SEO Audit Tool Guide

In our article on keyword research we talked about the importance of SEO and optimising your website for search engine traffic.

But how do you know what’s working in your favour and where to improve? An SEO audit is a good place to start.

What is an On Page SEO Audit?

An SEO audit is a review of your website to see how it currently performs or is likely to perform in organic search results. By auditing your website as it is now you can identify weaknesses and where to make changes to improve your website’s potential.

In this article we’ll help you discover how an SEO audit tool can help and share a list of on page SEO audit tools to try.

One of the main benefits of using an on page SEO audit tool is that it can automatically scan your website and page content, instead of you doing this manually. From here, the tool can generate reports and flag any areas for improvement as well as critical warnings that could impact your ability to rank well in organic search results.

An SEO audit tool will be able to evaluate technical, on page and off page factors including site speed, image sizes and names, keyword presence and more. This comprehensive approach can give you a greater insight into what needs fixing and areas to improve.

After your audit tool has finished analysing your website, you’ll end up with a report full of actions, SEO tips and recommendations on how to optimise your website for organic search traffic.

Many on page SEO audit tools also use this information to distinguish between major and minor issues, which helps you to decide which areas to focus on first and which to leave for a future to-do list.

There are lots of SEO audit tools available and the choice can seem overwhelming. We’ve brought together nine SEO tools for you to compare, ranging from free tools to all-in-one SEO solutions.

The Search Consoleis a free suite of tools from the search engine giant itself, Google.

These free SEO analysis tools are a great starting point for small business owners as they’re easy to access, free and backed up with helpful SEO tips articles.

Moz is one of the leading authorities on search engine optimisation. Their offering includes an on page optimisation tool, keyword research tool, rank tracking and more.

While Moz Pro isn’t free, you can try the services free for a 30 day period. After that, you can continue on a monthly subscription if you want to continue to manage your own SEO.

Ahrefs, another well known SEO authority, also has an SEO audit tool. The software can take a full look at your website and return with an SEO health score, as well as offer a list of issues to work through ranked by importance.

Another option to consider for an on page SEO audit tool is SE Ranking. One of its best features is the ability to track large numbers of keywords comparing the results against your competitors and thus allowing you to check your SEO efforts over time. The comprehensive suite of tools also includes an SEO site checkup which gives you a percentage score, broken down into categories. Below this is more detail on individual issues and how to fix them, along with helpful resources.

SEMRush offers a whole suite of SEO analysis tools designed to help you understand and take advantage of SEO. One of these tools is the On Page SEO Checker.Here you can analyse your website or specific pages to identify issues and areas to improve, which are then ranked in order of importance.

Website Graderwas created by Hubspot as a free way to generate a report which assesses your website against a number of factors, including SEO. This can be a useful starting point for business owners who want an overview of how their website performs.

Traffic Analyzeris one of two SEO analysis tools from Neil Patel, a leading expert in the digital marketing and SEO space. This free tool allows you to run a report on any website which will give you an overview of predicted traffic, number of backlinks, top keywords and more. Used in conjunction with Ubersuggest, these two free tools can help you to make improvements in your on page SEO and content marketing.

Screaming Frog SEO Spideris the leading website crawler and one of the most popular SEO analysis tools available. The tool was designed for marketing agencies and SEO experts to carry out technical SEO audits, and is especially useful for identifying broken links and duplicate pages.

WooRank is a website review tool and SEO checker that analyses your website and provides you with a report on areas to improve. This includes a marketing checklist - a list of SEO tips and actions for you to work through to improve your website.

Another feature of WooRank is the ability to download your SEO reports as branded PDFs. This can make it easier to share and analyse information with your team.

Once you’ve used an SEO audit tool you’ll have a list of issues and opportunities to help you gain a better presence on search engines. These technical and on page SEO improvements can help a great deal, but for the most benefit consider pairing them with other tactics.

Here are five other ways you can improve your website’s SEO.

User experience, also known as UX, stands for the experience that someone has when they visit your website. It’s a good idea to consider your customers’ needs when you design or improve your website, and make it as easy as possible to use.

This feature from Search Engine Journal explains how to use SEO and UX together to create an engaging experience for visitors, but in brief some of the major areas to consider include use of colour, readability, navigation and the use of buttons and imagery.

One of the most important areas of SEO to consider is keyword research. This useful but often overlooked step provides you with the data you need to plan, create and refresh your website copy and blog to attract the right audience.

For an in-depth guide to SEO keyword research, see our blog post on SEO keyword research: why it’s important and how to do it.

If your business serves a defined location or you’d like to attract more local customers, it’s a good idea to maximise your local SEO.

By taking advantage of tools such as Google My Business, TripAdvisor and local listings, you can increase the chances of appearing in front of your ideal customers in a specific geographic area.

If you have a content strategy, write a blog or have read our blog posts, you’ll be familiar with the importance of content and how it can help your SEO efforts.

Creating high quality content is part of the solution, but planning for your content distribution can bring extra SEO benefits too. Consider how often you blog, your social media profiles and aim to drive social shares of your content. For more on this, read our guide on content strategies for SEO.

As a business owner your time can feel split between lots of different tasks. If you don’t want to add managing your SEO strategy to that list, consider working with an experienced digital marketing agency.

At QuayClick we are experts in SEO, website design and digital marketing. We work with business owners in Exeter, Devon and beyond, to grow their online presence. If you’d like to talk to us about growing your business through digital marketing, contact us today.