The ultimate guide to conducting an SEO audit for your casino

A casino site's digital impact and overall optimisation are essential to its survival in the industry. One of the important elements of upholding a casino site's timeliness and user navigation is an SEO audit which checks a casino site and ensures that there are no issues while it's running or how it fares compared to other competitors. 

There's a lot of information about SEO audit, including its importance, how it performs on casino sites and how it is created. You'll know everything about this here at QWERTYLABS, your trusted partner in all things related to content creation, SEO and web development. Get to know more about SEO auditing in the coming sections below: 

What is an SEO audit and how does it work?

Performing an SEO audit can be compared to a wellness check, except it is done with a website instead of a person. It works to uncover technical issues that could hinder your website from performing well on search engines and gaining clients' attention. Additionally, it is also designed to help you unmask opportunities to improve the site overall. 

Since the task of search engine optimisation is focused on the web presence of a particular site, it is essential to complete the auditing process to eliminate any problems and further improve the platform. For example, some things that should be considered when conducting an SEO audit include the website's structure, the quality of the content and backlinks, gaps in speed or ranking and more. 

For best results, websites should be audited at least once a year to have a routine check on the site's SEO components, and you can make necessary improvements moving forward. If your site goes for several years without an SEO audit, it could lose its online presence and ranking on Google. 

Performing SEO audits on casino sites

The concepts of SEO audit can be related to that of online casino sites. It is conducted to ensure that a casino platform can publish timely content, function properly compared to competitors and ensure that the casino site ranks high in search engines. 

Aside from the presence of blogs, new casino games and promotions, SEO audits are designed to pick out the imperfections of a site from an SEO point of view. Suppose there are faulty backlinks, broken pages, or possible improvements for keyword usage or indexing efforts. In that case, an SEO audit can uncover and help you fix all those issues. 

Over time, performing SEO audits on a casino site will eventually help it get ahead of the competition and rank higher in search engines. It can also eliminate any site issues and help you make further improvements in creating content, building links, researching keywords and more to ensure that you provide the best casino site for your players.

The full checklist for creating SEO audits for casino platforms 

Completing an SEO audit is tedious but worth the effort. This is also why you have us at QWERTYLABS to help you achieve a complete casino SEO audit and give you better steps to take to improve your site. To further understand this step-by-step process, take a look at the guide below: 

Step 1. Make a basic technical analysis 

The first thing you should consider doing in an SEO audit is making a technical analysis of the site. Consider this a briefing period where specific site details are correct, like checking if the redirection of a backlink to another page is faulty or the page is running slower than necessary. 

Some crucial elements involved in technical analysis are checking the site's current user experience or accessibility and how it appears from the visitor's point of view. If there are any issues, you should be able to identify them and delve further into fixing them in the coming steps. 

Step 2. Check for manual actions on the site

Given that Google is the most popular search engine, you must immediately ensure that your site appears on the results page. When conducting an SEO audit, you must also consider the manual actions of the website. These manual actions will determine whether or not portions or the entirety of your site will show up on Google result pages. To complete this step, go to Google's search console and look for your site's report on 'Manual Actions'. After clicking on it, you'll either be given an overview of issues or an update stating that no issues have been detected. 

Step 3. Ensure there are no HTTPS issues

Another important part of the SEO auditing process is weeding out any Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) issues, which are aspects of web development that cater to the security measures of site visitors. This step should help keep users' security details safe such as their account passwords and payment methods in casino platforms. One of the simplest ways to check the safety of your HTTPS tag is if there is a 'lock' symbol on the leftmost side of your site URL. 

Step 4. Look out for problems with indexing 

Looking out for indexing issues is also essential when completing an SEO audit. You can see Google as an extensive information index, except it's composed of billions of web pages that rank in search. You must ensure your casino site is a part of that index and should only include essential pages. It is worth knowing that Google should only index one version of your website instead of two or multiple to direct traffic to a central source. 

