Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a critical factor in your enterprise business success, and for large sites, it becomes even more important. With thousands or even millions of pages to manage, ensuring that every aspect of the site is optimized for search engines can be a daunting task. This is where an enterprise SEO audit comes in.
Our 20-step enterprise SEO audit guide provides a comprehensive framework for analyzing and optimizing large websites. By following this guide, businesses can identify areas where their site may be lacking in terms of SEO and develop strategies to improve their organic search visibility.
Keyword Ranking Evaluation
Monitoring keyword rankings is an essential part of SEO, as it helps businesses understand their visibility and performance in search engine results. The enterprise SEO audit includes an evaluation of keyword rankings. This involves tracking and analyzing the site’s current keyword rankings, identifying keywords with high potential for improvement, and developing strategies to optimize those keywords.
Consider keywords that bring conversions: By focusing on keywords that can drive organic traffic and conversions, businesses can improve their search engine rankings and attract more targeted organic traffic to their site.
Competitor Analysis
Understanding the competition is integral to developing an effective SEO strategy, especially for large sites. The enterprise SEO audit includes a comprehensive competitor analysis to identify top competitors in the industry. This analysis involves evaluating their SEO strategies, such as their keyword targeting, on-page optimization, backlink profiles, and social media presence.
By identifying their strengths and weaknesses, businesses can gain insights into industry trends and best practices. Additionally, the analysis helps in identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement in their own SEO strategy, such as untapped keywords or overlooked optimization techniques.
By leveraging competitor analysis, businesses can stay ahead of the competition and optimize their SEO efforts to outrank them in search engine results.
Technical SEO Analysis
The first step in the enterprise SEO audit is a thorough analysis of the website’s technical SEO aspects. This includes assessing the loading speed of the site, as faster loading pages are favored by search engines. The audit also evaluates the mobile-friendliness of the site since a growing number of users access websites through mobile devices.
Additionally, the URL structure and XML sitemap are reviewed to ensure that they are optimized for search engines. The analysis also includes a review of the robots.txt file to make sure that search engine crawlers can access the site and index its pages properly. Duplicate content is another potential issue for large sites, so the audit includes identifying and addressing any duplicate content on the site
On-Page SEO Evaluation
The next step in the enterprise SEO audit focuses on the on-page SEO aspects of the website. Keyword analysis and research are conducted to identify relevant and high-performing keywords that can be incorporated into the site’s content. This helps improve the site’s visibility in search engine results for targeted keywords.
The audit also examines the title tags and meta descriptions of each page to ensure they are optimized with relevant keywords and compelling information to entice users to click through. Heading tags are evaluated to ensure they are properly utilized and optimized for search engines.
Image optimization is another important aspect of on-page SEO, and the audit assesses whether images are properly formatted, have optimized alt tags, and load quickly. Finally, the audit evaluates the quality and relevancy of the site’s content to ensure it provides value to users and aligns with their search intent.
Site Architecture Assessment
The site architecture plays a crucial role in SEO, especially for large websites. The enterprise SEO audit includes a comprehensive assessment of the site’s URL hierarchy, navigation structure, and internal linking.
This helps ensure that the site is organized in a logical and user-friendly manner, making it easy for both users and search engines to navigate and understand the site’s structure. The audit also analyzes pagination, which is important for larger sites that have content divided into multiple pages.
The goal is to optimize the pagination strategy to ensure that search engines can crawl and understand the relationship between pages. By conducting a thorough site architecture assessment, businesses can identify any issues and opportunities for improvement that can enhance the site’s SEO performance.
Backlink Profile Review
Backlinks play a crucial role in SEO, and the backlink profile review is an essential step in the enterprise SEO audit process. This analysis involves evaluating the site’s link profile to assess the quality and relevance of the backlinks pointing to the site. It helps identify any low-quality or spammy backlinks that may be harming the site’s SEO performance. Additionally, the audit examines the anchor text used in backlinks to ensure it is properly optimized with relevant keywords.
By reviewing the backlink profile, businesses can identify areas where they can improve their link building strategy, build relationships with high-quality websites for potential backlinks, and disavow toxic backlinks that could be negatively impacting their SEO efforts.
