Your wish to be 1st on Search Engine does not involve any magic tricks. You just have to follow a simple but needed recipe. Get your website technically fine, get a relevant content framework and get links.
The purpose of this article is to focus on the technical part of your website. I am sure you have written tons of content and get plenty of quality links already. But what about your website ? Is it safe ? Is it suffering any technical issue that stops or slows your progression down ?
I’ve been doing SEO for almost 13 years now and I can guarantee you that I’ve never seen any website technically safe. And I don’t want yours to fall into the rabbit hole too. This article is written with an intent to develop how to conduct a technical seo audit.
What is a technical seo audit ?
A technical seo audit refers to the process of checking technical parts of your website that could limit, or not, its health. In plan speak, a technical seo audit is done to clarify whether your website is compatible with Search Engine guidelines or not.
Why a technical seo audit is important ?
A technical SEO audit is an important component of keeping your SEO strategy up to date. By ignoring a technical audit, you leave yourself in a state of uncertainty about the performance of your semantic search strategy
Why a technical seo audit is important ?
Website structure optimization: A technical SEO audit helps identify any technical issues that could negatively impact the structure of your website and its ability to rank in search engine results.
Improving user experience: Technical issues, such as slow page speed or broken links, can negatively affect a user’s experience on your website. By identifying and fixing these issues, a technical SEO audit can improve user experience and keep visitors on your site longer.
Increased visibility: By identifying and fixing technical issues that may be hindering your website’s visibility in search results, a technical SEO audit can help improve your search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic to your site.
Staying up-to-date with search engine algorithms: Search engines continually update their algorithms, and a technical SEO audit can help ensure that your website is optimized for the latest changes.
Detecting and fixing crawl errors: A technical SEO audit can help identify any crawl errors that may be preventing search engines from properly indexing your site, and give you the tools to fix these issues.
When should you conduct a technical seo audit ?
To conduct such an audit may take place for several events :
- When you want / need to migrate your website into a more fresh one
- When your ranking are going down
- When your income / leads are going down
- When you need to ensure yourself everything is ok with your website
Is it better to conduct a technical seo audit on your own or should you hire an SEO ?
You are free to undertake a technical audit of your website by yourself. However, you will not be able to make the right observations, dissect your pages correctly and measure what is a defect, a problem or nothing at all. From your observation you will only draw the wrong conclusions that will lead you to optimizations that at best will have no effect, at worst will further damage the stability of your website.
To hire an SEO consultant to perform this audit is a much wiser choice. The experience acquired by the SEO consultant gives him a certain sense of observation and criticism that can only be beneficial for the future.
It is also important to take into consideration that a technical audit requires time that you may not have. By hiring an SEO consultant you will free up that time to do what you do best, or what is more relevant to you.
And as they say: time is money. What you will invest on the SEO consultant will be quickly paid back by the accuracy of the analysis he will deliver.
What tools are used to conduct a technical seo audit ?
I’m not the kind of SEO consultant who works with several tools. I tend to think that the less we give credit to SEO tools, the more we keep our free will. But, I’d be a liar if I told you I don’t use them either.
In my opinion, I’d say there is 3 tools needed to perform such a technical audit :
- A crawler tool like Screaming Frog
- A ranking analysis tool like Semrush
- A backlinks analysis tool like Ahref (but I prefer a more French one called Babbar)
Of course, add to these 3, the inevitable Google Search Console and Google Analytics… oops sorry, I meant GA4.
How to conduct a technical seo audit ?
Now is the time to get into the substance, how to conduct a technical seo audit ? What are the step within such analysis ? Here is what I consider the most important parts of a technical audit of a website.
I repeat, this is MY way, free to you to add or skip one of those.
Notice that I intentionally won’t dig into the detail step here, most relevant only. My idea is that you get a broad awareness of how a technical seo audit may be performed.
Step 1 – Does search engine crawl your website ?
I insist on this first step. This is the technical health of your website we are talking about right now. We can’t neglect the basics. You may have the most beautiful website on the planet, the greatest content of all time, the more sophisticated UX, if your pages cannot be crawled by search engines, all your efforts are vanished.
Are your url returning 200 status code ?
Here we will focus on whether or not your URL’s are returning error status code. Status code like 404 or 500 error server are common issues that do not fit in what it’s called “a healthy website”. I won’t bring in to the table the question of 301 because Search Engine seem to take them into account with a much more… latence.
Are your url blocked in your robots.txt file ?
