Site audits are a necessity when starting to optimize a website. Whether the site is large or small, making sure you’re targeting the right keywords and that your content and site structure are optimized for those keywords is the most important first step not many people think to do.

Search services are like anything else, you get what you pay for. Organic search optimization is not easy to do well, and that’s why it’s expensive. There are services out there for small businesses, but getting ranked for a single keyword won’t do you much good. Going after a lot of keywords requires content generation and link building … even after all the on-site changes are made.

If you’re a small or medium sized business SEO can be an expensive proposition. It’s one that can no doubt repay itself, but this takes time and resolution. This is why site audits can be a good first step towards a better presence online.

An on-site SEO audit is an organic search analysis of your site. A website audit is going to tell you everything you need to know to make your site optimized for search engines with regards to keywords that have traffic potential. You should have this professional develop a keyword list for you, and suggest a target ‘umbrella keyword’ that represents the content your entire site focuses on and which all other keywords will fall under. This umbrella keyword is going to be something you have a chance of ranking for, yet something people are actually searching for. Its pointless to optimize for a keyword without any search volume.

When you hire someone to do a site audit you’ll get a document detailing everything that needs to get done to make the on-page aspects of your site search friendly. This document can be taken to any developer for implementation. The SEO audit provider should be able to implement these as well, but if you have someone who’s familiar with your site it can take a lot less time for them to do it. If you use WordPress as a CMS the recommendations should be fairly easy to implement yourself. More than likely the audit is going to recommend changes to the majority of your site. In a lot of cases more content will be needed. Adding optimized content is one of the most valuable investments in any website. The more content you have on your site, the more content there is for Google to index and the more chance there is for someone to stumble across it.

There are lots of automated services that have popped up lately that can perform an audit for you, but if you want real actionable recommendations you’re going to need a professional. If you haven’t noticed by now we recommend Alysson Fergison for on-site SEO audits. She’s priced well and also does quality keyword research.

In summary, get a site audit done in conjunction with professional keyword research. Impliment those recommendations, and continue to add as much content as you can.