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Amy Reis
8 Things to Do After an SEO Audit
I Got an SEO Audit, Now What?
If you performed an SEO audit and have website issues to resolve, you may be wondering where to start. If you are not familiar with SEO it can seem a little overwhelming and daunting if your report comes back with a lot of info you don’t know how to decipher or tackle.
We’ll help you determine what to look at, where to start, and how to prioritize your SEO tasks and next steps.
But first… a couple of FAQ’s.
What is an SEO Audit, and Why Does it Matter?
An SEO Audit is a check of your website to identify potential issues that could keep your website from ranking. Any SEO plan should start with an SEO audit, and they should be performed regularly to monitor the search health of your site.
You need to know what to fix before you spin your wheels creating new content on your site. If there are foundational technical issues, it’s likely it could be harming your rankings.
With an SEO Audit you’ll get a full picture of the level of effort, and time it will take to clean up issues. Once you have the information, you will be able to tackle the problems on your own, or hire an SEO Consultant or agency to help get your website in shape.
What Issues Will an SEO Audit Uncover?
An SEO audit will include results for a number of technical factors that affect SEO. These factors can be categorized in the following ways:
- Crawlability
- HTTPS
- International SEO
- Site Performance
- Internal Linking
Under each of these categories, there are a number of elements that are evaluated. In many SEO audit reports you will receive a grade on each of these elements that shows how well your website is doing in that area.
Now for the steps you need to take after you get your website SEO report…
How to Prioritize SEO Tasks
Rank errors by severity
Once you receive your report and are aware of errors that are identified, you’ll need to rank them by their severity. Obviously, the more severe the error, the higher the priority is to fix it.
Most website audit reports will use some type of grading system that will help you determine the severity of issues. Put the high-severity errors at the top of your SEO improvement list.
Tackle “low-effort" tasks
There are many issues that come up in your audit that are easy fixes. If they only take a few minutes, and you can knock out many of them quickly, prioritize these as well.
Keep in mind, you may not know first-hand how easy or difficult a fix is on your own. This may take getting advice from an SEO expert or your webmaster.
Many technical errors will require the help of your website developer, so you’ll want to make sure you share the results with them to gauge the effort it will take them to fix.
Identify “high-impact” opportunities
High-impact opportunities are those that can make a great impact on your SEO. Depending on the issue, it could be one problematic page, a global website setting, or anything else that if implemented will have a large impact.
Again, if you are just learning SEO, it may be difficult to pinpoint these “high impact” opportunities. It will take some analysis of the suggestions and recommendations in your SEO audit report to be able to clearly identify them.
Plan a road map for more difficult fixes
Once you have a plan for or have already dealt with the “low-hanging fruit” fixes, you want to have a plan for the more challenging or time-consuming tasks on your list.
Some major website foundational changes that require a thorough thought process and implementation need to have a road map plan dedicated to make sure the issues are addressed.
Define goals for both short-term and long-term results
SEO is an ongoing process. You begin this process by finding out what you can do to rank better and please Google with an SEO Audit. Beyond this, because of the long-term benefits of SEO, it should never stop.
Setting both short-term and long-term goals and then creating an implementation plan against them will set you up for success and growth. These goals can be quantitative and qualitative, as both are important to achieving positive SEO results.
Here’s an example of some of the short and long-term goals you might set:
Short-term SEO goals
- Achieve a 100% site health goal
- Increase rankings for 10 keywords
- Move 5 keywords rankings to page 1
Long-term SEO goals
- Win top ranking position for top 5 conversion pages
- Increase organic traffic by 80%
- Out-position competitors on top 10 keywords
Create a timeline for fixes and opportunities
You must set a timeline to adhere to assure you are making progress towards your goals. While the time frame on specific goals could be short (1-3 months) or longer (6-12 months), management of a timeline is key.
You’d be surprised at how much opportunity can be lost by letting timelines slip, and not being proactive in the execution and management of the necessary tasks.
Track your progress
When you track your progress over time, you will be able to see exactly what your efforts have done for you.
Because search engine optimization is a process and results are not always immediate, looking at the strides you have taken and how they have correlated to your goals will help you with future planning, goal-setting, and management of priorities.
Monitor Consistently
As I said before, search engine optimization is always an ongoing strategy. As with all strategies, consistent monitoring is key. As you make changes to your website, add content, features, and technology, things will change. Monitoring with ongoing SEO Audits is key to catching any new issues that arise before they have a chance to cause damage.
There are many SEO Audit tools available that do this, both free and paid. If you are going to put in the time to improve your search engine optimization, keep up on it. Keep setting and achieving new goals and stay on top of your website’s SEO health.
In Closing
You should now have a good understanding of what to do with an SEO Audit. In order to attain your SEO goals, you must know what you’re dealing with, have a plan to attack the issues, and have a road map to achieve ongoing success in your SEO efforts.
My last piece of advice is if this is the first SEO Audit you have done, and it seems daunting, take it one step at a time, and have diligence in staying SEO healthy. Once you gain some momentum, DON’T STOP! The effort and investment will be worth it for a long time to come.
Need Help?
If you read this article, chances are you have either performed an SEO Audit or are thinking about performing an one in the near future.
If you need assistance in creating an SEO strategy, implementing your strategy, or simply need some answers to your SEO questions, please reach out by sending us a message, booking a free consultation, or contacting us today!
Best wishes and much success on your SEO journey!