We will also take the time to look at your robots.txt files. To check whether or not you have a directive blocking the crawl of some important pages of your website. It’s often surprising to see that our crawl issues are gathered within the robots.txt file.
Are all your url listed in a XML sitemap file ?
A sitemap is a file in which you give information about the pages, videos and other files on your site, and in which you indicate the relationships between these files. Search engines such as Google read this file to more efficiently crawl your site.
If a particular page is not listed in, it may be possible she doesn’t rank or being crawled.
Step 2 – Are your URL’s indexed ?
Now that we have a more overall view of the level of crawl of your pages, we can focus on another element that is often overlooked, the level of indexation.
If you don’t know it yet, there are two indexes at Google, the first one is used to gather all crawled pages without taking into account their qualities. As for the second one, it is used as a directory of URLs that meet the different technical and semantic requirements of search engines.
This last index is what we are faced with every time we search on Google or any other search engine.
In our intent to conduct a technical audit of your website, it is common sense to look at the pages that are indexed or not.
Notice that a URL that is not indexed cannot rank for the search queries and entities we are purchasing.
So what kind of observation could we conduct ?
The site: command
Site: is a command that enables you to check the number of indexed pages in the Google search engine of any site and see how it is displayed in search results. The correct structure of the command looks as follows: site:example.com. It is worth adding that the site: command works well for small websites. The results for websites with thousands of pages may not be completely accurate, which is why it is worth consulting additional tools to verify the total number of pages.
Are your URL indexed by robots meta tag and X-robots-tag ?
A robots meta tag is an HTML snippet that tells search engine robots what they can and cannot do on a certain page. It lets you control crawling, indexing and how information from that page is displayed in the search results. It’s placed into the section of a webpage.
The robots meta tag is fine for implementing noindex directives on HTML pages here and there. But what if you want to prevent search engines from indexing files such as images or PDFs? This is when x-robots-tags come into play.
The X-Robots-Tag is an HTTP header sent from a web server. Unlike the meta robots tag, it isn’t placed in the HTML of the page
Step 3 – Is your website secure ?
Once again, I will dig with you into a technical audit part that is hugely forgotten. The security of your website. far from the idea of transforming your site into a fortress, it remains in my opinion very important to evaluate two three security aspects:
- Is your site accessible from the https protocol ?
- Does your site support HSTS ?
- Is your site protected from malware and other hacking attempts ?
Step 4 – Core Web Vitals
If you didn’t know it yet, in 2021 Google raised its level of consideration for URL loading speed (but also usability) by pushing the Core Web Vitals. A step forward that came on top of the « old and forgotten » Caffeine update of 2009.
Obviously, the technical audit of your site also includes this analysis of the Core Web Vitals. In the program we have what?
LCP evaluation
The LCP indicator measures the speed and loading time of the largest content element of a site (text block, image or video). A good LCP index should not be more than 2.5 seconds
CLS rating
This score indicates if the stability and display of a page are visually stable. If the page moves in the middle of playback or if billboards display late or if a widget is incorrectly sized, the CLS score will change
FID Evaluation
The First Input Delay indicator measures the responsiveness of a web page. Simply put, FID is an index that measures the elapsed time of a user’s interactions on a page. (when he clicks on a button for example)
The Google Search Console tool, if you already have it installed, gives you the scores related to the Core Web Vitals. If you want to optimize the loading speed of your URLs and their degree of interactivity, a report can be downloaded from the tool.
During this phase, priority will always be given to the most important pages of your site. In other words, news and in-depth pages such as the video clips are excluded.
Step 5 – Is your website mobile friendly ?
Auditing the mobile-friendliness of a website is important because a significant proportion of internet traffic comes from mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. In order to provide a positive user experience to these users and to rank well in mobile search results, it is crucial that a website is optimized for mobile devices.
A mobile-friendly website should have a responsive design that adjusts to the size of the device’s screen and provides an optimal viewing experience, including easy navigation and readable text. A mobile-friendly website should also load quickly on mobile devices, as slow loading times can negatively impact user experience and lead to high bounce rates.
If a website is not mobile-friendly, it can result in a poor user experience for mobile users, leading to high bounce rates and low engagement. Additionally, search engines such as Google have stated that mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor for mobile search results, so a non-mobile-friendly website may rank lower in mobile search results, leading to fewer organic mobile visits.
