Table of Contents
What is SEO Analysis?
SEO analysis is the process of finding the gaps a website has from an SEO point of view. It helps you dig out the issues your website has so that you can fix them and achieve better SERP visibility
The right outcome of Website SEO analysis should be a list of action items that you should implement for better Google rank, better reach, and more traffic to your site.
After all, At the end of the day, we want to rank higher in Google
Website SEO Analysis includes analyzing various focus areas, important ones are
Basic Website Analysis to Dig out Basic Index and Crawl Issues
Technical SEO Analysis and Core web Vitals – to dig out Speed and Loading issues of Site
Content Analysis to find Opportunities for Creating Better Content
Competitor Analysis to see how we can beat our rivals.
Today, We will know how website search engine optimization analysis can help you rank higher in Google
SEO Tools required for the Website Audit
In this blog post, We will show you how to perform website SEO analysis using the following Following Website SEO Analysis tools:
- Google – The Big Boss
- Ahrefs Webmasters – Free
- SE Ranking – Free 14 Days trial
- Google Analytics – Free
- Google Search Console – Free
- Google PageSpeed Insights Tool – Free
- CopyScape – Free tool to Check Duplicate Content on Website
Let’s now look at the steps you need to perform to achieve the above.
Glossary of Terms that we have used in this Blog Post
Before we move to the Website SEO analysis checklist, lets quickly look at some of the definition of some SEO terms that we will use in this Blog Post
| SEO Terms | Definition |
| Index | Google’s Database where it Stores web pages A Site is said to be indexed in Google only if Google can fetch and read the site |
| Crawl | Google’s Process of finding and storing the web page in its Index |
| Crawler | Google Software that crawls or fetches web pages and indexes those web pages |
| SiteMap File | An essential file that has information on web pages, videos, and other important files on your site. Creating a Sitemap file and submitting it on Google means you are telling google the important web pages The sitemap also contains information like when a web page was last updated and if the web page is present in an alternate language |
| Robots.txt | This is a file that tells the crawler, which URLs the crawler can access on your site. |
| GoogleBot | Just a fancy name of Crawler – But you should know that this Googlebot is one smart crawler that does its job of crawling and indexing web pages a day in day out – |
| SEO | Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is the process of improving the visibility of a web page in a Search Engine – like Google, Yandex, or Bing |
Lets now look at the SEO analysis step by step guide
Step by Step Checklist to Perform Website SEO Analysis using Free SEO tools
Step 1: Check if your Site is on Google i.e Indexing of Pages
Evaluate your Site’s Online Visibility
Perform a Site: search for your site’s home page in Google
This is what we get for digitalmarketinglane.com ( DML) in Feb 2023
This shows that 138 pages are indexed in google
If you are unable to find your site in Google, there is a possibility that
- Your site is not connected to other sites on the web or it may be new.
- Design of Site makes it difficult for Googlebot to crawl your site
- Googlebot got an error while trying to crawl
Here is what you should do to fix the Indexing issues:
- Connect your site with Google Search Console. Read this Guide
- Generate and Submit a Sitemap file
- Analyze and Generate a Robots.txt file
- Read this Detailed webmaster guideline
Step 2: Enable Safe Browsing for Internet Users
Everyone prefers safe browsing.
Chrome also favors safe browsing
Thus, it is very important to check if your website has an HTTPS certificate installed or not.
If not, get a free SSL certificate from Lets Encrypt
Else, ask your web hosting provider and they will install it on your site
Step 3: Check the HTTP, HTTPS, WWW, and Non-WWW versions of pages
Also – The www and non-www versions of the website should point to the same link.
For example, see:
www.digitalmarketinglane.com and digitalmarketinglane.com – point to the same link
Google has confirmed that it Differentiates between www and non-www versions
Google recommends adding both www and non-www along with HTTP and HTTPS versions to the search console.
Step 4: Check the Titles and Meta Description in the Web Pages
Help Google to understand your content by adding Title Tags and Meta Descriptions.
The titles and Headings should be reasonable, witty, and phrased in a way that gives away what the content is about.
Titles and Meta help Googlebot to better understand the topic around which content is being built
Meta should include the proper phrasing and a brief description of your page.
The shorter and more meaningful URLs of your site act as a catalyst to grab attention.
