What Is SEO Score and How Can I Use It to Improve My Website? (2024)

SEO is consistently a major driver of growth and customer acquisition for e-commerce stores and websites. Effective SEO involves much more than simply adding the right keywords to a webpage. SEO touches every part of a website. That’s why a basic understanding of search engine optimization best practices important for everyone. Aside from making sure your search engine optimization is effective, it’s also important to make sure you consistently check your SEO score and know what to look for. Your SEO score can provide a lot of insight into your website and find what you need to improve on in order to grow. In this article, you will learn what an SEO score is, how it is measured, and the best score checkers to use.

What Is SEO Score and How Can I Use It to Improve My Website? (1)

Table of Contents

What Is SEO?

SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” In simple terms, it means the process of improving your site to increase its visibility when people search for products or services related to your business and search engines such as Google or Bing. The better visibility pages have in search results, the more likely you are to gain attention and attract prospective and existing customers to your business. Search engines such as Google and Bing then use bots to crawl pages on the web, from site to site, collecting information about those pages and putting them in an index. Then, algorithms analyze pages in the index, taking into account hundreds of ranking factors or signals. This helps them determine the order the pages should appear in the search results for a given query. Unlike paid searches, you can’t pay search engines to gain higher organic search rankings, which means SEO experts have to put in the work.

SEO and Marketing

SEO is a fundamental part of digital marketing because people conduct so many searches every year, often with the intent to find information about products and services. Search is often the primary source of digital traffic for brands and complements other marketing channels. Greater visibility and ranking higher in search results than your competition can have a huge impact on your bottom line.

What Is an SEO Score?

An SEO score is a measure of how well the technical aspects and user-facing elements of your website contribute to search engine optimization. Scores are on a scale up to 100. They are based on four areas that affect crawlability and ranking performance: content, technical, user experience, and mobile. A high SEO score means that your website meets the quality standards for good search engine optimization. A low score indicates technical and user experience issues. Although Google’s algorithm doesn’t take your SEO score into consideration when indexing and ranking your website, a good SEO score is linked to higher ranking and search engine visibility. Optimizing the four areas of SEO scoring will benefit your rankings in the search engine results pages (SERP).

What Is SEO Score and How Can I Use It to Improve My Website? (2)

What Is a Good SEO Score?

A good SEO score is between 80-100. A score in this range indicates that your website is meeting the top quality standards for search engine optimization in the areas of technical SEO, content, user experience, and mobile usability.

SEO Scoring Factors

As we mentioned, your website’s final SEO score is determined by its performance in the following four categories.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO is an important part of SEO scoring because it affects how well your site can be accessed, crawled, and indexed by search engine web crawlers like Googlebot. If a site has severe technical issues, then it will not rank high on the SERPs no matter how good you make your content, user experience, or mobile usability. Technical SEO problems can be a major roadblock to increasing organic traffic from Google, Yahoo, or Bing. They often go unnoticed until you use an SEO score checker or an audit tool to measure your site’s performance. It’s important to make these types of checks and analyses part of your routine website maintenance process. Doing so will allow you to increase your SEO score in the following areas:

  • Search engine friendly URLs
  • Website architecture
  • Page speed
  • Server response
  • Indexability
  • Broken links

Content

The quality of your website’s content is another important factor in your overall SEO score. Search engine algorithms consider how well your content uses on-page SEO optimization, the structure of the page, how pages are linked together, and if it’s meeting the needs of your visitors through the measurements of various on-site metrics. Websites with good SEO, relevant information, and visitor engagement are typically ranked higher by Google. The following areas are the make up of the SEO score for website content:

  • Meta titles and descriptions for every web page
  • The number of internal and broken links
  • The presence of duplicate content throughout the site
  • On-page SEO factors like optimized heading tags, keywords in content, and image optimization
  • User metrics like bounce rate, time on page, and average pages per session

What Is SEO Score and How Can I Use It to Improve My Website? (3)

User Experience

Although this is a low priority for SEO scoring, search engines still take user experience into consideration when ranking. Therefore, it’s good to know the user experience of your site and look for ways to improve this. The following factors are what make up the SEO score for user experience:

