By Corey Hinde – SEO Consultant
Higher rankings on Google, and then more conversions… people visiting the site who turn into customers. Exactly what you want right?
Task 1: Main Action on your site.
What do you want people to do once they visit your site? This is the whole point of having your site, getting people to turn into leads and then customers.
What is that action you are after? Book a free call? Download a checklist?
This is more of a conversion task than an SEO task. Really important to do.
Interview some friends, talk to customers, get some kids to look at your website. Do they DO the thing, look at the THING…. are people doing what you want them to do?
Consider getting Hotjar installed on your site too, it will help you understand visitor behaviour >> https://www.hotjar.com/
Task 2: Make changes and delete stuff
Related to the above, almost every site I audit needs to trim back. Make it easier for people to do the main thing, by deleting other things that are not required. Ensure, most of all, that the main task you want people to do on your site, is easy to see, and easy to DO.
Task 3: Bullseye Phrase
There will ONE PHRASE, that if you could rank number 1 on Google for, it would change your business for the better.
One phrase, that your ideal customers use to find you. It might not be obvious, and it’s not going to be long. It’ll be short and basic.
For example, my insurance broker would use “Insurance Broker Tauranga” as his bullseye phrase.
Once we know it, we check out site to see where it’s being used, naturally, and then we see if we can include it.
I won’t list out the whole checklist here, but think:
Website name, name of social accounts, page titles, image titles, article titles etc. If you can use your bullseye phrase strategically on your website, it will help you rank higher on Google.
Task 4: Mobile Friendly
This is a must. Check your site on this site to ensure it’s mobile friendly: https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly
Avoid this:
Task 5: Check site speed
Another critical task, we need fast websites. This tool will analyse, and then tell you where the issues are: https://gtmetrix.com/
UPDATE – we just found another great tool, that does page by page, so VERY helpful indeed! https://www.experte.com/pagespeed
Task 6: Claim sites on Social
Just a basic housekeeping task really. Ensure you have claimed your brand name on all relevent social networks, even if you don’t plan to use them.
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn company page, Twitter, Google My Business.
Task 7: Optimise Images on website
There are a few ways to do this. Generally needs doing as we audit many sites and the images are holding back the site from loading quickly. Smaller files that still look good are the goal.
This this tool: https://compressor.io/
Task 8: Check for broken links
Broken links affect your Google ranking. Run this tool, and fix them up: https://www.deadlinkchecker.com/
Task 9: Check images on site have alt text
Another basic task that just needs doing. Use this tool, then make the fixes:
https://www.seoptimer.com/alt-tag-checker
Task 10: Check all content on your site is related
This is subjective. You have a key or few key areas of knowledge that your business is in.
Go through your website, and ensure that you are on topic.
Google likes to see consistency, at all times. It’s important that you stick to your areas, so that Google builds up a picture of “what you do”, and what to rank you for.
Task 11: Check that each page has 1 H1 title only.
Each page, should have one H1 title only. It’s the main heading. Makes sense right? Google likes organised websites that are structured the right way.
Pop some of your more important page URL’s into this tool, and ensure that only 1 H1 is in play: https://www.seoptimer.com/h1-checker
Task 12: Check Meta Titles and Meta Descriptions
These give Google a lot of information about the page and website. It’s important these are descriptive and on topic.
If you run your site through this page, you’ll see information about your Meta Title and Meta Description, plus a stack of other things too: https://www.woorank.com/
Task 13: Directories – ensure you are listed on them.
These are like little SEO boosters. Every site or directory, assuming it’s not dodgy, that points to your website, helps Google to find you and send customers to you.
Work through this list, it’s a mundane task BUT very important
Corey Hinde
