Potential SEO Error List

In order to fix a problem you need to understand what the issue is and what it means.

Technical SEO potential error list - meanings

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Website security

Description

To protect user data, your website needs to run on HTTPS, which is a secure encryption protocol. This section contains errors related to HTTPS not functioning properly and to the usage of HTTP links.

Security certificate expires soon

Issue description

Once your security certificate expires, your website visitors will be notified that the connection is not secure and they won't be able to see your site right away. They will, however, have the option to access your website, but they will be informed that it is not secure. An expired security certificate can lead to people losing trust in your website and a drop in traffic.

Outdated security protocol version

Issue description

Using an outdated version of the SSL or TLS protocol (version 1.0) can pose a website data security risk.

Certificate name mismatch

Issue description

If the domain or subdomain name under which your SSL certificate is registered fails to match the name displayed in the address bar, your website visitors will be notified that the connection is not secure. They will, however, have the option to access your website, but they will be informed that it is not secure. Indicting the wrong name in the security certificate can lead to people losing trust in your website and a drop in traffic.

Outdated encryption algorithm

Issue description

Using outdated encryption algorithms on your website can create a data security risk. Some browsers may warn your website visitors that insecure content is being downloaded. This can lead to people losing trust in your website and a drop in traffic.

HTTP URLs in XML sitemap

Issue description

If your site is still loading via the HTTP protocol, we recommend you transfer it to HTTPS. If your site is already accessible via HTTPS, provide HTTPS URLs in the XML sitemap file.

No HTTPS encryption

Issue description

HTTP is an outdated connection protocol that does not protect user data due to lack of encryption. Modern browsers tag HTTP sites as not secure, which can lead to website visitors losing trust in your site.?

rel=”canonical” from HTTPS to HTTP

Issue description

The rel="canonical" attribute on some of your site's HTTPS pages points to the HTTP versions of such pages. The HTTP connection is unsafe for users, and modern browsers alert them to potential risks. HTTPS is also a search engine ranking factor, which is why we recommend that you move all of your site's pages to HTTPS.

Redirect from HTTPS to HTTP

Issue description

Pages that use the secure HTTPS protocol are redirected to the insecure HTTP protocol. This means that all pages of the website will be loaded through an insecure HTTP connection, and as a result, hackers will be able to intercept the confidential data of the website's visitors. Please note that HTTPS is a search engine ranking factor, and modern browsers tag all HTTP sites as insecure.?

Mixed content

Issue description

The main HTML content of the pages indicated in the report is loaded via the secure HTTPS connection, and additional elements (images, CSS or JavaScript files) are loaded via the unprotected HTTP protocol. When loading such pages, modern browsers display a warning that the connection is not secure. Mixed content poses a security risk for your HTTPS website and has a negative impact on the user experience.

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Crawling

Description

All your SEO efforts won’t yield any results if crawlers fail to properly scan your website. This section contains errors that can prevent search engine crawlers from scanning and indexing your site.

XML sitemap is too large

Issue description

This issue occurs if the size of the uncompressed XML sitemap file exceeds 50 MB or contains over 50,000 URLs.

XML sitemap files that are too large can result in search engines failing to properly crawl your website or even

ignoring it altogether.?

Non-canonical pages in XML sitemap

Issue description

Non-canonical pages have been found in the XML sitemap file. All pages listed in the sitemap should be suggested as canonicals for search engines.

Noindex pages in XML sitemap

Issue description

Pages with the noindex meta tag were found in the XML sitemap. This is confusing to search engines because sitemaps must list pages that need to be crawled and indexed.

XML sitemap missing

Issue description

If your website doesn't have an XML sitemap, search engines will have difficulties properly crawl your website.

If some of your website pages aren't connected to others via internal linking, search engines won't be able to find and access such pages without an XML sitemap.

XML sitemap not found in robots.txt file

Issue description

If your site has an XML sitemap and a robots.txt file, we recommend that you add a link to the sitemap file to the robots.txt file. This will help search engines understand where the sitemap is located.

Robots.txt file not found

Issue description

The robots.txt file provides search engines with recommendations so that they can understand which files on your website can and cannot be processed. The robots.txt file also contains a link to your website's XML sitemap.