Step 5. Take into account the organic traffic of the site 

The internet is a dynamic element that constantly updates itself according to what people are looking for. Google updates its algorithm for organic traffic to maintain the quality of its search results. In this case, you must ensure your casino site can keep up with this algorithm and track the corresponding organic traffic trends. The changes to look out for on Google's algorithm are based on your site's E.A.T. (Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness). 

Step 6. Run an audit on site crawls

One of the most critical parts of the SEO auditing process is running on-site crawls, identifying how Google's crawlers might see and identifying the content or issues found on your site. This audit will help identify issues such as site errors, warnings, notices and the overall site health. You can use the Semrush Site Audit feature to determine the lapses in your site health and help you fix them simultaneously. 

Step 7. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly 

Ensure your site fits mobile devices when working on a casino SEO audit with QWERTYLABS. This is an important aspect of Google's ability to help you rank higher in search results. It has been an essential factor since 2015, considering that most people nowadays access sites through their mobile devices. Learn more about the overall ranking of your site under the Mobile Usability report to help eliminate any issues. 

Step 8. Work on improving the site's speed 

Of course, every user on the internet is looking for fast and easy access to their chosen websites. If your site is not performing, chances are the users will look at other alternatives. To avoid this, check the Site Performance tab using the Semrush Site Audit feature to know your website's speed. 

Step 9. Ensure that the site's core web vitals are stable

Another element you should consider when completing an SEO audit is web vitals. This concept was introduced by Google back in 2020, and it involves aspects such as your site's overall layout, loading speeds and page interaction. Take a look at data from your desktop and mobile interface to complete the repairs, if there are any. 

Step 10. Eliminate broken pages and links if there are any

If you visit a website showing a 404 Error, it means it's a broken link. This could be caused by URL changes or data deletion, which is not good for SEO purposes and should be fixed immediately. 

Step 11. Complete all elements for on-page tags

On-page elements are essential factors in SEO ranking, which includes your meta-description, header tags and titles, to name a few. These must correspond to the keyword research so the Google algorithm will know your content further and connect it with readers, ranking it higher in search results.

Step 12. Check for any problems with your casino sitemap

Every website should have a sitemap, a list of all the different pages available on your website. These must all be a part of the Google indexing process, so you should have a fully-functioning sitemap. If you have broken pages or faulty backlinks within your sitemap, reinstate or resolve the issue as soon as possible. 

Step 13. See if the performance of the content is declining 

As previously mentioned, Google's algorithm or search trend is never stagnant for long. Creating a good casino site also means keeping in touch with your content and making sure it still fits with what your target audience wants. If you have content that is no longer relevant or outdated, take them off your site or refresh them with new updates. 

Step 14. Work on improving internal links 

Working on your internal links is essential, especially when promoting new games or events. One of the successful global SEO strategies for online casinos is producing organic, engaging content and redirecting to other parts of the site. When your backlinks are working well, your chances of ranking in search results are better. 

Step 15. Analyse competitor domain overviews

Lastly, you should wrap up the SEO auditing process with a competitor analysis. Take a look at your competitors' pages and compare them with yours. Regarding future content or publications on your site, you can always make changes and supply whatever your competitors don't offer to their site visitors.

The importance of auditing your casino site regularly

All casino site owners should remember that remaining stagnant in the industry is never a good thing. With SEO audit, you can keep up with what your clients and search engines like Google are looking for. As people's interests change, it's also good that you adopt those changes to accommodate users' needs. 

Lastly, completing an SEO audit allows you to make consistent improvements on your site to get an edge over your competitors. Many sites out there cater to the same target audience as yours, so it's best to fill in the gaps and become a platform that offers everything that your competitors don't. 

So, if you are looking for your casino's top SEO trends in 2023, an audit is the first step to making a well-rounded website. Understanding what SEO audit is and how it works is the first step to transforming your site for the better, and you can do all of these and more with us at QWERTYLABS! 

Work on your casino SEO audit with QWERTYLABS today! 

If you are interested in completing a casino SEO audit, working on your webpage or creating organic casino content, QWERTYLABS is the perfect partner for you. Feel free to contact us today, and let's work together towards creating your ideal casino platform. With proper SEO practices and a good marketing plan, you can reach out to your target audiences in no time!