What is a web audit
?
The RAE defines audit as “Systematic review of an activity or situation to evaluate compliance with the rules or objective criteria to which they must be submitted”. If we apply this definition to today’s topic, we can deduce that the audit of a website is the systematic review of a website to assess compliance with standards and the adequacy to the best practices of the industry.
To do so, we will analyse three aspects: usability, optimisation and security.
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Types of web audits
SEO Audit, which will indicate the degree of search engine optimisation, which will guarantee success in order to be visible in the searches of our buyer-personas. It includes the content audit.
UX Audit, which will indicate the degree of optimisation of the navigation and usability of the website.
Security audit, which will indicate the degree of vulnerability to external attacks.
Security audit, which will indicate the degree of vulnerability to external attacks.
.
Object of a website audit
.
They say information is power? The result of the audit will help you to make decisions according to the objectives you have set yourself.
Therefore, the result of the audit should be a list of recommendations of the tasks to be carried out to optimise your web pages for Google (SEO audit), for user behaviour (UX), for possible threats (security) and for the information offered to the user (content).
When should I do an audit?
When should I do an audit?
One of the first doubts that arise is when to carry out an audit of our website. We usually consider carrying it out when we are not happy with the results; however, and depending on the importance it has for our business, we should carry it out periodically as a prevention tool.
Periodically
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If your website is an important part of your business, either because you have an ecommerce, or because your model is B2B and you generate leads online, the audit should be continuous. The daily review of the evolution of the main kpi’s should be part of the daily routine, and the complete, deep and comparative review should be part of the monthly routine. And this is because, you should monitor the impact of the changes and maintenance tasks you carry out in the short and medium term.
And if your website is not a business generator, you should talk to your marketing agency to find out what opportunities it presents.
And if your website is not a business generator, you should talk to your marketing agency to find out what opportunities it presents.
Before launching a new project
.
It is convenient to know
The starting point, if the new project responds to an aesthetic or functional renovation of our website.
The mistakes made to date that drive us to make a change of website if this occurs due to its poor performance.
The practices that have made our website achieve good results, if the new project responds to improvements for users or changes to enhance usability or SEO.
In the event of major changes in behaviour
.
When there are major changes in the behaviour of the website such as drops in the number of sessions, visibility, sales or leads produced.
On many occasions, these abrupt changes coincide with major or minor changes in Google’s algorithms.
When there is a sustained rise it is usually due, in most cases, to an algorithm change that benefits the work done during the previous months. However, a sudden sharp drop may be due to a change in the algorithm that penalises us as well as a manifest error in the website that can be corrected if detected in time.
When a sudden and steep drop occurs, it can be due to a change in the algorithm that penalises us as well as a manifest error in the website that can be corrected if detected in time.
Magnitudes to be analysed
.
These are some of the magnitudes whose change is an indicator of the possible presence of a problem in our website. In some cases there is a direct relationship between the magnitude and the origin of the problem, although in most cases we will have to interpret the reading.
Visibility
.
This magnitude will help us to determine our exposure on the internet, based on three parameters: SEO (number of keywords, position, volume), SEM (number of ads) and presence on social networks.
Number of visits
To our website.
Duration of the session
Of the visits received
To our website.
Of the visits received. The longer the duration, within a reasonable range, the greater the interest of visitors.
Number of pages visited
.
If our website is well structured, an increase in the number of pages visited per session indicates greater visitor interest.
If our website is well structured, an increase in the number of pages visited per session indicates greater visitor interest.
Bounce rate
This is one of the most difficult metrics to interpret. Obviously, a low bounce rate is preferable; however, on websites with a lot of content, and which usually respond to questions asked by visitors, it is usual to have a high bounce rate, as the visitor-buyer who is in a phase of Awarness or Consideration seeks an answer to his question; once satisfied, he leaves the website.
Number of positioned keywords
The number of keywords positioned is important to achieve a good presence on the internet.
The number of keywords positioned is important to achieve a good presence on the internet.
Quality of positioned keywords
Not only the number, but also the quality is important. If we define the quality of a keyword as the one that best fits the searches of our buyer-persona, we will see that the measurement is complex. One way to do this is to define a set of keywords on which we will perform a constant measurement.
Number of URLS
The number of URLs will tell us if the visibility of our website is concentrated in a reduced set of URLs or, on the contrary, the set of URLs that receive visibility is wider.
Analysis tools
Sistrix
Tool that allows us to effectively track the visibility of the website, number of keywords and positioned urls. It also has a SEM tracking module and another for social networks. It does not cover all countries, focusing mainly on Europe.
Semrush
You can track worldwide. It includes several tools that allow you to get an overview of the website, track a set of chosen keywords or crawl the website for errors.
Semrush
Semrush is a powerful tool that allows you to track your website’s performance.
Screaming Frog
It helps you, among other things, to detect broken links on your pages.
Analytics
Analytics
Google tool that allows us to know the performance of the website.
Web Master Tools
Web Master Tools
Google offers us this tool that will give us information about the performance of the searches in which our website is involved: number of impressions, clicks and position. Search console includes information about errors related to page speed, errors in AMP pages, structured data, etc…
Search console is also available in the search engine.
