When you hear “search engine optimization” (SEO), you probably think of website content. But there’s a lot more to SEO than just writing good content.
Technical SEO is all about making sure your website is “crawlable” and gets indexed by search engine bots. This helps your site show up in relevant search results.
In this Blog, we’ll dive into the details of technical SEO audits. By the end, you’ll have a solid grasp on how to make your website more search engine-friendly.
What is a Technical SEO Audit?
A technical SEO audit checks your website’s on-page elements and behind-the-scenes code to ensure search engines can index it properly. It also makes sure your site follows best practices for optimization, like:
– Website structure and organization
– Page speed optimization
– Canonicalization
– Mobile usability
– Structured data markup
– Crawling and indexing issues
While on-page optimization focuses on content, a technical SEO audit digs into the technical aspects like page speed and server response time.
Why Are Technical SEO Audits Important?
Keywords, backlinks, and great content are all crucial, but technical SEO ensures your content is discovered, understood, and properly indexed by search engines. Regular audits help you catch and fix errors quickly, which can lead to better search engine rankings.
But remember, a well-rounded SEO strategy includes more than just technical audits. Other important factors are:
– On-page SEO services: Optimize page titles, meta descriptions, and content for better visibility.
– Local SEO: Stand out in local searches and attract nearby customers.
– Link Building: Create content that earns links and engage in outreach.
– Franchise SEO: Ensure brand consistency and help individual locations rank.
– Content Creation: Produce valuable content to drive organic traffic.
Technical SEO audits often come with additional services because identifying opportunities is just the first step. Implementing the recommendations is what truly makes a difference. According to Steve Hoenig, First97Days’ SEO Engineer, technical SEO audits should be done regularly:
– General site maintenance: Weekly
– Site redesigns and migrations: Daily
– Monitoring critical errors in real-time: Daily
Hoenig’s team usually runs weekly crawls of client websites and combines this data with insights from Google Search Console.
Steps to Performing a Technical SEO Audit
Conducting a technical site audit involves several steps:
1. Identify Website Structure – Make sure your website is well-organized and easy to navigate for both users and search engines. Key elements include URL structure, navigation and breadcrumbs, internal linking, categories and tags, and hierarchy and siloing.
2. Analyze Crawled Content – Use tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Ahrefs, and Semrush to find and fix content issues such as duplicate content, thin content, 404 errors, and redirects.
3. Check for Server Performance Issues – Assess server response time, uptime and downtime, and use caching and compression techniques to improve load times.
4. Evaluate Robots and Sitemaps – Optimize your robots.txt file and XML sitemap to guide bots through your site effectively.
5. Test Keywords and Rankings- Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz Pro to monitor your keyword rankings and assess your website’s performance.
6. Check HTML Markup and Titles- Ensure proper nesting and structuring of page content, create relevant and concise titles, and add appropriate meta tags.
7. Monitor Inbound and Outbound Links – Check for dead or broken links and assess the quality of your inbound and outbound links.
8. Review Content Quality and SEO Features – Ensure your content is valuable, relevant, and optimized for SEO, focusing on factors like writing quality, readability, and keyword optimization.
9. Take Action Based on Findings – Implement changes based on your audit findings, prioritizing actions that align with your website’s goals and address user needs.
Find and Fix SEO Issues with First97Days
First97Days Internet Marketing Agency offers comprehensive technical SEO audit services. They also provide backlink analysis, site speed optimization, and everything else you need to set your website up for success.