Social Media and Branding Analysis
In today’s digital landscape, social media presence and branding are critical factors for SEO success. The enterprise SEO audit includes an evaluation of a website’s social media presence and its impact on its SEO performance. This involves examining the site’s social media profiles, assessing the engagement and reach of social media posts, and evaluating how effectively the brand is being marketed on social platforms.
The audit also reviews the site’s brand reputation by analyzing online mentions and reviews to ensure that the brand is perceived positively by users and search engines.
By conducting a social media and branding analysis, businesses can identify opportunities to strengthen their online presence, engage with their target audience, and improve their overall SEO performance.
User Experience Evaluation
User experience (UX) is a crucial factor in SEO as search engines prioritize sites that provide a positive user experience. The enterprise SEO audit includes a thorough evaluation of the website’s UX. This includes assessing the website’s usability, ensuring that it is easy to navigate, and content is easily accessible.
The audit also checks for any accessibility issues, ensuring that the website is accessible to users with disabilities. The site structure and navigation are evaluated to ensure they are intuitive and user-friendly, allowing users to find the information they need quickly.
Reviewing user engagement metrics, such as bounce rate, time on site, and conversion rates, helps identify areas where the user experience can be improved. By conducting a user experience evaluation, businesses can enhance their website’s usability and optimize it for both users and search engines.
Content Audit
Content is king in SEO, and conducting a content audit is an integral part of the enterprise SEO audit. This involves assessing the quality and relevancy of the site’s content to ensure it meets the needs and expectations of users.
The audit also identifies opportunities for creating new content that can target relevant keywords and attract organic traffic. Additionally, the audit involves updating and optimizing existing content to ensure it is SEO-friendly and aligns with current industry trends and best practices.
By conducting a content audit, businesses can ensure that their content is optimized for search engines, provides value to users, and drives organic traffic to the site.
Local SEO Analysis
For businesses with a local presence, optimizing for local search is crucial. The enterprise SEO audit includes a comprehensive analysis of a website’s local SEO efforts. This involves evaluating the site’s local search presence and its visibility in local search results.
The audit also includes a review of the Google My Business profile, ensuring it is properly optimized with accurate business information. Additionally, the audit checks for NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) consistency across online directories and listings.
By conducting a local SEO analysis, businesses can improve their visibility in local search results and attract more local customers to their website and physical stores.
Mobile SEO Assessment
With the increasing use of mobile devices, mobile SEO has become a critical factor in SEO success. The enterprise SEO audit includes a thorough assessment of a website’s mobile-friendliness, mobile page speed, and mobile usability. This involves ensuring that the website is responsive and displays properly on different mobile devices.
The audit also evaluates the loading speed of the mobile site, as slower loading times can negatively impact user experience and search engine rankings. Additionally, the audit conducts mobile usability testing to identify any issues that may affect the site’s mobile user experience.
By conducting a mobile SEO assessment, businesses can optimize their website for mobile devices, improve user experience, and boost their search engine rankings on mobile devices.
Schema Markup Audit
Schema markup is a type of structured data that helps search engines understand the content on a webpage. The enterprise SEO audit includes a schema markup audit to ensure that the correct schema markup is implemented on the site. This involves checking if the markup is correctly implemented and if it is properly structured and validated according to schema.org standards.
Identifying opportunities for additional schema markup that can enhance the site’s visibility in search results. By conducting a schema markup audit, businesses can improve their chances of appearing in rich snippets and other enhanced search features, increasing their visibility and click-through rates in search engine results.
Analytics and Reporting
Accurate tracking and measurement of SEO metrics are crucial for assessing the effectiveness of SEO efforts. The enterprise SEO audit includes a review of website analytics data, such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, and conversion rates.
By analyzing these metrics, businesses can gain insights into their SEO performance and identify areas for improvement. In addition, the audit helps in tracking and measuring important SEO metrics, such as crawl errors, indexation issues, and backlink acquisition. By regularly reviewing analytics data and reporting, businesses can make informed decisions about their SEO strategies and continuously optimize their efforts for better results.