In conclusion, auditing the mobile-friendliness of a website is important because it can directly impact the user experience and search engine visibility of the website on mobile devices, which are becoming increasingly important in today’s digital landscape.
here we will try to answer to 2 main questions :
Prefence responsive web design
Responsive web design is an approach that you can take to ensure your website provides an optimal viewing and interaction experience for users across different devices, screen sizes, and orientations.
With responsive design, you can use CSS media queries, a flexible grid-based layout, and other techniques to adjust your website’s appearance and behavior based on the size and orientation of the user’s device screen.
This is a preferred method for building websites as it gives you better user experience, improved accessibility, and increased flexibility in terms of device compatibility. Furthermore, using responsive design often results in a lower cost and better maintainability compared to building separate websites for different devices.
Mobile content and links match desktop site
When you are using responsive web design, it’s crucial that you ensure the content and links on your mobile version match those on the desktop version. Doing this helps to maintain consistency in the user experience, no matter what device is being used.
By having the same content and links on both versions, you will make it easier for users to find what they need and access the information they’re seeking. This will also avoid confusion or frustration that could be caused by missing or different content or links on different devices. Making sure your mobile content and links match your desktop site is an essential part of a successful responsive web design strategy.
Step 6 – Structured data and meta
Auditing structured data, also known as schema markup, is important in an SEO audit because it can directly impact how your website is presented in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Structured data provides search engines with additional information about the content of your page, such as its type, author, date of publication, and more. This information can then be used to create rich snippets in search results, which can improve the visibility and click-through rate of your website.
Having accurate and up-to-date structured data can also improve chances of being eligible for enhanced search features, such as featured snippets, voice answers, and knowledge panels. This can increase the chances of your website appearing at the top of search results, which can drive more organic traffic and improve your website’s overall search engine visibility.
On the other hand, incorrect or missing structured data can lead to errors in how a website is displayed in search results, which can negatively impact its search engine visibility and user experience. This is why auditing structured data is an important part of an SEO audit, as it helps to ensure that the website is using structured data effectively to improve its search engine visibility and user experience.
Step 7 – Navigation
Auditing the navigation in your website focuses on making sure that all internal links and external links are crawlable. In any case it is in my opinion the priority of such an observation. It also answer to these 2 questions specific to ecommerce website :
- Does faceted navigation lead to duplicate content ?
- Are Paginated pages clearly linked ?
I recommend a deeper investigation by analyzing whether or not :
Your pages include too many links
Having too many links on your page can negatively affect the user experience. It can make your page look cluttered and overwhelming, making it hard for users to find what they need. Excessive links can also slow down the page load time and make navigation confusing for users.
To improve the user experience, it’s important that you limit the number of links on your page and consider the placement and labeling of your links carefully. It’s also a good idea for you to prioritize the most important links and group related links together to make them easier to find. By reducing the number of links and organizing them effectively, you can create a more user-friendly page and improve the overall experience for your users.
Internal and external links use descriptive anchor text
Using descriptive anchor text for your internal and external links is a crucial aspect of web design. Descriptive anchor text gives context and information about the linked content, helping users understand where they will be taken if they click on the link.
This also helps search engines understand the context and relevance of the linked content, improving your website’s search engine optimization (SEO). When writing anchor text, make sure to use descriptive, concise, and relevant language that accurately represents the content being linked to.
Avoid using generic or vague anchor text, like « click here, » as it doesn’t provide any useful information about the linked content. By using descriptive anchor text for both your internal and external links, you can enhance the user experience and improve the search engine visibility of your website.
Your pages don’t link to 404 pages
Linking to 404 pages, or pages that don’t exist, can be frustrating for users and negatively impact the user experience. It can also harm the credibility of your website and affect your search engine rankings.
To avoid this, it’s important that you regularly check your links to make sure they are working and pointing to the correct pages. You can use tools, such as broken link checkers, to make this process easier and help you identify and fix any broken links.
You can also set up custom 404 pages that provide helpful information and alternative links to help users find what they’re looking for. By avoiding linking to 404 pages and providing a good user experience, you can help maintain the credibility and reputation of your website.
Step 8 – Content
Content is the most important element of your website. Sorry I rephrase it… Content is the most important element for your BRAND !
Are your content entities-targeted ?
When you target your content towards entities, you can improve your search engine optimization (SEO) and provide more relevant and valuable information to your users.
For instance, by creating content about a specific product or brand, you can establish your website as a reliable source of information and increase its visibility in search results for related keywords. This can also help you build trust with potential customers and make your website a top choice when they search for information on that entity.
