The global economic climate is driving corporate rivalry to an all-time high. And that makes it difficult for companies to increase their sales figures to an international level. Are you the owner of a firm operating in an oversaturated industry? In this case, calling on the professional services of a company specialized in digital marketing techniques will be worthwhile. And if you are interested in search engine optimization, the long-term success of your enterprise will start with a comprehensive SEO audit.

Search engine optimization services can be essential for your business to register a progressive increase in market share. The ultimate goal of SEO is to achieve a proactive boost in profitability. Something like this can only happen with the help of an organic rise in audience interest due to careful technical and content optimization of the services you offer. With the aid of an audit, the company you collaborate with could identify the elements that influence your SERP ranking, modify them, and design a long-term strategy that puts you ahead of your rivals.

SEO is not magic; it's science, and in the right hands, it could be the most effective way to identify leads and close sales. With the help of a firm experienced in digital marketing strategies, your impact on national or international markets will increase, and the reputation of your services will improve. SEO is also the best way to find changing trends, identify shifts in consumer preferences, and prevent disruptions caused by algorithm variations.

What Is an SEO Audit?

A website audit carried out by a professional SEO company is, in short, an evaluation of your website to determine its performance for search engine algorithms. Through such an audit, the company you call will evaluate which elements of your website need to be changed and rank them according to priorities. What are the components of an audit? For one, it all starts with an overview of your business combined with identifying the keywords or phrases used by your target audience.

A keyword SEO check can also be done by yourself using the queries box of your preferred search engine. Once you fill in a couple of keywords, the autocompleted results will show the phrases sought by people interested in those offerings or products. A keyword check using professional software takes things to the next level and can compare the incidence of these words or phrases with those found on your pages, drawing a parallel between them and what may be found on your rivals' sites.

Once these keywords are identified, they can be used to create an on-page optimization strategy. What is an on-page performance audit? A way to improve your online results. Such an analysis would focus on identifying content elements that can influence your SERP ranking. These may include errors with title headers, missing metadata descriptions, or internal links that are no longer relevant. A site audit performed with professional SEO tools will identify errors that may affect page readability, note outdated content, and flag factors that may influence content readability.

What About a Technical Audit?

Google is the search engine of choice for the majority of Americans, boasting a global market share of over 85%. But to improve your SERP ranking, your website’s pages must be technically optimized. A technical audit performed by an SEO firm can identify problems with your site's loading times, note mobile optimization issues, check for an XML sitemap's existence, or verify the correct indexing of your pages using tools like Google Search Console.

A technical website audit will be necessary to optimize your website appropriately. Furthermore, the changes required will depend on the information gathered and your field of activity. Technical SEO optimization can include creating a robotx.txt file or a sitemap that indexes your website’s internal pages and articles. In addition, the SEO process will also require a re-evaluation of the existing URL structures or implementation of HTTPS protocols for securing your client's confidential data.

What Problems Can Be Identified by an SEO Audit?

More than 90% of websites do not get traffic from search engines. And this can be due to SEO problems that make them practically invisible to crawlers. What are the main issues that an SEO audit could identify? Let's start with the minor ones. Content issues, such as missing or duplicate title tags or meta descriptions, could be fixed in just a few hours. The same goes for restructuring internal links found in the content of articles or product descriptions. But things get a little more complicated when the audit identifies problems of a technical nature.

Server connectivity issues or difficulties rendering page content on mobile devices can have a devastating effect on the SEO performance of your website. Moreover, solving these problems will require extensive troubleshooting. Content issues can also be tricky. If the articles or descriptions on your pages do not comply with E-A-T rules, they may need to be re-edited or re-created from scratch, which could take weeks or even months. Finally, if your site has been penalized by search engines in the past, then identifying the root cause may require intensive research and extensive resource allocation.

It’s a Necessary Step

Using audit services made possible by an SEO agency represents the first step towards implementing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that will positively affect your business's profitability. An SEO audit could identify various problems with your site, from issues with canonicalization to communication errors with external pages. An SEO audit process can take anywhere from two to even six or seven weeks to complete, the complexity depending on the client's field of activity and the site's existing functions.

In the case of a local search engine optimization process, the audit completion time will be shorter. But for international SEO, the process is likely to take several weeks. Is it necessary? Yes, as only through a comprehensive analytical review can you identify internal or external elements that influence SERP scores. Search engine optimization is a complex process that requires accurate analytical data to be effective. And with the help of an audit, the success of the implemented strategy will be almost guaranteed.