How do you perform a technical SEO audit for your website and fix any issues?

Performing a technical SEO audit on your website is a bit like taking your car to the mechanic for a check-up. First, you pop open the hood and look at the engine - that's your website's structure and sitemap. Make sure it's running smoothly with no broken links or error pages, because nobody likes a road to nowhere.

To effectively crawl a website, understand its structure and crawl it in segments if has 5k+ pages. For your site, integrate APIs like GSC, GA, PageSpeed Insights, and any SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush, Majestic, or Moz. To set up Screaming Frog, follow these steps: 1. Configure Screaming Frog by going to Configuration –> API Access –> Google Search Console. 2. Connect a new account and allow Google Search Console access. 3. Choose your website's available properties, change the search analytics time frame to 6 months, enable URL inspection, click 'OK'. 4. Under 'Crawl Analysis' select 'Configure'. Check the 'Auto-Analyze' box at the bottom of the window. Click 'OK'. 5. Under Spider > Crawl > Check Crawl Linked XML Sitemaps. Start!

Apart from using tools like SEMrush for a thorough analysis, it's essential to view your website from the user's perspective. For instance, let's consider a hypothetical website focused on pets. One of the website pages could be titled "How to Love Your Pet." To optimize this page, it's important to include the subject in the website's title, meta description, and meta title. This way, when users search for relevant keywords on search engines, they have a higher chance of finding your content. Once they land on your page, the title will reassure them that they are in the right place. The key lies not only in addressing code-related errors but also in enhancing the presentation and clarity of your content.

If you're an SEO nerd with a lot of time: use Screaming Frog, it's the most thorough tool out there, but ugly and not very user-friendly. If you're an online marketer that was told to do SEO on the side, because they don't want to spend for an actual SEO: Use SEMrush or Ahrefs (SEMrush has a free trial) and start the Site Audit. But be careful, those tools fight around who finds the most "issues" and can keep you busy for a year with fixes that don't move the needle. Book an SEO for an hour to priorize which of the "issues" are really issues and need handling - or let him handle it. Bonus, to solve where these tools lack: - Use Copyscape or Siteliner to find duplicate content - Use PagespeedInsights & GT Metrics to check site performance

One thing I've found helpful is to outline everything important to ensure search engines can find, crawl, index, and rank websites. Once you know and understand what prevents search engines from these activities, conducting an SEO audit is easy (albeit, time-intensive!).

In this era where the masses yearn for instant gratification, the swiftness with which your website loads assumes paramount significance. Equally vital is the relevance of the information it provides. That's why Google Analytics is my favorite tool. It allows me to access crucial information, such as the time users spend on each page of my website. This valuable data enables me to analyze and optimize my content, ultimately reducing the bounce rate—the speed at which users leave my website.

Optimize images: Compress and resize images to reduce their file size without compromising quality. Large image files can significantly slow down page loading. Minify code: Minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files by removing unnecessary characters, comments, and formatting. This reduces file sizes and improves load times. Enable browser caching: Set cache headers to leverage browser caching. This allows returning visitors to load your site faster by storing static resources locally.

The uniqueness lies in how you act on the provided insights. For instance, image optimization is common advice, but using next-gen formats like WebP can be a game changer. Similarly, code minification is standard, but adopting modern coding standards like ES6 can further boost speed. Enabling compression is basic, yet fine-tuning server settings to leverage Brotli over Gzip can yield better compression ratios. Utilizing a CDN is typical, but choosing a CDN with robust edge computing capabilities can provide superior site speed optimizations. Each of these nuanced actions, derived from site speed analysis, can significantly uplift the user experience and SEO, showcasing the profound impact of a thorough site speed check during an SEO audit.

Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights will help you check for overall accessibility, including how your website performs on mobile devices. It may be helpful to check in analytics to see what percentage of your overall site traffic is via a mobile device or tablet - that will bring into cold focus just how much traffic you're missing out on if your site isn't mobile-optimized. When you address any technical fixes to improve performance on mobile, this is also an opportunity to review other key accessibility needs. Check the W3C.org Accessibility initiative to help you catch any issues on your site that could potentially exclude those with "a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive ability".

Most sites and themes do that well from the getgo, but regardless you should check: - Google PageSpeed Insights - Search Console Mobile Friendly Report and most importantly: - manually check all major site templates on your mobile (landingpage, service site, category, PDP, blog) They should: - load fast - be scrollable fast - not be overloaded - scale pictures - not be busy with popups - have good readable font size - have good clickable button size Tools just check for a few specific measures, it's way more important that it actually works well for the user. That's why: testing > tools Don't overengineer, if it's fine in testing you will be fine.

If you take your website seriously, even if it's a hobby site, having an SSL is essential. It enables browsers to authorize user access to your website. If you intend to collect any user information, an SSL becomes crucial for website security. Fortunately, reputable hosting companies often provide free SSL with website hosting. Personally, and for my clients, an SSL is a non-negotiable necessity, not even up for discussion, given its significance in safeguarding websites.

Organic on-page SEO is like tending a garden. Each website page is a plant. Avoid flooding with content. Instead, opt for a gradual approach—water your plant steadily, provide ample sunlight, and watch it flourish. Similarly, maintaining an organic website means staying true to the principles that foster growth: - Ensure clarity and value in the content of each page, making it easily understandable and useful to readers. - Establish connections between related pages through internal linking, creating a cohesive structure. - Avoid overwhelming your website with an influx of new content, allowing for a natural and balanced growth trajectory. By staying organic, your website can blossom, retain more visitors and achieve long-term success.

Imagine your website as a book in a bookstore. Visitors are seeking a book that matches their desired theme or subject. As more people buy the book, its sales and popularity grow. Now, picture a celebrity endorsing the book, skyrocketing its popularity. Your website functions similarly. Each link represents a "sale," guiding users to different pages. The more links clicked, the higher the engagement and traffic. Just as a high-profile endorsement boosts a book, obtaining prominent links to your site can have a tremendous impact. These influential links act as catalysts, driving visitors and boosting your website's visibility and popularity. The tools above are a way for you to gauge the popularity of your site.

I just wrote the AI prompt Provide a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a thorough technical SEO audit for a website, including tools to use and specific metrics to analyze. Once the audit is complete, describe the process to diagnose and resolve any technical issues that may arise. Include both common and uncommon technical SEO issues that may affect a website, as well as strategies for prevention and future maintenance. Aim to provide clear and actionable advice for readers who may not have much technical experience.