In today’s digital marketing landscape, staying at the forefront of the competition requires more than just compelling website content and visuals.
Businesses must take their websites’ technical health seriously to have a powerful online presence. They can do this with the assistance of a technical audit service provider.
A technical SEO audit examines a website’s technical aspects to identify and fix issues that might affect search engine visibility.
But how exactly does a Technical SEO Audit service pinpoint and resolve the myriad issues that can interfere with your website’s success? Let’s explore the process and benefits of this essential service.
What Is Technical SEO Audit Service?
A technical SEO audit service, also known as a technical site audit, examines a website’s backend components to identify and fix problems that may impact its search engine visibility. The goal of a technical SEO audit service is to analyze various technical aspects carefully and reveal hidden barriers that could sabotage your site’s performance.
Common Issues Addressed During Technical SEO Audit Service
A thorough technical SEO audit service will typically identify the following issues during a technical SEO audit and fix them simultaneously:
- Page Speed Optimization
- Broken Links And Redirects
- Duplicate Content
- Invalid Robot.txt
- Mobile-Friendliness
- Improve Website Security
- Missing Alt, Title Tags, And Meta Description
- XML Sitemap
- Create High-Quality Content
- Monitor And Revise Your SEO Strategy
#1. Page Speed Optimization
Slow-loading pages can frustrate visitors and lead to higher bounce rates, reducing traffic and revenue.
In fact, as of April 2023, Google still regards page speed as a ranking factor in its search results.
Thus, if you don’t want to affect user experience and search engine rankings negatively, you must optimize your page speed.
How To Check Page Speed?
Here are some tools you can use to check page speed:
- Google PageSpeed Insights: A strict tool that measures page loading speed on mobile and desktop.
- GTmetrix: This tool uses Google Lighthouse to measure performance and includes metrics like fully loaded time, first contentful paint, and largest contentful paint. It also provides information about content size and issues affecting performance.
How To Fix?
- Compress Images: Use tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim to reduce image sizes without sacrificing quality.
- Leverage Browser Caching: Implement browser caching to store certain data locally on users’ devices.
- Minimize JavaScript and CSS: Reduce and defer the loading of non-essential JavaScript and CSS files.
- Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): Disseminate content through a CDN to decrease latency.
#2. Broken Links And Redirects
Broken links are hyperlinks on websites that no longer lead to their intended destination. They happen when a website grows over time, so does the content, and the link breaks.
Thus, when a user clicks on that broken link, they are led to an error web page, such as one with a 404 (Not found) or 410 (Gone) status code, indicating that the content is unavailable.
This can discourage users, leading to a higher bounce rate, which search engines like Google also consider a poor user experience. Moreover, it can also ruin the website’s audience trust and damage its brand reputation.
How To Fix?
- Regular Site Audits: Use tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to identify broken links.
- Implement 301 Redirects: Redirect broken links to relevant, active pages.
- Update Internal Links: Ensure internal links point to current, live pages.
#3. Duplicate Content
Search engines like to equip users with the most relevant and unique content. With the rise of new websites introducing different kinds of content every day, most of them are filled with duplicate content.
Thus, when Google encounters duplicate content, it struggles to determine which version is the most authoritative.
Consequently, it leads to lower search engine rankings because each page gains more authority than a single page.
How To Fix?
- Use Canonical Tags: Indicate the preferred version of a page with canonical tags.
- 301 Redirects: Redirect duplicate pages to the original.
- Consistent URL Structure: Standardize URLs to avoid duplication.
- Unique content: Create high-quality, original content that stands out.
#4. Invalid Robot.txt
A robots.txt is a text file placed in a website’s root directory instructing search engine crawlers which pages to crawl and index.
Thus, if the text file is missing or incorrect, it can negatively impact your website’s SEO, ultimately ruining its organic traffic.
Here is how to check a robots.txt file during an SEO technical audit:
- Use a browser: In the address bar, append “/robots.txt” to the website’s domain name. For example, if the domain is “example.com,” enter “example.com/robots.txt.” If the file exists, it should appear in the browser.
How To Fix?
- Check syntax and URLs: Confirm the robots.txt file’s syntax is correct and that the URLs blocked are accurate.
- Use a “no index” tag: If the page is still indexed, consider adding a “no index” tag in the web page’s HTML header.
- Use the Removals Tool: If the issue persists, use Google Search Console’s Removals Tool to remove the page from Google Search immediately. However, Google may eventually re-index the page.
- Use the robots.txt Tester: In Google Search Console, navigate to the Crawl section and use the robots.txt Tester tool. Enter the URL, select Googlebot as the user agent, and run the test.
- Monitor for issues: Use Google Search Console and the URL Inspection Tool to check for robots.txt problems regularly. Alternatively, a technical SEO expert can use an SEO site audit tool to check for robots.txt issues at scale.
#5. Mobile-Friendliness
Non-mobile-friendly websites can negatively impact user experience and rankings. Even Google has stated that websites must be mobile-friendly by July 5, 2024, or they will no longer be indexed. This decision is due to the increasing internet traffic from mobile devices and Google’s prioritization of user experience.
Moreover, Google has made websites more mobile-friendly through its mobile-first indexing and mobile-friendly ranking algorithm. This means Google indexes and ranks websites based on their mobile version, not their desktop version. This is because mobile users make up a large portion of online searches.
You can also take Google’s mobile-friendly test to evaluate whether your webpage is suitable for mobile optimization.
How To Fix?
- Responsive Design: Enforce responsive web design to adapt to different screen sizes.
- Optimize for Touch: Ensure buttons and links are easily tappable on mobile devices.