Frame is used

Issue description

The <frame> tag is an HTML document that does not contain its own content, but consists of different sections that are made up of separate web pages. As a result, search bots simply cannot find and crawl content on pages with the <frame> tag.

URL too long

Issue description

If the URLs are longer than 2000 characters, this may prevent some browsers from processing them correctly. On top of that, it will be easier for search engines to crawl URLs with an optimal length of up to 2000 characters.

HTML and HTTP header contain noindex

Issue description

The <meta name="robots" content="noindex" /> directive, which instructs search engines not to display a page in

SERPs, was added in two different ways at the same time: to the <meta> meta tag and to the X-Robots-Tag HTTP header.

HTML and HTTP header contain nofollow

Issue description

The <meta name="robots" content="nofollow" /> directive, which instructs search engines not to follow links on a web page, was added in two different ways at the same time: to the <meta> meta tag and to the X-Robots-Tag HTTP header.

Canonical chain

Issue description

Pages specified as canonical–as in those that are in priority–have a 'rel=canonical' link to a different page. This creates a so-called “canonical chain”, where Page A links to Page B as canonical, and in turn, Page B links to Page C from its 'rel=canonical' elements.

Blocked by robots.txt

Issue description

If a page is blocked by the robots.txt file, search engines won't be able to access and index it when crawling your website. But if external resources link out to this page, it may get indexed despite the fact that it is blocked by the robots.txt file.

Blocked by noindex

Issue description

The noindex directive in the <head> section of the page's HTML code prevents search engines from displaying the page in the search results. If the page uses the noindex directive, search engines will not rank the page, even if other websites link out to it.

Blocked by nofollow

Issue description

The nofollow attribute in the <head> section of the page's HTML code prevents search engines from clicking on all links on this page.

Blocked by X-Robots-Tag

Issue description

A server-side response is used with the help of the X-Robots-Tag header on some of your site's pages. The X-Robots-Tag header response may include noindex/nofollow/none directives. The noindex directive prohibits page indexing, nofollowprohibits search engines from following links on the page, and none contains both prohibitions.?

rel="canonical" from HTTP to HTTPS

Issue description

Some HTTP pages on your site use the rel="canonical" attribute that points to the HTTPS version of the site. If your site is already accessible via the HTTPS protocol, it is preferable to set up a 301 redirect.

Timed out

Issue description

Our bot sent a request to the page or resource, but didn't receive a response from the server within 15 seconds.

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Duplicate Content

Description

Duplicate content negatively impacts website SEO and leads to ranking problems with some website pages. By fixing the errors listed in this section, you’ll be able to solve duplicate content issues

No WWW redirect

Issue description

This check analyzes to see if you have set up a www to non-www redirect and vice versa on your website. Having your website load with and without www can lead to duplicate content issues.

Multiple rel="canonical"

Issue description

Multiple rel="canonical" tags with different URLs are specified for the same page. This can confuse search engines.

Duplicate content

Issue description

Having the same content on different pages of your website can negatively affect its optimization efforts because its content isn't unique. Moreover, duplicate pages can result in cannibalization issues.

URLs with double slash

Issue description

Most servers ignore two or more slashes in URLs that are indicated after the domain name. However, search engines may see such URLs as separate ones, which can lead to duplicate content issues.

No trailing slashes

Issue description

Your website's pages are accessible with and without a slash at the end of the URL address, after the domain name. This can lead to duplicate content issues. Your website's pages should be accessible only via one option.

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HTTP Status Code

Description

If your website pages, links or files that are supposed to return the 200 status code return other status codes, your website can experience ranking problems and your website pages may fall out of the index

4XX pages in XML sitemap

Issue description

XML sitemaps containing pages with a 4XX response code can be misleading to search engines, because they are actually dead or forbidden pages. Having such pages in your XML sitemap lead to crawling and indexing issues.

3XX redirects in XML sitemap

Issue description

The XML sitemap contains URLs that redirect visitors from one page to another via 3XX redirects, which, in turn, can drain the crawl budget and lead to website indexing issues.

5XX pages in XML sitemap

Issue description

5XX pages were found in your XML sitemap, which means that your website server isn't working correctly. Search engine robots cannot access such pages, and as a result, your website may experience crawling and indexing issues.

