Conducting an effective SEO audit is part science, and part art. Once you have determined the purpose of the audit, you will amass shed loads of data using the wide range of audit tools. A successful audit depends on your interpretation of the data and your skill at making sense of it all. In this session you will learn how you can present your findings in a way that is suitable for the target audience, whether a developer, a marketing professional, or a functional manager. Using three different case studies, Susan will run through a framework for the analysis and presentation of recommendations. No two audits are the same, and we will take a good hard look at an ecommerce example, an example of a site with a legacy of low quality SEO activity, and a site that thinks it may have experienced a penalty.

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Interpreting SEO audit data and creating effective recommendations
SEO Audits:
Can you see
the wood
from the trees?

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Founder and MD Hallam Internet
SMX London and Milan
Moz Local Ranking Factors
Search marketing since 1999
Susan Hallam

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We love the tools

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5. #SMX #seoaudit @susanhallam
Links, examples, useful stuff
hallam.co/SMX2016

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Will generate stuff like this…

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What is the purpose of the audit
Who is this audit for
What are the key drivers
What’s the background and history
Four Simple Questions

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SEO Audit Personas
Name: Ecommerce Eddie
Age: 36
Position: Owner Manager
Company: Established Ecommerce Retailer
He says: “I’ve been selling online for years, and up til now our
growth has been powered by PPC. I want to get my site ranking
organically in order to reduce my dependence on PPC.”
Luddite Technically
Literate
Green Field Established
Player
No SEO
Strategy
Clear Strategic
Focus
Vague Audit
Expectations
Clear Audit
Expectations
Key Attributes The purpose of the audit
Eddie has an existing site that is making him
good profits. He is always looking for areas of
improvement, but he is not looking for a site
redesign.
He wants to understand the audit and the
scope of the SEO project. In reality he will
hand the recommendations over to his
developer and just wants to know how much
will it cost and what will the results be.
Eddie generally is looking for a quick fix,
hence the PPC focus up til now. The amount
of work that goes into a proper ecommerce
SEO campaign bores and frustrates him.
He knows SEO is not a quick fix. What he
really wants is to spend less on his PPC and
to have a sustainable SEO strategy.
Who is the audit for?
Background Information
• Eddie has a set of very specific
questions he wants answering
• He has done his own SEO,
dabbling at the edges
• He migrated to a new site about 6
months ago
• He has all his paid search data
Eddie wants to understand the plan of
action at a high level, the scope of the
work, and the potential benefits.
Eddie’s technical developer who will
implement the changes subject to
Eddie’s approval. They need a detailed
plan of action and recommendation.

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Just give me what I want
Not what I asked for

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The current situation
Indexing and crawler issues
Technical issues
Site architecture
On page issues
Content issues
Linking
Organising your research
International
Mobile
Ecommerce
Video
UX
Semantic markup

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Is this really what Eddie wants?

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The current situation
Critical issues
Easy wins
Long term strategies
Presenting your findings for Eddie

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Tactics
Prioritised action plan
Projects
Timescales
Presenting your findings for Eddie’s Developer

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Education
Relative scoring
Benchmarking
Checklists
Presenting your findings to Eddie’s Marketing
Professional

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Google Penalties
Greenfield SEO
Brand new site
Combining multiple sites or migrations
CMS migration
New strategy or focus
Question 1: What is the purpose of the audit

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Owner | Manager
Marketing professional
In house development team
External developer
Question 2: Who is the audit for?

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New website launch
Fire fighting: traffic is dropping & penalties
More of the same
High growth businesses
Question 3: What are the key drivers?

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Have you been doing SEO previously?
Do you have previous SEO documentation to show us what you
were doing?
Have you had big website changes? Redesign? HTTPS?
Has your digital strategy changed?
Question 4: Background and history

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Links, examples, useful stuff
hallam.co/SMX2016

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susan.hallam@hallaminternet.com
www.hallaminternet.com
0115 948 0123
https://twitter.com/susanhallam
https://twitter.com/hallaminternet
https://www.linkedin.com/company/hallaminternet
SEO Audits: Can you see the wood for the trees?

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