Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Audit

Martin & Co National Letting & Estate Agent

www.martinco.com Date accessed: 6/12/2013 20/1/2014

Contents
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 3 Overview of topics .................................................................................................................................. 4 Keyword focus......................................................................................................................................... 5 URL structure .......................................................................................................................................... 6 Title tags .................................................................................................................................................. 7 Meta description tags ............................................................................................................................. 8 Heading tags ........................................................................................................................................... 9 Internal linking and anchor text ............................................................................................................ 10 Image names and ALT tags ................................................................................................................... 12 Schema.org for local SEO ...................................................................................................................... 13 Page load speed .................................................................................................................................... 14 Inbound followed links.......................................................................................................................... 15 Authority and trust of linking root domains ......................................................................................... 17 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 19

Executive Summary
This search engine optimization (SEO) report critically evaluates the Martin & Co website to uncover how effective SEO techniques have been employed to help rank the website on search engines like Google. This report covers some of the key elements of SEO with analyses into the current state of the websites SEO effectiveness. In addition, this report provides recommendations that coincide with industry recognised guidelines to improve the SEO.

Overview of topics
Content
This section of the report looks into the onsite SEO issues we have found. On site SEO refers to problems that can be resolved from the frontend, such as bad practise or improper use of HTML mark-up. These are the first steps one should take to improve their websites SEO. On site SEO topics covered in this report are; Keyword focus URL Structure Title tags Meta description tags Heading tags Internal linking and anchor text Image names and ALT tags Schema.org for local SEO

Indexing
This section of the report looks into the indexing issues we have found. Indexing is the process that search engine crawlers take to find a website. After successfully finding a website they are then able to digest information from your website to be able to effectively score your website based on their algorithm which determines how well your website will rank. The indexing topic covered in this report is; Page load speed

Linking analysis
This section of the report looks into the websites link data. With this information we are able evaluate a websites relationship with other webpages or websites. Search engines have equated links to votes to help decide the importance and popularity of websites to earn their place in search listings. This is an old method that has now been developed into a sophisticated complex algorithm that brings the most optimised and relevant websites to the top. Linking topics covered in this report are; Inbound followed links Authority and trust of linking root domains

Keyword focus
Analysis
It is important for your website to employ a good use of keywords to ensure users can easily find websites via search engines. The Martin & Co website does not appear to have a focused keyword strategy. No keywords were found in the meta tags across the core pages of the website (Homepage, Landlords, Students, etc). We found that the most common occurrences of keywords on the homepage were; Keyword Martin Office Property Landlords Rent Sell Frequency 10 9 9 5 5 5

Recommendations
We recommend that relevant keywords should be identified and implemented across the whole website. Although there is debate of keywords in Meta tags becoming obsolete in modern SEO, it is imperative that this information is still available. Use keywords should be executed strategically with the website and it how it serves to users. Some of the keywords listed in the table above would be a beneficial to explore further

Guidelines
Keywords are an extremely valuable part of a website, ensuring that keywords are relevant will attract the right users. For instance, a user might type specific keywords into a search engine rather than the name of a website, i.e. rent house Sussex. This search query would present a list of search results that relate to those keywords.

URL structure
Analysis
URL structure is mostly good but character lengths are varying from 25 to over 300 characters long. Query string links are responsible for the largest URLs we identified in our analysis. URL
http://www.martinco.com/tenants http://www.martinco.com/landlords

http://www.martinco.com/landlords/property-management/services/letting
http://www.martinco.com/property/london_and_central_london/london/londo n/sterling_place_ealing_157033?oid=33 http://www.martinco.com/property?p=1&let_agreed[]=no&home_property_se arch=For%20Sale&sale_type=resale&radius=5#&p=1&sale_type=resale&min_ price=0&max_price=0&min_bedrooms=0&max_bedrooms=0&radius=5&prope rty_period_id=2&min_price2=0&max_price2=0&min_bedrooms2=0&max_bedr ooms2=0&radius2=0.0&yield=0&let_agreed[]=no

URL length 31 33 70 108 310

Recommendations
The website contains mostly good length URLs, although query strings URLs are exceeding the 100 recommended character limit; these should be reduced in size to adhere to the guidelines below.