Run a quick Audit to see what pages of your website have missing Titles and Meta –
Use the Free Ahrefs webmaster tool and connect your GSC data
Start the Website Crawl and You will have the list of issues that flags: missing meta/titles too long
You should optimize these details
This is what we got when I ran the Audit for DML:
Here are some Best Practices around creating Titles tags and Meta
- Create Unique and Definite Page titles
- Titles Should accurately describe the Page Content
- Titles of each page should be Short and Informative – else Google may trim the text in Search Results
- The Meta Description tags should briefly summarize the page content for internet users
Step 5: Analyse Loading Speed of Web pages and fix Issues
As confirmed by Google in 2018: Speed is now used as a Ranking factor for Mobile searches
Faster loading speed means a better browsing experience for visitors
Today, No one wants to hang around while your site buffers!
Here is a quick way to check the speed of your site
Go to Google Page Speed Insights and hit your home page URL or a page that fetches max traffic
See Image – you will see how the web page performs both for mobile and Desktop
I also recommend using GTmetrix – I like the waterfall charts that show the Speed Performance
Best Practice to Improve Site Speed
- Images are one big reason why a site can be slow. For WordPress users, use image optimization plugins like Smush or Shortpixel to compress the images
- Minify CSS – use Wp Rocket – a plugin that can improve your WordPress site significantly
- Migrate from Budget hosting to premium hosting – we migrated from Cheap hosting to premium web hosting and saw a massive change in loading speed
This Video will help you to Speed up your WordPress site
Step 6: Analyse and Generate Sitemap and Robot.txt file
After connecting your website to Google Search Console, check if Google has a problem crawling the content on your web pages
This includes analyzing the search performance of your site.
Start here
Check if there is a Sitemap Submitted
If not, Create a Sitemap using these Free Sitemap Generators Tool
Go to your Google Search Console -> Sitemaps
Submit the Sitemap in Google via Google Search Console
See this image below – this is how you can submit a Sitemap in Google Search Console
DML Tip : Refer to Sitemap Guide from Google
WordPress Site Owners can generate Sitemaps for Free using RankMath WordPress plugin
Check if the Robot.txt file is present for your site
Log in to your Google Search Console
Open a new tab and Go to this Robots.txt tester
Select your Property from Dropdown
It will show you if any errors or warnings exist – See Image Below
Check this Guide to generate Robots.txt file
I will also recommend checking Google Analytics Audience behavior and seeing how the audience is behaving on your site
Connect your website with Google analytics
Go to Behaviour
You can see how the audience is interacting on your site – are they taking an action or not.
Accordingly, you should improvise.
Step 7: Check your Site for Mobile Friendliness
Starting in 2016, Google has started to primarily use the mobile version of the site for ranking
To know if your site is Mobile-Friendly,
Perform your Mobile-Friendly Test on this Free Google Tool
Enter your URL and Google will take a minute to analyze
Check some Best practices to create Mobile-Friendly Sites
- Create a Responsive Web Design – In case you are a WordPress user, use Moboel friendly WordPress themes
- Avoid Mistakes like featuring unplayable videos on mobiles
- Provide full functionality on Mobile devices – as present in the desktop version
- Make sure to add the Images, Videos, and Structure Data are included in the mobile version
- Regularly check Google Search Console Mobile Usability report as SHown below and check the affected pages and fix them
Go to Google Search Console -> Mobile Usability and See the errors
Step 8: Analyze the Website Hierarchy and Structure
Google recommends for Conceptual Page Hierarchy in Site Structure
It is because a clear site hierarchy helps the internet visitors to quickly find the content they want
Additionally, Site Hierarchy helps the Search Engine understand what content a website owner thinks is important
A flat Site Structure is good – as it will tell visitors and Google the root page and the depth
One Should plan the Site Hierarchy and Navigation from Home Page
Here is a short Best Practise list for creating a better Site Navigation Hierarchy
- Use Breadcrumbs – a row of links at top of the button of the page that allows the visitor to navigate to the previous page or home page
See Image Below – How we are using Breadcrumbs
2. Create a Natural Hierarchy – Make it easy for visitors to go from general to more specific Content
3. Create a Custom 404 Page that Guides them back to your site – Also, add a no-index tag to the 404-page
4. Create a Navigational Page – that tells users how they should explore content on your site
Step 9: Check and Trim out pages with Duplicate Content
Google Hates Duplicate Content. You Should find out and fix the duplicate content issues
Go to Copyscape and hit a URL
It will show you duplicate content
You should revisit those web pages and update the content so that duplicity is removed
In case it is a zombie page – as in if it gets very less traffic, Consider removing that web page
How to fix Duplicate Content issue
- Review all the pages with duplicate content – either with Copyscape or with Ahrefs
- For every page in the group of duplicates, you should select the canonical version that you want to be indexed in search results.
