What is a website audit?

A comprehensive website audit is an overall analysis of a resource that helps find technical problems in its operation and improve the site's characteristics for search engines and users. Such an audit makes it possible to identify the reasons why a website cannot reach the top of search results, and saves a significant share of the budget previously spent on inefficient promotion.

For a resource to deliver results, it must be attractive both to users and to search engines. No matter how many links you buy, without a proper SEO audit the site will not climb to the top positions - which means it will remain invisible to most potential clients.

An audit allows you to:
• analyse the overall operation of the resource and get statistics;
• find errors and the reasons they appear;
• eliminate all inefficient promotion costs;
• get recommendations for improving usability, conversion and sales.

The problem is that people who paid for a good website but are far from internet marketing assume the work ends there. In reality, without SEO optimization there will be no growth in visitors, so before starting promotion you should turn to specialists.

Website audit: what does a comprehensive site analysis include?

The whole analysis can be divided into two parts - the internal and the external website audit.

Internal analysis is a process that takes roughly 80% of the entire audit. It helps identify all errors, layout flaws, broken links and shortcomings. A proper internal analysis solves the problems of unstable traffic, lack of client feedback and low conversion.

Since every project is unique, it needs its own promotion strategy. That is why a do-it-yourself analysis that ignores a huge number of small details may be pointless. The best option is to contact a company specializing in SEO. Specialists usually offer two kinds of analysis: an express audit or a full website audit. In the first case the resource only gets a surface check that reveals critical errors alone.

A full analysis necessarily includes two audits: technical and search. There are also marketing and usability audits, but their inclusion is better discussed with specialists, as these two are not always part of the service.

An external website audit covers the analysis of external ranking factors:
• overall visibility of the site in search engines;
• checking for and rejecting spam donors;
• analysing the site's anchor list to remove spam;
• analysing link mass growth;
• how well the link mass matches the site's topic;
• analysing competitors' link mass.

This audit is carried out primarily to build a correct link strategy that will keep the website out of search engine penalties - or get it out of them. It is also done to bring the site to the top for high-, medium- and low-frequency queries, which accordingly increases traffic and sales.

Types of website audit

An audit can be narrowly focused or comprehensive. A narrowly focused website audit is a quick, surface-level analysis that finds the most visible problems and sets the priority direction for deeper analysis. A comprehensive audit includes:

Technical audit

Covers finding errors on the site that affect promotion and the overall health of the resource. It includes:
• merging the main mirror - the primary version of the web page;
• page load speed (should not exceed three seconds);
• detecting SSL protocol issues and configuring HTTPS correctly;
• presence and correct display of the mobile version on different devices;
• correct indexing - analysing how the site is indexed and its availability to search robots;
• broken links;
• incorrect server response codes;
• correct installation of web analytics counters;
• checking the site's page URLs.

Search audit

All search engines set certain requirements for a website. Failing to meet them prevents the resource from climbing the rankings. If the analysed website does not appear at least within the first three result pages, that is a clear sign of errors a search audit will help fix. It includes:
• counting outbound links from a page;
• duplicate pages that partially or fully copy other pages of the resource;
• analysing Title, keywords, description, meta tags, robots.txt and the sitemap for the site's main pages;
• correct text headings (h1-h6);
• keyword usage and density;
• presence and correctness of internal linking;
• presence/creation of structured data markup and a site map;
• detecting hidden text;
• full analysis of the semantic core and traffic;
• analysing the volume and quality of the external link mass;
• presence of search engine webmaster tools, e.g. Google Analytics.

Usability audit

Usability analysis helps determine how convenient and comfortable the site is for visitors. A good resource is one where orientation is intuitive: a person does not have to think where to click to get the information they need. The design of the page, visually appealing to a potential client, also counts.

Such an audit is possible from three angles: from the experts' point of view; from the point of view of an ordinary internet user; and through statistics in web analytics systems. All three approaches help analyse the overall convenience of the resource. If the site's positions and traffic are falling, the cause may be a poor behavioural factor revealed by the analysis: bounce rate, browsing depth, time spent on the site.

In particular, the following are analysed:
• how convenient and understandable the resource is for a potential client;
• the overall visual impression of the site;
• clarity of navigation and functionality;
• uniqueness and relevance of the content to the page's topic, its media richness;
• convenience of feedback;
• the level of trust (especially relevant for online stores with expensive products);
• the ability to display correctly on all possible device types.

Improving all these indicators and fixing the errors on the site will help attract clients to the resource and significantly increase conversion.

Marketing audit

A marketing audit is needed to build a promotion strategy, stay competitive and increase profit. To reach specific business goals, the following is done:
• the site's target audience is analysed;
• the uniqueness and appeal of the selling propositions are reviewed;
• shortcomings and weaknesses against the main competitors are identified;
• traffic quality is analysed;
• the most popular topics on the site are highlighted;
• the costs of promoting the page are estimated.

Analysing the resource's indicators produces statistics on which the further marketing strategy should be built. If certain adjustments are not made, or a redesign required by the marketing audit report is skipped, the site may lose a significant share of clients and overall profit.
The conclusion is simple: for a resource to work properly, rank high in search engines and grow sales, a professional website audit is simply necessary. If you are serious about making profit and promoting your website, the best option is to contact a specialized company. Experienced specialists will run a comprehensive check and help you develop further.