Guidelines
Length of URLs should be kept below 100 characters. Short and simple URLs are easy to convey to the user and should be used to describe the page when possible. URLs are also displayed in the search engine results, if the URL contains relevant descriptions and keywords, this will give the search engine more information to display that is comprehendible with the user.

Title tags
Analysis
Title tags are displayed in the first line of search result listings. Sections of the title may appear in bold to indicate relevancy to the submitted search query. We found that the Martin & Co website makes good and consistent use of title tags within their core webpages. Other pages such as news and careers appear to have their own structure.

Recommendations
We recommend that all title tags should be consistent across all pages of the website.

Guidelines
Ideal title tags should be less than 60 characters long. Google search results will display a maximum of 70 characters in their listings. However, this character length has also changed over the years, which is something to keep an eye on. Title tags should make use of focused keywords to describe the nature and purpose of the webpage to increase search ranking.

Meta description tags

Analysis
Content from Meta description tags will be displayed under the title of websites in search engine listings. Once again we found that the Meta descriptions were consistent across the core pages of the website. However, this was not the case for the pages mentioned above in our title tags section. The homepage meta description is short, containing only 53 characters featuring some relevant keywords associated with the webpage. However, we found that the meta descriptions were not very descriptive about the website and were very generic. The careers page has a meta description of 172 characters which exceeds the limit suggested in the guidelines below.

Recommendations
Compose descriptions using important keywords to improve click-through rate from search engine listings. It is important for Meta descriptions to be unique across the different pages of the website whilst being relevant to their associated webpage. On the main page we discovered that the Meta description were not very descriptive about the website and is very generic, it is also too short, and should be increased in size.

Guidelines
Google will truncate search descriptions that have a length which exceeds 160 characters. So it is always best to keep these between 150-160 characters. Meta descriptions can improve click rates through a website because Google will bold words contained within the meta description that are the same as the search query, maximising the chances of your website being selected by a user.

Heading tags
Analysis
The Martin & Co website does not feature any <h1> tags in its core webpages. Heading tags have been used without employing a structured hierarchy; this is evident by the absence of the <h3> tag and inclusion of the <h4> tag. In many places headings were substituted for div tags. We also noted that paragraph tags were sparsely used. Heading tag <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> Frequency 0 8 0 5 0 0

Recommendations
Append correct use of the heading tags into the whole website. Top level titles i.e. Martin & Co should utilise the <h1> tag. We do not recommend substituting heading tags for images and/or logos in this situation. Text should be nested within their relevant tag whether it is a heading or paragraph.

Guidelines
The heading structure of a web page is an important part of SEO. The most important tag is the h1 as the number gets higher the importance lowers. The h1 tag represents a main heading, ordering the heading tags correctly will also structure the website accordingly, this is also important for the usability and accessibility of the website.

Internal linking and anchor text

Analysis
The Martin & Co websites generally makes good use of keyword rich internal linking throughout the core webpages. The vast majority of these links are relative URLs. However, links to pages such as news and careers are using absolute URLs. The careers page directs to an external website associated with Martin & Co. We found that many links were structured incorrectly by bypassing preceding webpages. This link was found on the homepage but no page exists for property management, thus bypassing the URL structure. <a href="/landlords/property-management/services/letting">

We also identified duplicate content. Below is a domain that links to the Martin & Co website. When we remove the Hampshire directory from the URL, we are presented with the same content found on this link; http://www.martinco.com/to-rent/houses/RG25, thus displaying the same content on two different links. http://www.basingstoke-martinco.co.uk/to-rent/houses/hampshire/RG25

Recommendations
We encourage the use of relative URLs throughout the whole website. When linking to an external website a target attribute should be applied to open the website in a new tab or window without directing away from the website the user is visiting. We discourage the use of duplicate content. Duplicate content is bad for a website because of the following reasons; Search engines do not know where to put link metrics which is part of trust, authority and anchor text. Search engines will not know which site to rank for query results

This has a direct effect on rankings and traffic loss will occur if this is not fixed. We also stress the importance of maintaining an ordered link structure to ensure search engines can crawl all pages of the website.

