And along the way, you’ll inevitably encounter new challenges as your strategy grows.
There are a number of major indicators that your site isn’t functioning as it should, and in the long-run these can have significant consequences not just for your rankings but, more worryingly, your revenue. However, when you identify the causes of your website’s poor performance, you can build a bespoke SEO strategy designed to drive traffic and spur sales.
Whether you’re a newcomer to the world of SEO or looking for ways to improve your existing campaign, a website audit is a great way to kickstart your 2022. It takes a comprehensive view of your site’s performance – and your competitors – to find out what you need to get to those top SERPs spots.
That’s why our latest blog looks at just five reasons you need a website audit from Maratopia.
1. IDENTIFY TECHNICAL ISSUES
Issues with your technical SEO can be a major impediment to your organic attempts to climb the rankings.
Technical SEO impacts the ability of search engine spiders to crawl your website and can have a knock-on effect on user experience too.
A website audit will assess and identify a range of factors that could potentially affect your technical SEO. These include an assessment of your sitemap, as well as checking for redirects and 404 errors which are not only frustrating for users but can present stumbling blocks for your search engine crawlers.
2. IMPROVE USER EXPERIENCE
‘User experience’ is one of those digital marketing terms that, on the surface, is not at the forefront of your customers’ minds.
But there are many crucial factors which can compromise user experience, and all of them can affect the decisions of a potential customer once they reach your site – from the first fifty milliseconds.
The modern consumer has high expectations when buying online, and from your loading times to your ease of navigation and the presentation of your site, first impressions count. Your site should also be optimised for mobile to be easily accessible on all devices.
Our audit will assess these factors from a both a user’s and a search engine’s point of view, to ensure that your website performs well with your customers too.
3. BACKLINKS
A quality backlinking campaign is a great way to generate link equity.
But remember that not all backlinks are created equal – some can be toxic, and may be negatively impacting your SERPs rankings. Google will penalise your site for links from low-trust domains, and the more of these you have, the worse the effects on your rankings.
There are many reasons a search engine may deem backlinks to be toxic. But a website audit will assess your backlinking profile – finding these links and removing them – to prevent search engines from penalising your site for them.
4. MATCH THE COMPETITION
In business, competition is the name of the game.
And when it comes to the SERPs, your competition can be fierce in your mission to reach those all-important top spots.
Not only that, but if users aren’t impressed by your site once they get there, your competitors are just a click away. If your site has a high bounce rate, it could be an indicator that it just isn’t giving users what they’re looking for.
A website audit will examine competitors’ SEO tactics as well as your own to find out how your site compares to theirs. This includes carefully analysing their results (and yours) to identify the gaps that are setting them apart in the search engines. They’ll also look at what competitor sites offer users that your own website is missing out on and show you how you can compete for customer attention.
5. STRATEGIZE
Knowing what’s wrong with your website is the first step to a successful SEO strategy.
But our website audit won’t just tell you where you’re going wrong. We’ll provide custom-made strategies for your SEO campaign that takes a comprehensive view of your problem areas.
On top of this, we’ll make recommendations on how to improve your user experience, from your loading speeds to image quality and optimisation across devices, to help you maximise your engagement with users once they reach your site, turning even the most casual browser into a loyal customer.
Plus, we’ll suggest content marketing strategies designed to drive traffic to your website and boost those all-important conversions.
Don’t know where to start with your SEO? Our website audit won’t just help your take the first steps but will build a path for long-term success.
