6-Point Pre-Audit Checklist: Is Your Site Ready for Growth?


So: you're a small to medium business owner, and you're thinking about getting SEO on your site. I wrote this page for you. I've been doing SEO since 2003 and I wanted to provide you with my take on SEO and whether it can help. My hope is that this page will leave you better informed about SEO than when you got here, and empowered to make a decision about SEO. 


First thing is, SEO is expensive. Or, I should say, good SEO is expensive.  You should think about the goals of your business over the next year, and be certain about what you need your business to do. Obviously, you'd like your business to grow over the next year. Good, we're off on the right foot.

A small business owner contemplates a laptop.

A small business owner looks at a performance dashboard on his laptop and contemplates the progress of his business.


 But think more, specifically about what you need from SEO. Is SEO part of a broader digital marketing campaign for your business? That is, are you going to do paid search and / or display advertising alongside SEO, or are you just going to do SEO? If so, then how do you want SEO to function alongside your paid search and display advertising? Do you want your SEO program to raise your website's ranks for the keywords in your paid search program, or should the SEO program target different words? Never mind what your digital marketing guy tells you SEO should do; what do you want your SEO program to do? 

There's a great deal to think about and this is probably why SEO is expensive. Foremostly, an SEO professional who works with you should understand your business, and how you make money. If the SEO professional doesn't understand, then he might recommend a campaign that gets you high ranks on Google but doesn't drive any sales. That, I think, is the most frustrating part of SEO for business people, that there's a great disconnect between the business owner's expectations for SEO and what, exactly, SEO can deliver.

 It's something like when your HVAC system breaks, and you call a repair guy over. He fixes it, but then he starts telling you all this stuff about why it broke, and surge capacitors, and torque systems, and you're trying to keep up with what he's saying but you just don't get it. Of course, you can't admit to this professional that his ordinary speech just sounds like gobbledygook to you, and it would be impolite to interrupt him, so you nod your head sagely and just write him a check. 

The hapless homeowner tries to listen to the HVAC repairman

Personally it bothers me when salespeople do that sort of thing. I can't imagine a businessman would want to hear an SEO consultant recite a list of technical terms for things that are wrong with his website; especially if the businessman's field of expertise doesn't include web development. You, the business owner, would rather pin down your SEO guy and make him tell you, exactly, how much money you'll get back if you hire him (a big "If" at this point). 


But the thing is, SEO is different from other types of digital marketing. Really? Yes. How so? In paid search (PPC), you are guaranteed visitors to your site; the total number of visitors (clicks) you will get depends on your budget, your bid, and the number of people who decide to click your paid advertisement. In social media advertising, you can buy advertising on a cost per click basis, and in some display network advertising models, you can choose to pay only when users click your banner on a third-party website. 


But with SEO? It ain't so easy. SEO is going to ask you to change the content of your website; SEO is going to ask your developers to revise the code; SEO is going to ask for access to your analytics data. And at every "ask" there are going to be "yes" and "no" answers, and sometimes compromises, but always decisions. Unlike the other branches of digital marketing, you can't just pay for SEO and say "That's it! I'm all done, I have SEO now!"


Add to that, a successful SEO campaign will take several months. As SEO works, your website will get more visitors from organic search, and you'll find that the organic search visitors tend to buy more often than other visitors. For B2C businesses (that is, business to customer, where your model is that you sell services or products to customers), organic search conversion rates average around 2.1%. B2B businesses (where your business exclusively sells to other businesses) have an average conversion rate of 2.6%. Only email marketing gives businesses higher conversion rates than SEO. But, like I said, those visitors won't come through SEO until after the SEO work gets done on the site, and that will take a while. SEO is expensive.


Okay, so how do you, personally, Mr. Business Owner, how do you know whether your website needs SEO? There are actually several  tests you can perform yourself. I've arranged these tests below, it'll take you maybe half an hour to get them done, probably less, but the tests will help you understand whether and why SEO is something your website needs (or not).


