dynamic parameters? Pages with these URLs may not be indexed well by search engines, and the click-through rate may decrease. Think about the URL format that is highly compatible with SEO.
- Are you using too much elements of Flash or JavaScript?
Are there any parts of the navigation page that are built with Flash? Search engines also frown upon Javasripts just the same. You may not be able to index your site well because search engines cannot recognize these parts.
- Is the web page URL normalized?
The final issue of technical considerations for websites is the normalization of page URLs. In order to control search results from displaying URLs properly and minimize problems related to content duplication as much as possible, we recommend that you decide on a formal URL to recommend as the page to display. There are several ways to tell Google that URL.
One of them is to write a canonical tag in the page’s HTTP header (rel = “canonical”). Ask someone to verify that you have properly implemented canonical tags throughout your site. In that case, make sure that the URL specified on each page is correct and that it does not direct to the top page.
- Conclusion – create an auditing framework right from the start
Remember to set in place an audit framework right from the beginning. Become your own biggest critic by asking questions which will lead to improved user experience each audit. Website auditing is not easy, especially for those who are not technical. Check out various articles and sources on the web. Thankfully, Google have also published guides for webmasters to follow.