You wouldn\u2019t start building a house on a weak foundation, and it\u2019s the same thing when it comes to doing search engine optimization on your website.<\/span><\/p>\n So, where should your search-focused strategy begin?<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s simple. Running an SEO audit to diagnose issues with your site’s foundation is a great way to get a quick boost to your rankings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Then when everything is fixed, it’ll give you a clear path of everything you need to fix before moving forward with an SEO strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n Why do an SEO audit? <\/span><\/p>\n Before you jump in to do an audit, whether it\u2019s for your website, or a client\u2019s, you\u2019ll need to consider some things before moving forward.<\/span><\/p>\n Note: <\/b>As you go through this audit for a website, you\u2019ll want to make sure you\u2019re listing out all of the issues you find on a spreadsheet.<\/span><\/p>\n Who your audit is helping will directly impact your goals and future strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n An SEO strategy for a SaaS company’s website will differ from an e-commerce company\u2019s website.<\/span><\/p>\n So to begin the process, you\u2019ll want to lay out the goals and understand the sales process for who you\u2019ll be doing the website audit for. <\/span>(This will be useful later when you create more detailed goals.)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n But first:<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re doing an SEO audit for a client, you\u2019ll want to make sure you\u2019re granted access to their Google Search Console, Analytics, and content management system (CMS).<\/span><\/p>\n The steps you take may differ depending on the type of website you\u2019re auditing.<\/span><\/p>\n And the main difference that I mean here is local businesses will have slightly more steps to cover since they\u2019ll also need their Google My Business (GMB) squared away.<\/span><\/p>\n However, for most businesses that operate fully online, the SEO assessment process will be relatively the same.<\/span><\/p>\n The next thing you\u2019ll need to keep in mind before starting your audit is the tools you\u2019ll use to make this process a ton easier.<\/span><\/p>\n But no worries, the most necessary tools for this audit will be entirely free thanks to Google.<\/span><\/p>\n There are a lot of fantastic, useful SEO tools out there. But thankfully, the best and most necessary webmaster tools are given to you <\/span>for free<\/span><\/i> by Google. <\/span>That\u2019s right. A free SEO check tool from Google itself. What more can you ask for?<\/span><\/p>\n Search Console<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Analytics<\/span><\/a>, which you\u2019ll want to make sure are set up, will be key for optimizing your site and making sure Google\u2019s crawlers reliably index your web pages.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ll be going over how to set these up in the next section.<\/span><\/p>\n A simple hack for speeding up your SEO audits?<\/span><\/p>\n Site audit tools.<\/span><\/p>\n Site audit tools like <\/span>ProRankTracker\u2019s<\/span> allow you to quickly see technical and on-page issues with your site \u2014 all in one place.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
Things to Consider Before Beginning Your Audit<\/b><\/h2>\n
Who is the audit for?<\/b><\/h3>\n
What type of website is being audited?<\/b><\/h3>\n
Helpful Tools to Use For an SEO Audit<\/b><\/h2>\n
Google Search Console & Google Analytics<\/b><\/h3>\n
Site Audit Tools<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"seo](\"https:\/\/proranktracker.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Site-audit-tool-1030x525.png\")
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