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A technical audit of a website is a process that checks its performance, structure, and compliance with all standards that affect its effectiveness and SEO position. It is important to understand that each site will have its own approach to a technical audit, since even two sites related to the same niche may have different structures and features.
Therefore, this material will not contain a universal checklist, but will highlight a number of key points that are worth considering when conducting a technical audit, as well as a general understanding of this process.
1. It is advisable to carry out a technical audit at the stage of website development, or better yet, before its creation - at the stage of drawing up technical specifications. This approach avoids most technical problems (if done correctly). It also saves money because you won't have to spend money on fixing bugs (such as image optimization). If a technical audit has not been carried out in advance, it should be completed as soon as possible and then repeated periodically, depending on how often changes occur on the site.
2. Technical audit is a set of checks of your website for errors in the code, duplicate pages, loading problems and other technical aspects. It is carried out using special programs and tools, as well as manually if you have experience and understanding of the process.
In general, it is a process whose purpose is to identify technical problems that may affect the positioning of a site in search engines or prevent the user from completing desired actions on the site.
3. The reasons for conducting a technical audit can be different: from low site ranking to low conversion (for example, the lack of a mobile version or long page loading). Previously, these factors were not as important as they are now, so it is worth paying more attention to them.
1. Check the availability of a mobile version of the site (adaptive or separate mobile version on a subdomain). It is also important that the mobile version passes search engine validators.
2. Site loading speed - evaluate the speed using Google PageSpeed and other tools that show loading time in seconds.
3. Gluing mirrors - check if there are any duplicates due to different spellings of the URL, such as www and without www, http and https and other similar errors.
4. Cross-browser compatibility of the site - check how the site is displayed in different browsers. Pay attention to the browsers that are used by the majority of your users.
5. Check for technical duplicates - check for duplicate pages that may make it difficult for search engines to index your site.
It is also worth paying attention to the operating time of your hosting (uptime) - it should be at least 99% (optimally 99.9%). Setting up HTTPS is also an important step that will bring bonuses in the eyes of search engines and provide additional security for your site.
In SEO, many tasks are automated, allowing you to focus on more important aspects. While you manually check the visual state of the site, specialized programs can perform routine checks.
1. Parsers: Screaming Frog SEO Spider, WebSiteAuditor, Netpeak Spider and others are useful tools for various purposes; each SEO specialist can choose the right ones depending on the specifics of the work.
2. To check the site loading speed, use Google PageSpeed, as well as services like Pingdom or GTmetrix.
3. To check the mobile version, use Google Mobile Friendly and similar tools in Yandex.Webmaster.
4. To check cross-browser compatibility, browsershots is suitable or manually check the site in the most popular browsers.
5. Online services such as pr-cy or sbup will help you conduct a basic site check and identify obvious errors, as well as check the number of pages in the search engine index.
The list of useful tools depends on the specifics of each specialist’s work, but the programs named here are suitable for both beginners and more experienced professionals.
In addition to the factors listed above, the technical condition of the site is also affected by the management system (CMS) used or a custom engine.
Most websites are created on popular CMS (for example, WordPress, Joomla, MODx and others). In this case, it is important to study the system documentation and check for possible errors in the technical and SEO parts using the forum or online resources.
You can also hire a specialist to do basic technical setup of the CMS if you don’t have the time or desire to do it yourself.
If the site is built on a custom engine, then the team must have a programmer involved in the development. If it is not there, the process of eliminating errors can be expensive and lengthy.
Before creating a custom website, it is important to take into account all technical and SEO aspects in advance to avoid problems in the future.
Not all technical problems with a website can be identified using standard tools and methods. However, at least 20% of problems that can significantly affect the operation of the site can be identified independently. If resources are limited, it is important to focus on the most critical errors initially. Later, as the project grows, you can order a full technical audit from professionals.
Another tip is to immediately upload compressed images to the site. This will help save hosting space and speed up page loading, which in turn will improve the user experience and increase the site's ranking in search engines.
A technical website audit is an important part of SEO optimization that cannot be ignored. The better the technical part is set up, the higher the chances of successful website promotion in search engines. The SEO community is increasingly paying attention to details such as loading speed, mobile responsiveness and technical errors, and this is the key to successful promotion.
You can contact the SEO studio "SEO COMPUTER" with any question by email info@seo.computer.
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