How to Perform a Technical SEO Audit

Slides from my talk at the Optimisey SEO Meetup in March 2019 where I spoke about my approach to technical SEO audits.

Transcript

1. @badams @badams How to perform a Technical SEO Audit Barry Adams Polemic Digital
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3. @badams “This guy is a dick.” - A client’s lead dev
4. @badams @badams My SEO Audit Model
5. @badams Web Search Engines Crawler Indexer Ranker
6. @badams
7. @badams The Three Pillars of SEO Technology Relevancy Authority
8. @badams Relation to Web Search Technology Crawler Relevancy Indexer Authority Query Engine
9. @badams Relation to Web Search Technology Crawler Relevancy Indexer Authority Query Engine
10. @badams 1. Technology Technical SEO is about; • Crawl optimisation • Load speed • Mobile SEO • JavaScript • International SEO
11. @badams 2. Relevancy On-page SEO is about; • Keyword/topical focus • Information Architecture • Page structure • Content quality • Structured Data • Accessibility
12. @badams 3. Authority Authority & Ranking is about; • Link building • Internal linking • Social signals • Spamming the shit out of Google
13. @badams ‘Technical’ SEO Audit Technology Crawler Relevancy Indexer Authority Query Engine
14. @badams @badams What is an SEO Audit?
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17. @badams Start of an Improvement Process Analysis of a website using applied SEO theory to initiate a process towards improved organic search visibility. SEO Audit
18. @badams https://jamesclear.com/marginal-gains
19. @badams @badams Before The Audit…
20. @badams Google Search Console
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22. @badams Access Must-have: • Google Search Console Nice to have: • Web Analytics • Server Log Files
23. @badams @badams Audit Tools
24. @badams Initial Scan
25. @badams DeepCrawl
26. @badams Screaming Frog
27. @badams Google Search Console
28. @badams Google Search Console
29. @badams GTmetrix
30. @badams SEOInfo
31. @badams Wappalyzer
32. @badams Link Redirect Trace
33. @badams @badams The Actual Audit
34. @badams Checklist
35. @badams The Key to a Good Audit
36. @badams The Key to a Good Audit Pattern Recognition
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38. @badams Identify Templates 1. Homepage 2. Category page 3. Product/Service page 4. Blog/News overview page 5. Post/Article page 6. Static Content page 7. … ?
39. @badams @badams Writing The Report
40. @badams It will be shared
41. @badams Make it Actionable
42. @badams Only Include What Needs The checklist should be provided as an attachment
43. @badams Omit The Trivial Stuff .
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45. @badams Prioritise Backwards 1. Ranking Issues; ➢ If a page is indexed, what prevents it from ranking? 2. Indexing Issues; ➢ If a page is being crawled, why isn’t it indexed properly? 3. Crawling issues; ➢ Why is a page not being crawled?
46. @badams Concise and Light on Jargon If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it yourself
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51. @badams Three Main Audiences 1. C-Suite 2. Marketers 3. Tech
52. @badams C-Suite • Summary of key points; ➢ No jargon • Don’t Apportion Blame; ➢ You need to keep marketing & tech on side • Show Them The Money; ➢ Estimate the positive impact of your recommendations
53. @badams Marketing • Your Job = Make Marketing Look Good • SEO is a process; ➢ Not a one-off activity • Competitors aren’t doing everything right either; ➢ Don’t imitate, innovate • Give them the tools; ➢ Teach a man how to fish…
54. @badams Tech • Speak Their Language; ➢ Understand their paradigm • Basic Concepts You Need To Get Across: ➢ How search engines work ➢ URLs are sacred ➢ SEO benefits Tech • Don’t Tell Them How, Tell Them Why; ➢ Outcome focused – they can find their own path
55. @badams “This guy is a dick.” - A client’s lead dev
56. @badams Barry Adams ➢ Doing SEO since 1998 ➢ Specialist in Technical SEO & News SEO ➢ Co-Chief Editor at StateofDigital.com ➢ Columnist for SearchEngineLand.com
57. @badams @badams Questions? barry@polemicdigital.com www.polemicdigital.com @polemicdigital @badams