As an ecommerce site owner, you know that SEO is critical to your online success. You may have implemented some SEO best practices, but have you ever conducted an ecommerce SEO audit? A technical SEO audit can help you identify and address any website issues impacting your search engine rankings, organic traffic, and sales.
This article will discuss the nine key areas to test in your ecommerce SEO audit checklist. Let’s get started.
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What is Ecommerce SEO Audit?
Before diving into the nine key areas of ecommerce SEO audit, it’s essential to understand what it is and why it’s important.
An ecommerce SEO audit evaluates your online store to identify any technical, on-page, or off-page issues that could negatively affect your search engine rankings.
Regularly conducting an ecommerce SEO audit is important to ensure your site performs optimally.
9 Areas To Test in Your E-Commerce SEO Audit
1. Site structure and navigation
The site structure and navigation play a vital role in SEO. An ecommerce site with a well-organized structure and easy-to-use navigation can enhance user experience, increase dwell time, and lower bounce rates.
In contrast, a poorly structured site can lead to a confusing user experience and negatively impact SEO performance. When evaluating your site structure and navigation, consider the following:
Test the site’s hierarchy and organization: Does your website have a clear hierarchy and organization? Are your product categories and subcategories well-defined?
Assess the ease of navigation for users and search engines: Is it easy for users and search engine bots to navigate your site? Do you have an XML sitemap?
Identify any structural or navigation issues that could negatively impact SEO performance: Do you have any broken links, orphan pages, or duplicate content?
2. On-page SEO optimization
On-page optimization refers to optimizing web pages to enhance their search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic to your site. When conducting an ecommerce site audit, analyze the site’s
- Title tags
- Meta descriptions
- Header tags
- Other meta tags
Also, review the keyword strategy and usage throughout the site’s pages, test the content’s quality, and identify improvement opportunities.
3. Technical SEO
Technical SEO focuses on enhancing the technical aspects of your website to enhance its visibility and crawl-ability by search engines. Conduct a technical SEO audit to assess the site’s technical infrastructure, including:
- Hosting
- Server configuration
- Page load speed
- Mobile responsiveness
Identifying any technical issues can help you fix them to improve your site’s performance.
4. URL Structure
URL structure is another crucial aspect of ecommerce SEO. A well-structured URL can help search engines understand the content of your page better and improve your site’s rankings.
Test the structure of your site’s URLs, assess the use of keywords in the URL structure, and identify any issues with URL redirects or broken links.
5. Site Security
Site security is a top priority for ecommerce websites, and it’s also critical for SEO. An ecommerce site with an SSL certificate and HTTPS protocol can build customer trust and improve search engine rankings.
Analyze your site’s security, review its security certificate, and ensure it’s up-to-date. Also, check the site’s use of firewalls and other security measures.
6. Internal Linking
Internal linking is linking one page of your website to another page within your website. It guides search engines to crawl your site and improves user experience by guiding them to relevant pages.
Analyze your site’s internal linking strategy, review the anchor text used in internal links, and assess its effectiveness. Identify opportunities for improvement in the site’s internal linking strategy.
7. Site Architecture
When analyzing an ecommerce site’s architecture, you want to evaluate how the site is organized and how easy it is for users and search engines to navigate.
The user experience can be improved, and search engines’ ability to index pertinent pages is simpler with a well-organized site layout.
During your ecommerce SEO audit, you should identify opportunities to improve the site’s architecture, such as adding new categories or reorganizing existing ones. This can help improve the site’s search engine rankings and the overall user experience.
8. Schema Markup
This type of microdata provides extra context to search engines about the content of a web page. This can help to improve search engine rankings, as well as the appearance of search results. When conducting an ecommerce SEO audit, you should check the site’s use of schema markup and assess its effectiveness.
If the site is not using schema markup or is using it incorrectly, you should identify opportunities to add or improve schema markup on relevant pages. This can help improve the site’s visibility in search results and drive more organic traffic.
9. Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO refers to factors outside the website, such as backlinks, social media signals, and other external factors influencing search engine rankings. When evaluating an ecommerce site’s off-page SEO, you should analyze the backlink profile to identify the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing back to the site.
During your ecommerce SEO audit, you should identify any opportunities to improve the site’s off-page SEO strategy, such as reaching out to relevant websites to request backlinks or improving the site’s social media presence.
Leverage Your Ecommerce Website With SEOLeverage
For your ecommerce site to continue to run at its peak performance, a full ecommerce SEO audit must be conducted. By analyzing the major areas mentioned above, you can spot technical or content issues that might have a detrimental influence on the organic traffic and search engine rankings of your website.
Use helpful SEO tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and other third-party tools while conducting your e-commerce SEO audit to gather insights and spot areas that may be improved.
Yet, conducting a thorough ecommerce SEO audit can be time-consuming and complex. That’s where SEOLeverage can help. Our team of experts can help you scale your ecommerce website by providing a comprehensive audit and customized recommendations to improve your SEO performance.
With proven years of experience and a track record of success, SEOLeverage can help your online store increase its visibility, attract more relevant traffic, and ultimately drive more sales. Book a call now to learn how we can assist you with maximizing your e-commerce website and achieving your company objectives.e