Many small businesses are looking for ways to improve their website’s search engine ranking. However, they don’t have the budget to hire an agency for SEO services. In this blog post, I will recommend seven tools that can help you conduct a website audit on your own. These tools are all free or have a free trial version available. Using them will help you identify areas of your website that need improvement and take steps to improve your ranking.
How to do a seo audit for your small business
Any business owner knows that a website is essential for success in the modern world. But just having a website is not enough – it needs to be optimized for search engines if you want people to find it.
A SEO audit for your small business website is important because it can help you identify ways to improve your site’s visibility and organic search traffic.
The main purpose of a SEO audit is to uncover potential issues with your website that are preventing you from ranking higher in the search engines. In addition, an SEO audit can also help you identify opportunities to improve your site’s content and on-page optimization.
There are a lot of different factors that go into SEO, so conducting an audit can seem daunting. But don’t worry – there are some great tools out there that can help. Here are a few of my favourites:
1-SCREAMING FROG
With Screaming Frog, you can quickly and easily get an SEO audit of your website without having to pay for it.
In just a couple of minutes, you will see an in-depth audit on all webpages for errors and possible problems. From meta tags to error status codes – there’s no need take our word when it comes down how powerful this tool is!
Screaming Frog can be used to find broken links, duplicate content, and other potential problems that could be negatively impacting your website’s SEO.
The free version allows you up to 500 URLs for each crawl you make so for a lot of SMBs, this will tick the boxes.
COST:BOTH FREE AND PAID VERSION AVAILABLE
METRICS:: Find broken links, errors, and redirects, analyze page titles and meta descriptions, review meta robots and directives, discover duplicate pages, MORE
2-GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Google Analytics is one of the most powerful and completely free website analytics tools out there. Once installed properly on your site, you’ll be able to see which marketing tactics are driving traffic in order with what converts them into customers–and much more! This should go without saying but this isn’t just for big businesses either; every small company needs an understanding about their customer base so they can improve future strategies accordingly.
here is a course from google analytic academy on how to install google analytics on your website , navigate the Google Analytics interface and reports, and set up dashboards and shortcuts.
COST Free
METRICS: Website visitor data landing page traffic,Google AMP tracking, visitor conversion rates, visitor bounce rate ,more
3-GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE
Google Search Console is another free tool offered by Google that can be used to track your website’s performance in search results. Search Console allows you to see how often your site appears in Google search results, and which keywords are being used to find your site. Additionally, Search Console can help you to identify any potential technical issues that may be affecting your site’s ranking in search results.
COST: Free
METRICS: Keyword data, technical issues, coverage, sitemaps, mobile usability, schema, core web vitals
4-GOOGLE PAGE SPEED INSIGHT
Google has released a tool to diagnose your page load speed. Page Speed Insights not only provides you with an easy-to understand score for both mobile and desktop pages, but it also lists any issues causing slowness in the loading process so that we can all work towards improving our websites’ performance!
COST: Free
METRICS: Page speed score, technical issues
LOCAL BUSINESS AUDIT
Local SEO is the process of optimizing a website for a specific local area. If you have a local business, like a shop, restaurant, or service provider, then local SEO can help you get more customers from your local area.
The first step in performing a local SEO audit is to determine which keywords are most relevant to your business. These keywords should be included in your website’s title tags, meta descriptions, and H1 headings. You should also make sure that your website is listed in all of the major online directories, including Google My Business and Yelp.
Additionally, you can improve your local SEO by creating citations on high-quality websites.
5-GOOGLE MY BUSINESS
We all know how difficult it is to compete with larger brands. But, there’s one way that you can get your business noticed by prospective customers- have an optimized Google My Business (GMB) listing! With this service from GMB pros, not only will the rank of yours rise but also provide easy contact information and location on map along side other benefits like testimonials or reviews left by others who’ve used their services before them which makes potential clients more inclined towards choosing what they offer over someone else’s product/service because at least these people seem trustworthy enough where their opinions matter too plus if somebody reads good things about me then maybe we’ll end up working together soon.
here is a great article on how to create and verify your google my business account
COST: Free
METRICS: Website visits, impressions, direction requests, calls
6-BRIGHT LOCAL
Bright Local is a great tool for tracking your local search rankings, performing SEO audits, and building citations. It’s especially useful for small businesses who want to ensure they’re doing everything possible to optimize their website and rank higher in local search results.