3ХХ HTTP status code

Issue description

The pages indicated in the report return a 3XX response code, meaning that a redirect is set up from such pages. The 3XX response code in itself is not a problem, but each redirect puts an additional load on the server, so it’s better

to remove unnecessary internal redirects.

4XX HTTP Status Codes

Issue description

4XX HTTP status codes indicate that the requested page or resource cannot be accessed. 4XX URLs provide a poor user experience for the site's visitors because they cannot access the page or file via the link they clicked on. Moreover, internal links to 4XX URLs drain your crawl budget. Pages of your website that changed their response code to 4XX will be removed from search engine indexes?

5XX HTTP Status Codes

Issue description

URLs return a 5XX HTTP status code when the server cannot fulfill the request. Pages that return such codes are inaccessible both to website visitors and to search engines. This means that search engine bots will be forced to abandon the request and people will simply leave your website.

Canonical URL with a 3XX Status Code

Issue description

A web page specified as canonical, returns a 3XX response code.

Canonical URL with a 4XX Status Code

Issue description

A web page specified as canonical, returns a 4XX response code which means that the page or resource is unavailable.

Canonical URL with a 5XX Status Code

Issue description

Canonical URLs should not lead to pages with a 5XX response code (server error).

Internal links to 3XX redirect pages

Issue description

Some internal links on your website point to pages whose URL has changed. Redirects allow both visitors and search engines to access the relevant page, but we still recommend you replace such links. In some cases, such links may cause the page to work incorrectly (for example, if the site was moved to HTTPS and internal links still use the HTTP protocol). Redirects also result in the loss of a small fraction of the link juice.

External links to 3XX

Issue description

Some pages that you link out to from your website redirect visitors to a completely different page. Perhaps, the redirect was set up after you linked out to the website, and now the link can lead visitors to another page that does not contain the information they need.

External links to 4XX

Issue description

Some external links on your site lead to pages with a 4XX response code. Such links are often referred to as broken links. Broken links send website visitors to unavailable resources and have a negative impact on overall quality of the site.

External links to 5XX

Issue description

Some external links on your site lead to pages with a 5XX response code (server error). Such links send website visitors to unavailable resources and have a negative impact on overall quality of the site.

Hreflang to 3XX, 4XX or 5XX

Issue description

The URL pointed to by the hreflang attribute is not found, unavailable due to server issues, or has a redirect. The URL of the hreflang attribute should return the 200 OK response code. If this is not the case, search engines may ignore the attribute or misinterpret it. As a result, search engines will not be able to find alternative versions of your pages and, accordingly, direct website visitors to their correct language or regional versions.

3XX images

Issue description

The access path to some images on your website is indicated in the URLs from which the redirect is set up. Because of this, browsers and search engine robots are forced to send an additional HTTP request in order to download the image. If there are a lot of files like this on your website, this can significantly increase the page load time.

4XX images (Not Found)

Issue description

Some images on your website could not be loaded because the browser could not find the files at the specified URLs. Broken images on your website can have a negative impact on the user experience. Plus, search engines cannotindex such images.

5XX images (Loading Failed)

Issue description

A 5XX response code means that there's a problem with the website’s web server. When the server does not respond to requests, the browser cannot load page elements, including images. If the image is stored on your website, this error means that both visitors and search engines cannot access your website. If you use an image from an external resource, only the images specified in the report are unavailable.

3XX JavaScript file

Issue description

The access path to some JavaScript files on your website is indicated in the URLs from which the redirect is set up. Because of this, browsers and search engine robots are forced to send an additional HTTP request in order to download the JavaScript file. If there are a lot of files like this on your website, this can significantly increase the page load time.

4XX or 5XX JavaScript file

Issue description

Failed to load JavaScript files. JavaScript is responsible for page interactivity and how it responds to user actions. If JavaScript does not work, website visitors will not be able to fully interact with the page. Search engines will also be unable to completely crawl the page and understand what it's about, which will have a negative impact on rankings.

3XX CSS file

Issue description

The access path to some CSS files on your website is indicated in the URLs from which the redirect is set up. Because of this, browsers and search engine robots are forced to send an additional HTTP request in order to download the CSS file. If there are a lot of files like this on your website, this can significantly increase the page load time.

