The term “Search Engine Optimisation” or SEO is still a bit of a mystery to many brand managers. They understand that it can increase the traffic to the site, and that’s all they’re really concerned with. When digital agencies mention that the place to start in digital marketing is with an SEO audit, their client’s eyes tend to glaze over.
But an audit is very simple to explain when you equate its significance to the diagnostic check-up performed on your car every time you take it into the service station.
Comparing the Audit to a Cars Diagnostic Analysis
A diagnostic check-up is the same as an audit. Your car has several systems that work together to create the level of performance you expect from the car. The car mechanic hooks up a diagnostic reader into the car’s computer and gets a read-out of everything wrong with the car. They can create a maintenance plan or order parts based on the results of this read-out.
The code that was used in developing your website is the focus of the SEO audit. The audit is used to ensure that everything is performing as designed and to inform the SEO specialist when aspects of the existing site need to be upgraded to deal with the extra traffic of marketing campaigns or the complexities of an ecommerce platform.
Seeing What They’ll Be Working With
The audit allows the specialist to see what they’ll be working on and compare it to the demands of the intended marketing strategy, so they can get the site in robust enough shape to deal with the months of marketing activities ahead of it.
They fix broken aspects of the site that present less than a favourable user experience. These aspects include broken or dead-end links that can be frustrating for users looking for a specific product, and slow loading speeds that can cause potential customers to avoid the site altogether.
Increasing the Sites Ranking and Visibility
But the results of the audit will also lead to some exercises to help repair the damage to the rankings caused by sheer neglect. One of the first things they’ll do after the audit is to refresh the page content. By seeding new and relevant content with updated keywords, the SEO specialist can dramatically increase the site’s ranking and, by doing so, raise the visibility of the brand’s products and services.
Depending on how badly the site was performing at the time of the audit, they might also embark on a programme of link-building to raise the site’s profile among target customers.
The SEO team has an entire range of activities they can pursue to raise the ranking and profile of a site without introducing any marketing activities into the equation. For the SEO team, the site is the focus, and the audit simply gives them the information on where to begin.
To learn more about the importance of SEO in digital marketing, contact Primal in Bangkok to set up a consultation.