By targeting your content towards entities, you also help search engines understand the context and relevance of your content. You can do this by including entity-specific keywords, descriptions, and structured data in your content. This can improve the visibility of your content in search results for related queries, increasing the chances of your website being found by users.
In summary, targeting your content towards entities is a useful strategy for enhancing both your SEO and user experience, by providing more relevant and valuable content that is easily discoverable in search results.
Does your content respect Google’s guidelines ?
it’s important to ensure that your content complies with Google’s Quality Guidelines. The guidelines outline the principles that Google uses to evaluate the quality of web content and ensure that it provides a positive user experience.
Violating Google’s Quality Guidelines can result in penalties that decrease your website’s visibility in search results, which can have a negative impact on your organic traffic and search engine rankings.
Here are some common violations of Google’s Quality Guidelines:
- Duplicate content: Google prefers unique, original content and may penalize websites that publish duplicate content.
- Spam: Using tactics such as keyword stuffing, hidden text, or manipulative links can be seen as spammy and can result in penalties.
- Thin or low-quality content: Websites with insufficient or low-quality content may be penalized by Google.
- Misleading or deceptive content: Google may penalize websites that publish false or misleading information, or use tactics like cloaking or doorway pages to manipulate search results.
By ensuring that your content complies with Google’s Quality Guidelines, you can avoid penalties and improve your website’s visibility and performance in search results. This can help drive more organic traffic to your website and increase its credibility and authority in your niche.
Step 9 – Images
I won’t say auditing your images is a waste of time because once they are all optimized, images can bring you a lot of traffic. The good one of course. Yet, I consider auditing images in your website is more like an option.
That said, I alway put it into my technical audit, images audit. Well, what should we care about when auditing your images ? First of all, are they listed in a sitemap.xml ? As you may know a sitemap.xml is not limited to URL listing. It can also be used for images and videos listing.
Once we know whether your images exist in a dedicated sitemap, we can focus on their height and width. it is common to find images whose dimensions are not strictly indicated in the HTML code.
We also focus on whether your images contain descriptive alt attributes, filenames and titles. If there are parts of your images to optimize first it is these.
Step 10 – videos
This step is not a requirement. For the sole reason that a large number of websites don’t use video. Here are what we are looking for when auditing videos on website :
- Video is available on a public, indexable page
- Video is wrapped within an appropriate HTML tag
- Video is included in video sitemap
- Video schema markup
Step 11 – Backlinks
Backlinks, no need to define them again, I think you know how important they are for your site. They give authority and popularity to your pages. But they can also make them sink into the abyss of search engines.
For this part of the audit, you must be meticulous and not throw yourself into metrics, overrated and useless data.
I refer here to TF (Trust Flow) and CF (Citation Flow) which are metrics invented by companies known to SEOs to sell their solutions.
For our audit question, we will analyze the profile of backlinks received, are they links from forums, blogs, directories, free press, specialized etc.. This is what a link profile is. The more you have a variety of origins, the better.
We will also analyze the semantic similarity between your pages and those of external sites. The more similarity there is between two pages, the better.
We can also analyze the velocity of backlinks. Do you receive backlinks regularly or not ? A page that receives 1 link per month for 1 year will have more value in the eyes of search engines than a page receiving 12 links over 1 month and nothing the rest of the year.
What expect after a technical seo audit is conducted ?
After a technical SEO audit is conducted, you can expect a comprehensive report that outlines any technical issues that could be impacting your website’s visibility in search engines. This report might cover topics such as website structure, crawlability, indexability, mobile optimization, page speed, and broken links, among others.
Based on the findings of the audit, you will have a better understanding of what needs to be done to improve your website’s technical SEO and increase its visibility in search results. You should expect specific recommendations and actionable steps to address any identified issues, which will help to improve your website’s ranking and drive more organic traffic.
In addition to highlighting technical issues, the technical SEO audit report should also provide insights into how these issues are affecting your website’s search engine performance. This may include data and metrics related to your website’s organic traffic, search engine rankings, keyword performance, and other relevant KPIs.
The report should be easy to understand and include clear explanations of the technical concepts involved, so you can understand the significance of each issue and why it needs to be addressed.
Moreover, the report should be prioritized, meaning that the most critical issues should be addressed first, as they are likely having the greatest impact on your website’s visibility and performance.
Additionally, the report should provide long-term solutions and not just quick fixes, ensuring that the issues are fully resolved and do not arise again in the future.
In conclusion, a well-conducted technical SEO audit report should provide you with a comprehensive understanding of your website’s technical SEO health and provide actionable steps to improve it.