4XX or 5XX CSS file

Issue description

Failed to load CSS files. The CSS file is responsible for the visual design of page elements, and if the browser cannot load it, page content will not be displayed correctly, which will negatively affect the user experience.

External JavaScript and CSS files with 3XX, 4XX or 5XX

Issue description

If you use JavaScript or CSS files from an external resource, you must be sure that they work correctly. Broken JS or CSS code on your website's pages will negatively affect their rankings, because the pages will not display correctly in the browser, and search engines will not be able to index them.

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Title

Description

The <title> tag helps search engines understand which aspect the page focuses on. In addition, the <title> tag is also usually displayed in the page’s search snippet. This section features recommendations that will help you optimize your title tags

URLs with duplicate page titles

Issue description

Duplicate <title> tags prevent search engines from understanding which site page is relevant to a particular search query. Pages with duplicate titles are much less likely to rank well.

Multiple title tags

Issue description

The <title> tag recommends search engines which page title should be displayed in the search results. Using multiple <title> tags on the same page confuses search engines.

Title tag missing

Issue description

The <title> tag is empty or missing. Search engines will independently create a title using the available page content.

Title too long

Issue description

Note that extensively long titles are cut off by search engines and can only be up to 600 pixels in length in the SERPs. For this reason, it's better to take this size into account when creating the title, otherwise people may see an incomplete title in the search results.

Title too short

Issue description

A short title may not describe the content of your page in the best possible way. In such cases, search engines may even generate an improved page title for the SERPs by pulling data from your anchors, on-page text, or other sources.

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Description

Description

The description meta tag summarizes the page’s content and helps search engines understand which aspect the page focuses on. In most cases, search engines use the description meta tag in search snippets. This section features recommendations that will help you optimize your description meta tags

Description missing

Issue description

The description meta tag is missing. Search engines will use the available page content to generate a description for the page SERP snippet.

Duplicate description

Issue description

Duplicate description meta tags were found on your website's pages. As a result, you may miss the opportunity to use more relevant keywords to describe each individual page.

Multiple description tags

Issue description

Several meta description tags have been found on the website. Since search engines expect to see a single meta description tag on a page, having multiple tags can confuse search engines and prevent them from selecting the most relevant tag that will be displayed in the search results.

Description too long

Issue description

Search engines can use the description meta tag to generate descriptions for snippets, but they may shorten it to a length they deem acceptable. For this reason, it's important that the page description is clear, concise, and defines the page's topic.

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Usability

Description

Your website needs to be user-friendly and intuitive. This section provides recommendations aimed at helping you improve website usability

Favicon missing

Issue description

Your website doesn't have a favicon, which is an icon that represents your website and that's displayed right before the page name in browser tabs, in bookmarks, in SERPs. Without a favicon, it is much more difficult for people to distinguish your site from other web pages in the browser.

Flash is used

Issue description

Flash is an outdated technology that was developed to create interactive content with animation and sound. Popular browsers will completely stop supporting Flash-based content in 2021.

X (ex-Twitter) Card tag missing

Issue description

Some pages of your website do not have the X Card tag. Without this tag, the page title, description, image, and so on won't be pulled up and displayed in your X posts along with the link. Instead, X will pull data from relevant Open Graph tags, if there are any.

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Website Speed

Description

Website speed impacts user behavior. The slower the website loads up, the more people will leave it, which will ultimately increase your bounce rate. This section provides recommendations aimed at helping you improve the website speed

HTML size too big

Issue description

The size of a page's HTML code exceeds 3 MB. A page size that is too large leads to a slower page load time, resulting in a poor user experience and a lower search engine ranking.

Slow page loading speed

Issue description

Some pages on your website are not loading fast enough. As a result, this negatively impacts the page's behavioral signals: if a page is taking too long to load, people tend to leave the page and go to another website. Moreover, the loading speed of a web page is one of Google's ranking factors.

Uncompressed content

Issue description

This issue is triggered if the Content-Encoding entity is not present in the page's response header. Compressing the page's content with the help of the server helps optimize the page loading speed. Using uncompressed pages leads to a slower page load time, resulting in a poor user experience and a lower search engine ranking.

