I can usually predict what an SEO Audit will chuck up before I do it. Not because I’m good at guessing but because there are some common things that pretty much every website misses.
If you recognise your website in this list, then please don’t worry or feel called out. Make some time to go in and fix a few things because the prettiest website in the world is bloomin’ useless if people can’t find it.
1. Having flipping big images
If you do not resize your images or have one of those image-shrinking apps, then you are making your website super slow. And no one likes a super slow website.
The bigger the image file, the longer it takes to load. In fact, the bigger any file on your website, the longer it takes to load which is why I am not a fan of PDFs or other such files unless absolutely necessary. And why you should never store video or audio on your website.
Before you upload your next image, make sure it’s the right size for the space that you’re sticking it on, make sure you’ve optimised it as much as possible (there are plugins that do this) and make sure it loads fast.
Google has something called Core Web Vitals that it uses to assess your website. This is a daft industry name for saying “making sure your website is usable”. This means that your images load fast, your page loads fast, it looks pretty on mobile and doesn’t shift around too much. Oh and that you can read the words and click on the buttons.
Basically, no one likes those sites where your fat thumb syndrome goes into overdrive. And large images are a part of this. Get marked down for having a slow Largest Contentful Paint (the biggest thing to first load – usually an image) and you are wasting all that lovely keyword research and SEO content you’ve been creating.
2. Not giving those images proper alt text
A few years ago there were some daft people advising you to put your keywords into the alternative image text. At the time, I said this was daft. Of course, you should add a keyword but only if it actually describes the image. Otherwise, you’re shoehorning it in and not being particularly helpful to those with screen readers who need the alt-text.
And lo! Google can see what your images are. Heck, even LinkedIn can see what your images are.
So having a descriptive alternative text behind the image is good for your SEO. Better is if you have an image that’s relevant to what you’re talking about in your blog so that you can put in your keywords.
This is all part of making your website accessible. I’ve actually added in a few new accessibility checks on my SEO audits because this is important. Not just for your SEO but so that people can access your website. You have no idea about the potential access needs of your future customers. So by taking a few moments to build them into your content, you’re covering all bases and not hacking off potential visitors.
And while you’re resizing and making descriptive text about your images, can you also give them proper file names?
3. No metadata
Metadata is one of those nice incremental gains on your website. Way back in 2009, Google said that metadata didn’t really impact SEO and you’ll still see some people quote this even though I have children older than that advice.
What we do know is that your meta description helps search engines understand what the content is about and sort it accordingly. So your metadata needs to be a quick, short description of your content. A bit like a book blurb. You’re selling someone reading your content when they see it on their search results.
Plus, every little thing you can do for your search optimisation helps. Filling in your metadata is a quick job and since you now know not everyone does it, you can have that edge over your competitor.
4. A carbon-heavy website
I’ve recently added CO2 emissions and green website checks to my SEO Audits. This is because everything that makes your website eco-friendly and good for the environment also makes it good for SEO.
Websites use more carbon when there is more content to load. This means having a green website will make it load faster and be more user-friendly. All part of those Core Web Vitals I mentioned earlier.
There are other considerations here like your servers and hosting but you should also check these are running at optimum speed because it could slow your website down through no fault of design or content.
If you want more help with having a green website, have a listen to this podcast episode with Kayleigh Goodman.
5. Anchor text
Your anchor text is the words you use to link to another page either inside or outside your website. Last year, Google brought in an update that looked at how descriptive this text is for the link destination.
Thankfully, I’ve been banging the anchor text drum for some time and urging clients not to use “click this”, “here”, and other such non-descriptive words. Instead, you want to describe the place you’re taking your reader to in about four words.
If you’ve got a blog about vegan ice cream and you’re taking them to a recipe for blueberry vegan ice cream then you used the words “blueberry vegan ice cream” to link out from.
6. Not checking anything other than Google
It’s easy to think of SEO as making Google like your website. For many people, Google is still the main search engine but it’s not the only search engine. And we’ve also got to consider platforms like TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube as search engines.
Heck, even Instagram is asking you to SEO up your hashtags and copy. Missing out on any of these platforms is missing an opportunity.
Now, I’m not saying you need to be present on all of them but you do need to consider them in your SEO planning. And picking one to help boost your searchability will give you a bit of an extra nudge.
I’d always recommend you work on your own ground first. That means getting your website right before focusing efforts on third-party sites but don’t forget about them completely.
Also, remember to check how you’re doing on Ecosia, Bing, Duck Duck Go and all the rest.
Finding your SEO oopsies?
Need a hand finding all your SEO mistakes so that you can fix them? Book an SEO audit with me. It’s a thorough report that checks through 250-odd points on your website, a lovely video of me explaining the report and a breakdown of what you need to do and in what order.