Implementing changes from an SEO audit – whose job is it?

An SEO audit is an essential part of SEO efforts, and in order to achieve satisfactory organic results at a later stage of efforts, it cannot be skipped. It is always the first step in building an effective SEO strategy, and as a result, significant changes are made to the website.

Audit.

What information do we get as a result of an SEO audit?

As a result of the audit, we receive optimization recommendations, which consist of a list of all errors that can demarcate the visibility of the site in search results, along with information on how to fix them. In many cases, the indicated ways to fix errors are mainly suggestions, since there is not always only one right way to optimize a given element.

Optimization recommendations after an audit, in principle, can be divided into 3 main groups:

• recommendations for technical changes to the site
• recommendations for changes to the site’s content
• recommendations on changes to be implemented in the link profile

What form can the conclusions of an SEO audit take?

The conclusions of an SEO audit overwhelmingly take the form of a written – document or presentation, within which an analysis of the various elements of the site in the context of the Google Guidelines for Webmasters was carried out.

Each relevant element is taken under the magnifying glass by a specialist, who, using tools, indicates whether it is correct or requires action and what it should be. The written form here allows you to keep the chronology of actions, but also not to miss anything important.

The written form allows you to keep the chronology of actions, but also not to miss anything important.

A common practice is, at a later stage, to discuss the various elements with the client or directly with the person/team that will be in charge of their implementation, so as to prevent any misunderstandings resulting from a difference in knowledge of SEO topics.

How to prioritize and sequence the implementation of changes from the SEO audit?

Principally, the priorities and order of implementation of changes from the audit, even at the stage of its creation, should be initially indicated by the specialist conducting the audit. The most glaring errors, directly affecting the website’s visibility in the search engine, should always be fixed first.

First of all, the most glaring errors should always be fixed first.

First and foremost among such glaring errors will be technical errors such as, for example:

• too long loading time
• unsuitable for mobile devices
• server errors
• lack of up-to-date software
• incorrect application or lack of ssl certificate
• blocking of page content for search engine robots
• duplication of content due to site design
• orphan pages

Simpler technical issues will come next, in parallel with creating additional content and optimizing existing content to include words or entire groups of keywords that are expected to form the basis of a site’s SEO strategy.

Finally, you should focus on your link profile and take steps to optimize it, expand it or remove unwanted backlinks.

What access to the site should you have in order to implement the changes from the SEO audit?

In order to implement all the changes recommended as a result of the SEO audit, first of all, you must have access to the site. By access to the site we mean, access to:

• content editor (CMS)
• page code
• site server
• domain panel
• Google Search Console tools

Not always, of course, will you need access to each of the above elements. In the case of sites built with SEO requirements in mind, it may happen that only content correction will be necessary, so access to the site code will be completely unnecessary for us.

However, in the vast majority of cases, the above access is necessary to make optimization changes to a website.

Whether the SEO agency/positioner performing the audit is always responsible for implementing the changes to the site?

The SEO agency or positioner is not always responsible for implementing changes on the site. We can confidently say that in most cases this is not the case. This is primarily due to the fact that many companies/specialists do not want to undertake changes to a site built by another entity, without its full documentation, and such clients have very rarely.

We are referring here, of course, mainly to technical changes, the introduction of which without knowing the assumptions that accompanied the creation of the site in question can jeopardize its operation. In such cases, by far the best option is for the site to be optimized technically (especially from the strictly programming side) by its author.

The best option is for the site to be optimized technically (especially from the strictly programming side) by its author.

Slightly different is the case with the introduction of changes that can be made from the level of the CMS of a given site, here, in most cases, changes can be implemented directly by a specialist or SEO agency without any problem.

Do you need to know programming to implement the changes from the SEO audit on the site?

The answer to this question depends primarily on what changes we need to implement. Changes in the content layer, which can be done with a CMS or dedicated plug-ins, can be done without any knowledge of programming or with a little knowledge of HTML and CSS.

However, in the case of major technical problems, you can’t do without a programmer. Especially if serious optimization of Core Web Vitals is in front of us.

The Core Web Vitals are not a good idea.

Who is responsible for controlling the implementation of changes from the SEO audit?

Whoever implemented a given SEO audit, the specialist who performed it is responsible for verifying that all the errors it identified have been corrected.

We can call such an action a post-implementation audit, which consists of going through again all the original problems limiting the visibility of the site and verifying that they have been removed effectively and in their entirety and, if necessary, reporting further necessary corrections.

What are the next steps in SEO activities after the implementation of the audit?

If a site has already been optimized for SEO, we can move on to implementing further strategies to build its search engine visibility. The most natural next step would be to expand the content of the site so that it contains more and more valuable information, and thus keywords.

Parallel to this, it is worth starting link building activities that will build trust and authority of the site and complementarily support content activities.