SEO Audit

Technical SEO Audit Steps for Law Firm SEO

By Sandy Rowley

How to Perform a Full Technical SEO Audit for a Law Firm Website

A technical SEO audit is crucial for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of a law firm’s website in terms of search engine optimization. This audit covers various aspects such as site structure, content, mobile-friendliness, speed, and more.

Step 1: Crawl the Website
- Use SEO tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to crawl the entire website. This will help identify basic issues such as broken links, missing titles, or duplicate content.

Step 2: Check for Indexing Issues
- Use Google Search Console to ensure all important pages are indexed by Google. Look for any crawl errors or pages blocked by robots.txt.

Step 3: Analyze Site Structure and Navigation
- Assess the website’s structure for logical hierarchy and ease of navigation. Ensure that important pages like practice areas and contact information are easily accessible.

Step 4: Evaluate On-Page SEO Elements
- Check all pages for proper use of title tags, meta descriptions, headers (H1, H2, etc.), and keyword optimization. Ensure they are relevant and succinct.

Step 5: Assess Website Content
- Review the content for quality, relevance, and keyword optimization. Ensure there is no duplicate or thin content and that all content provides value to users.

Step 6: Test Mobile Responsiveness
- Use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to ensure the website is properly optimized for mobile devices.

Step 7: Check Page Speed
- Utilize Google PageSpeed Insights to analyze the loading speed of the website. Slow loading times can negatively impact user experience and SEO.

Step 8: Analyze Internal and External Links
- Ensure all internal links contribute to the site’s structure and user navigation. Check for broken external links and the quality of inbound links.

Step 9: Review URL Structure
- URLs should be concise, readable, and keyword-relevant. Avoid long, complicated URLs.

Step 10: Ensure HTTPS Security
- Verify that the website uses HTTPS to ensure data security, which is a ranking factor for Google.

Step 11: Analyze Website Analytics
- Use Google Analytics to check user behavior, bounce rates, and other engagement metrics. This data can provide insights into areas needing improvement.

Step 12: Check for Schema Markup
- Ensure that the website uses schema markup (especially important for law firms) to help search engines understand the content context.

Conclusion:
A technical SEO audit is a detailed process but essential for any law firm looking to improve its online presence. Regular audits help identify issues that could be hindering a website’s performance in search results, allowing for targeted improvements.

Note:
Performing a full technical SEO audit can be complex and may require technical expertise. Law firms without in-house SEO skills may benefit from consulting with a professional SEO expert or agency.