The traffic volume from Google, Bing, and Yahoo search engines depends on the quality of site optimization. Without optimization, he will not be able to get on the first page of organic issuance (in the TOP-10), which takes most of the clicks. Conducting an SEO audit of the website yourself makes it easy to detect critical errors that hinder promotion and perform a fix, learn how to do one here.
How to find SEO errors: step-by-step instructions
Factors that affect the ranking in search engines (at what position to show the site for specific key phrases) are conditionally present into:
- technical
- content
- domain
- reference
- behavioral.
It is easiest to identify the first two categories. Below is a brief website SEO audit checklist of a site that will objectively reflect the current situation.
Site Indexing
The first thing to find out is whether the site is indexed at all. To check, you need to enter in the search, for example, Google the command “site: site name”. It gives the total number of pages that are available for impressions. At first, it is enough to make sure that the fact of indexing is itself (that is, that the number of pages in the search engine database is greater than zero).
You should also check for:
- robots.txt file. It indicates the service directories and files that need to be out from the search robot. You can find it by entering the command “site name / robots.txt” into the address bar of the browser.
- sitemap.xml file. Contains links to promoted pages. Ideally, their number in it should match the results of the indexing check. The file that opens most often by the command “site name / sitemap.xml”.
This is the simplest, available without special services. If there is a desire to figure out how to do an SEO site audit on your own with an extended result, you will have to master a couple of online resources.
Relevance Map To Perform a Website SEO Audit
The ideal picture of promotion – only promoted pages are in the search. At the same time, each one has 3-7 requests that match the content. In this case, the owner understands which key phrases work and which do not. This is the relevance map, according to which several more criteria to check.
Important details:
- Site structure. Firstly, it is logical, with a consistent nesting of catalogs, and product cards, if we are talking about an online store or a product catalog.
- NC links. Secondly, they are up in a form that is understandable to people so that the visitor clearly understands where he is present inside the site. For example, “site name/contacts” is the contact page.
- Meta tag optimization. Finally, we are talking about data for search results snippets (Title, Description). They use relevant key phrases and calls to visit the site.
In addition to the above, it is obligatory to check the microdata on the promoted pages. It improves snippets and makes them more readable for search robots. Schema Markup Validator will help you find out if the content is marked up.
The easiest way to check a site for other types of SEO errors is by using an SEO checker or tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Smart SEO Tools.
Page Loading Speed To Perform a Website SEO Audit
Now the technical details. So, search engines are distrustful of resources with a low content loading speed. The reason is high-resolution pictures, unoptimized code, and abuse of content located on other servers.
Verification process:
- Go to the service from Google PageSpeed Insight.
- Enter the domain name of the site to be checked.
- Press the “Analyze” button.
The result is displayed separately for mobile devices and desktop computers. Below is a list of identified issues. For example, image, CSS, and JS module files are too large.
Link Mass
There are three types of links: outgoing, incoming, and internal. The former directs the visitor to third-party resources on the website SEO audit. For example, to the Facebook community or to a YouTube video. The latter brings traffic from other sites (blogs, directories, referral partners). The third category makes it possible to set up mutual linking, the transfer of page weight to promoted URLs.
Basic Rules:
- Outgoing links are recommended to be closed from the index with the “nofollow” attribute.
- Linking should be closed to top-level pages (categories, sections).
- Incoming links are needed, but they need to be accumulated gradually.
As for internal links, you should pay attention to “broken” links. The presence of such links to pages with a 404 server response negatively affects behavioral factors. In addition, a large number of such links may indicate technical flaws on the site. You can check broken links using the broken link checker Dr. Link Check, for example.
Cehck the HTTPS SSL Certificate
If your website doesn’t have HTTPS set up, it’s a good idea to switch. The “S” used to stand for “Socket Security Layer” but is now called “Transport Layer Security“. Simply put, this “S” is the encrypted version of the HTTP protocol. It adds a layer of cybersecurity to anyone visiting your website. Go to the HTTPS report in website SEO audit.
Here, you’ll see your site’s rating and a list of potential issues. If you only see a green check mark on this page, please take the time to resolve any issues or continue to the next step.
Note that HTTPS has been a ranking signal since 2014, and if your website is still running over HTTP, you will need to implement an SSL certificate. With Let’s Encrypt, it’s free.
Look for Mobile-Friendliness Issues
We live in a mobile-first world, and if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, there’s a good chance you’re not putting user experience first.
Mobile-friendliness has been a ranking factor since 2015. The reality is that most websites are now either responsive or use dedicated mobile-friendly versions, but that doesn’t mean there are no issues.
What’s more, starting in 2021, mobile-friendliness will be part of an update to the page experience.
You can check the performance of the mobile version of your website with a handy Google tool called the Mobile-Friendly Test. You can also check for issues in the Mobile Experience section of the Improvements tab in the Search Console. Any problems will be highlighted here. Otherwise, you can check that there are no problems.
Website SEO Audit Conclusion
If you go through such a checklist, it will already come out to draw up an action plan to eliminate errors. True, it is better to leave the optimization to competent specialists. Still, there are many more ranking factors (usability, content, etc,) than are given in this article. And often they are interconnected. Finally, ere hope this guide helps you to perform your website SEO audit.
