Technical SEO refers to the behind-the-scenes aspects of a website that affect its search engine rankings. A technical SEO audit is essential for businesses looking to improve their search engine visibility and drive traffic to their website.
This blog post will provide an overview of what a technical SEO audit entails and offer tips for conducting a successful audit.
What Is It?
It comprehensively analyzes a website’s technical aspects, including its structure, code, and server configuration. A technical SEO audit aims to identify any issues hindering a website’s search engine performance and to provide recommendations for improving those issues.
How To Conduct A Technical SEO Audit
There are several steps to conducting an SEO audit:
- Identify your goals: Before you begin your audit, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of your goals. It includes improving your search engine rankings, increasing website traffic, or improving user experience. Identifying your goals will help you focus your audit and prioritize any issues.
- Conduct a site crawl: A site crawl is a process in which a program or tool scans a website and identifies any technical issues or errors. It may include identifying broken links, duplicate content, or other problems affecting a website’s search engine performance.
- Analyze your site’s structure and architecture: The design and architecture of a website play a significant role in its search engine performance. During a technical SEO audit, it’s essential to analyze the structure and architecture of a website to ensure proper organization in a way that is easy for search engines to understand. It may include reviewing the website’s navigation, URLs, and sitemap.
- Review the website’s code: The code of a website, including its HTML and CSS, can also impact its search engine performance. During a technical SEO audit, it’s essential to review the website’s code to ensure that it is free of errors and follows best practices for SEO.
- Analyze the website’s server configuration: The website’s hosting server can also impact its search engine performance. During a technical SEO audit, it’s essential to review the server configuration to ensure it is optimized for SEO. It may include considering factors such as the server’s location, speed, and uptime.
Common Technical SEO Issues And How To Fix Them
During a technical SEO audit, several common issues may be identified for you to address:
- Broken links: Broken links, also known as dead links, are links on a website that lead to pages that no longer exist or have moved. These links can negatively impact a website’s search engine performance and should be fixed. To fix broken links, you can use a tool such as Screaming Frog to identify the broken links on your website and update or remove them.
- Duplicate content: Duplicate content is identical or similar to other pages or websites. It can confuse search engines and negatively impact a website’s search engine performance. To fix duplicate content issues, you can use a tool such as Siteliner. It will identify the duplicate content on your website and either remove it or use canonical tags to specify the source of the content.
- Slow page load times: Page load times can affect a website’s search engine performance and user experience. To improve page load times, you can optimize images, minify code, and use a content delivery network (CDN) to deliver content to users faster.
A technical SEO audit is crucial for businesses looking to improve their search engine performance and drive more traffic to their website. By comprehensively analyzing a website’s technical aspects and addressing any identified issues, businesses can improve their search engine rankings, increase website traffic, and ultimately drive more conversions and sales.
If you’re looking for help with SEO for your business, contact us today to schedule a Free Strategy Call.