In the modern digital landscape, enterprise SEO is crucial for the success of large businesses. A large-scale variation of traditional SEO, this specialised approach takes into account the complex structure and processes of enterprise websites. It requires a strategic approach at both local and national levels to increase organic traffic and brand awareness, and drive business goals.
Large businesses looking to enhance their presence in the results pages of search engine giants often invest in an SEO audit. This comprehensive evaluation provides valuable insights into a website’s strengths while identifying opportunities for improvement. Auditing is the first crucial step in developing a successful SEO strategy.
In this guide, we’ll delve into the intricacies of enterprise SEO, exploring the unique challenges faced by SEO specialists and large business owners alike. We’ll also deconstruct the auditing process, highlighting ten measures of performance that have important effects on overall site health.
What is Enterprise SEO?
Enterprise SEO is a tailored approach to optimising large businesses’ websites for search engines. Like traditional SEO, it aims to improve brand presence, rankings, and organic traffic to build authority and achieve business objectives. Key areas of focus include website structure, content quality, backlink analysis, and a range of technical factors, which form the foundations of local and national optimisation strategies.
When it comes to enterprise SEO, size matters. Big businesses have big websites, which can include hundreds, thousands, or even millions of pages! They also have a larger number of stakeholders, higher revenue, and more complex processes. For these reasons, a successful enterprise SEO strategy requires a tactical approach to drive targeted traffic and increase brand awareness. To achieve these outcomes, businesses and SEO providers must have a keen understanding of search engine algorithms and should regularly perform analyses of digital assets.
What is an Enterprise SEO audit?
The first step towards improving a business’s online presence is to perform an SEO audit; an evaluation of a website in terms of its SEO performance. These audits analyse components relating to structure and content, and uncover foundational issues.
Enterprise websites differ from standard websites in terms of size and complexity, and as such, require a more comprehensive evaluation to identify issues. In these cases, an enterprise SEO audit must be conducted. This type of audit is more extensive compared to a standard SEO audit, and takes into consideration the website’s unique structure and processes. When performed thoroughly, the results provide valuable insights into the business’s online performance and inform the development of an effective SEO strategy.
Why should I audit the SEO for my enterprise website?
It can be tough to be a big fish in the business world. Enterprises often deal with unique challenges and require expert insight when it comes to developing and implementing local and national SEO strategies. An enterprise SEO audit is a tool that provides a deeper understanding of a website’s position in terms of online visibility and search rankings. It’s a vital component in developing a successful optimisation strategy that serves a business’s goals. In essence, enterprise owners first need to understand where they are before they can decide where they’re going.
10 Point Checklist for an Enterprise SEO AuditÂ
Auditing large websites can be complex and time-consuming, taking days or even weeks to complete. To simplify this process and ensure a thorough analysis, we’ve identified ten key elements that every enterprise SEO audit should include:
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Keyword Analysis
Keywords play a critical role in SEO by attracting targeted traffic while improving search engine visibility. In an enterprise SEO audit, keywords are evaluated based on their relevance to a business’s products and services, competition, and search volume. Good keyword usage is characterised by the use of targeted, specific, and relevant keywords that align with the business’s target audience and objectives. On the other hand, poor keyword usage includes tactics like keyword stuffing and the use of low-traffic, irrelevant, or generalised keywords.
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Keyword Search Intent
For every search query, there’s an underlying purpose. This is called ‘keyword search intent’, and can be informational, navigational, transactional, or commercial. Enterprises can use this information to align their content with the needs and interests of their target audience, which can result in higher click-through rates, user engagement, and ultimately, more customers. During an enterprise SEO audit, keywords are evaluated to ensure they match user intent. This involves analysing the search queries that direct traffic to a business’s webpages and determining whether the content on those pages satisfies the needs of the users.
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Page Headings
Page headings are HTML elements used to structure web content. They range from H1 to H6, and are used to help search engines understand the content of a page and its hierarchy. Page headings should be relevant and descriptive, and accurately reflect the page’s content. Proper use of heading tags can improve readability and contribute to an enhanced user experience.
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Page Indexing
Page indexing is a fundamental aspect of an enterprise SEO strategy because it determines whether or not a page is discoverable by search engines and users. If a page isn’t indexed, it won’t appear in search engine results pages (SERPs), making it virtually invisible to potential customers. Tools such as Google Search Console and Screaming Frog can be used to assess page indexing and identify underlying issues. By ensuring that all pages are properly indexed, enterprises can improve their visibility, reach a wider audience, and drive more organic traffic.
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Search Appearance Analysis
It’s important for businesses to keep up appearances. The way a website is presented in SERPs is known as ‘search appearance’. To ensure that a website is optimised for user engagement and search engine rankings, search appearance can be evaluated through the length and relevance of meta titles and descriptions, and by using structured data to help search engines better understand a webpage’s content. This enables the webpage to be displayed as an enhanced result known as a ‘rich snippet’.
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Content Quality
The heart of every website is its content. It’s this foundational element upon which all else is built. For an enterprise website, high-quality content is essential to achieve a strong online presence. Search engines prioritise content that is informative and engaging, and penalise sites with low-quality or duplicate content. Thus, when auditing a website, content is evaluated based on readability, originality, and accuracy.
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Page Load Speed
In today’s fast-paced world, people have little patience for slow-loading websites. According to Think With Google, a loading delay of just 1-3 seconds results in a 32% increase in bounce (users who leave a site or ‘bounce’ back to the search results after viewing only one page). This is why page load speed (one of Google’s Core Web Vitals) is a powerful metric of user experience and a critical factor in SEO. When auditing an enterprise website, page load speed is evaluated based on server response time, time to first byte, caching, network and device performance, code structure and complexity, and other relevant factors.
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Backlink Analysis
The collection of inbound links used to direct traffic towards a website is known as its backlink profile. The quality and quantity of these backlinks can significantly impact a website’s search engine rankings, with links from authoritative and relevant sources being particularly valuable. SEO tools use metrics like Domain Authority Score to analyse the strength of a website’s backlink profile, which is calculated based on the quality of inbound links, website traffic, and user engagement.
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Mobile Friendliness
Reflecting the growing number of users who access the internet from mobile devices, Google has been shifting towards mobile-first indexing, meaning that it primarily crawls and indexes the mobile version of a website as opposed to the desktop version. Thus, to rank well in SERPs, it’s crucial for websites to have a mobile-friendly design. In an enterprise SEO audit, this is evaluated based on how well a website’s mobile version is optimised for speed and user experience, and how it adapts to different mobile devices.
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Look at Your Top Competitors
Identifying top competitors in a given industry and examining their tactics can provide valuable intel into what works well and what to avoid. Competitor analysis involves reviewing website structure, content, backlinks, and other optimisation efforts. Businesses can then use this information to inform their own SEO strategy and outperform their competitors.
Book Your Enterprise SEO Audit Today!
At StudioHawk, we understand large businesses. As Australia’s largest SEO agency, we know how to make the most of an enterprise SEO audit. Our team of specialists are skilled in analysing complex websites, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing strategies to improve search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic. Contact us today if you’re ready to take your SEO higher and soar with the Hawks!