brightlocal’ll give you a free 14 day trial. two weeks should be more than enough time to do an audit and get your business up-and running with citation management
COST: both free and paid plan ,free plan gives you 14 days trial period
METRICS: ranking,citation,listing,reviews,links,on-page SEO,google my business audit
If you have a small business, it’s important to make sure your website is optimized for search engines. One way to do this is to perform a regular SEO audit for your website . There are lots of great free tools available that can help you do this. I’ve listed some of my favourites above. Once you get the hang of how these tools work, it’s not very hard to use them.start with two or three of these tools and see what they turn up
Just remember – auditing your SEO is an ongoing process, not a one-time thing. So don’t be afraid to revisit your audit regularly and keep making improvements!
if you need help getting started or want someone to take care of the audit of your site for you, I offer a free basic SEO audit plus a complementary phone call going over the report. All you have to do is fill out this quick form and I’ll send a report right in to your mailbox!
FAQ
What is the best way to do a small business SEO audit?
The best way to do a small business SEO audit is to start with the most important issues and work your way down.
- Make sure that your site is properly indexed by Google.
- Verify that your site’s title tags and meta descriptions are accurate and keyword-rich.
- Check that your site’s overall architecture is effective for SEO purposes.
- Audit your site’s content to make sure it’s helpful and engaging for users.
- Analyse your backlink profile and identify any potential penalties or algorithm changes you may have suffered in recent months/years).
- Review your website’s traffic data to see where you’re losing ground against the competition.
How do I do a basic SEO audit?
- Start by reviewing your website’s content and structure. Make sure all your pages are well-written, keyword-rich, and informative.
- Check for duplicate content. Google doesn’t like websites with duplicate content, so make sure all of your pages are original and relevant to your target audience.
- Audit your website’s backlinks. Make sure you have links from high-quality websites that are relevant to your niche market.
- Optimize your website for search engines. Use the right keywords in your titles, descriptions, and tags, and make sure your website is easy to navigate.
- Monitor your website’s traffic stats regularly. Use a tool like Google Analytics
Is an SEO audit worth it?
Yes, an SEO audit can be a valuable investment for businesses. By identifying and addressing areas of improvement, an SEO audit can help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), drive more website traffic, and boost online conversions.
However, not all SEO audits are created equal. It’s important to work with an experienced and reputable SEO company that can deliver a comprehensive and accurate audit report. Such a company will assess your website on a variety of factors including on-page optimization, linkbuilding, keyword research, and competitor analysis. Once the report is delivered, they will also provide recommendations for how you can improve your website’s SEO performance.
How much is an SEO site audit?
A full SEO site audit can range in price from $500 to $2,000, depending on the size and complexity of the website. More simple sites with fewer pages and a limited number of backlinks will be at the lower end of that price range, while larger and more complex websites will be closer to the higher end.
What's included in an SEO audit?
Generally, an SEO audit will include an evaluation of a website’s on-page optimization, technical SEO, link building and off-page optimization. It will also include an analysis of the website’s competition and a list of recommended actions to improve the site’s search engine visibility.
How do SEO experts start the first step?
look at what kind of optimization is needed, both on-page and off-page, in order to improve the website’s ranking.SEO experts will also develop a strategy for link building, content marketing, and social media outreach that will help promote the website and increase its visibility online. Lastly, they will continue to track the results of their work in order to ensure that the website remains ranked highly in search engine results pages.
Do people actually pay for SEO audits?
Yes, people actually do pay for SEO audits. And they should—an SEO audit is one of the best investments a business can make to improve their website and organic search traffic.
An SEO audit is a comprehensive review of a website that looks at all the factors that influence how well a site ranks in search engines. The goal of an SEO audit is to identify any areas of improvement and make recommendations to help the website rank higher in search results.
SEO audits can be expensive, but the payoff can be worth it. A good SEO audit will help you identify and fix any problems with your website that are preventing you from ranking higher in Google search results
What should I look for in a good seo audit tool?
There are a few key features to look for in a good SEO audit tool. One is the ability to crawl your website and generate a detailed report of all the errors and warnings. The report should include information on things like broken links, missing titles and descriptions, duplicate content, etc.
Another important feature is the ability to track your website’s rankings over time. The tool should show you how your website has been performing in search engines for specific keywords or phrases. And finally, the tool should have dashboard that provides an overview of all your SEO metrics at a glance.