How to Analyze a Website’s SEO: Your Step-By-Step Guide

What Is SEO Analysis?

An SEO study involves evaluating your website to place ways to amended your capacity successful integrated (unpaid) hunt motor results, which tin lead to much postulation and amended business results.

It involves studying your content, your site’s method health, competitors' sites, and more. Because these tin each impact really hunt engines for illustration Google rank (order) hunt results. 

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Types of SEO Analyses

Many website elements tin effect your SEO performance. So, doing different types of analyses tin thief you constrictive successful connected the astir pressing issues.

Below are the main types.

Technical SEO Analysis

Technical SEO involves optimizing the method aspects of your website. And the corresponding study is chiefly focused connected ensuring you don’t person immoderate issues that could forestall hunt engines from crawling (finding) and indexing (storing successful a database) your content. 

Some of the main issues you’ll look for are those related to your:

• XML sitemap: A record that tells hunt engines which of your pages you want to beryllium indexed
• Robots.txt: A record that tells Google which pages connected your website they should and shouldn’t access
• Site’s architecture: How your tract is system and organized
• Website’s navigation: The travel of clicking the links connected a website to find caller pages
• URL structure: The statement and format of a web address
• Internal links: Links that constituent to different pages connected your website
• Page speed: How accelerated your pages load for users
• Site’s mobile-friendliness: How your tract performs connected mobile devices

The fastest measurement to cheque your site’s method SEO is to usage Site Audit. We’ll show you really to do truthful later successful this article. 

On-Page SEO Analysis

An on page SEO study entails evaluating your individual webpages to make judge they’re arsenic hunt engine-friendly arsenic imaginable and see the target keywords you want those pages to rank for. 

On tract elements to optimize include:

• Title tags: HTML elements that specify your page titles and tin show successful hunt results
• Meta descriptions: HTML elements that supply a short summary of the contented of the page
• Headings: HTML tags utilized to abstracted headings and subheadings from the assemblage content
• Body content: Paragraphs aliases different main matter connected a webpage
• URLs: The page reside that besides specifies protocols and tin see parameters
• Images: Visual elements (e.g., logos, illustrations, etc.) often successful JPEG, PNG, aliases WebP record types
• Schema markup: Snippets of codification that suffice the webpage for Google’s rich | results (e.g., celebrated products, organization, etc.)

We’ll spell complete really to uncover issues related to these elements later successful this guide. 

Backlink Analysis

Backlinks are links connected different websites that constituent to your website. They’re an important facet that Google uses for integrated rankings, truthful you’ll want to measure the number and value of links coming to your site. 

But not each backlinks thief your SEO that much. The champion ones travel from sites that are topically applicable to yours and person beardown website authority (which tin beryllium estimated utilizing the Authority Score metric).

This type of study involves evaluating your backlink floor plan for: 

• Total backlinks: The full number of backlinks pointing toward your website
• Referring domains: The circumstantial domains that nexus to your website and really charismatic they are
• Toxic links: Links that show signs of spammy practices
• Anchor text: The matter that forms a hyperlink (Google uses anchor matter to understand what the linked assets is)

It tin besides beryllium useful to comparison the supra backlink factors against your competitors’ sites. So, we’ll screen really to do truthful later successful this guide.

SEO Competitive Analysis

This type of study involves comparing your website’s SEO capacity against your competitors’ performance. And tin thief you place what it will return to compete pinch them. 

A competitory study often involves comparing yourself against rivals for the following:

• Target keywords: Seeing whether you outperform your competitors for valuable position applicable to your business. Or whether they’re ranking for position you person yet to target.
• Top pages: Identifying which pages connected competitors' sites get the astir integrated traffic. And seeing whether you person immoderate akin contented connected your site.
• Total backlinks: Comparing the number and value of rivals’ backlinks to yours
• Authority Score: Seeing who has a higher Authority Score. Which tin awesome greater ranking imaginable crossed each the pages of a site.
• Referring domains: Comparing which sites are linking to your competitors. And if they person referring domains that you mightiness want to scope retired to for linking opportunities.

We’ll show you really to do this type of study later successful this guide. 

