A website audit is a complete analysis of features that affect a website’s ranking and visibility on search engines. If done well, it can pin-point reasons as to why your website may or may not be generating traffic so you can figure out what to do less or more. Companies that offer search engine optimization services often conduct these audits as part of their package to ascertain problem areas and fix errors.

Since we’ve been in the SEO business for a long time, we know what we’re talking about when we say a website audit is important. Search engines have evolved greatly in the past many years and we’re here to tell you that for your site to be visible to them, you’re going to have to put in some effort.

Here’s a list of reasons why YOU need a website audit:

To check for issues in the technical framework of your website

Tech issues in your website strongly affect your visibility on the web as well as user experience. An audit will help identify any broken links or errors (404 pages!) that need to be taken care of immediately. Along with that, multiple redirects are also looked down upon as they slow down navigation for users. Remember, without a strong base your website is as good as gone from the SERPs!

To optimize your on-page content

Search engines are dedicated to providing users content that fits their search intent, and that too in the simplest way possible. If your website has a ton of informative content—good job, but if it's not easily accessible or if it has the readability level of a complex coding textbook then we’re sorry, the web is going to reject that. A website audit checks for Meta Descriptions, Titles, Keywords, Content style, Paragraphing, Links, the list goes on and on. These simple checks can go a long way in putting your website on the search engine globe.

To check for website speed and search traffic handling

Let’s face it, nobody likes a slow website. It's pretty common for people to just skip opening a website altogether if it takes more than 3-5 seconds to load. That’s where the need for a website audit comes in. You can optimize your loading speed and check whether your website is ready to handle large amounts of search traffic once it’s online.

To identify your backlinks

Backlinks are like referrals. Not just that, they can act like good reviews. Imagine a major, traffic-heavy website links to you for further information on a certain topic or refers people to check out your website for services. That means a lot in any website owner’s world. However, you need to be careful about what kind of backlinks you’re getting. Are they spammy? By which we mean referred to from sites that hold negative value for search engines. They could even be negative.

A good website audit will help you find out where you’re getting linked from and help ascertain if the traffic referral is worth it. You can also check where your competitors are getting links from and try to target them.

To help you with content marketing and campaign strategies

The end-goal of any SEO practice is to bring people to your website in order to achieve an end, whether it be selling a product or just making people aware of what you’re offering. A website audit provides crucial information relevant to this that helps you with creating marketing strategies catered to your target market’s needs. Possible problems you can identify after an audit include that perhaps your content isn’t sending out the right message or maybe it is too bluntly obvious in doing so. An audit will help you achieve clarity.

There are a lot of resources on the internet that can help you conduct your own website audit (for free!) However if you’re looking for a more in-depth analysis it would do you well to employ a digital marketing agency that offers you website auditing services. They can not only recognize discrepancies in your internet presence but also give you the valuable insight of an outside user.