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Textual content

Description

Quality textual content is one of the cornerstones of SEO. By fixing errors featured in this section, you’ll be able to improve some formal content quality metrics. We highly recommend you carefully read your content to make sure it brings value to users and meets your quality standards

Low word count

Issue description

Some pages on your site have less than 250 words. The optimal number of words depends on the type of page, but, as a rule, content should consist of more than 250 words.

H1 tag missing

Issue description

The <h1> tag is the top-level page heading, which is the most important <h> tag. People usually see the <h1> tag as the title of the text, and search engines use it to understand what the page is about. Keep in mind that from the SEO perspective, the <h1> tag is the second most important tag after the <title> tag.?

H1 tag empty

Issue description

The <h1> tag is the top-level page heading, which is the most important <h> tag. People usually see the <h1> tag as the title of the text, and search engines use it to understand what the page is about. Keep in mind that from the SEO perspective, the <h1> tag is the second most important tag after the <title> tag.

H1 tag too long

Issue description

The <h1> tag is the top-level page heading, which is the most important <h> tag. People usually see the <h1> tag as the title of the text, and search engines use it to understand what the page is about. The <h1> tag briefly describes the content of the subsequent block, so it should be informative and concise.

Multiple H1 tags

Issue description

Technically, you can use multiple <h1> tags on a page, and Google will consider both tags. But if the structure of the page allows you to use a single <h1> tag, we strongly recommend you do so.

Duplicate H1

Issue description

Duplicate <h1> headings on different pages prevent search engines from understanding which site page is relevant to a particular search query. Pages with duplicate header tags are less likely to rank well, as they can confuse search engines about the page topic.

Identical Title and H1 tags

Issue description

By having the same <title> and <h1> tags, you're missing out on the opportunity to present the web page from different angles and incorporate other relevant keywords. In addition, search engines can interpret the fact that you have identical <title> and <h1> tags as a sign that the page is over-optimized.

H2 tag missing

Issue description

The <h2> tag is the second-level page heading, which is usually placed no higher than <h1> in the text structure and is used to create a new content subsection on the page. Search engines use this tag to understand what the page is about.

H2 tag empty

Issue description

The <h2> tag is the second-level page heading, which is usually placed no higher than <h1> in the text structure and is used to create a new content subsection on the page. Search engines use this tag to understand what the page is about.

H2 tag too long

Issue description

The <h2> tag is the second-level page heading, which is usually placed no higher than <h1> in the text structure and is used to create a new content subsection on the page. Search engines use this tag to understand what the page is about. The <h2> tag briefly describes the content of the subsequent block, so it should be informative and concise.

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Redirects

Description

Setting up redirects is a handy SEO technique that helps guide website visitors to proper web pages whenever a website/URL changes. Redirects also help you retain link juice of the removed website. This section features errors related to redirects not functioning properly.?

Redirect chain

Issue description

Redirect chains occur when a redirect is set up from page 1 to page 2, and from page 2 to page 3. There may be more than three links in a chain, but the longer the path to the target page is, the slower the page will load. Redirect chains negatively affect the user experience, and also complicate the crawling process for search engine robots.

Redirect loop

Issue description

Redirect loops occur when a URL redirects to itself or when the last URL in the redirect chain redirects to one of the URLs within the chain (for example, page 1 redirects to page 2 and page 2 redirects to page 1). As a result, the "Too Many Redirects" error pops up in the browser. Search engine robots are unable to crawl such pages.

Redirect to 4xx or 5xx

Issue description

Redirect landing pages return a 4XX or 5XX response code. These pages were either deleted or are inaccessible due to server problems. As a result, search engine robots are not able to crawl such pages, and visitors who see an error in the browser will most likely leave your site.?

Meta refresh redirect

Issue description

The <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="...;url=..." /> tag is used in the HTTP header of some of your website's pages. This tag sends visitors to a different URL after a certain time. Since the redirect is triggered at the browser level, Google needs to parse the page first to see the destination URL, and this can take some time. Also, meta refresh redirects are not supported by every browser. On top of that, they may confuse your visitors because they are redirected to a page that they did not intend on opening.

302, 303, 307 temporary redirects

Issue description

Temporary redirects with 302, 303, or 307 response codes indicate that the page address has changed, but it will soon return to the old one. We strongly recommend you avoid using temporary redirects for a long period of time.

