How to Conduct an SEO Check on Your Website
The world of SEO is ever-changing, and you can’t afford to get left behind.
It’s one thing to create a beautiful, well-optimized website, and another to make sure it maintains the rankings you’ve worked so hard to achieve. This requires a constant flow of fresh, relevant content, as well as the occasional SEO check.
A check goes much deeper than looking at your traffic hits for the week or upcoming content campaigns. It accounts for everything from the quality of your internal and external links to how fast all your pages load.
To properly check the SEO quality of your website on your own, do the following three things.
Start with On-Site SEO
Before you dive into how various search engines are ranking you, take a look at what’s happening on your website in the first place. Check everything from the titles of each page to the descriptions, headers, formatting, and URLs. Pay attention to the page speed, look out for any redirects or errors, and make sure visual content is clear.
Note, your page loads may be hindered by too much stuff in your server’s cloud, or a poor hosting solution.
Titles and load times are just a handful of key on-site SEO tactics. They are the foundation of how the rest of your SEO strategy succeeds and should be a big focus when conducting an SEO check.
Take the time to fix anything that is not up to par before moving forward. Make sure every page has a custom URL and unique description. Cut the fluff, do any necessary graphics and visual improvements, and make sure your sitemap is set up well.
Check Web Control and Off-Site SEO
Once your website is in as good of a condition as it can be, check your site registry and overall exposure. Registry means you’ve notified major search engines of your website via their Webmaster tools and Analytics services. It makes finding you easier for respective search engine bots.
Other things that help match your content to user queries is external exposure. Think, backlinks on other websites that lead users to you, such as guest blogs, interviews, and press releases. This is content other major sites are sharing that can leverage your own website.
You may already have a handful of such links already, but it’s always best to acquire more. Keep an eye out for any other linking opportunities you can take advantage of. More so, watch what your competitors are doing and who they’re partnering with.
Look into Algorithm Updates
The final thing to do during your SEO check is to take a look at industry standards. Even if you think you know SEO like the back of your hand, chances are, there’s something new for you to learn. That’s just how this fast-paced digital space works!
Major changes are usually announced by industry leaders. But, you may find your own unique insights by trying different things with your SEO approach from time to time. Such trial and error can make your SEO strategy even better than it was before.
An SEO Check: the Next Steps You Need to Know
An SEO check is not an end-all tell-all to your digital solutions. It’s just one part of a much larger puzzle that is always evolving. But, the more you do a check, the better grasp you have of where you stand, and where you need to be.
For more insights and ideas to keep a competitive edge with your SEO, click here.