After a decade+ of helping businesses leverage their online presence, I’ve learned that standing out in search results requires more than just good quality content—it demands a strategic, data-driven foundation built on in-depth website analyses, including site audits, content audits, and traffic analytics. At my agency, we leverage Semrush’s comprehensive suite of tools to power our exhaustive search engine optimization process. Today, I’ll share our top 3 favorites for growing our clients’ websites from invisible to unstoppable, with real-world examples from the industries we serve.
1. Site Audit. Your Website’s Technical Foundation.
A site audit is like a comprehensive health check for your website. Just as doctors use tests to diagnose hidden problems, a side audit examines your website’s technical infrastructure, revealing issues that could be hindering your success. I like to use Semrush’s site audit tool because it analyzes over 130 technical factors, delivering a detailed report with a health score and a prioritized list of issues, covering key areas like:
- Technical SEO elements – XML sitemaps, robots.txt, crawlability issues.
- Core Web Vitals – Loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.
- Mobile optimization – Responsive design, mobile rendering, touch element sizing.
- Security – HTTPS implementation, mixed content issues.
- Internal linking structure – Broken links, orphaned pages, redirect chains.
For example, a website analysis for a dental practice revealed that their mobile site wasn’t loading properly on older phones, creating a poor user experience and lost leads. After fixing this error, we saw a noticeable increase in mobile conversions, all thanks to the site audit.
2. Content Audits – Combining On-Page SEO Checker & Organic Research
Your website’s content needs to connect with your audience, and using content audit tools like on-page SEO and organic research is perfect for the task. They give you insights into how well your pages are faring against top-ranking competitors and reveal search query patterns for your target audience. Why is this so powerful?
- Semantics: discover related short-tail (e.g., “cataract surgery”) and long-tail keywords (“how long is cataract surgery recovery), and topics to enrich your content.
- Content: analyze your competitors’ successful content to identify any competitive gaps in keywords they rank for that you don’t, as well as any insights into optimal content length, depth, and readability.
- Historical Data & Patterns: Identify your top pages and any search patterns associated with their performance. Trends can help you optimize your content strategy for targeted keywords to boost traffic.
- Search intent analysis: Understand whether searches are informational, transactional, or navigational, helping you tailor content to user needs.
- Backlinks: find new opportunities for link building to strengthen search positions.
- SERP Features: learn how to optimize your content for Google’s SERP Features.
Our content audit of a law firm’s “personal injury” page revealed that while their legal information was accurate, they were missing information about common client concerns like “how to pay medical bills after an accident” and “how long will my case take”. By integrating these topics naturally into their content, engagement metrics shot up as visitors spent more time on their page.
Traffic Analytics – Gaining A Competitive Edge
The best way to beat your competition is to first understand them. Semrush’s traffic analytics is a fantastic website analysis tool for peeking behind the curtain and seeing exactly what your competitors are doing right (and wrong!). It reveals insights into their traffic sources, audience behavior, and engagement metrics, helping you to understand what truly works in your market and amplify your marketing strategy. I leverage this tool to:
- Analyze competitor traffic sources to discover untapped marketing channels.
- Monitor and spot seasonal traffic spikes (trends) to optimize your content calendar.
- Estimate your competitors’ conversion rates by unwrapping their traffic across sign-in, log-in, and check-out pages.
- Track engagement metrics to understand what content keeps your visitors glued to the page.
Whether I’m looking to expand into new markets, optimize ad spend, or improve user engagement, traffic analytics equips me with the insights needed to make informed decisions for a competitive edge.
Stop Guessing, Start Growing – Uniting the Power of SEO Tools
To anyone unfamiliar, SEO can really feel like just a shot in the dark. However, when properly combined, the insights gained from the site audit, on-page SEO checker, organic research, and traffic analytics tools can skyrocket your online presence above your competition.