  • Images are retrievable and load quickly
  • Navigation doesn’t include too many links
  • It takes 3 clicks or less to get to any one page on the site

Mobile Usability

Google now uses mobile-first indexing for website content. That means your website must have mobile-friendly content or it will not rank as high for its target queries. This factor measures how fast your website renders across a range of devices and the following aspects affect your SEO score:

  • Responsiveness of the design
  • Touchscreen compatibility for tapping and scrolling
  • Page speeds load quickly for the user

Checking Your SEO Score

To check your SEO score, you need to enter the domain name or URL into the given field of an SEO checker and click “Check SEO Score.” The tool will scan your website and measure the user-facing and technical aspects of search engine optimization and report the score in a number format.

SEO Score Checker Tools

There are many tools out there that can be used to check your SEO score on your website. Here are just a few.

Ahrefs Site Audit Tool

Ahrefs performs a complete analysis to give you an accurate score for your website. The search crawler goes deep into your site and checks for over 100+ technical issues that could be affecting your rankings.

SE Ranking

SE Ranking is an SEO score checker that can give you instant insights into the health of your website. You can analyze the overall health score, check Core Web Vitals, and get a list of the top detected issues based on their level of significance and prevalence across the website.

What Is SEO Score and How Can I Use It to Improve My Website? (4)

SEO Analyzer

SEO Analyzer gives your site a complete check to uncover errors that are hindering your content from achieving the top ranking positions on Google. It also prioritizes each fix based on potential traffic impact and ease of implementation so you can speed up your ranking improvements.

Siteimprove SEO Score Checker

Siteimprove measures how well your website performs across a number of key SEO factors like content and technical setup. It also gives you recommendations on how to improve to increase your SEO score and get more visibility on Google and other search engines.

Website Grader

Website Grader is more than an SEO score checker. It’s a free online tool that grades your site against key metrics like performance, mobile readiness, SEO, and security.

WooRank SEO Score Checker

WooRank scores your site on a 100-point scale that is based on 70 different criteria. This checker will help you optimize and measure your website’s performance for the keywords that matter most to you.

How to Use SEO Score to Improve Your Website

Checking your score is an important part of the upkeep of the maintenance of your website. By regularly checking your score, you will be able to see which parts of your website are working in your favor and which ones are not. Knowing your SEO score gives your company or business the information needed to grow.

FAQ:

  • What is SEO?
  • What is an SEO score?
  • How is an SEO score determined?
  • How can you check your SEO score?
  • What is a good SEO score?

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What Is SEO Score and How Can I Use It to Improve My Website? (2024)

FAQs

What is a website SEO score? ›

Modified on: Wed, 17 Nov, 2021 at 9:50 AM. The SEO Score is a measure of how well the user-facing and technical aspects of your site contribute to search engine optimization, and ultimately, higher rankings and organic traffic.

What is SEO and how it works? ›

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art and science of getting pages to rank higher in search engines such as Google. Because search is one of the main ways in which people discover content online, ranking higher in search engines can lead to an increase in traffic to a website.

What are the five steps to improve website SEO? ›

There are five steps to you can take to start improving your website's SEO:
  1. Get an SEO baseline so you can compare it to future results.
  2. Create A Plan To Publish Original Content.
  3. Don't Forget the Most Basic SEO Strategies.
  4. Introduce Your Site to the Search Engines.
  5. Make Sure You Have the Right SEO Tools.
Jul 23, 2020

How do I know if my website has good SEO? ›

Titles, Metas, H1s. One of the easiest ways to tell if your site is SEO optimized is to look at your title tags, meta descriptions, and H1s. The title, description, and headers on each page should include keywords that you want your page to rank for.

What is a good SEO score? ›

A good Site Health SEO score is anything above 80. If your score is over 90, it means your website is in the top 10% of the best technically optimized websites on the web. Once you reach a high SEO rating, you can: Schedule regular Site Audit crawls to spot any possible new issues.

What is a good SEO Visibility score? ›

What percentage Search Visibility should I aim for? You're looking to get around 35% - 45%, as this is generally the average click through rate of a URL in the top position in the search results.