1. The Mobile-First Test

Open your website on your smartphone and ask yourself, is the text easy to read without zooming? Are the buttons far enough apart to tap with a thumb?

  • Why it matters: Google primarily uses the mobile version of your site for ranking and indexing. And, probably, some portion of your website's visitors are going to be on their phones. If your mobile experience is poor, your rankings will suffer, even if the desktop site looks good.
  • If you'd like to get a (free) professional opinion on how mobile friendly your website is, Google has tools that can tell you this. First you'll need to get a Chrome Browser, and then from there you can get the Lighthouse tool. Lighthouse will give you a score on how mobile-friendly your site is versus most of the pages on the web.
  • What SEO Professionals can do: they can review your site and provide specific guidance on a more user-friendly website.


2. The "3-Second" Speed Check

Clear your browser cache and load your homepage. Does it feel nearly instantaneous?

  • Why it matters: User patience is at an all-time low. A delay of even a few seconds can increase your "bounce rate," signaling to Google that your site isn't a high-quality result.
  • The Lighthouse tool by Google will also give you a free score of your site's speed, as compared with the rest of the sites on the internet.
  • What SEO Professionals can do: They can provide your developers with specific guidance on the site elements that are slowing down your site, or show you how fast your site is compared with your competitors, and the industry you're in.


3. Indexation Verification

Type site:yourdomain.com into Google. Does the number of results look roughly correct for the number of pages you have?

  • Why it matters: If Google shows only one result, or zero results, there's something wrong. If Google shows 10,000 results for a 5-page site, you likely have a "spam" or duplicate content issue. Your web developer should be able to give you a specific number of the pages on your website if you don't know it off the top of your head.
  • What SEO Professionals can do:  If there's a big difference between the number of pages on your site and the number of pages Google says your site has, SEO professionals can give your developers specific action items to eliminate duplicate content and make sure that Google shows what you want your visitors to see. 


4. SSL Security (The Padlock)

Does your URL start with https:// and show a padlock icon in the browser bar?

  • Why it matters: Security is a baseline ranking factor. Sites without SSL are often flagged as "Not Secure" to users, killing trust immediately.
  • What SEO Professionals can do:  They can work with your developer to implement HTTPS and make your site more secure.  


5. Intuitive Navigation

Can a first-time visitor find your contact page or primary service in two clicks or less?

  • Why it matters: Complex navigation leads to "pogo-sticking" (users hitting the back button). You want visitors to stay on your site, and not leave, right? The main rule you want to follow in your site design is "Don't Make Me Think". If a user has to expend brain power trying to figure out where to go next, they're very likely to just go back to Google and find a different site. Your website should make it clear what the user's next step should be. Be honest with yourself about whether your site is easy to use. If you're still not sure, ask your wife or your father to visit your website and find your service, and then watch them do it. If they mess it up, that's something you can get fixed. 
  • What SEO Professionals can do:  They can work with you (and / or your marketing team) to develop a navigation menu for your website that is easy for visitors and search engines to understand. This can also help increase rankings for your website's most relevant keywords. 


6. The "Human" Test

Read your homepage out loud. Go ahead, no one's listening. C'mon.

Now ask yourself, as the echoes of your voice fade and the still silence in your office returns. Does it sound like a person talking to a customer, or does it sound like a robot trying to win an SEO contest?

  • Why it matters: I always remind clients: Write for humans, optimize for engines. Content that sounds natural is more likely to earn links and shares.
  • What SEO Professionals can do:  They can work with your marketing team to develop content that makes sense, accurately describes your business, and includes the words that your prospective customers are most likely to use when they are searching for your business. 


How many boxes did you check?

If you found yourself saying "I'm not sure" to more than three of these points, your site has problems that SEO can fix. 


Don't leave your growth to chance. Let me take these 10 points (and a hundred others) and analyze them for you in a 20-minute video review.


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