How to Do an SaaS SEO Audit
Is your content struggling to perform? Is your Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) brand finding it challenging to attract new customers through organic traffic?
Google’s March 2024 core update changed the game again, forcing UK businesses to redefine their SEO strategies. If you’re unsure what to do, it starts with a comprehensive site audit.
So, how do you conduct an audit that yields results?
What is a SaaS SEO audit?
SEO audits uncover the issues that prevent your business from featuring higher for your target keywords. Google has always kept its cards on the table regarding exactly how its algorithm works, meaning SEO has always been primarily a game of trial and error.
What we know is that Google uses over 200 factors in its algorithm to rank websites. The problem is you can’t assume that one aspect or another is holding your band down. This is why SEO audits are so crucial. They give you a clear understanding of where to focus your efforts to:
- Rank higher than before.
- Prevent unexplained ranking drops.
- Being outranked by your competitors.
Remember, 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine, so audits should be a regular facet of your marketing strategy.
Do SEO audits need to be conducted differently for different types of websites?
Most of the top SEO factors people discuss apply to every website. Whether it’s keywords, mobile responsiveness or optimised content, they apply to everyone, but different types of websites must think about specific factors applying to them.
For example, an eCommerce website must optimise its product pages, including images, descriptions and schema markup. Blog-based websites are more focused on building authority, such as through backlinks, and keeping their most important posts evergreen with constant updates.
As a SaaS business, you’re a service-based business with a service-based website. In this case, your SEO audit would focus more on keyword optimisation, long-tail keywords, case studies and portfolios.
Overall, although there are differences, SEO audits follow a similar mantra for all businesses.
Why is an SEO audit important for a SaaS site?
SEO audits matter for any business for the same reason you take your car to the garage for an MOT every year. Audits analyse performance and ensure the long-term viability of your business’s SEO strategy.
Remember, you’re constantly swimming against the tide. Google alters its algorithms constantly, meaning what worked five years ago may not work now. Plus, your site is constantly being compared against your competitors. If Google deems their site more helpful for a searcher, they’ll rank it above yours.
Regular audits check that your SEO strategy is current and still has the same impact as before. Likewise, if your SEO tactics aren’t working, an audit tells you what you need to work on to improve.
How to perform an SEO audit for SaaS
SEO audits can be as basic or as in-depth as you want them to be. Technically, there are four types of SEO audits you can perform:
- Technical Audit – Focusing on the technical aspects of your site, such as page loading times, mobile friendliness and duplicate pages.
- On-Page SEO Audit – Ensuring every page is optimised for ranking higher. Examples of on-page elements include titles, meta descriptions, images and schema markup.
- Off-Page SEO Audit – Checking the factors influencing your ranking away from your website, such as backlinks and social media activity.
- Content Audit – Reviewing the content on your website, including blogs, sales pages, images and more.
We’ll introduce you to some main elements within each audit type to provide the baseline information needed to analyse your SaaS site.
Technical SEO audit
- Scan your site using tools like Ahrefs and Moz to ensure Google can crawl and index it.
- Audit your site’s architecture to ensure all your pages link together logically and hierarchically.
- Eliminate duplicate pages to prevent indexing issues. One option is to delete said pages outright or use 301 redirects.
- Fix internal linking issues to distribute link equity across your website. Again, tools are available to identify issues like orphaned pages or broken links.
On-page SEO audit
- Optimise your title tags to avoid duplicates, and ensure they’re optimised using your target keywords.
- Go through your meta descriptions to check for duplicates, poorly written ones, missing ones or those that are too long. Remember, these are important for Google and anyone who decides whether to click on your site.
- Include relevant images alongside alt tags to provide context to Google’s crawlers.
- Add schema markup to help Google understand your page. Proper schema markup code within your page could win you a featured snippet. They win approximately 35.1% of all traffic, so they’re worth pursuing.
Off-page SEO audit
- Use tools like Ahrefs to get an inventory of the quality and authority of your backlinks. They can even highlight backlink profiles from your closest competitors.
- Use social media management tools to track your engagement. While not a direct factor, Google does notice the extra engagement.
Register for Google My Business/Google Business Profile to claim your local search profile. Although this might not be as relevant to SaaS businesses, it’s still a way to generate extra traffic from local searches.
Content SEO audit
- Rework poor-performing content.
- Update outdated content.
- Improve existing pages and relaunch them.
Which tools are best for SaaS SEO audits?
SEO audits can be done manually, but with so many tools to power in-depth audits, you can make your audits faster and more impactful. Here are our top picks:
Ahrefs – Ahrefs is one of the most popular SEO audit tools, and it’s what we use internally at Tao. It offers site audits, backlink analysis, keyword research and competitor activity insights. In short, it does just about everything.
SEMrush – SEMrush offers the same all-in-one package for SEO auditing as Ahrefs, including competitor analysis and an array of content optimisation tools. It also tracks keyword performance, which is always beneficial for high-growth SaaS firms.
Moz Pro – Moz Pro includes rank tracking, link analysis and on-page SEO optimisation within a single intuitive interface.
Screaming Frog – Screaming Frog offers free and premium site auditing options. This tool crawls your website and pinpoints issues like duplicate content and broken links. Even better, it integrates with Google Analytics.
Google Search Console – Gain insights directly from Google itself. The Google Search Console supports your auditing efforts with index coverage, mobile usability reports and URL inspections.
There’s no single best tool for auditing your website. It depends on your goals and what you want to achieve through your audits. However, what matters the most is the insights you gain and how you use them within your SEO strategy.
And that’s where an SEO agency comes in.
At Tao Digital Marketing, we support SaaS businesses that are serious about their SEO to achieve the high-impact results they expect from their online marketing efforts. If you’re ready to get started, contact the team today.