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Guidelines
Search engines like Google compliment websites with structured internal links with relevant anchor text by increasing their search ranking. Google crawls through web pages through these link structures to gather information on all the pages of the website. Many website developers may hide webpages unintentionally which can affect their site rankings. Below is a diagram of a good link structure, reminiscent of a pyramid. Poor link structures would see breaks in between pages.

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Image names and ALT tags

Analysis
ALT tags are used to give a text form description of an image if the user is unable to load or view an image. The use of alt tags solves many accessibility issues such as visual impairment or bandwidth limitations. The Martin & Co website does not make use of many images on their homepage. Only 4 <img> tags are used on the homepage and 2 have not been assigned ALT tags. The image below is linked from an external source and we do not understand why as this image looks to be part of the Marsh & Co website design. It is common for a website to link to external images if they are advertisement but this is not the case. This image also does not comply to guidelines that suggest a filename should be relevant and informative.
https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/124549/beee8e01-69a8-44c9-b4de14cc6c264f4e.png

Recommendations
Append ALT tags to include a description of the subject.

Guidelines
Image names should be relevant and informative to enhance a search engines ability to understand the subject of the image. ALT tags should contain short keyword focused text to describe the subject. Excessive keyword stuffing may cause search engines to mark your website as spam. All images on a website should be attributed an ALT tag to ensure greater accessibility and SEO value.

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Schema.org for local SEO

Analysis
Structured data can be implemented to help search engines like Google to better understand elements on a webpage. Using Schema, developers are able to apply Schema markup to the HTML to improve the display and information available in search results. Schema can be used to enhance a websites local SEO. Local SEO is a new addition to search engines like Google and is an effective form of online local marketing. It allows businesses to promote their services to local customers using geographic markup. Only some Schema has been applied to the website. Schema provides an extensive list of properties to define different information on a webpage. Many of the properties available have not been utilised.

Recommendations
Apply Schema markup to relevant information on the website. Apply information to the website that is can be processed with Schema (i.e. opening times).

Guidelines
Schema markup should be applied to all relevant information to increase search ranking. Ensure the correct Schema type is applied to coincide with purpose of the website. There are many types that cover a wide variety of web content such as events, places, products, restaurants, organisations, etc.

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Page load speed

Analysis
We used Pingdom Tools to test page loading speed of the Martin & Co homepage (http://www.martinco.com). The following image represents the test results, we carried out this test 3 times and the results were similar on all occasions.

We undertook a further test using Google PageSpeed Insights. The table below details the results with the added inclusion of a scoring system implemented by Google. Platform
Mobile Desktop

Score
60/100 73/100

Speed average
2.51 seconds 2.51 seconds

Recommendations for fixes

Blocking scripts preventing page from rendering quickly. Image sizes slowing page loading. Leverage browser caching (load previous data instead of over the network for faster loading). Image optimisation for page load speed.

Recommendations
The page load times are mostly affected by the use of image. Reducing the image file sizes is recommended to reduce page loading times. This will benefit both desktop and mobile devices, which is a huge benefit to devices with reduced connection speeds (i.e. 2G & 3G) When the webpage is in the process of loading there are certain scripts preventing pages from rendering. Remove these scripts where possible to increase the page load speeds or minify the code.

