What Tools Do You Use For A Technical SEO Audit?

Story Based Question

Imagine you’ve recently taken over the SEO management for a growing e-commerce website. Your first task is to perform a technical SEO audit to ensure that everything is set up correctly and optimized for both search engines and users. But you’re overwhelmed with the number of tools available in the market and aren’t sure which ones to choose. You know that a good technical SEO audit requires some solid tools to help you identify and fix issues. So, what tools should you use to conduct a comprehensive technical SEO audit?

Exact Answer

To conduct a technical SEO audit, use tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and GTmetrix. These tools help identify site issues such as crawl errors, broken links, page speed problems, and technical SEO factors that can impact rankings.

Explanation

A technical SEO audit focuses on the back-end elements of a website that influence its performance on search engines. Using the right tools can save you time and provide in-depth insights into how well your website is optimized. Here’s how these tools help you conduct an audit:

  1. Google Search Console:
    This free tool from Google helps you monitor and maintain your website’s presence in search results. It provides essential data like:
    • Indexing Issues: See which pages are being indexed and which aren’t, helping you find potential crawl problems.
    • Crawl Errors: Identify 404s or server issues preventing Googlebot from crawling your pages.
    • Search Performance: Analyze the keywords that are driving traffic and the pages that are performing well in search results.
  2. Screaming Frog SEO Spider:
    This is a desktop-based crawler that mimics how search engines crawl your website. It’s an essential tool for:
    • Crawlability: Check if search engines can properly crawl your pages and identify any barriers.
    • Internal Linking: See how your internal links are structured, helping you fix broken or missing links.
    • Meta Tags: Audit meta descriptions, titles, and header tags for SEO optimization and duplication.
    • Redirects and 404s: Find any 301 redirects or broken links that might negatively impact your site’s SEO.
  3. Ahrefs:
    Known primarily for backlink analysis, Ahrefs also provides valuable data for a technical SEO audit:
    • Site Audit Tool: This tool crawls your website and flags issues like missing meta tags, duplicate content, and slow loading pages.
    • Backlink Profile: Helps identify toxic backlinks or any external factors that could harm your site’s SEO performance.
    • Crawl Data: Provides data on crawl efficiency and any technical issues that could hinder search engine bots.
  4. SEMrush:
    SEMrush is another all-in-one SEO tool that can perform a comprehensive technical SEO audit:
    • Site Health: Provides an overall “health score” for your website, based on factors like broken links, image optimization, and security issues.
    • Site Audit Tool: Identifies issues with speed, mobile optimization, crawlability, and on-page SEO factors.
    • Competitor Analysis: SEMrush also allows you to compare your technical SEO performance with competitors, helping you identify gaps.
  5. GTmetrix:
    GTmetrix focuses on website performance, which is an important part of technical SEO. It evaluates:
    • Page Speed: Helps you analyze how fast your pages load and provides insights on how to improve loading times.
    • Performance Metrics: Gives you detailed data on Core Web Vitals, including Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and First Input Delay (FID), which Google uses to rank pages.

Example

Let’s say you’re conducting a technical SEO audit for an online pet store. Here’s how you’d use these tools to analyze and fix potential issues:

  • Google Search Console:
    You notice a few pages have crawl errors and aren’t being indexed. Google Search Console tells you that some pages are blocked by the robots.txt file. You quickly fix that and re-submit the pages for indexing.
  • Screaming Frog SEO Spider:
    When you run a crawl with Screaming Frog, you find several broken links on product pages. The tool provides you with a list of 404 errors, and you replace the broken links with correct ones, ensuring that both users and search engines can easily navigate the site.
  • Ahrefs:
    Ahrefs reveals that one of your key product pages has very few backlinks compared to competitors. You also notice some low-quality backlinks pointing to your site, which could hurt your rankings. You begin building high-quality backlinks and disavowing the harmful ones.
  • SEMrush:
    SEMrush flags that the pet store’s pages have slow load times, and the mobile-friendliness of the site needs improvement. You focus on optimizing images and improving page load times, ensuring the website performs well on both desktop and mobile devices.
  • GTmetrix:
    You find that your homepage has an LCP score that’s too high. GTmetrix shows that large images are the cause, so you compress them to improve the page’s loading speed and user experience.

By using these tools, you uncover various technical issues—from crawl errors to slow page speed—that were likely hurting your website’s performance. With these fixes in place, you boost your site’s visibility, rankings, and user experience.

To perform a thorough technical SEO audit, you need reliable tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and GTmetrix. These tools help you identify issues like crawl errors, site speed problems, backlink quality, and more, ensuring your website is optimized for search engines and users alike.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top