Is it possible to conduct an SEO audit of a website on your own?

Without an audit of a website, it is impossible to carry out SEO activities effectively, because it will not meet the requirements that Google places on websites that appear in the first positions of search results for keywords.

Therefore, conducting an audit should always be the first move if we are thinking about positioning our site. Usually such activities are carried out by specialists experienced in this, but in many cases, site owners try to take on this challenge on their own.

The audit should be carried out by specialists experienced in this field.

What do you need to know to conduct an SEO audit yourself?

In order to conduct an SEO audit on your own, you should first of all know what the basic purpose of the audit is and where it comes from. We are able to find information on this subject without much difficulty on the web, both on various industry blogs and in the webmaster help center itself from Google. In the help center we will get theoretical information that Google presents to us on various related topics related to site optimization. There we can also find a forum where questions are answered by both Google employees and other users with experience in the topic.

Next we need to know what the SEO audit itself consists of, what specific elements need to be verified and how they are divided. The list of audit elements for each site has a set of “iron items” that must not be overlooked in any analysis. However, there are also those parameters that are checked depending on what kind of service we are dealing with. The set of audit elements will be slightly different for a corporate site, a blog or an online store.

One of the first (and at the same time easiest) steps, therefore, should be to prepare a list of elements that for our site we need to verify. After that, the task gets a bit more difficult, because we are waiting to understand what each of the given elements of the audit means, what score is considered good for it, what score is considered bad, and where to check if our site is within the assumed standards.

When we have checked all the elements, the next step is to draw conclusions and prepare a list of optimization changes for implementation. For a person inexperienced in the subject, this can be the biggest problem, because this step requires knowledge of the operation of the various mechanisms of the site and at least a general knowledge of the technology in which it was made.

The next step is to prepare a list of optimization changes for implementation.

Access to what tools is necessary to perform an SEO audit yourself?

A full SEO audit cannot be performed without access to a number of tools that will allow us to verify individual parameters. Some of these tools, such as those provided by Google are free, these are min. Google Search Console, Google Analytics or Page Speed Insights. However, in the case of the first two tools, it is necessary to know how to verify and run them for our specific website.

As there are many SEO tools, both Polish and foreign, we have a large number of options to choose from, there is no one right list. It will be necessary for us to use the tools with which we will be able to analyze:

• the structure of the site, including elements of the head section (such as Screaming Frog or other crawlers)
• the loading time of the site (e.g., the aforementioned Page Speed Insights)
• the organic visibility of the site (e.g. Senuto, Google Search Console)
• inbound links to the site (e.g. Ahrefs, Majestic SEO)
• search engine competition (e.g. SemRush)
• originality of content on the site (e.g. CopyScape)
• keywords to be positioned (e.g. Google Keywords Planner)
• originality of the software used (e.g. Seoptimer)
• optimization of content for search engine (e.g. SuferSEO)

Is an independent website audit really cheaper?

In many cases, we perform a given task ourselves, without outsourcing it to a specialist, hoping that it will be a decidedly cheaper option. However, in the case of an SEO audit, this will not necessarily be true.

First of all, most of the tools we need for this task are paid for, and not in the form of a one-time billing, but a monthly package. This means that for each tool we will have to pay for the whole month in advance, and in some cases (such as Screaming Frog) we will even have to buy a yearly license.

In the case of an SEO specialist or agency, such a cost is spread over several clients, so it is not as significant as it will be for a person who wants to use them once for personal use.

It should also be remembered that “time is money” and the time spent by us, which will be considerably longer than if an audit is conducted by a specialist, should also be included in the overall cost. After all, instead of exploring the ins and outs of SEO analysis, we could be doing other activities related to our business.

Then, calculating the above costs, it may turn out that doing the SEO audit ourselves will be definitely more expensive than if we had outsourced it to a specialist with experience and access to the necessary tools.

What are the risks of doing an SEO audit of a site on your own without being an SEO specialist?

It is worth remembering that doing an SEO audit yourself also involves some risks. The most obvious one is that, having no experience, we will simply omit important elements or misinterpret the results obtained. This can result in the fact that, despite the time and money spent, our service will not achieve the expected results.

The second less obvious risk is that we may harm our site and accidentally cause it to disappear from search results for phrases where we have already achieved some positions, which will be an obvious loss.

The third risk is that by conducting the audit ourselves. without any prior experience. we will never be sure if our site realistically meets all the requirements that Google sets within the Webmasters guidelines. In the event that our site does not achieve the expected positions, we will not be sure if it is a matter of technical problems or other activities such as link building or content creation.

What should not be forgotten when conducting an SEO audit of the site yourself?

When conducting an SEO audit on your own, you must not forget that it consists not only of technical elements, but also an analysis of the external environment in which our site operates. Of great importance here will be the analysis of the competition in the organic results, verification of the content that is on our site and verification of what sites link to us.

The audit will be conducted on your own.

As we mentioned earlier, it is important to prepare in advance for an SEO audit either on your own or with the help of dedicated SEO training, which will allow us to better understand the challenge we face.

Is it possible to implement the changes from an SEO audit on your own (without the help of a specialist)?

Implementing an SEO audit on your own is even more challenging than performing one, and in the vast majority of cases it requires programming knowledge. Therefore, if you do not have such, it is better not to set about this task without professional help.

A lone attempt to make programming changes to our site may end up damaging it and, as a result, halting its operation, which, of course, may lead to financial losses.

Why is it better to opt for a professional SEO audit?

Ordering an SEO audit to a professional has a number of benefits. Firstly, it may prove to be cheaper, due to the cost of tools you will have to incur when wanting to check your website yourself.

Secondly, by outsourcing the audit to professionals, we will be sure that they have verified all the necessary elements and recommended the necessary changes in a manner consistent with the requirements that Google places on websites. As a result, we will be sure that our site is ready for further positioning efforts.