What is Technical SEO?
SEO is a process of optimizing a website so as to improve its rank in the search engine results pages (SERP) for certain queries. Technical SEO is a sub-set of this broader process and relates to improving the structure and performance of a website so that it can be crawled and indexed more effectively by search engines.
A comprehensive technical SEO audit will consider all aspects of a website’s technical architecture and performance, including but not limited to:
-The structure of the site’s URL architecture
-The use of 301 redirects
-The use of canonical tags
-The XHTML markup of pages
-The use of meta tags (title, description, keyword)
-The use of robots.txt
-The site’s sitemap
-The speed and responsiveness of pages
-The use of AJAX and other technologies
There are a number of tools that can be used to conduct a technical SEO audit, some of which are listed below:
-Google Webmaster Tools: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
-Bing Webmaster Tools: https://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster
-Screaming Frog SEO Spider: https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/
Technical SEO Checklist
A comprehensive technical SEO audit will help you find and fix any underlying issues with your website that could be holding back its performance in search engine results pages (SERPs). Here is a checklist of the key aspects you need to audit:
1. Site structure and organization
2. URL structure
3. Redirects
4. Canonicalization
5. Meta tags and title tags
6. Headings
7. Content
8. Images
1. Site structure and organization: Check your website’s linking structure to make sure it is logical and easy for search engine crawlers to follow. Also, ensure that your site is well organized so that visitors can find what they are looking for easily.
2. URL structure: Review your website’s URL structure to ensure that it is clean and easy to read. Remember, shorter URLs are better for both users and search engines.
3. Redirects: Check that all of your website’s redirects are working properly and pointing to the correct pages. Redirects can be broken for many reasons, so it’s important to make sure they are all working correctly.
4. Canonicalization: Make sure that your website has proper canonicalization in place to avoid duplicate content issues. Duplicate content can hurt your website’s performance in SERPs, so it’s important to make sure all of your content is original and unique.
5. Meta tags and title tags: Review all of your website’s meta tags and title tags to ensure they are accurate and up-to-date. Meta tags help search engines understand what your website is about, so it’s important to make sure they are accurate. Title tags are also important as they are one of the first things users see when they perform a search query.
6. Headings: Check all of your website’s headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to make sure they are accurate and reflect the content on the page. Headings help break up the content on a page and make it easier for users to read, so it’s important to get them right.
7. Content: Review all of the content on your website to make sure it is high quality and keyword rich. High quality content is important for both users and search engines, so make sure yours is up to par. Keyword rich content will help your website rank higher in SERPs for relevant keywords, so be sure to include relevant keywords throughout your site’s content.
8. Images: Make sure all of the images on your website have alt text included with them. Alt text helps search engines understand what an image is about, which can help improve your website’s performance in image search results.
How to Conduct a Technical SEO Audit
Whether you’re looking to improve your website’s ranking in Google searches or simply want to get more traffic to your site, a technical SEO audit can be a valuable tool. Conducting a technical SEO audit involves assessing your website’s structure, content, and performance to identify any areas that could be holding you back from achieving your SEO goals.
In this article, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about how to conduct a technical SEO audit, including what elements to examine and how to interpret your findings. By the end, you’ll have all the information you need to carry out your own technical SEO audit and start making improvements to your site.
What is a Technical SEO Audit?
A technical SEO audit is an assessment of your website with the goal of identifying any potential barriers to achieving high rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs). When conducting a technical SEO audit, you’ll examine three main areas:
Your website’s structure, including its navigation, link structure, and URL architecture
Your website’s content, including its keyword targeting and on-page optimization
Your website’s performance, including its speed, mobile-friendliness, and indexation
Why Conduct a Technical SEO Audit?
There are many benefits of conducting a technical SEO audit. Perhaps the most obvious is that it can help you identify any areas of your website that need improvement in order to rank higher in SERPs. But a technical SEO audit can also help you:
Get more traffic to your site: By improving your website’s ranking in SERPs, you can get more people clicking through to your site from organic search results.
Save money on paid advertising: If you’re running a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign, improving your organic ranking can help you reduce your dependence on paid ads and ultimately save you money.
Make better use of your resources: A technical SEO audit can help you prioritize your efforts by identifying the areas of your website that will have the biggest impact on your SEO.
How to Conduct a Technical SEO Audit
Now that we’ve answered the question “what is a technical SEO audit?” it’s time to dive into how to conduct one. Here are the steps you need to take:
1. Examine Your Website Structure
When assessing your website’s structure during a technical SEO audit, there are three main elements you should look at:
Navigation: Is your navigation easy to use? Do all of the pages on your website appear in the navigation menu? Are there any broken links?
Link Structure: Do all of the links on your website work? Are there any broken links? Do all of the links lead to relevant pages?
URL Structure: Are all of your URLs well-formed? Do they include keywords? Are they easy to read?
2. Evaluate Your Website Content
The next step in conducting a technical SEO audit is evaluating your website content. When doing so, there are two main aspects you should focus on:
Keyword Targeting: Are you using the right keywords on your website? Are those keywords present in important elements like titles and meta descriptions?
