Do you remember how it felt to earn a good grade on a test you studied really hard for? That’s similar to the feeling you get when your website receives a high score from a search engine optimization (SEO) site audit. All of your time and resources that have gone to your SEO strategy have paid off, right? Unfortunately, this is not entirely the case.
There are some factors and processes that these audits cannot calculate. Although the site audit score tools do well to cover the basics, they don’t consider everything when assessing the condition of your content.
Let’s examine the benefits and limitations of audit score tools and why partnering with a digital marketing agency could be the ultimate solution to your SEO strategy.
Benefits of Site Audit Score Tools
If you want to get your website on the first page of Google, you’ll have to meet specific standards. Site audit score tools, like the All in One SEO plugin or Yoast, can help you improve your online visibility in the following ways:
Ideal Keyword Density
The first importance of site audit score tools is that they recommend the ideal keyword density for your content. Once a web user makes an inquiry, search engines rank websites according to the keyword that closely resembles what the searcher is looking for.
There is a specific number of times you’ll have to use a particular keyword to ensure you rank among the first websites the web user will see. Unfortunately, most people never go beyond the first search engine results page, so a site audit score tool is important in SEO.
A site audit score tool will also recommend you include the primary keyword in your title, headings, and the piece’s first paragraph, which improves SEO.
Recommended Word Count
Another way a site audit score tool can help your business is by helping you reach the ideal word count. SEO plugins recommend the word count based on your competitors’ average content length. This helps you level the playing field by ensuring the piece has the optimal word count.
You’ll also find suggestions on how long your title and meta description should be. This will give you a competitive edge over the other websites on the first page of Google.
Structure
The structure of your content is another thing that site audit score tools can improve. SEO plugins, like Yoast and All in One, will tell you the ideal length of the paragraphs in your piece. This will help ensure you organize your content in a way that isn’t overwhelming to the reader. A well-organized page can make it easier to engage with your post and reduce the bounce rate.
Limitations of SEO Audit Score Tools
Site score tools offer helpful scores, but this shouldn’t be the only way you evaluate your SEO efforts. These tools are robots, not humans, so there are some things they cannot accurately grade. So, here are some of the limitations of these plugins.
Inorganic Keyword Use
While SEO audit tools can tell you the ideal number of times to use a particular keyword, they don’t show you how. The audit score doesn’t write content for you; the writer decides how to use the keywords. Sometimes, they will get carried away by keyword density and end up unnaturally using the keywords in the content.
Inversely, a writer could be missing a keyword, but the content is very well-written. The SEO audit score does not show the quality of the writing, only the statistics that go into it.
Readability
A lot more goes into readability than just having well-organized paragraphs. You need to ensure your headings and subheadings are easy to understand and summarize what the passage is about. The language you use will determine how readable the post is, and this isn’t something your SEO plugin can help you with, either. As helpful as these machines are, they cannot read like a human.
No Focus on the Customer’s Journey
Site audit score tools can only help get your website to the first page of the search engine results. From there, it’ll take a lot more to ensure you deliver the value that searchers are looking for in your site. SEO plugin tools can’t capture human nature and therefore can’t help you focus on which stage the consumer is in as they search for a product.
Why is ZGM Better than an Audit Score from SEO Plugins?
There’s no question about the value you’ll get from site audit score tools, but it’s necessary to understand that these scores are not your SEO performance’s be-all and end-all. You need to use human interpretation alongside these tools to ensure you have a fully functional SEO strategy. An SEO agency can give you the best of both worlds by using site audit score tools with expert digital marketing skills to ensure you achieve the SEO success you desire. Connect with Zero Gravity Marketing’s SEO specialists to elevate your website!