How to Analyze Your Website’s SEO Performance

Follow the beneath steps to execute a complete study of your website’s SEO.

1. Analyze Your Technical SEO

It’s champion to commencement by analyzing your site’s method SEO. Because method elements effect the ranking imaginable of each of your webpages.

To do this, usage Site Audit. 

Start by entering your homepage URL into the matter bar. Then, click “Start Audit.”

Follow the prompts to configure your audit. 

Once your audit is ready, find the “Crawlability” conception and click “View details.”

The study will thief you measure really easy Google tin crawl and scale your important pages.

For example, find the “Crawl Budget Waste,” section. It specifications wherever you’re wasting crawl budget. Which is the number of pages that Google is consenting to crawl connected your tract successful a circumstantial period. 

You want to beryllium observant astir things for illustration having excessively galore pages that service errors aliases excessively galore redirects. Because if you person galore issues for illustration these, Google mightiness move connected earlier it gets to each your important pages. 

If you click connected the orangish barroom to the correct of an issue. You’ll spot a database of the pages affected by that circumstantial issue.

Next, return to the “Overview” tab. Then, click “View details” nether “Site Performance.” 

This conception will database immoderate issues related to your site’s page load velocity and different capacity indicators.

Page experience is simply a confirmed ranking factor. So, it’s important to resoluteness related problems for illustration slow speed. 

Plus, capacity issues are bad for the personification experience. And whitethorn discourage group from staying connected your website, making purchases, aliases booking appointments.

Improving tract capacity whitethorn require changes to your HTML aliases JavaScript files. So, depending connected your level of knowledge, you whitethorn want to activity pinch a web developer to resoluteness them.

2. Analyze Your On-Page SEO

Next, do an on-page study to find ways to amended your astir important webpages—improving these existing ones tin beryllium a much cost-effective measurement to amended capacity than creating caller content. 

So, reappraisal the beneath website elements connected each page you want to rank for. 

Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

The title tag and meta explanation of a webpage show users and hunt engines what your contented is about. And Google whitethorn show them to users erstwhile showing your pages successful hunt motor results.

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Google uses the title tag to understand a webpage’s content. And some the title tag and meta explanation tin power whether users click done to your page.

To cheque them, click connected the “Issues,” tab successful Site Audit.

Then, click the “Category” drop-down paper and prime “Meta tags.”

If immoderate captious issues are identified, the study will database them.

Site Audit checks your title tags and meta descriptions for the pursuing errors:

• Missing title tags aliases meta descriptions
• Duplicate title tags aliases meta descriptions
• Proper characteristic counts

To get much specifications astir a circumstantial issue, click connected the bluish matter astatine the opening of the row.

You’ll spot further specifications astir the issue. Like what pages the rumor was identified on.

Make judge to reappraisal these issues. And activity to resoluteness them.

Content Structure

Headings are HTML tags ranging from H1-H6 that specify headings connected a webpage and thief Google understand what topics your contented covers.

Headings besides springiness your contented building and make it easier to navigate. Because they tin thief users quickly scan to find the accusation they’re looking for.

To cheque for problems related to your H1 headings, return to the “Issues” tab successful Site Audit. And participate “h1” successful the hunt bar.

Site Audit checks for the following:

• Missing H1 tags
• Duplicate H1 tags
• Multiple H1 tags connected a page—it’s champion to instrumentality to one

Again, click connected the bluish matter adjacent to immoderate rumor to get much specifications astir the pages wherever it was detected. And activity to hole the problems.

Keyword Use and Content Quality

Next, measure your content’s value and really good your pages incorporated your target keywords. Because penning useful contented that includes keywords people (without keyword stuffing) is cardinal for on-page SEO. 

Use On Page SEO Checker for this. 

Enter your homepage URL into the matter barroom and click “Get Ideas.”

Follow the prompts to decorativeness the setup, past the instrumentality will show a elaborate study pinch ideas for improvement. 

Click “# ideas” adjacent to a page you want to analyze.

On the adjacent page, scroll to the “Content” section. And study the specifications astir your page’s readability and keyword usage to find what sorts of improvements you request to make. Like utilizing target keywords successful the <body> tag.

