New Year, New SEO: Does Your Site Need an SEO Health Check? 

Do you return to work from the festive break feeling sluggish, tired and ready for a change? Well, your website can too - and it’s not because of the copious cheeseboards and wine that has been consumed...  

Like us, websites go through periods of fatigue and if ignored, this leads to poor performance and less-than-optimal results for your business as you navigate the next quarter. Many businesses go through a quieter period in the New Year following the Black Friday and pre-Christmas rush, which makes it the perfect time to carry out an SEO health check, get your site up to scratch and prepare for the year ahead. 

Failing to keep track of your website’s health has huge implications on your success as a business, and something as simple as an SEO and website health check gives you all you need to make changes and confidently take on the busy periods. With that in mind, let’s take a look at whether your website needs an SEO health check this New Year.  

3 Signs Your Website Needs an SEO Health Check 

1. Your Current Strategy Isn’t Working

If you’ve been plugging away at a strategy for a few months and have yet to see any return or improvements, then it could be that you’re looking at or focusing on the wrong things. An SEO health check helps to identify any gaps within your strategy and pinpoint where exactly you might be going wrong – it could be that you’re focused on one landing page, when another might be better suited to your audience’s needs, or perhaps you’re targeting the wrong audience through your choice of keywords.  

Having a strategy that isn’t working is not only frustrating, it can also be a waste of resources. With an SEO health check, you can reassess your strategy moving forward and ensure that your website is delivering what your audience and users not only want but need. In turn, this can lead to better user engagement on your website, increased conversion rates and more revenue for your business. 

2. Your KPIs Are Confused or Poorly Defined 

Much like the turkey on your Christmas dinner, your KPIs are the star of the show when it comes to a successful SEO strategy – or at least they should be. How can you determine the success of your campaign if you don’t know what your website is working towards?  

Before you even set your website or business plans into motion, your KPIs should be clearly defined so that you know exactly what you want to achieve with your website. This is particularly true if there are numerous stakeholders or directors involved who all want different things. It’s great to say that you want more money but let’s face it, which business owner doesn’t have that set as a KPI? How are you going to achieve that through your strategy? This is where an SEO health check helps.  

With an SEO health check, you quickly determine what your current leading KPI is – i.e. what is currently the lead driver behind your enquiries or sales. Then, you can determine whether this is of benefit or, actually, another KPI might be better suited.  

Not sure what SEO KPIs are? Some common ones include: 

Organic traffic – organic traffic is made up of users who visit your website through a search engine query and, by driving more organic traffic to your website, this generates more engagement with your business. In turn, this then leads to more sales.  

Keyword rankings – are there many niche keywords associated with your website, but you find that your website simply doesn’t appear when you type them into a search engine?  This is an indicator that your current strategy and keyword focuses aren’t working. Many business owners know what terms and keywords they want their website to appear for but aren’t too sure how to achieve this.  

This is where SEO comes in, as focus can be placed on specific terms and keyword relevancy through a considered content strategy. By appearing higher in search engine results, users can find your website more easily and, with careful and considered content, this encourages them to submit an enquiry or make a purchase.  

Backlink Profile - backlinks are links from other websites and domains which link back to your site through hyperlinks.  

Whilst great for providing reference and information to readers, they also play an important role in signaling your site’s authority to search engines. The more backlinks you have from reputable and authoritative sites, then the more likely Google is to see your site as an authoritative one, which then results in better keyword rankings.  

Building your backlink profile does take some time and effort, especially if you do it correctly, but it can be hugely rewarding for your website.  

3. Your Content Is Outdated 

One of the biggest culprits of poor website performance isn’t your site design, speed or backlink profile, it’s your website content. Many business owners believe that once content is done and added to the site, then it’s fine to remain there unchanged, forever. But, by leaving your content to become outdated, you risk Google determining that your site doesn’t deserve a top-ranking spot over your competitors.  

In the past year or two, Google has placed more and more importance on sites having high-quality website content and now, if you want a good ranking position, then you must regularly review and update the content on your website, with particular focus on key landing pages and user experience.  

An SEO health check can be used to determine the current quality of your website and whether or not it is in-line with Google’s recommendations and guidance. By regularly updating your content, you indicate to Google that your site is one that is well maintained and frequently refreshed. 

Conclusion 

Our recommendation: don’t leave a poor-performing site for any longer! If you’re not happy with your website’s performance, then it is well worth carrying out a SEO health check to determine where your weaknesses might be, particularly during the New Year lull, and avoid causing any further damage to your site’s performance – if left for too long, it can become almost irreparable.  

At Formation, our SEO and content team are on hand to support you with a strategy and plan for your site and business, in preparation for the upcoming busy quarters. For more info or to arrange a website and SEO health check, get in touch with us today!