Is SEO good for beginners? ›

SEO is not easy. But it's no rocket science either. There are things you can implement right away and there are concepts that will take much more time and effort. So yes, you can do SEO on your own.

What are the 4 types of SEO? ›

Having cleared up the approaches to search engine optimization, we can now go through what the different types of SEO are.
  • On-page SEO (on-site SEO) ...
  • Off-page SEO (off-site SEO) ...
  • Technical SEO. ...
  • Local SEO.
Oct 6, 2021

How does SEO work for dummies? ›

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of traffic to your website through organic search results, as opposed to other channels like direct, referral, and paid advertising. To do good SEO, it's important to understand how search engines work.

What is the best strategy for SEO? ›

8 tips to build an effective SEO strategy in 2022
  • Write for humans first and search engines second. ...
  • Use targeted keywords in all the right places. ...
  • Focus on user experience (UX) ...
  • Focus on building relevant links. ...
  • Format content for Featured Snippets. ...
  • Remove anything that slows down your site.
Mar 5, 2021

How can I do SEO for my website for free? ›

Best free on-page optimization tools
  1. Rank Math Plugin. Rank Math is a WordPress plugin that helps you optimize your website content. ...
  2. Yoast SEO Plugin. ...
  3. Google Trends. ...
  4. Ahrefs Keyword Generator. ...
  5. Google Search Console. ...
  6. Bing Webmaster Tools. ...
  7. Google Analytics. ...
  8. Ahrefs Backlink Checker.
Dec 22, 2020

What is SEO checklist? ›

Contents: Perform keyword research. Choose the right domain name. Select a web platform.

What is SEO in simple words? ›

SEO means Search Engine Optimization and is the process used to optimize a website's technical configuration, content relevance and link popularity so its pages can become easily findable, more relevant and popular towards user search queries, and as a consequence, search engines rank them better.

What are examples of SEO? ›

SEO strategy examples: 9 examples of what a good SEO strategy includes
  • Keyword optimization. First is keyword optimization. ...
  • Optimizing on-page elements. ...
  • Improving the backend of your site. ...
  • Creating user-friendly pages. ...
  • Creating content. ...
  • Building links. ...
  • Analyzing your competition. ...
  • Optimizing for voice search.
Dec 5, 2020

How do you land your first SEO? ›

But if you haven't been dissuaded, read on for tips on landing the career in SEO you want.
  1. Identify What Employers Are Looking For. ...
  2. Get To Know The Companies You're Interested In. ...
  3. Stay Current With Emerging Trends And Hone Your Skills. ...
  4. Build Your Online Brand. ...
  5. Customize Your Resume To The Role. ...
  6. Nail The Interview.
Mar 30, 2022

What hurts your SEO? ›

Accessibility and indexation, broken links and bad redirects, not maximizing Google Search Console, and missing / poor meta tags can hurt SEO rankings.

How long does it take for SEO to start working? ›

Many SEO firms will tell you that it takes 4 to 6 months to start seeing results. That's generally accurate, but bear in mind this is when you start seeing results, and SEO results grow over time. Whatever results you're getting at 6 months should be considerably less than what you're getting at 12 months.

When should I start SEO for my website? ›

In addition, SEO should start during the web design process in order to accelerate results. During the first month of SEO there is often no work taking place on the website. Much or all of the time spent on SEO involves discovery, analysis, strategy, and planning.

How do you read SEO scores? ›

The SEO score is displayed first, letting you know how well your site is optimized. The next items include how many factors were tested that passed, how many have warnings associated with them, and how many failed. If any tests were performed with unresolved results, they will be displayed in the list box.

What is a good page size for SEO? ›

Ideally, you want to keep your HTML DOM page size to around 100 kb or less, depending on your niche. Pages could be larger in some niches; in ecommerce, for example, it's not uncommon to see pages around 150kb-200kb, depending on how many product images are on the page.

How can I improve the visibility of my website? ›

These are the top 15 ways to make your website more visible:
  1. Target your website pages for keywords.
  2. Structure your web pages for Google search.
  3. Create more pages.
  4. Get on online directories.
  5. Get verified by Google.
  6. Use compelling page titles.
  7. Work with influencers.
  8. Create quality content.
Nov 17, 2020

What increases SEO score? ›

To drive more traffic to your website and increase its popularity, you need to give visitors a reason to keep coming back. Your content needs to be high quality, recent, and relevant. Another factor that impacts your SEO ranking is so-called dwell time.

