(Entry was posted by David Q. Baughier on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 02/18/2021).

Making sure my site doesn`t hit any stumbling blocks

In the military we have something called a spot check. It is when we inspect some aspect of what we are supposed to be doing correctly to make sure it is done, and if not, that we can correct it and attempt to prevent bad things from happening in the future.In the context of SEO, is there a phrase or a service sort of like a spot check or tune up where someone who knows what they are doing can look at a wordpress site and make sure everything is updated, running smoothly, and doing the procedural things to make sure nothing is hindering it from ranking?My host guy who is good at what he does when he does it has been distracted for many months (not his primary job) and I`m not confident that my site is running as optimally as possible. I`m not referring to on page SEO or anything like that, I`ve got those basics down. Just looking to make sure my site doesn`t hit any stumbling blocks. Sitemap/schema/etc working properly.Any recommendations for services?

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YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

George G.: https://gtmetrix.comhttps://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/...run your site trough those tools. they ll give you an idea of what is the current state of things and what could be improved.4.6GTmetrixComputers & Internet Website
David Q. Baughier: George G. Got a 73, uh oh.
Jeffrey M MacIntyre: In addition to the above recommendations, an â€œSEO Auditâ€ is the term I would use. Many tools out there can generate such a report for your site. Since youâ€™re a Vet - and so am I - just private message me your site url - Iâ€™ll run and send you an SEO audit report with the tools I use in my digital marketing agency - on the house.
Richard Hearne: At a very high level, signing up to a Google Search Console account is probably one of the best actions if your main concern in Google Search. They will show you a lot of debugging data based on what their crawler encounters.
David Q. Baughier: Richard Hearne Thank you, I have Google Search Console. Now, using it to the fullest, that`s another issue.
Paul David: Still in the development phase, but here is a site that is free and always will be https://webtools-abc.xyz/
Doc Sheldon: It depends on what your comfort level is in spotting issues, and then in fixing those you may find, David. If you feel fairly comfortable, then some of the free tools can help you spot problems. gtmetrix.com and webpagetest.org are two.I wouldn`t suggest a full audit, until you determine whether or not your site has enough issues to warrant the cost. We do a Snapshot audit for new clients, just to determine whether a full audit is even warranted. If you want to do it yourself, you can find a list of the checkpoints here: https://intrinsicvalueseo.com/our-services/ivseo-snapshot/ . Or DM me and I`ll be glad to give you a quote... fellow veteran`s discount. 0WebpagetestInformation Technology Company4.6GTmetrixComputers & Internet Website
Kristen Hansen Lowrey: Audit.
Ammon Johns: Spot check isn`t just a military term, and at least in the UK is widely known as the common term for a quick inspection, especially one not announced beforehand - i.e. an on-the-spot-check.Specific to websites, the slang term is often `benchmarking`, while the formal and service term is `an audit`. Just about any company that offers SEO or any kind of website tune-up services will have an `audit` process. It is often the equivalent of when a mechanic looks over your car, sucking his teeth, and making noises that let you know he`s going to present you with a whole list of things he needs or advises to do, along with a quote for the parts and service to do it all.In that all too human way things work out, usually a `free audit` will cost you a lot more than a paid one, since the former obviously intends to make their money somewhere on all the free time on audit based pitches that went nowhere. The paid audits don`t have losses to recoup, since they are not using freebie loss-leader audit strategies.
Jeff Ferguson: I like your thinking! As a few have pointed out, an Audit is one form of this; however, based on your description, it sounds like one of the major SEO tools out there (Ahrefs, Moz, semrush, etc.) would come in handy for a consistent monitoring of the website for issues. They usually do a scan once a week and report back on anything of note, allowing you to review, prioritize, etc.