Performing a technical SEO audit is essential for ensuring your website is optimized for search engines and provides a seamless user experience. While many premium tools are available, several free resources can help you identify and fix common SEO issues. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of conducting a comprehensive technical SEO audit using free tools like Website Auditor and others.
๐งฐ Step 1: Crawl Your Website
Start by crawling your website to identify any technical issues that may affect its performance. Website Auditor is a powerful tool that simulates how search engine bots crawl your site, helping you uncover hidden problems. You can also take a look at this free tool: seomator.com
How to Use Website Auditor:
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Download and Install: Get the free version of Website Auditor from here.
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Set Up a New Project: Enter your website’s URL to start a new project.
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Configure Crawl Settings: Choose the search engine bots you want to simulate (e.g., Google, Bing) and adjust crawl depth and speed settings.
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Run the Crawl: Initiate the crawl and wait for the tool to analyze your site.
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Review the Report: Once the crawl is complete, Website Auditor will provide a detailed report highlighting issues such as broken links, duplicate content, missing meta tags, and more.
๐ ๏ธ Step 2: Analyze Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are essential metrics that measure user experience, including loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability. Google uses these metrics as ranking factors, so it’s crucial to monitor them.
Tools to Use:
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Google PageSpeed Insights: Enter your website’s URL to receive a report on your site’s performance, including Core Web Vitals scores.
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GTmetrix: Provides detailed insights into your site’s loading times and suggestions for improvement.
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Web Vitals Extension: A Chrome extension that displays Core Web Vitals metrics in real-time as you browse your site.
๐ Step 3: Check for Broken Links
Broken links can negatively impact user experience and SEO performance. Regularly checking for and fixing broken links is essential.
Tools to Use:
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Screaming Frog SEO Spider: A desktop program that crawls your website and identifies broken links. The free version allows you to crawl up to 500 URLs.
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Broken Link Checker: An online tool that scans your website for broken links and provides a list of URLs to fix.
๐งญ Step 4: Review Site Structure and Internal Linking
A well-organized site structure and effective internal linking help search engines crawl and index your content efficiently.
How to Analyze:
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Website Auditor’s Visual Sitemap: Use this feature to visualize your site’s structure and identify any issues with internal linking.
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Manual Review: Navigate through your website to ensure that important pages are easily accessible and that there are no orphaned pages (pages without internal links).
๐ฑ Step 5: Ensure Mobile-Friendliness
With the increasing use of mobile devices, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is crucial for both user experience and SEO.
Tools to Use:
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Google Mobile-Friendly Test: Enter your website’s URL to check if it’s mobile-friendly and receive suggestions for improvement.
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Mobile Usability Report in Google Search Console: Provides insights into mobile usability issues on your site.
๐งพ Step 6: Generate and Submit a Sitemap
A sitemap helps search engines discover and index your content more efficiently.
How to Create and Submit:
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Generate a Sitemap: Use Website Auditor’s sitemap generator to create an XML sitemap of your website.
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Submit to Search Engines: Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to help search engines crawl your site more effectively.
โ Step 7: Monitor and Maintain
SEO is an ongoing process. Regularly monitor your website’s performance and address any issues that arise.
Tools to Use:
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Google Search Console: Monitors your site’s presence in Google search results and alerts you to any issues.
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Google Analytics: Tracks and reports website traffic, helping you understand user behavior and identify areas for improvement.
๐ง Conclusion
Conducting a technical SEO audit is vital for maintaining and improving your website’s performance. By utilizing free tools like Website Auditor, Google PageSpeed Insights, and others, you can identify and resolve common SEO issues without a significant investment. Regular audits and ongoing monitoring will help ensure your website remains optimized for both search engines and users.
๐ Additional Resources
By following this guide and leveraging the mentioned tools, you’ll be well-equipped to perform a thorough technical SEO audit and enhance your website’s performance.