How to Perform SEO Audits
Presented by:
Alan Bleiweiss
http://AlanBleiweiss.com
@AlanBleiweiss
Alan Bleiweiss

• Forensic SEO Consultant
• SEO Services Since 2001
• Audit Sites w/up to 150 million pages

@AlanBleiweiss
Why An Audit Is Vital
• Discover Issues You Weren’t Even Aware Of
• Know Where To Prioritize Efforts
• Establish a Step by Step Action Plan
• Everyone Works From The Same Roadmap

@AlanBleiweiss
Why An Audit Is Vital
• Get Real Results

@AlanBleiweiss
Why An Audit Is Vital
• Become Sustainable

@AlanBleiweiss
Caveats
• It’s impossible to include every factor, every
tactic, and every consideration I include in
my audits in a 20 minute presentation.
• Every situation is unique, so take what works
for you from this presentation, and leave the
rest.

@AlanBleiweiss
How To Perform SEO Audits
•
•
•
•
•
•

Strategic Vs. Tactical
Pre-Contract Questions
Info Needed To Get Started
Data To Gather
Evaluation Process
The Action Plan - What To Include
@AlanBleiweiss
Strategic SEO Audits
–
–
–
–
–

High Level / Bigger Picture
Macro View
Sample & Scan
Top Priority Recommendations Only
Don’t Overwhelm the Client

@AlanBleiweiss
Tactical SEO Audits
– One Tactical Audit to address each issue
found in strategic audit
– 1st Step in the implementation Sequence
– Granular Focus
– Details Matter
@AlanBleiweiss
Pre-Contract Questions
• What is the domain you want audited?
• Why do you think you need an audit?
• What are your goals?
– Short / mid-term / long term
@AlanBleiweiss
Info to Get Started
• List all the sites, domains, sub-domains you
own
– Check with site:domain.com –www
– site:domain.com –www –subd –subd2 etc.

• Have you received a manual penalty notice?
• What SEO have you done since January 1?
• Provide admin access to Analytics/GWT/BWT
@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• Competitive Landscape
– G Pgs Indexed / Inbound Followed Links / Inbound Followed
Roots / LTR Ratio

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• SEMRush Top Competitor Visibility Timeline Charts

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• SEMRush Rankings sort by highest volume

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• SEMRush Ranking Changes

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• OSE Followed Links Export

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• OSE Followed Link Anchor LTR

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• GWT top Linking Domains Export

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• GWT Internal Links

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• GWT Index Status

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• GWT Visibility Timeline

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• GWT Site Messages

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• Don’t Ignore “Manual Actions” Section

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• GA Year Over Year Comparisons If Applicable

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• GWT Sitemap Report

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• GWT Structured Data Report

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• GWT Crawl Error Reports

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• Site Processing Speed /CSS/Markup Errors
– – GA / URIValet / WebPageTest /W3C Validators

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• GA Slowest Page Processing Speeds

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• GA Page Processing Speed Short Term & Historic

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• Google Page Speed Insights Grades

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• WebPageTest.org Page Grades

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• Screaming Frog Sample Crawl
– 10,000 pages max for a strategic audit
– Export Important Data
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Redirected Links
Dead End Links
Page Titles
H1 tags
HTML Page WordCounts (on 200 status pages only)
Meta Descriptions
Meta Keywords
Meta Robots

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• Screaming Frog Sample Crawl Value

@AlanBleiweiss
Data to Gather
• Social Media Engagement

@AlanBleiweiss
Other Data To Gather
• When Appropriate Also Include
–
–
–
–
–
–

Local Directory Listing Report
City Specific Keyword Rankings
Panguin Tool Timeline Report
eCommerce Trends Report
Indexation & Inbound Link Report for SubDomains
Indexation & Inbound Link Report for Niche Domains

@AlanBleiweiss
Evaluation Process
• Look for Patterns that cause you to scratch you head
• Look for Obvious Outliers
• Ask – Does this signal confirm QUART?
–
–
–
–
–

Quality
Uniqueness
Authority
Relevance
Trust

@AlanBleiweiss
Evaluation Process
• Look for Conflicting Signals
– Robots.txt vs. Canonical vs. Meta Robots vs. Nofollow
– Topical Focus
•
•
•
•
•
•

Page Title – Phrase 1 & Phrase 2
URL – Phrase 3
Breadcrumb – Phrase 4
H1 Phrase 5
Content Phrases 1, 3, 4, 6, 11
Inbound Links Phrases 7 through 55

@AlanBleiweiss
Evaluation Process
• Look for Conflicting Signals
– Topical Dilution
• “Related Content” Widget
• “Also Viewed” Widget
• “Top Articles” Widget
• Not Enough Volume of Unique Content

@AlanBleiweiss
Evaluation Process
• Duplicate Content Issues
– www vs. non-www vs. https vs numeric IP
– On-site search
– Faceted navigation
• Most Popular / Highest to Lowest / Red / Newest / On Sale