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Internal Links

Description

Internal links help search engines scan websites because crawlers are able to discover new web pages by following such links. Internal links also allow the distribution of link equity across the website. By fixing errors featured in this section, you’ll be able to improve your internal linking

No inbound links

Issue description

Some pages of the website don't have any internal links pointing to them. Search engines can only find and index such pages if they are indicated in the XML sitemap or via external links. Your website visitors cannot access such pages from other pages of the site.

Too many links

Issue description

Some pages on your site contain more than 400 links. When crawling a website, search engine robots follow links to better understand its structure, content and how the site is connected to external resources. But pages that contain more than 400 links look spammy, which is not a good sign for both search engines or website visitors. Pages with many links don't tend to rank high and may not get indexed at all.

Internal links missing anchor

Issue description

Some internal links on your website have an empty or naked anchor (i.e., anchor that uses a raw URL), or the anchor text only contains symbols. When clicking on links without anchors, it may be difficult for both website visitors and search engines to understand what to expect to see on the page that you link out to.

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Nofollow internal links

Issue description

Some internal links on your website use the rel="nofollow" attribute. Since search engines do not follow such links, tagging them with this attribute may lead to you having issues indexing your website's pages. In addition, since nofollow links do not transfer any link juice, it is lost and isn't distributed among other pages that you linked out to from the given page.

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One inbound internal link

Issue description

Some pages of your website have only one internal link pointing to it. Internal links increase the importance of the page from the perspective of search engines.

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External Links

Description

External links help us support ideas expressed in content with authoritative data. When such links do not function properly, the website SEO is negatively affected. This section features recommendations that will help you fix external link errors

External links missing anchor

Issue description

Some external links on your website have an empty or naked anchor (i.e., anchor that uses a raw URL), or the anchor text only contains symbols. When clicking on links without anchors, it may be difficult for both website visitors and search engines to understand what to expect to see on the page that you link out to.

Nofollow external links

Issue description

Some external links on your website use the rel="nofollow" attribute. Search engines do not follow links tagged with the rel="nofollow" attribute, and such links do not transfer link juice to linked out pages.

External links Timed out

Issue description

The our bot sent a request to a page or resource that your site links out to, but doesn't receive a response from the server within 15 seconds. Perhaps such pages or resources are unavailable.

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Localization

Description

If your website targets people from different countries and regions, you can’t do without the hreflang and HTML lang attributes. By fixing errors featured in this section, you’ll be able to make your hreflang and HTML lang attributes function properly.

Invalid language code

Issue description

Some pages of your website indicate the wrong language code in the hreflang attribute. The hreflang attribute helps search engines direct website visitors to the correct language or regional version of a page. If the language code indicated in the hreflang attribute is incorrect, search engines will ignore the attribute. As a result, search engines may not find alternative versions of your pages and may not be able to direct website visitors to the correct language or regional version of your pages.

Hreflang page doesn't link out to itself

Issue description

The hreflang attribute tells search engines that the page has versions in other languages and/or for other regions. Each page should link out to all of its versions, as well as to itself. If a page does not link out to itself, search engines may ignore or incorrectly process the hreflang attribute.

Hreflang to non-canonical

Issue description

If the hreflang attribute points to a non-canonical version of the page, this can confuse search engines. In such cases, the set of rel="alternate" hreflang="x" values will instruct search engines to display the local version of the page, and the rel="canonical" attribute will warn them that this version of the page is non-canonical and should not be used.

Hreflang and HTML lang do not match

Issue description

The hreflang and HTML lang attributes on the page use different language codes. Google no longer takes the HTML lang attribute into account, but other search engines and screen readers still use this attribute to understand what language the page content is written in.

Confirmation (return) links missing on hreflang pages

Issue description

Versions of the page with the hreflang attribute do not link out to each other. If page A links to page B in the hreflang attribute, page B must link out to page A in response. If the hreflang attributes do not have any backlinks, search engines may ignore such attributes or misinterpret them.

Multiple language codes for one page

Issue description

The hreflang attributes specify multiple language codes for a single URL. For example, hreflang="en" and hreflang="de" point to the same URL. This can confuse search engines, because it is unclear in which of the indicated languages the information on the page is presented and which version of the page should be shown to website visitors.

