SEO analysis tools can offer valuable insights into your website’s performance, but it’s crucial to sift through their findings with a discerning eye. We previously evaluated SEOptimer, but based on a new evaluation, using rainbowplumbingnj.com, here’s a breakdown of the results – from the good to the misleading.

The tool SEO audit tool can be found at www.seoptimer.com but you can view the report as a PDF here.

Our findings are below, organized in a Poor, Fair, OK, Great scale so you can quickly see what the tool does well, and what it does poorly.

Poor

• Home Page Analysis: Only evaluates the homepage, ignoring site depth.
• Title Tag Length: Warns for titles over 70 characters, a debatable standard.
• Meta Description Tag Length: Flags descriptions over 160 characters, misunderstanding their SEO impact.
• Keyword Identification: Fails to accurately identify meaningful keywords, mistaking common words for keywords.
• Keyword Phrases: Incorrectly identifies nonsensical phrases as targeted keywords.
• HTTPS Redirect Check: Incorrectly suggests the site doesn’t redirect to HTTPS.
• Keyword Ranking Check: Questions the relevance of chosen keywords for ranking.
• Backlink Summary: Lacks transparency and reliability in its backlink data.
• Iframes: Misjudges the use of iframes, which can be beneficial in some contexts.
• Social Section: Misinterprets the impact of social media elements on SEO performance.

Fair

• Analytics Tool: Questions the absence of popular analytics tools, not recognizing the validity of alternatives.

OK

• Hreflang Usage: Acknowledges hreflang tags, though they’re not a major ranking factor.
• Text Content Volume: Accurately assesses the site’s word count.
• Alt Attributes: Correctly flags missing alt attributes on images.
• Schema.org Structured Data: Recognizes the presence and importance of structured data.
• Top Backlinks: Includes backlink analysis but overestimates the value of certain links.
• Google Page Speed: Incorporates Google’s page speed insights, with a reminder of the universal challenge in achieving high scores.
• Performance Stats: Provides detailed performance metrics, though they may be too technical for non-experts.

Great

• Report Layout: Offers a well-organized layout with detailed expandable sections.
• Top Anchors by Backlinks: Highlights the quality of anchor text in backlinks.
• Usability Report: Provides valuable insights into usability, often overlooked in SEO.
• Local SEO: Brief but crucial section on local SEO elements.
• Spiderweb Graph: Visually represents the site’s strengths and weaknesses effectively.

This evaluation serves as a reminder that while automated SEO tools can guide improvements, their recommendations should be taken with a grain of caution and balanced with professional SEO advice.