Dear Experts, I've a bit knowledge about SEO but just wondering what to look for or what to do when we get first project from client. Can you please guide me further? I think the steps would be site Health check up or preparing audit report, Do on-page changes if any and after that of-page optimization. Do these steps worthy or need some changes? Suggestions are always welcome. Thanks, Arijit
For an existing site, check the backlink profile (install Google Webmaster Tools to see any warnings or penalties). Check for bounce and exit rates of pages with Google Analytics (install it if it has not been installed). Fix broken links if any. Make sure meta titles and descriptions are properly written. You can check for speed issues too, bad user interface, too many ads, are they targeting their keywords properly...
What is the domain authority of your website now? What online marketing strategies have you tried so far?
Hey Arijit, Before you sign a contract with the client, ask questions like: Have you used another SEO agency or freelancer before? If yes, what was the extent of their work, what was the outcome? Do you have any material, reports, etc they provided? My colleague got a client that had a penalized site, its a pain in the ass. They key element is setting the expectations correctly: SEO is like Football. You can hire the best coach, but there is no guarantees we will win the SuperBowl. So yes, you will apply the best strategies and do everything in your power, but there is no guarantees. I would look at the backlink profile of the client with a tool like Majestic. You want to make sure they didn't get spammed. I separate On Page and Off page SEO. For on Page I follow this roughly: http://azimusgroup.com/on-page-seo/ (full disclosure, thats my site) For Off Page, its a combo of Private Blog Network, Press Release and blog outreaches.
A site audit is the first thing you should do, obviously. Once that is completed and the on-page issues are fixed, you can begin analysing the link profile of the site. I suggest you gain more knowledge and experience in SEO before offering SEO services to business owners.
Do the website Audit first and resolve all on-page issues. You have to make changes to the website before start building your links. Else your efforts will be lost. Rest is the quality of work you do to get benefit. Use Social media for traffic and awareness about your business.
You must go with website audit. Find the flaws of the website including broken links, links that are not of the same name as the title, tags, missing content and all other errors. After that make sure the website is already tracked by Google Analytics, verified by Google Webmaster - once done you can check from there for any penalty on the website. And you can start working out on improvements with the client - the look of the site (if it is too old school or if it is too cluttered), the hierarchy of pages, the linking of the pages within the site.