A website’s success relies heavily on its visibility. You might have crafted a beautiful site with an impressive design that really sells your business, but your hard work won’t amount to revenue unless your website is reaching an audience.

But how do you know if you’re reaching an audience, and who that audience is? If you want to know how your site is performing, then you’ll need to conduct a comprehensive website audit. Read on to find out what a website audit is and why you should audit your site regularly.

What is A Website Audit?

A website audit is an analysis of your site’s visibility online. A detailed website analysis will determine the ranking of your site on search engines and provide valuable insight into why you’re not generating as much traffic as you’d like, and receive suggestions for what can be fixed to improve your visibility.

How Does a Website Audit Work?

A web audit determines the visibility of a site through the health of its SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Some of the most important SEO factors include links, mobile friendliness, page speed, and accessibility. An SEO audit analyzes all of these factors to determine how well your site ranks in search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

Why is an SEO Audit Necessary?

Not fully understanding how well your site is performing can be detrimental to your business’s success. An appealing website costs time and money that might be wasted if not followed up with a full SEO analysis.

Think about when you search for something on the web. How often do you check the second, third, or fourth page of search results? For most people (an estimated 75%), the answer is almost never – the most relevant results are on the top of the first page, so that’s where most of us click.

An SEO audit is necessary because it gives you the information you need to move your website up from the bottom of the 10th page to the top of the first. And with at least 75% of clicks going to the first page, you’re missing 75% of your potential customer base if you aren’t there. So many people underestimate the revenue-generating power of SEO – don’t be one of them!

A website analysis will also give you an SEO score, a number that you can see go up and down as you make changes to your site. Being able to measure and analyze your site’s success allows you to set attainable goals for the future.

What is the Process Like?

Through a website audit, an in-depth analysis report is formed from data collected through multiple tests. These reports might include:

  • A technical audit to make sure your site is coded efficiently.
  • An on-site audit that fully reviews all of the pages on the site to determine keyword use and whether or not your site contains any broken links.
  • An off-site audit to check external elements such as the quality of back-links and anchor text.
  • A local analysis to check local listings and customer reviews.
  • A social media audit to analyze engagement (likes, shares, and comments) on various social channels.

 How Do I Conduct a Website Audit?

 There are several different ways to conduct your own SEO audit. You could do your own analysis by searching through your website with a fine-tooth comb to find broken links and other page errors. But because most people simply don’t have time for that kind of tedious work, they use online SEO checkers or outsource the anaylsis to a digital marketing agency.

No matter how you decide to go about auditing your website, understanding the benefits of website analysis and using SEO audit tools to your advantage will ultimately increase your bottom line. Getting your website to the first page of search results doesn’t happen overnight, but it is possible if you’re diligent with your efforts.