– Too many pages with extremely thin content
– Multi-Site Duplication

@AlanBleiweiss
Action Plan
• Cover Sheet
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary
– Overview
– Positive bullet points
– Negative bullet points
@AlanBleiweiss
Action Plan
• PRIORITY ISSUE
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–

Problem
Why this is important
Example URLs
Data Snippets
Reference to Tab X in accompanying Spreadsheet
Screen-Shots
Conclusion
Recommendation

@AlanBleiweiss
Action Plan
• PRIORITY ISSUE
– Problem
– Why this is important
– Sub-Issue 1
•
•
•
•

Example URLs
Reference to Tab X in accompanying Spreadsheet
Screen-Shots
Data Snippets

– Sub-Issue 2
•
•
•
•

Example URLs
Reference to Tab X in accompanying Spreadsheet
Screen-Shots
Data Snippets

– Conclusion
– Recommendation

@AlanBleiweiss
Action Plan
• Don’t Forget Disclaimers
–
–
–

Can’t know which links are passing false positive signals
May see short term drop in organics during transition
Can’t guarantee when stability will occur

• Acknowledge that other non-SEO business cases may override
recommendations

@AlanBleiweiss
SEO Audit Tools & Resources
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

http://OpenSiteExplorer.org
http://URIValet.com
http://WebPageTest.org
http://AuthorityLabs.com
http://SEMRush.com
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
http://validator.w3.org/
http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/
http://barracuda-digital.co.uk/panguintool/
http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change

@AlanBleiweiss
In Conclusion
Be Awesome
Don’t Be An #Asshat
Presented by:
Alan Bleiweiss
http://AlanBleiweiss.com
@AlanBleiweiss

