SEO Tips

Top 5 SEO Audit Checks for an SME

Self-auditing is one of those tasks which always gets over looked when it comes to SMEs. Unlike other types of audits web sites often get over looked when it comes to internal audits. In the same way you would audit stock, computers, stationary etc… It’s imperative that you audit a web site at least twice a year.

When it comes to SMEs it’s understandable that this isn’t likely to happen unless someone schedules it in, or buys in external help from an SEO company. What’s amazing is the number of larger companies or institutions which never even think of it. Even if you site is doing well there is no reason why it couldn’t do better! Even if the company has their own SEO team sometimes a fresh pair of eyes is worth the investment.

Here is my list of the top five onsite items to audit

1. Update your Google Analytics tracking code

Let’s face it most companies use this as it’s free. If you’re using other Analytics software like Omniture then this doesn’t concern you obviously. BUT if you are using Google Analytics then make sure that you are using the newest version which tracks some Social Media Metrics.

Social Metrics are very important for modern SEO, ensuring it’s tracked is your first step to increasing your social profile.

Gary Beal’s Top 12 SEO Tips 2011 – Part 3

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6. Geotargeting for Language or Regional Targeting

The various ways that people search and the results the search engines are delivering are evolving rapidly. Smarter queries and more complex algorithms mean that you need to use various techniques to be sure you are showing up in the results. Local search, advanced search, regional search and language-based searches are some of the filters an end-user or a search engine can use in determining who shows up, when they show up and where they show up.

Geotargeting is one tool Google has refined and one that you can manipulate to a point in order to increase saturation in any market. Beyond the obvious on-page considerations, different searches will deliver (in most cases) a different set of results.

Gary Beal’s Top 12 SEO Tips 2011 – Part 2

Top 12 SEO Tips Part 1

2. Check your site for errors

I regularly run Xenu or Screaming Frog SEO Spider to identify orphan files, links or other on-page issues. I’ve used Xenu for years but since it is not an SEO Tool the elements that it checks have grown outdated. Screaming Frog checks the following;

Gary Beal’s Top 12 SEO Tips 2011 - Part 1

Top 12 SEO Tips for 2011 (Q2-Q3) - Post Panda

There are many basic-to-advanced SEO tactics that you can read in earlier versions of Top 12 SEO Tips for 2006-2007 that are still spot-on in terms of the current state of SEO. This year though I timed it right and the Panda Update was just released a week or two back.

After a major update I would normally get together with a bunch of other SEO freaks and do some testing to get real data to back up my conclusions. This time however the research was already done. The same things work now that worked 4 or 5 years ago, just in a different proportion.

5 Optimisation tips for Google Shopping Search Results

Over the last few months Google has been rolling out changes to their shopping search (also known as Google Base or Froogle) introducing new features that allow users to make easier comparisons between different products or between the prices charged for the same product from multiple retailers. Along with these new features within the product search results, there also seems to be more and more products being displayed within the general search results page and with more prominent positions within the page.

These changes are resulting in Google’s shopping results driving increased levels of traffic to ecommerce websites and I have seen sites where the product search is driving as much as 15% to 20% of all traffic. Even better is that the conversion rate of these visitors is usually at least double that of other sources with customers already interested in your product before they land on your site. As such for most online retailers ensuring that you optimise your google base feed is a highly cost efficient way of driving more traffic and more importantly sales.