On-Page Optimization: Have you optimized all of the content on your webpages for search engines? This includes things like using proper title tags, header tags, and meta descriptions.
3. Analyze Your Website Performance
Finally, when conducting a technical SEO audit, you need to assess your website’s performance. This includes looking at factors like:
Speed: Is your website fast enough? You can check your page speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or Pingdom Tools.
Mobile-Friendliness: Is your website mobile-friendly? You can test this using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool.
Indexation: Are all of the pages on your website properly indexed by search engines? You can check this using Google Search Console.
Wrapping Up
A technical SEO audit is a valuable tool for anyone looking to improve their website’s ranking in SERPs or get more traffic from organic search results. By examining factors like your website structure, content, and performance, you can identify any areas that need improvement and make changes accordingly.
Tools for Technical SEO Audits
If you want to improve your website’s ranking in search engine results pages, you can take advice from Incrementors New Jersey technical SEO agency. This type of audit analyzes your website’s code and structure to identify any potential issues that could be holding back its performance.
There are a number of tools available that can help you carry out a technical SEO audit. Here are some of the most popular:
1. Google Search Console: This free tool from Google provides insights into how your website is performing in search results. It can help you identify errors that are affecting your site’s ranking and also provides data on the keywords that people are using to find your site.
2. Screaming Frog: This desktop program crawls through your website’s code and identifies any issues, such as broken links or duplicate content. The free version allows you to crawl up to 500 URLs, while the paid-for version has no limit.
3. GTmetrix: This tool tests your website’s page speed and provides recommendations on how to improve it. Page speed is an important factor in search engine ranking, so this is a valuable tool for any technical SEO audit.
4. W3C Markup Validation Service: This free online tool checks your website’s code for any errors according to W3C standards. Ensuring your code is error-free is important for both SEO and website users.
5. Xenu Link Sleuth: This free desktop program scans your website for broken links. Broken links can damage your site’s ranking, so it’s important to fix them as soon as possible.
By using these tools, you can carry out a comprehensive technical SEO audit of your website and identify any areas that need improvement.
Technical SEO Audit Report Template
Any SEO audit worth its salt will cover a wide range of technical details. This can make it tough to know where to start, or even what questions to ask.
That’s why we’ve put together this comprehensive technical SEO audit report template. By following the instructions below, you can be sure that you’re covering all of the important bases.
1. Check for Indexing Issues
The first step is to check whether or not your site is being properly indexed by search engines. You can do this by using a tool like Google Search Console.
If you see any errors, it’s important to fix them as soon as possible. Otherwise, your site may not be appearing in search results, which will obviously have a negative impact on your traffic levels.
2. Analyze Your Site’s Structure
Next, you’ll want to take a look at your site’s structure. This includes things like your URL structure, title tags, and meta descriptions.
Your goal here is to make sure that your site is easy for both users and search engines to navigate. If there are any problems, they need to be fixed right away.
3. Evaluate Your Site’s Content
Your site’s content is obviously a very important part of your SEO strategy. As such, it’s important to auditing it on a regular basis.
First, you’ll want to make sure that all of your content is high-quality and keyword-rich. If it isn’t, you’ll need to either revise it or remove it altogether.
Second, you’ll want to check for duplicate content. This can hurt your SEO efforts, so it’s important to eliminate any duplicates that you find.
4. Check Your Server Settings
Your server settings can have a big impact on your SEO efforts. That’s why it’s important to check them on a regular basis and make sure that everything is configured correctly.
In particular, you’ll want to pay attention to your .htaccess file and make sure that it’s set up correctly. If it isn’t, it could be causing problems with your website’s performance.
5. Analyze Your Inbound Links
Your inbound links are another important part of your SEO strategy. That’s why you need to regularly analyze them and make sure that they’re high-quality and relevant to your site.
If you find any low-quality or irrelevant links, you’ll need to either remove them or disavow them using Google Search Console. Otherwise, they could hurt your SEO efforts.
Conclusion
Technical SEO is a process that helps improve the visibility and ranking of a website in search engine results pages (SERPs). By improving the website’s technical aspects, such as site speed and structure, search engines can better crawl and index the site, which can lead to higher rankings and increased traffic.
A technical SEO audit is a comprehensive assessment of a website’s technical SEO health. The audit checks for common technical SEO issues that can impact a website’s visibility and ranking in SERPs. By identifying and fixing these issues, a website can improve its chances of ranking higher in search results.
There are many tools available to help with conducting a technical SEO audit. Some of these tools are free, while others are paid. The most important thing is to choose a tool that best suits your needs.
A technical SEO audit report template can be very helpful in organizing and documenting the results of your audit. By using a template, you can ensure that all the important information is included in your report.
Overall, a technical SEO audit is a valuable process that can help improve the visibility and ranking of a website. By identifying and fixing common technical SEO issues, a website can improve its chances of ranking higher in search results.
Author Bio:
Andre Oentoro is the manager and Head of Growth of Incrementors, a company that assists clients in expanding their online businesses by bringing in more customers, Incrementors is an Award-Winning Digital Marketing Agency lead, and sales. Online marketing solutions that are specifically adapted to the demands of the clients are the Incrementors’ area of expertise.
