Lesson 11: SEO Audits – A Step-by-Step Guide to Fix & Improve Your Website

Lesson 11: Overview

In this lesson, you’ll learn:
✅ What an SEO audit is and why it’s important.
✅ The step-by-step process to conduct a full SEO audit.
✅ How to identify and fix technical, on-page, and off-page SEO issues.
✅ The best SEO tools for performing a complete site audit.
✅ How to create an SEO action plan for improving rankings.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll know how to analyze, fix, and optimize your website for better rankings and performance.

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1. What is an SEO Audit?

🔹 An SEO audit is a complete review of your website to identify and fix SEO issues that may be hurting your rankings.

🚀 Why SEO Audits Are Important:
✔ Find technical issues that may be stopping Google from crawling your site.
✔ Identify on-page problems (poor meta tags, missing keywords, duplicate content).
✔ Analyze backlink health (good vs. bad links).
✔ Check for penalties & algorithm impacts.

💡 Example: A company’s website traffic dropped by 50%. After an SEO audit, they discovered broken links & slow page speed were causing the issue. Fixing these helped recover rankings.

✅ How Often Should You Do an SEO Audit?
✔ Every 3-6 months for small websites.
✔ Monthly for e-commerce & large sites.
✔ After major Google algorithm updates.

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2. SEO Audit Checklist – Key Areas to Review

🔹 A complete SEO audit covers 5 key areas:

1️⃣ Technical SEO Audit (Crawlability & Indexing Issues)

🔹 Why It’s Important: If search engines can’t crawl or index your site, you won’t rank.

✅ How to Check & Fix Technical SEO Issues:

✔ Check if your site is indexed:
🔹 Search Google:

site:yourwebsite.com

If pages are missing, they aren’t indexed (fix in Google Search Console).

✔ Check for crawl errors:
🔹 Go to Google Search Console → Coverage Report.
🔹 Fix any “Excluded” or “Error” pages.

✔ Check for broken links (404 errors):
🔹 Use Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, or Broken Link Checker.
🔹 Redirect broken links using 301 redirects.

✔ Fix slow page speed:
🔹 Use Google PageSpeed Insights to find slow pages.
🔹 Optimize images, enable caching, use a CDN.

🚀 Pro Tip: Crawl your site using Screaming Frog (it will detect all technical issues at once!).

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2️⃣ On-Page SEO Audit (Content & Keyword Optimization)

🔹 Why It’s Important: Poorly optimized content won’t rank, even if your site is indexed.

✅ How to Check & Fix On-Page SEO Issues:

✔ Optimize title tags & meta descriptions:
🔹 Use primary keywords in titles & descriptions.
🔹 Keep title tags under 60 characters, meta descriptions under 160 characters.

✔ Check heading structure (H1, H2, H3):
🔹 Each page should have one H1 tag (main topic).
🔹 Use H2/H3 for subheadings & related keywords.

✔ Fix duplicate content issues:
🔹 Use Copyscape or Siteliner to find duplicate pages.
🔹 Use canonical tags to tell Google which version to rank.

✔ Check keyword optimization:
🔹 Use Ahrefs or SEMrush to see which keywords each page ranks for.
🔹 Add related keywords (LSI keywords) naturally in content.

🚀 Pro Tip: Fixing title tags & content structure can improve rankings quickly!

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3️⃣ Off-Page SEO Audit (Backlinks & Domain Authority)

🔹 Why It’s Important: Bad backlinks can cause penalties, while good backlinks improve rankings.

✅ How to Check & Fix Off-Page SEO Issues:

✔ Check backlink profile:
🔹 Use Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush to see who’s linking to your site.
🔹 Remove spammy links using Google’s Disavow Tool.

✔ Compare backlinks with competitors:
🔹 Use Ahrefs → Link Intersect Tool to find where competitors get backlinks.
🔹 Try to get links from the same sources.

✔ Build new backlinks:
🔹 Guest blogging, HARO, local business listings are great ways to earn high-quality backlinks.

🚀 Pro Tip: Quality backlinks = higher rankings. Always track & improve your link profile!

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4️⃣ Mobile & User Experience (UX) Audit

🔹 Why It’s Important: Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in rankings.

✅ How to Check & Fix Mobile & UX Issues:

✔ Check mobile-friendliness:
🔹 Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
🔹 Fix text size, button spacing, and layout issues.

✔ Check bounce rate & user behavior:
🔹 Go to Google Analytics → Engagement → Pages & Screens.
🔹 High bounce rate (>60%) may indicate a poor user experience.

✔ Improve site speed & navigation:
🔹 Reduce pop-ups, excessive ads, and cluttered design.
🔹 Improve internal linking to keep visitors engaged.

🚀 Pro Tip: Better user experience = lower bounce rate & higher rankings!

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5️⃣ Local SEO Audit (For Local Businesses)

🔹 Why It’s Important: Local SEO helps businesses rank in “near me” searches.

✅ How to Check & Fix Local SEO Issues:

✔ Google My Business (GMB) Optimization:
🔹 Ensure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone) is consistent everywhere.
🔹 Get more customer reviews (respond to all reviews!).

✔ Check local citations:
🔹 Submit business details to Yelp, Yellow Pages, Bing Places.
🔹 Use Moz Local to check citation consistency.

🚀 Pro Tip: Accurate local listings = higher rankings in Google Maps!

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3. Best Tools for SEO Audits

🔹 Technical SEO Tools:
✔ Google Search Console (Crawl errors, indexing issues).
✔ Screaming Frog (Find broken links, duplicate content, redirects).

🔹 On-Page SEO Tools:
✔ Ahrefs / SEMrush (Keyword tracking, content issues).
✔ Copyscape / Siteliner (Find duplicate content).

🔹 Off-Page SEO Tools:
✔ Moz Link Explorer (Backlink analysis).
✔ Google Disavow Tool (Remove toxic backlinks).

🚀 Pro Tip: Using these tools regularly = fewer SEO problems!

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4. SEO Audit Action Plan (Fix Issues & Improve Rankings!)

✅ Step 1: Run a full crawl of your website (Use Screaming Frog).
✅ Step 2: Check Google Search Console for errors.
✅ Step 3: Optimize on-page SEO (titles, content, internal links).
✅ Step 4: Fix broken links & site speed issues.
✅ Step 5: Check backlinks & remove toxic links.
✅ Step 6: Monitor rankings & traffic in Google Analytics.

🎯 Following this SEO audit checklist will help improve rankings & traffic!

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5. Homework / Action Steps 📝

🔹 Step 1: Run a site crawl using Screaming Frog & list issues to fix.
🔹 Step 2: Check Google Search Console for manual actions & indexing errors.
🔹 Step 3: Identify 5 on-page SEO improvements (title tags, content updates).

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6. What’s Next? 🚀

👉 In Lesson 12, we’ll cover SEO Case Studies – Real-World SEO Strategies That Work!

Stay tuned and start improving your website’s SEO health! 💡🔥

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