SEO Audits – Now’s the Time to Play it Safe

They always say you won’t get anywhere in the business world without taking risks, and they…whoever they are…are of course right. That being said though, there are also times, places and instances where playing it safe is the only way. To do SEO in 2014 being one of them.Now more than ever, it is completely impossible to get away with SEO that isn’t 100% above board and completely in-line with what Google is looking for. Choose an SEO outsource specialist that doesn’t play by the rules and you’re toast – it’s as simple as that. The trouble is though, as SEO is something of a behind the scenes affair that ticks over in the background, it is very easy to become complacent and forget to keep tabs on it. You can’t watch it around the clock, but what you can do is carry out the occasional audit to make sure all is as it should be.      And the really great news is that you don’t have to be an SEO pro to carry out such an audit – all the tools you’ll ever need are within your reach and easy to use.Backlink ChecksFor example, when was the last time you checked out just how much value your current array of backlinks really held? Do you know for sure that all are adding to your credit, or are you just assuming this is the case? Over time, the value and authority of any site can change dramatically and along with it the value of the backlinks it hosts. In the worst instances, the site could very well be blacklisted by Google and pull down each site it links to without said site owners realising this is the case. Things are going up and down all the time with backlinks, so get yourself a good backlink checking tool and do an audit to find out what’s working for you and what you’d be better off without.AnalyticsYou may use analytics to track your real-time traffic and add up how much money you’re pulling in each day, but when did you last sit down and really study your weekly or monthly reports. There will be ups here, downs there and hiccups in other places – maybe there will be some patterns you can pick up on and work with?KeywordsJust like backlinks, the value of keywords and keyword phrases is constantly in a state of flux. What’s more, demand for certain keywords changes all the time, so the only way to make sure your keywords are still working in your favour is to check. Use tools and carry out manual research to see what’s what with your chosen keywords.Site Performance And finally, you might think that page-load times and general site performance are negligible in terms of importance, but in fact they’re anything but. Not only do they count a great deal when it comes to winning over visitors, but Google and Co. also take these and other such performance elements into the equation when deciding on their final rankings. If your site isn’t up to scratch, you can kiss the top-spots goodbye!