Invalid HTML lang

Issue description

Some pages of your website have an invalid HTML lang attribute. Google no longer takes the HTML lang attribute into account, but other search engines and screen readers still use this attribute to understand what language the page content is written in.

Language duplicates in hreflang

Issue description

Several versions of a page were found that specify the same language code in the hreflang attribute. For example, the hreflang attribute specifies the "de" language code for two different URLs. This can confuse search engines, because it is unclear which of the two pages should be displayed to visitors whose language preference is "es". As a result, search engines ignore invalid hreflang attributes.

HTML lang missing

Issue description

Some pages of your website have a missing <html lang=""> language attribute. Google no longer takes the HTML lang attribute into account, but other search engines and screen readers still use this attribute to understand what language the page content is written in.

X-default hreflang attribute missing

Issue description

Using the x-default tag, you can let search engines know which version of a page should be shown to website visitors, if the website isn't translated into the language they prefer. For example, if the site does not have a German version, you can specify that all German-speaking visitors should be directed to a special backup page that is not associated with a specific region. The x-default tag is optional.

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Images

Description

Images give websites a more appealing look and make it easier for users to grasp information. At the same time, using too many unoptimized images can lead to website speed issues. Besides, it is important to add alt tags to every image to get the most out of them SEO-wise.

Image too big

Issue description

This issue is triggered if the images you use on your website are too large. Images are usually the "heaviest" page elements in terms of size, and if the page loads slowly, in most cases, it is because of the size of the images.

Alt text missing

Issue description

The alt attribute describes the content of the image. It helps search engine robots understand what is depicted in the image. Plus, the alt text is displayed on the page if the browser could not load the image.

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JavaScript

Description

By using JavaScript, web developers can create dynamic and interactive websites. At the same time, JavaScript files are usually rather heavy and can significantly slow down your website if they are not optimized. Fix the errors listed in this section so that JavaScript files won’t hinder your website’s blazing fast loading speed

JavaScript not compressed

Issue description

HTTP response compression is not enabled on your website. Compressing JavaScript files significantly reduces their size as well as the overall size of your web page, improving the page load time as a result. Uncompressed JavaScript files make your web page load slower, which has a negative impact on the user experience and search engine rankings.?

JavaScript not cached

Issue description

HTTP header caching is not used on your website. By allowing the browser to store cached copies of your JavaScript files, you reduce the load on the site server. When the browser loads the page again, it will use previously stored data instead of sending an additional request to the server. As a result, JavaScript caching allows you to decrease the page load time and improve the user experience.

JavaScript too big

Issue description

The total size of JavaScript files on some web pages exceeds 2 MB. The page loading speed depends on the size of JavaScript files, and the "heavier" these files are, the longer it will take for the page load. In turn, the page loading speed directly impacts the user experience, and as a result, SERP rankings.

Too many JavaScript files

Issue description

Some of your web pages use more than 30 JavaScript files. Each time a visitor navigates to your web page, the browser loads JavaScript files first. The browser sends a separate request to the web server for each file used by your web page, and the more requests are sent, the longer it will take for your web pages to load. In turn, the page loading speed impacts the user experience, bounce rate, and as a result, your SERP rankings.

JavaScript not minified

Issue description

Minification is the process of removing unnecessary lines, white space and comments from the source code. Minifying JavaScript files makes their size smaller, and as a result, decreases the page load time, providing a better user experience and improving your search engine rankings.

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CSS (Cascading style sheets)

Description

No website can do without CSS files since they make sites visually appealing. At the same time, when used unoptimized, CSS files can slow down your website. Fix the errors listed in this section so that CSS files won’t hinder your website’s blazing fast loading speed.

CSS too big

Issue description

The size of the CSS file exceeds 150 KB. Excessively large CSS files can slow down the page loading speed.

CSS not compressed

Issue description

HTTP response compression is not configured on your website. Compressing CSS files significantly reduces their size as well as the overall size of your web page, improving the page load time as a result. Uncompressed CSS files make your web page load slower, which has a negative impact on the user experience and search engine rankings.

