How to Perform an SEO Audit

2015 SearchFest – SEMpdx

Performing a Technical SEO Audit

2015 SearchFest – Performing a Highly Technical SEO Audit

About Me

• Senior SEO Strategist, Globe Runner• Founder, DFWSEM Association• Brand Ambassador, Majestic.com• Personal Blog: www.BillHartzer.com• Practicing Organic/Natural SEO since 1996


Overview• Gather Data• Analyze• Present Results


Before You Begin – Info from Client• Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools access

• Bing Webmaster Tools access• Prior history: SEO done in past?• Prior history: Domain Names used

• List of Domain Names owned• List of Domain Names redirected• List of Competitors

• Ask: anything else we need to know?


Gathering Phase• Gather the Data• Save the Data (MS Excel, MS Word)• Start making notes (Notepad)


Google Searches• site:domain.com• site:domain.com –site:www.domain.com

• Click last page of SERPs to get page count


Screaming Frog


OptiSpider


Integrity (aka Scrutiny)What it does:• Crawls site, reports redirects, 404 errors• Mac only, finds more errors


Siteliner.com


Bing Webmaster Tools


Bing Webmaster Tools• Spot issues to fix


Google Webmaster Tools


Moz Campaign


SEMRush Site Audit


Website Log Files• Weblog Storming, AwStats


Audit Site Structure• Internal Link Structure• Manual Review of Site• URL Hierarchy• Grouping of Topics• GA: In-Page Analytics


Gather Off-Site Data• It’s not all about on-site and on-page.


Google Webmaster Tools Links


Ahrefs Links


Majestic.com Links


Majestic.com Topic Review


Majestic Trust Flow, Citation Flow• Trust Flow = Number of clicks from a seed set of

trusted sites to a given URL, or Domain• Citation Flow = Number of citations to a given URL, or

Domain


Majestic Anchor Text Review


URIValet.com• Check Server Headers


WebPageTest.org• Page Performance


Miscellaneous Data to Review• All sorts of extras


Site Speed, DNS Health• Tools.Pingdom.com


Site Speed Review – Google Analytics


Robots.txt Issues

• Default CMS file?• Disallowing wrong?• Using “allow”?• Not specifying sitemap.xml URL• Directives conflict with other signals


Sitemap Issues• Google Webmaster Tools sitemaps• New pages not updated on sitemap• Issues with multiple sitemaps• No sitemap file?


Subdomain Issues• Duplicate content?• Using subdomain rather than directory• Wildcard subdomains turned on?• www versus non-www issues


Canonical Issues• Review canonical tags• Not using canonical correctly• Conflicting signals with canonical, others• Canonical tags to help with dupe content


Use of Structured Data• Taking advantage of Schema.org• Not just for local addresses• Reviews and Events• Person, Place, Organization• Products and Offers


Local Listings – Audit the listings• Google My Business• Bing Places for Business• Yahoo! Local


Local Citations – Separate Audit• Are citations correct?• Same address, suite #, phone number?


Analysis Phase• Analyze the Data• Make Assumptions

& Recommendations

• You’re Fat!• You need to exercise!

• OK, well maybe not like that…


Analysis Phase• Analyze gathered data• Look for Obvious Issues• Look for Odd Data Points• More notes!


Analyze Google Analytics

• Changes over time, year over year data• Conversion Data• Bounce Rates• Pages Per Session• Drops in Traffic:

Panda or Penguin?


Panda or Penguin Issues?

• Verify with SEMRush, Google Analytics

• Moz Google Algorithm Change Historymoz.com/google-algorithm-change

• Panguin Toolbarracuda-digital.co.uk/panguin-tool/


Analyze Keyword Data, Rankings• Look for keyword opportunities

Anything ranking on 2nd page?• Review SEMRush Keyword Data• Review GWT Search Query Report


Analyze On-Site Data• Title Tags• Meta Descriptions• Headings H1, H2, etc.• Internal Anchor Text• External Links (outgoing links)• Google Pages Indexed vs. Crawled


Analyze On-Site Data• Conflicting signals? Overall Topic focus• Conflicting signals?

Robots.txt vs. Canonical vs. Meta Robots vs. Nofollow

• Internal Duplicate Content• Not Enough Unique Content• Internal links within content present?• Review Navigation• Review Footer, footer links, copyright


Analyze Off-Site Data• Link Velocity Matters (getting new links)• Review anchor text (over optimized?)• Diversity of anchor text• Look for Toxic, Low Quality Links• Run Link Risk, Link Detox report


Presentation Phase

• Present the Data• Show the Results• Make it look great!

• Action Plan• Implementation Plan


Present The Results• Use internal or formal doc needed?• Who will implement?• Client’s developer? Outside developer?• Implement changes in-house?• MS Word doc, spreadsheets with data• PowerPoint needed for client meeting?


Present The Results - Document• Cover Page

• Table of Contents

• Overview (summary, positives, negatives)

• Website Crawlability (404s, 301s, One-Page issues)

• Content Optimization (site arch., keyword issues)

• Linking (Internal links, externals links, link profile)

• Overall Recommendations


Finally – Additional Lists• List of Priority Issues• Present Action Plan for Implementing

2015 NamesCon– Global SEO & Domain Preference – Thank You

Contact Me

Bill Hartzer

Senior SEO Strategist

Globe Runner SEO

Email: [email protected]

Mobile: (214) 236-4378

Office: (972) 538-0260

Web: http://www.globerunner.com

Blog: https://www.billhartzer.com

Twitter: @bhartzer

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bhartzer

How to Perform an SEO Audit

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