Automate the Web Audit Process with a Site Audit Tool
A manual web audit is a time-consuming task, even if your site has only a few pages. Moreover, there’s a good chance that you might miss something. A site audit tool automates this process. These tools (some of which are free) are comprehensive, accurate, and easy to use, and identify any issues affecting site performance. On top of this, you can be quite sure you won’t miss any important detail.Assess Website Content
Your website content was probably optimised for SEO when it was written but it probably needs a revision as algorithms keep changing. Common search engine optimization (SEO) problems can also affect your rankings, so it’s essential to address them, such as pages that load too slowly or errors in your mobile compatibility.
Keywords are also important for Google indexing, but good content should be so well-written that you don’t even realise that the keywords are there. Another way to assess your content is to make sure the links are current and working. Google has become progressively more weighted toward recent content rather than years-old sources.
Broken links are just one aspect of technical errors that could be hurting your website’s ranking in search engines. Others include image errors, lack of meta descriptions and alt. text, or duplicate content. When Google’s bots crawl your site, any technical error can throw them off and prevent your site from appearing in SERPs and being indexed properly in searches.
Here are some questions to ask yourself when assessing your current website:
- How easy is it to navigate your site? Is it easy for a visitor to find information (such as what your business does, how to reach you, your hours, etc.)?
- Are you using the right keywords to attract visitors to your site?
- Does your website convince visitors to become leads or, more importantly, purchase your product/service?
- Is your website too cluttered? Are there too many ads, calls-to-action, or links?
- Are there enough internal links that are current?
- Is the checkout experience simple and intuitive, or complicated and frustrating?
- How quickly does your website load? Does your website crash frequently?
- How well does your website work on mobile devices – does it look and feel the same as it would on a larger screen?
- Do any error messages pop up constantly?
- How long are your URLs? Have you set your preferred (canonical) URL?
- Does your website contain a lot of Flash or JavaScript, making it difficult for search engines to read and access it?
- Have you defined how a web page indexes your site by adding tags and sitemaps?
Completing this assessment will let you know here to focus your efforts to improve your website.
Set Clear Metrics for Improvement
What will improvement look like if you fix the problems with your website - an increase in visitors, the time they spend on a page, or the conversions?
To understand the effect of your improvements, set some metrics before you launch any website overhaul projects. Make sure these metrics are realistic; it might not be practical to expect an 80% increase in traffic if you revamp only your SEO, for example. Research what metrics make the most sense, then think about what tools to put in place to measure success.
List Issues and Plan your Fixes
The web audit will likely identify at least one issue to work on so that you boost your site’s performance and traffic. Even if you have a few areas for improvement, it might seem overwhelming – what do you tackle first? Creating a checklist of all website issues helps you catalogue what needs fixing. Prioritising and setting timelines for fixing each issue ensures that the issue will be taken care of within a practical period. Moreover, if you know you do not have the internal resources to fix the problem yourself, turn to a trusted third party.
Improve User Experience
Why Are Web Audits Important for Your Business?
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