Search Engine Optimization Secrets: Do What You Never Thought Possible with SEO

Chapter 4. Finding SEO Problems

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Performing a 15-minute SEO audit

• Performing a 5-minute brand reputation audit

• Identifying search engine penalties

Now that you know what to look for and you have the tools to start working, it is time to get your hands dirty. This chapter discusses how to identify SEO problems. You can use these skills to impress and hook your potential clients. This chapter is extremely important, so no skipping pages! Enough chatter, let's begin.

THE 15-MINUTE SEO AUDIT

The basics of SEO problem identification can be done in about 15 minutes. When you are completing this audit I recommend you take notes based on the action items listed in each section. These simple notes can help you when you do a deeper dive of the website. This audit is not comprehensive, but it can quickly identify major problems, so you can convince your clients that your services are worthwhile and help you convince them to give you the chance to dig deeper. You may notice that the ideas in this section build upon the ideas expressed in Chapter 2.

Note

Chapters 8 and 9 presents a more comprehensive look at SEO audits, including samples from SEO audit reports.

Preparing Your Browser

Before you start your audit you need to prepare your browser to act more like the search engine crawlers. This action helps you to identify simple crawling errors. To do this, you will need to do the following:

• Disable your browser cookies

• Switch your user agent to Googlebot

• Disable JavaScript

DISABLING YOUR BROWSER ...