Accessibility and Indexability Analysis
Ensuring that search engines can crawl and properly index a website’s pages is vital for SEO success. The enterprise SEO audit includes an analysis of the website’s accessibility and indexability. This involves reviewing the website’s crawlability by search engine bots, checking for indexation issues, and evaluating the HTML and XML sitemaps.
This analysis helps identify any barriers that may prevent search engines from accessing or understanding the site’s content. By addressing accessibility and indexability issues, businesses can improve the visibility and indexing of their site in search engine results.
Local Citation Audit
For businesses with a local presence, maintaining accurate and consistent local citations is crucial for local SEO success. The enterprise SEO audit includes a local citation audit to identify all the online citations of a business, such as business directories, review sites, and local listings. This involves checking for accuracy and consistency of NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) information across these citations. Any incorrect or inconsistent citations can negatively impact local SEO efforts.
The audit also involves removing or correcting any incorrect citations and ensuring that all citations are optimized for local search. By conducting a local citation audit, businesses can improve their local SEO visibility and ensure that their NAP information is accurate and consistent across the web.
Site Speed and Performance Review
Website loading speed is a critical factor in SEO, as search engines prioritize fast-loading sites. The enterprise SEO audit includes a review of the site’s speed and performance. This involves evaluating the website’s loading speed and identifying any factors that may be contributing to slow loading times.
The audit also involves optimizing images and files for faster loading, implementing caching and compression techniques, and addressing any other issues that may be impacting the site’s speed and performance. By improving site speed and performance, businesses can enhance user experience, reduce bounce rates, and boost search engine rankings.
Mobile Optimization
With the rise in mobile device usage, mobile optimization has become a crucial aspect of SEO. The enterprise SEO audit includes a comprehensive assessment of a website’s mobile optimization. This involves checking for mobile-friendly design and ensuring that the site is responsive and displays properly on different mobile devices.
The audit also includes optimizing the site for mobile-specific search features like Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and ensuring that the site loads quickly on mobile devices. By conducting a mobile optimization analysis, businesses can enhance the mobile user experience, improve search engine rankings on mobile devices, and increase mobile organic traffic.
E-commerce SEO Audit for Enterprise
Some enterprise companies may have ecommerce functionality on their website. For e-commerce websites, optimizing product pages and site architecture is essential for SEO success. The enterprise SEO audit includes a review of the e-commerce SEO efforts. This involves analyzing product page optimization, such as including relevant keywords in product titles and descriptions and optimizing product images.
The audit also evaluates the site architecture for e-commerce functionality and assesses the internal linking structure for product pages. By conducting an e-commerce SEO audit, businesses can improve the visibility of their product pages in search engine results, attract more organic traffic, and increase conversions.
Link Building Analysis
Link building is an important aspect of SEO, as high-quality backlinks help improve a website’s authority and visibility in search engine results. The enterprise SEO audit includes a comprehensive analysis of the website’s current link building strategies. This involves assessing the quality and relevance of the existing backlinks and identifying any toxic or low-quality backlinks that may be harming the site’s SEO performance.
The audit also helps businesses identify new link building opportunities, such as reaching out to authoritative websites for guest posting or collaborating with influencers in their industry. By assessing link quality and disavowing toxic backlinks, businesses can improve their link building efforts and enhance their SEO performance.
Ongoing SEO Maintenance
SEO is an ongoing process, and continuous optimization and maintenance are key to long-term success. The enterprise SEO audit includes a section on ongoing SEO maintenance. This involves regularly monitoring metrics and analytics, staying updated on industry trends and algorithm changes, and continuously optimizing and refining SEO strategies.
By making data-driven decisions and adapting to changes in the SEO landscape, businesses can ensure that their website remains optimized and competitive in search engine rankings.
Conclusion
The 21-step enterprise SEO audit provides a comprehensive framework for conducting a thorough SEO analysis of large websites. By following this, businesses can identify areas where their site may be lacking in terms of SEO and develop strategies to improve their organic search visibility.
From technical SEO analysis to content audit, competitor analysis, and ongoing maintenance, each step of the audit process plays a critical role in optimizing a large site for search engines. By continuously assessing and improving their SEO efforts, businesses can increase their online visibility, drive organic traffic, and achieve long-term success in the digital landscape.