How much does SEO increase traffic? ›

It helps consumers make a personal connection with your brand and fosters customer loyalty with those who already buy from you. But it doesn't even come close to SEO when it comes to driving traffic to your website. The average SEO campaign generates 1000 percent more traffic than the average social media campaign.

How can I optimize my SEO for free? ›

No Money, No Problem: 17 Free Ways to Boost Your Website's SEO
  1. Find better keywords. ...
  2. Delete duplicate content. ...
  3. Fix 404 errors. ...
  4. Write a unique title tag for every page. ...
  5. Write a compelling meta description for every page. ...
  6. Clean up your URL structure. ...
  7. Update your blog often. ...
  8. Include H1, H2, H3, etc.
May 2, 2016

How do I optimize my website for SEO 2022? ›

Here are seven ways you can improve your search engine optimization strategy and rankings for 2022:
  1. Optimize your website. ...
  2. Target accurate keywords. ...
  3. Create longer, better content. ...
  4. Track your website traffic. ...
  5. Start link-building. ...
  6. Stay away from black hat SEO. ...
  7. Set up a Google My Business profile. ...
  8. Conclusion.
Jan 24, 2022

How much does SEO cost per month? ›

Automated Local SEO pricing generally runs between $300-500 per month. Small scale SEO pricing packages range between $400-$900 per month. Comprehensive Local SEO services can be as much as $4,000 per month. Most businesses have budgets that range from $500/month to $10,000/month.

How much does SEO cost? ›

SEO campaigns can cost anywhere from $5,000/mo to $100,000+/month depending on the vertical. Local SEO can be slightly lower. On average, quality SEO should cost $3,000+/month, at an average hourly rate of $150+. SEO campaigns can cost anywhere from $5,000/mo to $100,000+/month depending on the vertical.

Do you have to pay for SEO? ›

How much can you expect to spend on SEO? If you are hiring a top-level SEO company to execute a local campaign, expect to pay $500.00+ per month. A national or international campaign will require a minimum budget of $2,500 to $5,000 a month. Some firms offer a “trial package” at a lower price, with no contract.

What is the best SEO tool? ›

10 best SEO tools for 2023
  • Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Level: Beginner through to advanced. ...
  • Clearscope. Level: All levels. ...
  • Semrush. Level: Intermediate through to advanced. ...
  • Ahrefs. Level: Advanced. ...
  • Moz. Level: Beginner through to intermediate. ...
  • Surfer SEO. Level: All levels. ...
  • SE Ranking. Level: All levels. ...
  • WooRank.

What are the top 3 most important things you would look at first before optimizing for efficiency? ›

Optimizing Efficiency Among Your Team
  • Properly Prioritize. When faced with several responsibilities at once, identifying which objective is most important is the key to operating effectively. ...
  • Effective Communication. ...
  • Set Expectations and Consequences. ...
  • Stay Vigilant.

What are the 3 most important on page SEO factors? ›

Top 5 On Page SEO Factors
  • On Page SEO Factor 1 – Keyword Research: ...
  • On Page SEO Factor 2 – URL Optimization: ...
  • On Page SEO Factor 3 – Meta Tags: ...
  • On Page SEO Factor 4 – Header Tags: ...
  • On Page SEO Factor 5 – Content Optimization:

What are the 3 main factors in good SEO ranking results? ›

In no particular order, the top factors for ranking on Google are: High-quality content. Mobile-first. Page Experience.

What techniques do you use to improve SEO? ›

17 Ways to Improve SEO Rankings in 2022
  • Improve Your Website Loading Speed.
  • Get Your Site Inside of Featured Snippets.
  • Improve Dwell Time With This Simple Step.
  • Use Sitelinks.
  • Create Linkable Assets.
  • Target Keywords With High Commercial Intent.
  • Grab More SERP Real Estate.
  • Rank for “Topic + Statistics” Keywords.
Nov 5, 2021

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