WHY DO I NEED A WEBSITE AUDIT?
Just like your phone, computer or car, your website can deteriorate over time. Most people wait until the last minute or until it’s too late to get a website audit. Doing this has the same results as waiting too long to service your car or laptop: Expensive repairs. Getting a website audit catches existing problems and allows you to further optimize your site.
HERE ARE 5 REASONS WHY YOU NEED A WEBSITE AUDIT
1 – SITE HEALTH
As we mentioned, your website will deteriorate over time. This can be due to a number of things, including not keeping your software & plugins up to date as browser requirements, technology and user behaviour change. Incorrect or failed updates can also cause things to break and slow down.
In a site health audit, the following should be checked:
Page speed
Internal linking
External linking
Meta descriptions
Broken links
Load times
Page titles
Site structure
These are key to a site’s overall health, functionality and speed.
2 – IMPROVE YOUR SEO
SEO practices change over time as Google and other search engines evolve. An SEO audit helps you stay on top of these changes. It is also common to have issues with keywords and content which prevent you from ranking in SEO. Some of the most common issues include incorrect keywords, missing meta titles & descriptions, missing backlinks and plagiarism.
We highly recommend a website audit if you are wondering why your site is not ranking well. A website audit will show you how to optimize your site to score well in search engine rankings.
3 – SITE SECURITY
Security is often overlooked when building a website. Website security is just as important as content, design and SEO. Security breaches can happen to companies of any size.There are plenty of news articles of big companies such as Facebook experiencing breaches. These breaches are costly for any business.
According to the NCSA, over 60% of small businesses worldwide are forced to close down after a security breach or cyber-attack. By performing a site security audit, you will discover vulnerabilities in your website, and how to resolve them. This can prevent leaks of your, and your customers’, sensitive personal information.
4 – USER EXPERIENCE
As the website owner/developer, you are very capable of navigating your website. This does not mean your website is easy to navigate. It is very easy to overlook issues a new user may experience when they visit your website for the first time. As part of a website audit, new user testing is essential. This will ensure your website is easy to navigate and is user-friendly.
In this audit, users will perform essential tasks on your website. These tasks can change depending on the kind of website you have, from e-commerce to brochure websites. Once these tasks are completed, feedback is provided. This feedback will include advice on how you can improve the user experience.
Some examples of bad user experience include:
Cluttered navigation bar
Too many links to find a page
No clear way to return Home
Crowded content
No search functionality
No contact information
Annoying pop-ups & ads
5 – COMPARE TO YOUR COMPETITORS
A good site audit should include an analysis of your competitors and their strategies. Knowledge of your competitors and their strategies is extremely important. This will help you stay on the cutting edge in your industry, keeping up with the trends and solving customer pain points.
A competitor audit will start with identifying exactly who your competitors are. A fast audit is then performed on your competitors once identified. This will cover everything from their content to their keywords and social media. A good audit will also cover organic and paid search.
This audit will give you everything you need to get a competitive edge over your competitor. You will also have a very clear picture of where you stand currently in comparison. With this information, you can improve your strategy to become more successful online.
CONCLUSION
A website audit is essential for your business to succeed online. Without a website audit, your website is likely to fail or fall behind in the metrics mentioned in this article. We recommend scheduling an audit annually if you are a small business. As your business grows, so does the competition. With this, we recommend more frequent audits as your business grows.
