The SEO Analysis: What it is and Why You Need it - Tools for DIY Analysis
(Page 4 of 4 )
It's difficult to imagine trying to do all of the above mentioned things manually, especially if you are a do-it-yourself type of person. In fact, it would be ridiculous to try to do some of them that way, like current search engine rankings. This is why SEOs use tools, and many of these tools are free. There are a bunch of recommended tools that we use that don't cost you anything; in fact, many of them are here on SEO Chat. If you've never checked out our SEO Tools section, you may want to do it now. You'll be able to use them to keep on top of your search engine optimization yourself, or even recommend these tools to your webmaster or designer if you don't have time.
You will also need a great stats program for your website. Many web hosts include some kind of free statistics program with your hosting package, whether it be AWStats, Analog, or Webalizer. There are a few things you need to be able to see in your stats in order for them to be useful at all. You need to know more than just how many hits you are getting to a web page. You need to know the numbers of unique visitors, repeat visitors, exit and entry pages, and much more. For more information on you website statistics, read my series on web stats here on SEO Chat.
You'll want to sign up for a Google API so that you can have access to many search engine results in one setting. You can get your free API key here. You'll also want to find a web program or website tool that will help you see where you site is in Yahoo and MSN SERPs as well.
You'll need to check for site navigation, crawlability, broken links, and dead ends in your website, just to name a few. If a search engine spider can't crawl your site, you'll want to know why. Just do a search for free or commercial programs that can do these things. We also offer a few of these things on our own site, FirstClass-SEO.com. (You will need to sign up as a member to access these tools.)
The very first step in great SEO work is the analysis; it is also useful continuously throughout the optimization process, and you cannot do well without it. If you want to perform the analysis yourself, then go for it. Self analysis is sometimes the best thing you can do for your own website, because no one knows your website like you do. If you can't do it, then you may look for a free analysis, but there's a very good chance that you may have to pay for one to get the results you can actually use.
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
/ 17 