Guidelines
Page load speeds are a factor in Google's ranking algorithms. A slow speed can devalue the SEO of a website but also disrupts the usability and accessibility of a website. In a study performed by Google they stated that;
Our experiments demonstrate that slowing down the search results page by 100 to 400 milliseconds has a measurable impact on the number of searches per user of -0.2% to -0.6% (averaged over four or six weeks depending on the experiment). That's 0.2% to 0.6% fewer searches for changes under half a second!

They also suggested that users commit to fewer searches when the page speed is severely impacted. 14

Inbound followed links

Analysis
Inbound followed links, also known as backlinks, are incoming links to a website from an external website or webpage. It is said that half of the Google algorithm to rank websites is based on the quality and quantity of inbound followed (external) links; this makes it a very important aspect of SEO. Using Majestic SEOs Site Explorer we found that the Martin & Co website has 1,886,879 external links pointing to the website, which is a large figure. Competitor websites Foxtons.co.uk have a fraction of this amount. Many of these links were from the same source. From our analysis reports we found that anchor text attributed to these links varied from empty anchor text, keywords and brand terms (i.e. Martin & Co). We found that anchor text has been over optimised, this can occur when many links are targeted towards a specific anchor text.

Another concern is some of the inbound followed links were from spammy websites (such as blog comment pages or directories). These links can be purchased in bulk in blind hope of increasing a websites rank on search engines. However, doing this will affect the overall ranking of the site and could cause possible penalisation from Google as they look for the quality of backlinks rather and not just quantity. This is considered a blackhat approach to SEO and is largely frowned upon. In this example below we can clearly see the website is designed for an easy way to link build. http://submitexpress.org.uk/http://%20http://www.contemporaryheaven.us/Real_Estate/Commerc ial_Real_Estate/?p=2

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Recommendations
Look at diversifying the inbound links, the links we discovered were from a limited number of sites, these consisted of a large volume of links, but very limited in scope and range.

Guidelines
An aspect of Google ranking is inbound linking, quantity and quality of these links are important as well as the diversity of these links. It is widely considered that linking with major sites will greatly improve the sites ranking, however this is becoming less prominent as the metric system is far more complex in assessing page rankings but technique should not be quelled.

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Authority and trust of linking root domains

Analysis
Using Mozs domain authority tool we determined the page and domain authority scores, this tool allows us to gain an understanding of how well a webpage will rank in Googles search listings.

Authority Page score

Authority Domain Score

58%

51%

These scores were tested out of a 100-point logarithmic scale. We tested another three competing websites to grab an average of the scores. Scores presented will fluctuate from day to day as the algorithm used to make these calculations is constantly being updated.

Website http://www.foxtons.co.uk/ http://www.winkworth.co.uk/ http://www.belvoirlettings.com/

Page Authority 63/100 60/100 55/100

Domain Authority 55/100 51/100 46/100

Recommendations
Focus on overall improvements to the site to increase the overall rankings, such as; Who are you linking to? o Evaluate page rank and domain monitoring (diversity of domains is key to improving page rank). Who links to your site? o Same rules apply with the quality and diversity of the sites that are connecting to your site. What is the relevance of these links? Social media o We know from evaluating the site that it contains good social media integration. Create social media profiles for other sites such as Google+ and LinkedIn. Quality content o Information that is relevant, interesting and people want to share with others. 17

Guidelines
It is very difficult to influence the authority scores within a website in one aspect. Improving the overall SEO on the site will influence this score. Better linked pages and more links that are relevant will increase the overall score of the site in Googles page rankings. Please refer to inbound followed links for more information on link building. Good social media integration and up to date blogging are also essential to increasing web visibility, creating content that people share and talk about through these social media pathways.

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Conclusion
The Martin & Co website has achieved an SEO score of 65% from our analysis
(This score has been calculated using a mean average from the topics discussed throughout this report)

Our analysis has revealed that the Martin & Co website has made some fair use of SEO practises but gaping holes have been left in areas that are essential to effectiveness of ranking high in search engine results. We have identified the following areas as priority to fix;

1. Keyword focus 2.

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