What is a Technical SEO Audit?
A technical SEO audit analyzes your site’s infrastructure to ensure it meets search engine standards. This includes checking for broken links, crawlability issues, and optimizing for mobile and speed.SEO Tip: Regular audits (quarterly or biannually) help you catch technical problems early and ensure your site’s SEO remains effective.
Why is it Important?
Even a well-designed website can suffer in search rankings without proper optimization. A technical audit:- Improve site speed, improving rankings and user retention
- Enhances crawlability, ensuring search engines can properly index your site
- Improves mobile usability, essential as mobile traffic continues to grow
SEO Tip: Google prioritizes fast, mobile-friendly sites. Use PageSpeed Insights to monitor your performance.
Free Tools for Conducting a Technical SEO Audit
1. Google Search Console (GSC)
Google Search Console helps monitor your site’s indexing and identifies crawl errors.
How to use:
- Sign in to Google Search Console.
- Use the “Coverage” report to find crawl errors or indexing issues.
- Check the “Mobile Usability” report to ensure mobile-friendliness.
SEO Tip: Submit an updated XML sitemap in Google Search Console to ensure all your pages are indexed.
2. Google PageSpeed Insights
PageSpeed Insights assesses your website’s load times on desktop and mobile, offering performance-improving suggestions.
How to use:
- Go to Google PageSpeed Insights.
- Enter your site’s URL, click “Analyze,” and review suggestions like optimizing images or enabling browser caching.
3. Screaming Frog SEO Spider (Free Version)
Screaming Frog crawls your site to detect technical SEO issues like broken links and missing meta tags.
How to use:
- Download the free version of Screaming Frog.
- Enter your URL, crawl the site, and address issues like 404 errors or missing metadata.
Key Areas to Focus on During a Technical SEO Audit
1. Website Crawlability and Indexing
Ensure search engines can crawl and index your site effectively.
- How to check: Use the “Coverage” report in GSC to fix crawl errors.
- Implementation: Ensure your robots.txt file isn’t blocking important pages, and update your sitemap.
2. Site Speed Optimization
Google ranks fast websites higher, so improving speed is critical.
- How to check: Use PageSpeed Insights to identify speed issues.
- Implementation: Compress images, minify code, and leverage caching for better performance.
3. Mobile Usability
With over 60% of traffic from mobile, a responsive site is essential.
- How to check: Use the “Mobile Usability” report in GSC or Mobile-Friendly Test.
- Implementation: Ensure your design is responsive and optimized for various screen sizes.
4. Fixing Broken Links
Broken links damage user experience and can affect SEO performance.
- How to check: Crawl your site with Screaming Frog to find broken links.
- Implementation: Set up 301 redirects or manually fix 404 errors.
SEO Tip: Internal linking between relevant content boosts SEO by keeping users and search engines engaged.
How to Implement a Technical SEO Audit on WordPress
WordPress users can easily conduct audits using plugins:
- Yoast SEO: Helps optimize on-page elements like meta descriptions, titles, and sitemaps.
- W3 Total Cache: Improve speed through caching.
- Broken Link Checker: Identifies broken links for prompt fixes.
SEO Tip: Use Yoast SEO to track key SEO elements like focus keywords, meta tags, and readability.
Implementing a Technical SEO Audit on Other Platforms
For platforms like Shopify, Wix, or Squarespace, follow these guidelines:
- Shopify: Use apps like SEO Manager for identifying technical issues.
- Wix: Enable “Mobile Optimization” and use the SEO Wiz tool for performance checks.
- Squarespace: Leverage built-in SEO settings under the “Marketing” tab.
Key Takeaways
- Audit regularly: Perform audits at least once every 3–6 months.
- Focus on mobile: Ensure your site is fully responsive for mobile users.
- Fix errors quickly: Address crawl errors, broken links, and speed issues promptly to maintain SEO health.
Conclusion
Take your website’s performance to the next level with a comprehensive technical SEO audit! Follow the above simple steps outlined in our guide to optimize your site’s speed, fix errors, and build up your search engine rankings.
Start your free audit today using tools like Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights. If you need help or have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us for expert guidance!