#6. Improve Website Security
Since 2014, Google has preferred HTTPS websites over traditional insecure websites, giving them a slight edge in the search engine as well. HTTPS is important for SEO tech because it’s a security protocol that Google cares about. Thus, insecure websites can be penalized by search engines and discourage viewers.
How To Fix?
- Implement 301 redirects: Redirect from HTTP to HTTPS to inform search engines of the URL changes and help preserve or boost your site’s ranking.
- Update internal links: Update all internal links, images, scripts, and resources to HTTPS to avoid mixed content issues that can hurt rankings.
- Generate a new XML sitemap: After migrating to HTTPS, submit a new XML sitemap containing your updated HTTPS URLs to search engines for indexing.
- Regular Security Audits: Conduct regular security technical website audits to identify vulnerabilities.
- Keep Software Updated: Ensure your CMS, plugins, and other software are up to date.
Learn more: 5 Ways To Boost Website Speed In Custom Website Development
#7. Missing Alt, Title Tags, And Meta Description
Alt, title tags, and meta descriptions are essential for user experience and search engine optimization. Their absence can significantly impact your website’s visibility and accessibility.
Screen readers and search engines use alternative text or Alt Text for images to understand image content. Images with alt tags are inaccessible to visually impaired users, and search engines need help understanding the image’s relevance. Consequently, this can affect image search rankings and overall site accessibility.
Secondly, the most important aspect that most readers can’t see is a meta description—a summary of a web’s content shown in search engine results.
Without these meta descriptions, search engines will generate generic descriptions based on page content, which will not accurately reflect the page’s focus and ultimately result in lower click-through rates.
How To Fix?
1. Identify Missing Elements:
- Employ SEO tools to scan your web page for pages lacking these elements.
- Manually check important pages to ensure accuracy.
2. Create Engaging and Relevant Content:
- Write descriptive alt text for images, focusing on the image’s content and purpose.
- Craft compelling title tags that accurately reflect the page’s topic and include relevant keywords.
- Develop unique and persuasive meta descriptions that entice users to click.
3. Implement Changes:
- CMS: If you employ a content management system (CMS), it likely has built-in fields for alt text, title tags, and meta descriptions.
- HTML
- Bulk Editing: Consider using SEO plugins or tools to automate large website processes.
4. Optimize for Keywords:
- Incorporate relevant keywords naturally into your title tags and meta descriptions.
- Refrain from keyword stuffing, as it can damage your rankings.
Are you looking for a company that can provide similar SEO services for your website? Look for soft tech solution providers, such as Soft Tech Cube, which offers robust SEO and website design services.
#8. XML Sitemap
XML sitemaps are highly recommended for SEO because they help ensure that pages appear in search engine results. Without an XML sitemap, search engines must rely on hyperlinks to find pages, which can be inefficient and lead to pages being missed.
How To Fix?
- Generate Accurate Sitemaps: Use tools to create comprehensive XML sitemaps.
- Submit to Search Engines: Submit your sitemap via Google Search Console.
#9. Create High-Quality Content
A technical SEO audit’s content quality and uniqueness analysis evaluates a website’s content for relevance, quality, and uniqueness. Thus, this includes assessing how well the content meets the target audience’s needs, identifying duplicate content, and evaluating keyword usage.
How To Fix?
- Readability: Easy for the target audience to read and understand, using clear and concise language.
- Structure: Write Content into short paragraphs with subheadings and headings.
- Technical terms: Avoid employing Jargon and technical words or phrases.
#10. Monitor And Revise Your SEO Strategy
Technical SEO audit services can include monitoring technical elements of a Web page, like page speed, to identify problem areas and improve performance. Thus, if you fail to monitor and revise your SEO strategy, here are some possible tools you can use to mitigate this issue.
How To Fix?
- Google PageSpeed Insights: This tool uses field data to evaluate a webpage’s speed and score its load time on desktop and mobile devices. It also provides a list of recommendations.
- Google Analytics: This is a free tool for monitoring various SEO metrics, such as user behavior, traffic sources, and referral traffic.
- SEMrush: An all-in-one SEO toolkit that monitors and analyzes SEO performance, including keyword rankings, backlink profiles, organic traffic, and competitor analysis.
Summing Up
Addressing these common technical SEO issues can greatly enrich your website’s performance and search engine rankings. Your role in executing regular audits and proactive maintenance is essential for maintaining a high-functioning site. By implementing the fixes provided, you can improve user experience, boost organic traffic, and stay competitive in the digital marketing audit company landscape.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What are some common technical SEO problems you might encounter and how would you resolve them?
- Page Speed Optimization
- Broken Links And Redirects
- Duplicate Content
- Invalid Robot.txt
- Mobile-Friendliness
- Improve Website Security
- Missing Alt, Title Tags, And Meta Description
- XML Sitemap
- Create High-Quality Content
- Monitor And Revise Your SEO Strategy
You can resolve these issues on your own if you have technical knowledge, or else you can opt for soft tech solutions to do the work for you with a fair budget and wonderful services to boost your company’s sales.
2. What is the purpose of a technical SEO audit?
A technical SEO audit service inspects a website’s technical components to identify problems affecting its SEO. The goal is to improve the website so search engines can more easily find, understand, and store its content.
3. What key components do you consider when conducting a technical SEO audit service?
When conducting a technical SEO audit service, you should consider the following key components:
- Page speed
- Crawlability
- Duplicate content
- Technical errors
- Google Search Console
- On-page structure
4. What is a Technical Audit?
A technical audit is a detailed evaluation of a system, process, or proposal that identifies improvement areas. It can be tailored to a specific industry or product.
5. Will software developers be replaced by AI?
No, AI is unlikely to replace software developers entirely, but it can help them be more productive and efficient.