Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Site Audit

The goal of a search engine optimization (SEO) site audit is to find out what stage a site is at to performer a proper search engine optimization. The five steps below are what prep a site to start off on the right foot. I spent the better part of my day writing a SEO site audit methodology for clients.

• Step one is making sure people can find your website. You may need to perform a 301 redirect. Some browsers will say a page is not found if a customer types in YourSite.com and not www.YourSite.com
• Step two is making sure there is no duplicate content issues on your website (internally). Some sites will have the same content across two different pages and you want to eliminate it as much as possible.
• Step three is about making sure your site can be indexed by Google/Yahoo/MSN..ect. Are you using photos, music or video on your site? Making sure these are optimized will help down the line. We want to make sure you are using a content management system that is user friendly. Search engines (like Google) love sites that are updated regularly.
• Step four is making sure the search engines know about your website. Is your website getting indexed by Google? Are you using Google Webmaster? This is where you are looking at these questions. Google webmaster can tell us if there are any issues with your site. Also helps to let Google know to index your site.
• Step five is about making sure no duplicate contact is happening externally. If you’ve the same content as another site. It becomes harder for search engines to tell the difference. You want to make your website as unique as possible

Conclusion
These are the basic steps I would go through to do a site audit for any new client. I’ve a more detailed doc but this is more of what I would send to a client to give them a high overview of what’s going on. Search engine optimization (SEO) site audits are going to depend on the size and scope of the website, but I think they all follow of a similar method. Thoughts? Anything you would add or change?

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