In the digital landscape, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an ever-evolving field that can determine a website’s success. A critical component of any effective SEO strategy is conducting regular technical SEO audits. This guide will walk you through a structured approach to perform a seamless SEO audit using a combination of tools, including Ahrefs, aimed at identifying and addressing common technical issues that may hinder your website’s performance.
Step 1: Initiate a Site Crawl
The first step in your SEO audit involves running a comprehensive site crawl with Ahrefs Site Audit tool. This tool inspects every page of your website, identifying potential SEO errors and areas for improvement. Depending on the size of your website, the crawl may take some time, so it’s ideal to set this up at the start of your audit.
Step 2: Conduct Initial Manual Checks
While the crawl is running, perform some preliminary manual checks to assess the website’s security and redirect configurations.
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Check for HTTPS: Ensure that the site runs on HTTPS by typing your domain along with "http." The URL should seamlessly redirect to the secure version. If this isn’t happening, you’ll need to acquire an SSL certificate, which is crucial for building trust, especially for e-commerce sites.
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Assess Redirects: Verify that all HTTP pages correctly redirect to the corresponding HTTPS pages. Misconfigured redirects can lead to lost traffic and a poor user experience.
Step 3: Analyze Current Site Traffic
Understanding existing site traffic is essential for setting benchmarks and identifying improvement areas. Use Google Analytics to examine the organic search traffic trends over a selected time frame. Look for trends, spikes, and seasonal dips in traffic, paying special attention to the most visited landing pages.
Step 4: Evaluate Site Speed
Site speed is a pivotal ranking factor. A slow-loading page can lead to high bounce rates and dissatisfied visitors. Use Google PageSpeed Insights or Pingdom to analyze your site’s loading times. Identify and implement recommendations to enhance performance, focusing primarily on image optimization, minimizing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files.
Step 5: Review Site Structure and Navigation
A clear, logical site structure enhances both user experience and SEO. Click through your site to ensure that:
- There is a straightforward navigation bar.
- Each page is accessible within a few clicks.
- URLs are structured logically and simply.
Consistent and descriptive URLs not only aid user navigation but also help search engines comprehend content better.
Step 6: Check Indexability
Assess how easily your website can be crawled and indexed by search engines. By entering “site:[your domain]” into Google, you can see how many pages are indexed compared to the total number of pages on your site.
Utilize the Ahrefs Site Audit results to delve deeper into indexability issues, identifying pages that may be blocked from indexing or are experiencing redirection errors.
Step 7: Inspect Internal Links
Internal links play a significant role in guiding both users and search engines through your site. Ensure that internal links are relevant, functioning, and direct users logically from one page to another. Use Ahrefs to discover broken links and redirect issues that might be detrimental to user experience and SEO.
Step 8: Assess Mobile Optimization
With the increasing prevalence of mobile browsing, ensuring your site is mobile-friendly is imperative. Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to confirm that your site is accessible and navigable across various mobile devices.
Step 9: Content Review
Quality content is foundational for effective SEO. Review your website’s content for keyword integration, relevance, and value. Check for duplicated content and optimize each page for its main target keyword to enhance visibility.
Step 10: Summarize Findings and Develop an Action Plan
Finally, compile the insights gathered from the audit, highlighting the main issues discovered, and prioritize them based on their impact on SEO. Create an action plan with specific steps and timelines for addressing these issues.
Conclusion
Conducting a technical SEO audit is a systematic process that helps maintain and improve a website’s efficacy. By utilizing tools like Ahrefs alongside manual checks, you can identify and resolve potential issues, ensuring a robust online presence that can effectively compete in the digital realm. Regular audits will ultimately lead to enhanced performance, increased traffic, and better user experience, setting your website up for success.