- Add the tag: “rel=canonical” label on each page with duplicated content, including the canonical page itself.
Step 10: Run a Free SEO Audit to find the Issues and Errors
Lets now use the 14 Day Trial for SE ranking to Set up an Audit
After you have activated your trial, Add your website as a project
Go to Add Project – Enter your URL as Shown below and Hit next
Skip Adding keywords and then Select the Search Engine
For example, I selected Google USA as a Search engine and click on ‘Add Search Engine’
Click Back to Project and then Select the Website Audit as Shown Below
SE Ranking will run a Website Audit
Next, Click on Top Issues
Select Errors and this is where you will find the Gpas that you should immediately address.
Step 11: Analyse and Fix your website’s internal linking
Examine your internal links.
Internal Links help search Engines better scan a website as crawlers can discover new web pages by following the Internal lInks.
By Improving the internal links in your website, you will give better signals to the Google bot.
Open the SE Ranking Audit your ran above and go to Internal Links Section as Shown
This view gives you all the Issues that one needs to fix.
Also, investigate the Broken internal links
Broken links can be an inconvenience for the users which results in the hindrance of traffic and a threat to the site’s credibility.
So, eliminating the broken links can be viable for the website.
DML Tip – SE Ranking not only highlights the gaps but also tells you how to fix those gaps.
Step 12: Analyse the Spammy Links pointing to the website and Disawow them
Go to the SE Ranking backlink Checker tool and enter your Website URL
You will have a result of the Backlink Audit
Apply filter for Domain trust less than 20 and you will have a list of Spammy links pointing to your site
In case you do not trust these pages, select and Disawow them
Step 13: Keep a Track on New vs Lost Backlinks
With the Free Trial version of SE Ranking – Go to New inks and see how you are growing with new Backlinks
Go to ‘Lost Links’ and check the backlinks you have lost.
In case you have lost some high DA links, you should try to connect to the website owner to get link back.
Step 14: Analyze your Competitors
Competitive analysis is Critical for SEO Success
One should Continuous perform Competitor Research to identify Top Pages of Competitors
and what keywords bring them traffic
Check Backlink Profile of Competitors and what posts have gained maximum backlinks
Try to create similar content and reach out to website owners who are linking your competitors
Check for Topic Gap – see where you lack and create content
Additional Read: Competitor Analysis to beat your rivals
Step 15: Create Relevant Content on your Site and Organise it
Overall, you have to provide a great user experience for your site visitors
You should not write for search engines – instead, write for your audience
Create Informatively and quality web pages. Add various media types like images and videos along with text
Write well and write often – Google says: One Good post a week is better than a weak post published daily!
User Category and Tags for your posts – it helps users in Navigating your website and improves the user experience
Here is What you Should do to produce Quality Content
- Add Sitemap File that has links to important pages on your Site
- Limit Number of links on one-page
- Inform Google to Crawl your website through the URL Inspection tool
- Use Title Tags
- Avoid – Creating Content automatically: using bots
- Avoid – Creating Pages with Small Writeups that does not cover the context
- Avoid – Stuffing and Loading excel Keywords
Step 16: Find out Keywords with High Impressions and Low CTRs from GSC and optimize content around it
Go to GSC and head over to Performance
Sort Impressions from High to low and
Sort Click from Low to high – See below
This will give you a list of keywords for which your site is getting impressions but unable to rank
These are keyword Opportunities that you can target
This Completes your Website SEO Analysis
During this process, you should have found some substantial SEO issues that should be analyzed further
In case you are using SE Ranking, there are many additional features offered by SE Ranking that you can use.
Check our detailed review of SE Ranking to know what SEO tools it offers at a cheap price of $18/mo
Rank Well on Google!
Additional Resources to refer for website SEO Analysis
- Google Webmasters Community: https://support.google.com/webmasters/community
- Top Website SEO Analysis Tools to run detailed SEO Audits
- Direct Link to Explore the 35+ tools offered by SE Ranking SEO Platform
- Detailed Content Audit by SEO Powersuite Team
FAQs – Website SEO Analysis
What does On-Page SEO Checklist Covers?
On-page SEO checklist includes several elements. These include the title tag, meta description, keyword density, internal linking structure, external link building, etc.