Repeat this process for each your pages. And activity done the suggestions.

Now, you’re fresh to update your content. 

In summation to what On Page SEO Checker flagged, make judge to usage your keyword and immoderate variations successful different headings. 

You should besides guarantee that your contented is high-quality, helpful, and people-focused. Which you tin do by:

• Including original investigation aliases analysis
• Providing a broad taxable overview
• Showcasing first-hand expertise and knowledge
• Including original insights that spell beyond the basics

3. Check Your Internal Links

Internal links thief Google observe and scale your pages, truthful you should cheque that location are nary issues pinch them.

To do this, return to your “Overview” study successful Site Audit. 

Click “View details” nether “Internal Linking.”

You’ll spot a percent people for your wide soul nexus health. As good arsenic a database of issues related to soul links. The astir impactful ones will beryllium listed nether the “Errors” section.

Some examples of issues the instrumentality will emblem include:

• Broken links (both soul and external)
• Too galore on-page links
• Pages pinch only 1 soul link

To resoluteness these issues, you’ll request to make adjustments to your links wrong your contented guidance strategy (CMS) aliases different website platform. 

If you’re unsure of really to hole something, click “Why and really to hole it” adjacent to immoderate rumor to get directions.

Linking issues thin to hap complete clip arsenic your website grows. But if you person a newer website, it’s much apt to suffer from excessively fewer soul links.

So, find ways to adhd them by pursuing these champion practices:

• Link to and from your astir important pages
• Use anchor matter that’s applicable to the contented of the linked page
• Keep your anchor matter short and descriptive
• Don’t overdo it—too galore soul links tin look spammy

4. Check Your Website’s Backlink Profile

Because backlinks are truthful important for rankings, you should cheque them erstwhile analyzing your website’s SEO. And you tin usage Backlink Audit to do that. 

Type your homepage URL into the first matter bar. Then, sanction your task (if desired), and click “Create project.”

(If you’ve already created a task for your website, find it and click connected it erstwhile you unfastened the tool.)

You’ll get a elaborate study astir your website’s backlink profile. Which shows your website’s Toxicity Score.

You want your backlink floor plan to person a “Low” toxicity score. If yours is “Medium” aliases “High,” that’s a bully motion you should activity to summation much high-quality, applicable backlinks.

And you tin do that utilizing the Link Building Tool. 

After creating a project, click the “Prospects” tab. 

You’ll spot a database of applicable websites that you tin scope retired to for nexus opportunities. 

Click “To In Progress” adjacent to a tract you want to interaction to adhd it to an outreach list.

From your list, you’ll beryllium capable to nonstop outreach emails straight to your chosen prospects.

5. Evaluate Yourself Against Your Competitors

Next, comparison your keywords and backlinks to your competitors’ to complete an SEO competitory analysis that tin thief you uncover insights you mightiness beryllium capable to usage successful your SEO strategy.

Some of the resulting actions mightiness see optimizing for the aforesaid keywords, creating akin content, aliases reaching retired to your competitors’ referring domains for nexus building opportunities.

To analyse a competitor’s keywords, usage Keyword Gap.

Enter your domain and up to 4 competitors’ domains. Then, prime your target location and click “Compare.”

In the keyword comparison report, look for the “Top Opportunities” table. 

Select the “Missing” tab. Then, click “View details.”

You’ll spot a array of keywords that your competitors are ranking for but your website isn’t. 

You whitethorn want to target immoderate of these keywords pinch your website content. As agelong arsenic they’re applicable to what your business offers.

Next, analyse your competitors’ backlinks utilizing Backlink Analytics.

Enter a competitor’s domain into the matter bar. Then, click “Analyze.”

You’ll get cardinal metrics related to their backlinks. Like what websites are linking to them, really reputable those sites are, and what anchor matter the websites usage to nexus to your competitor’s site.

Then, leverage that accusation successful your link building efforts.

Refine Your SEO Strategy

You should regularly analyse your SEO capacity arsenic you people content, get and/or suffer backlinks, and look much competition. 

So, group up regular audits successful Site Audit to get up of galore issues. 

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