how to check seo

Checking SEO is a systematic diagnostic process, much like a doctor performing a check-up.

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how to be a seo specialist
how to seo

It involves using a combination of tools and manual reviews to assess the health and performance of a website in terms of its search engine optimization.

Regular SEO checks are crucial for identifying issues, spotting opportunities, and understanding the impact of implemented strategies.

Website Technical Health Check

This is the foundation.

if your site isn’t technically sound, other SEO efforts will be hampered.

• Crawlability and Indexability:
  • Google Search Console (GSC) – Coverage Report: This is your primary source. Look for “Errors,” “Valid with warnings,” and “Excluded” pages.
    • Errors: Pages that Google couldn’t crawl or index. Investigate each error type (e.g., “Server error,” “Redirect error,” “Submitted URL not found”).
    • Excluded: Pages intentionally or unintentionally excluded (e.g., “Noindex by ‘noindex’ tag,” “Blocked by robots.txt”). Ensure important pages aren’t mistakenly excluded.
  • Robots.txt File: Access yourdomain.com/robots.txt. Verify that no critical sections of your site are accidentally disallowed.
  • Sitemap.xml File: Access yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. Ensure it’s up-to-date, includes all important pages, and is submitted to GSC.
  • Screaming Frog SEO Spider: Run a crawl and check the “Indexability” and “Canonicalization” filters. Identify pages with “Noindex,” “Nofollow,” or incorrect canonical tags.
• Site Speed and Core Web Vitals:
  • Google PageSpeed Insights: Enter your URL and get a score for both mobile and desktop. It provides detailed recommendations for improving Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).
  • GSC – Core Web Vitals Report: Monitor your site’s performance across user data (field data). This shows real-world user experience.
  • GTmetrix / WebPageTest: Provide even more granular details on loading performance, waterfall charts, and render blocking resources.
• Mobile-Friendliness:
  • Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test: A quick check to see if your page is mobile-friendly and if Google has any loading issues.
  • GSC – Mobile Usability Report: Identifies specific mobile usability errors across your site (e.g., “Content wider than screen,” “Clickable elements too close together”).
• HTTPS Status:
  • Look for the padlock icon in the browser address bar.
  • Use an SSL checker tool to ensure the certificate is valid and correctly installed.
  • Check for mixed content issues (HTTP resources on an HTTPS page) using browser developer tools.
• Structured Data Implementation:
  • Google’s Rich Results Test: Test specific URLs to see if Google detects any structured data and if it’s eligible for rich results.
  • Schema.org Validator: A more general tool to check the syntax and structure of your schema markup.

On-Page SEO Review

This involves auditing the content and its optimization elements on individual pages.

• Keyword Usage and Content Relevance:
  • Manual Review: Read the content. Does it clearly address the search query’s intent? Is the target keyword naturally integrated?
  • Content Optimization Tools (e.g., Surfer SEO, Clearscope): Analyze your content against top-ranking competitors for keyword density, LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords, and topic coverage.
  • Google Search Console – Performance Report: Check the “Queries” section for a page. What keywords is it ranking for? Are there missing relevant keywords?
  • Screaming Frog / SEMrush Site Audit: Identify missing, duplicate, or excessively long/short title tags and meta descriptions.
  • Manual Review: Check if they are compelling, accurately describe the content, and include primary keywords. Are they truncated in search results?
• Header Tags (H1-H6):
  • Use browser extensions (e.g., SEOquake, SEO Minion) or the “Outline” feature in Screaming Frog to quickly view the header structure of a page.
  • Ensure there’s only one H1 per page and that headers are used logically to break up content.
• Internal Linking:
  • Screaming Frog: Check internal links and their anchor text.
  • Manual Review: Ensure relevant pages are internally linked, and anchor text is descriptive and varied.
  • GSC – Links Report: See which pages have the most internal links.
  • Manual Check: Hover over images to see if alt text appears.
  • Screaming Frog: Check for missing alt text and excessively large image file sizes.

Off-Page SEO Assessment

Evaluating the external signals that influence your site’s authority and trust. how to seo

• Backlink Profile Analysis:
  • Ahrefs / SEMrush / Moz Link Explorer: These are indispensable for backlink analysis.
  • Domain Rating (DR/DA/UR): Check your site’s overall authority score.
  • Referring Domains: How many unique websites link to you? A diverse set of referring domains is healthier.
  • Anchor Text Distribution: Is it natural, varied, and not over-optimized with exact match keywords?
  • Link Quality: Are links coming from reputable, relevant websites or spammy ones? Look for sudden influxes of low-quality links.
  • Lost Links: Monitor for lost backlinks that might need to be re-acquired.
• Brand Mentions:
  • Google Alerts / Mention / Brandwatch: Set up alerts for your brand name (with and without “www” or “https”) to track mentions across the web.
  • Social Media Monitoring: Use native platform analytics or social listening tools to gauge brand sentiment and engagement.
• Local SEO (for local businesses):
  • Google My Business (GMB) Profile: Ensure it’s fully optimized, accurate, and regularly updated. Check for positive reviews and respond to all.
  • Citations: Verify consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) information across all online directories (Yelp, Yellow Pages, industry-specific sites). Tools like Moz Local or BrightLocal can help audit citations.
  • Local Reviews: Monitor review platforms for new reviews and sentiment.

Performance Monitoring and Reporting

This is the ongoing aspect of checking SEO, focusing on results and trends.

• Google Analytics:
  • Organic Traffic: Monitor trends in organic sessions, users, bounce rate, and average session duration.
  • Conversions: Track conversions originating from organic search (e.g., sales, lead form submissions, downloads).
  • Landing Pages: See which pages are attracting the most organic traffic and their performance metrics.
• Google Search Console:
  • Performance Report: Key for understanding how your site performs in search.
    • Queries: What keywords are users searching to find your site? Identify “low-hanging fruit” – keywords with high impressions but low average position (opportunity to improve ranking) or low CTR (opportunity to improve title/meta description).
    • Pages: Which pages are getting the most clicks from search?
  • Search Appearance (if applicable): Monitor rich snippet performance.
• Rank Tracking Tools: (e.g., SEMrush, Ahrefs, SERPWatcher): Track your target keywords’ positions over time. Look for upward or downward trends for specific keywords or overall visibility.
• Competitor Performance: Periodically check your competitors’ organic visibility, estimated traffic, and ranking for shared keywords using tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs. This helps you gauge your position in the market.

By conducting these comprehensive checks regularly, you gain valuable insights into your website’s SEO health, enabling you to make data-driven decisions and continuously improve your online presence.

how to be a seo specialist