Anthony Kirlew is a SEO expert, and operates a.k.a. Internet Marketing.
1. Why would a business want a SEO analysis of their website?
An SEO Analysis of a website can help a business owner understand why their website may not be performing as they would like it to.
2. What is involved? What type of data is provided?
In a basic SEO Analysis, we look at several components such as:
- Website Architecture and Technology Used. This helps us determine if there are underlying hindrances to the site being found by the search engines.
- The Web Site Coding. We look at the most elementary tags such as the title tags to see if they are being optimized. If they are not, there is a good chance that not much has been done because this is the starting point.
- Backlink Analysis. A pretty strong factor in how a website ranks is the quantity and quality of the websites that link to it. Each link is considered a votes (some votes are stronger than others) and more votes usually relates to more targeted website traffic.
- Competition. It is important to know how competitive a market is because that determines how much effort will need to be put into a search engine marketing campaign.
3. What type improvements can be made to the site following the analysis?
Making simple changes such as optimizing title tags can take a website from not being found to at least having some rankings in the first 3 pages of the search results. In fields that are not very competitive, it can sometimes produce page 1 results which is the ultimate goal.
In the case of websites that have optimized code and content, adding a link building campaign can start to produce the desired results by moving those optimized pages up in the rankings.
What type of ranking increase (or other benefit) can be expected?
The results will vary as follows:
- A website that has history with the search engines will generally improve faster than a newer website which can take up to several months to be noticed by and get ranked in the search engines. I have seen results in as fast as two weeks, but we never promise those kind of results.
- Competitive websites generally require a more robust link building campaign to outrank the competition which is why campaigns can be more costly when a business is very competitive.
Here are few examples:
- Site #1 (competitive) - A Foreclosure information website wanting to increase online market share. This was a 3 year old website that had a great start with on page optimization as well as some entry level link building. Our team made a few adjustments to the coding (mainly the tile tags) to focus on more specific keywords and launched a link building campaign. Because the site already had history with Google we began to see results in a very short time. Within 2 months, the website saw a 30%+ increase in unique website visitors and the primary target keyword moved up from #8 to #4. Due to the increase in web traffic and revenue, the website was more marketing and was able to be sold at a profit.
- Site #2 (to show long term value). Back in 2006, we built and optimized a website for a small local automotive repair shop that specialized in Volvo's. As recent as a few months ago, we still receive accolades from the business owner who continues to get new business as a result of a 4 year old search engine marketing campaign. This is also a case of the competition not paying attention to online marketing and giving their business to someone else. There is clearly a market because people continue to search for and find our client simply based on keywords related to the business and our client is enjoying a phenomenal return on his investment.
Is a SEO analysis better described as a treatment or a cure? Explain.
I would say its more of the doctor visit. It is the analysis that allows you to come up with a treatment plan, which ultimately cures the problem.