How to Perform SEO Audits

  • 1.
    How to PerformSEO Audits Presented by: Alan Bleiweiss http://AlanBleiweiss.com @AlanBleiweiss
  • 2.
    Alan Bleiweiss • ForensicSEO Consultant • SEO Services Since 2001 • Audit Sites w/up to 150 million pages @AlanBleiweiss
  • 3.
    Why An AuditIs Vital • Discover Issues You Weren’t Even Aware Of • Know Where To Prioritize Efforts • Establish a Step by Step Action Plan • Everyone Works From The Same Roadmap @AlanBleiweiss
  • 4.
    Why An AuditIs Vital • Get Real Results @AlanBleiweiss
  • 5.
    Why An AuditIs Vital • Become Sustainable @AlanBleiweiss
  • 6.
    Caveats • It’s impossibleto include every factor, every tactic, and every consideration I include in my audits in a 20 minute presentation. • Every situation is unique, so take what works for you from this presentation, and leave the rest. @AlanBleiweiss
  • 7.
    How To PerformSEO Audits • • • • • • Strategic Vs. Tactical Pre-Contract Questions Info Needed To Get Started Data To Gather Evaluation Process The Action Plan - What To Include @AlanBleiweiss
  • 8.
    Strategic SEO Audits – – – – – HighLevel / Bigger Picture Macro View Sample & Scan Top Priority Recommendations Only Don’t Overwhelm the Client @AlanBleiweiss
  • 9.
    Tactical SEO Audits –One Tactical Audit to address each issue found in strategic audit – 1st Step in the implementation Sequence – Granular Focus – Details Matter @AlanBleiweiss
  • 10.
    Pre-Contract Questions • Whatis the domain you want audited? • Why do you think you need an audit? • What are your goals? – Short / mid-term / long term @AlanBleiweiss
  • 11.
    Info to GetStarted • List all the sites, domains, sub-domains you own – Check with site:domain.com –www – site:domain.com –www –subd –subd2 etc. • Have you received a manual penalty notice? • What SEO have you done since January 1? • Provide admin access to Analytics/GWT/BWT @AlanBleiweiss
  • 12.
    Data to Gather •Competitive Landscape – G Pgs Indexed / Inbound Followed Links / Inbound Followed Roots / LTR Ratio @AlanBleiweiss
  • 13.
    Data to Gather •SEMRush Top Competitor Visibility Timeline Charts @AlanBleiweiss
  • 14.
    Data to Gather •SEMRush Rankings sort by highest volume @AlanBleiweiss
  • 15.
    Data to Gather •SEMRush Ranking Changes @AlanBleiweiss
  • 16.
    Data to Gather •OSE Followed Links Export @AlanBleiweiss
  • 17.
    Data to Gather •OSE Followed Link Anchor LTR @AlanBleiweiss
  • 18.
    Data to Gather •GWT top Linking Domains Export @AlanBleiweiss
  • 19.
    Data to Gather •GWT Internal Links @AlanBleiweiss
  • 20.
    Data to Gather •GWT Index Status @AlanBleiweiss
  • 21.
    Data to Gather •GWT Visibility Timeline @AlanBleiweiss
  • 22.
    Data to Gather •GWT Site Messages @AlanBleiweiss
  • 23.
    Data to Gather •Don’t Ignore “Manual Actions” Section @AlanBleiweiss
  • 24.
    Data to Gather •GA Year Over Year Comparisons If Applicable @AlanBleiweiss
  • 25.
    Data to Gather •GWT Sitemap Report @AlanBleiweiss
  • 26.
    Data to Gather •GWT Structured Data Report @AlanBleiweiss
  • 27.
    Data to Gather •GWT Crawl Error Reports @AlanBleiweiss
  • 28.
    Data to Gather •Site Processing Speed /CSS/Markup Errors – – GA / URIValet / WebPageTest /W3C Validators @AlanBleiweiss
  • 29.
    Data to Gather •GA Slowest Page Processing Speeds @AlanBleiweiss
  • 30.
    Data to Gather •GA Page Processing Speed Short Term & Historic @AlanBleiweiss
  • 31.
    Data to Gather •Google Page Speed Insights Grades @AlanBleiweiss
  • 32.
    Data to Gather •WebPageTest.org Page Grades @AlanBleiweiss
  • 33.
    Data to Gather •Screaming Frog Sample Crawl – 10,000 pages max for a strategic audit – Export Important Data • • • • • • • • Redirected Links Dead End Links Page Titles H1 tags HTML Page WordCounts (on 200 status pages only) Meta Descriptions Meta Keywords Meta Robots @AlanBleiweiss
  • 34.
    Data to Gather •Screaming Frog Sample Crawl Value @AlanBleiweiss
  • 35.
    Data to Gather •Social Media Engagement @AlanBleiweiss
  • 36.
    Other Data ToGather • When Appropriate Also Include – – – – – – Local Directory Listing Report City Specific Keyword Rankings Panguin Tool Timeline Report eCommerce Trends Report Indexation & Inbound Link Report for SubDomains Indexation & Inbound Link Report for Niche Domains @AlanBleiweiss
  • 37.
    Evaluation Process • Lookfor Patterns that cause you to scratch you head • Look for Obvious Outliers • Ask – Does this signal confirm QUART? – – – – – Quality Uniqueness Authority Relevance Trust @AlanBleiweiss
  • 38.
    Evaluation Process • Lookfor Conflicting Signals – Robots.txt vs. Canonical vs. Meta Robots vs. Nofollow – Topical Focus • • • • • • Page Title – Phrase 1 & Phrase 2 URL – Phrase 3 Breadcrumb – Phrase 4 H1 Phrase 5 Content Phrases 1, 3, 4, 6, 11 Inbound Links Phrases 7 through 55 @AlanBleiweiss
  • 39.
    Evaluation Process • Lookfor Conflicting Signals – Topical Dilution • “Related Content” Widget • “Also Viewed” Widget • “Top Articles” Widget • Not Enough Volume of Unique Content @AlanBleiweiss
  • 40.
    Evaluation Process • DuplicateContent Issues – www vs. non-www vs. https vs numeric IP – On-site search – Faceted navigation • Most Popular / Highest to Lowest / Red / Newest / On Sale – Too many pages with extremely thin content – Multi-Site Duplication @AlanBleiweiss
  • 41.
    Action Plan • CoverSheet • Table of Contents • Executive Summary – Overview – Positive bullet points – Negative bullet points @AlanBleiweiss
  • 42.
    Action Plan • PRIORITYISSUE – – – – – – – – Problem Why this is important Example URLs Data Snippets Reference to Tab X in accompanying Spreadsheet Screen-Shots Conclusion Recommendation @AlanBleiweiss
  • 43.
    Action Plan • PRIORITYISSUE – Problem – Why this is important – Sub-Issue 1 • • • • Example URLs Reference to Tab X in accompanying Spreadsheet Screen-Shots Data Snippets – Sub-Issue 2 • • • • Example URLs Reference to Tab X in accompanying Spreadsheet Screen-Shots Data Snippets – Conclusion – Recommendation @AlanBleiweiss
  • 44.
    Action Plan • Don’tForget Disclaimers – – – Can’t know which links are passing false positive signals May see short term drop in organics during transition Can’t guarantee when stability will occur • Acknowledge that other non-SEO business cases may override recommendations @AlanBleiweiss
  • 45.
    SEO Audit Tools& Resources • • • • • • • • • • • • http://OpenSiteExplorer.org http://URIValet.com http://WebPageTest.org http://AuthorityLabs.com http://SEMRush.com http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ http://validator.w3.org/ http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/ http://barracuda-digital.co.uk/panguintool/ http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change @AlanBleiweiss
  • 46.
    In Conclusion Be Awesome Don’tBe An #Asshat Presented by: Alan Bleiweiss http://AlanBleiweiss.com @AlanBleiweiss

Editor's Notes