CSS not cached

Issue description

HTTP header caching is not used on your website. By allowing the browser to store cached copies of your CSS files, you reduce the load on the site server. When the browser loads the page again, it will use previously stored data instead of sending an additional request to the server. As a result, CSS caching allows you to decrease the page load time and improve the user experience.

Too many CSS files

Issue description

Some of your web pages use more than 50 CSS files. Each time a visitor navigates to your web page, the browser loads CSS files first. The browser sends a separate request to the web server for each file used by your web page, and the more requests are sent, the longer it will take for your web pages to load. In turn, the page loading speed impacts the user experience, bounce rate, and as a result, your SERP rankings.

CSS not minified

Issue description

Minification is the process of removing unnecessary lines, white space and comments from the source code. Minifying CSS files makes their size smaller, and as a result, decreases the page load time, providing a better user experience and improving your search engine rankings.

Mobile Optimisation

Description

This section contains issues and recommendations on adapting websites for mobile devices. If the website is user-friendly for smartphones and tablets, it will have better behavioral factors that can affect search engine rankings, improve user experience and increase the number of conversions.?

Viewport meta tag missing

Issue description

Without the viewport meta tag, your site will not be correctly displayed on screens of different sizes. As a result, users will not be able to properly view the site on mobile devices.

Fixed width value in viewport meta tag

Issue description

The page is not responsive to different screen sizes because the viewport meta tag does not contain the device-width value.

Use of incompatible plugins

Issue description

The page contains plugins that are incompatible with most mobile browsers, such as Flash plugins, Silverlight plugins, etc.

Minimum text to HTML ratio

Issue description

This section shows website pages whose text-to-HTML ratio is below 10%. This means that such pages are overloaded with code that may slow down its load time and complicate content processing.

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Performance

Description

This section contains a set of website quality metrics that are based on the user experience. Among them you will find Core Web Vitals that are considered by Google when measuring website satisfaction, and include LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) that measures the main content loading speed, FID (First Input Delay) that measures how long it takes for the website to respond when a user clicks on something, and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) that measures visual stability during page loading.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) in real-world conditions

Issue description

LCP measures the loading speed of the largest visual elements on the page, namely images, text blocks, videos, etc. It is measured in real-world conditions based on data from the Chromium browser.

First Input Delay (FID) in real-world conditions

Issue description

FID measures the time between the user's click on the page and the browser's response to this action. It is measured in real-world conditions based on data from the Chromium browser.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) in real-world conditions

Issue description

CLS measures if there is any shift in page visual elements during its loading. It is measured in real-world conditions based on data from the Chromium browser.

First Contentful Paint (FCP) in real-world conditions

Issue description

FCP shows how much time it takes for the user to see the first content-rich element on the page, for instance text or image. It is measured in real-world conditions based on data from the Chromium browser.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) in a lab environment

Issue description

LCP measures the loading speed of the largest visual elements on the page, namely images, text blocks, videos, etc. It is measured in a lab environment based on data from the Lighthouse report.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) in a lab environment

Issue description

CLS measures if there is any shift in page visual elements during its loading. It is measured in a lab environment based on data from the Lighthouse report.

First Contentful Paint (FCP) in a lab environment

Issue description

FCP shows how much time it takes for the user to see the first content-rich element on the page, for instance text or image. It is measured in a lab environment based on data from the Lighthouse report.

Speed Index

Issue description

Speed Index measures how quickly content is visually displayed during page loading. This parameter compares your page speed index to that of real sites. It is measured in a lab environment based on data from the Lighthouse report.

Time to Interactive (TTI)

Issue description

TTI measures the time from the moment the page starts loading until the moment a stable response to user actions is made. It is measured in a lab environment based on data from the Lighthouse report.

Total Blocking Time (TBT)

Issue description

TBT measures the total blocking time during which a page is unavailable for user input (mouse, keyboard, or screen touch). It is measured in a lab environment based on data from the Lighthouse report.

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AMP (accelerated Mobile Pages)

Description

This section contains issues and recommendations on the technical implementation of AMP pages (Accelerated Mobile Pages) on the site. If AMP pages work properly, they load faster on mobile devices and, accordingly, help improve the user experience.

?No AMP pages used

Issue description

No AMP pages were found on this site. As a result, the rest of the checks from the AMP section will not be performed.

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