Importance of Technical SEO Audits and Checklist To Do One

How do you know that your website is doing well? Conduct an audit. A San Diego technical SEO agency performs audits regularly.

This article explains what goes on during the process, including:

• The top reasons you should do it
• The technical SEO audit checklist and the factors you measure

Give your site the best chance online. Read these points below!

Watch this video to learn how Digital Authority Partners tackles Technical SEO!

Why Should You Perform a Technical SEO Audit?

Digital Authority Partners (DAP) has broadly covered technical SEO audits previously. But some points are worth reiterating to emphasize this process’s importance to your overall digital marketing campaign.

Technical SEO completes the search optimization triangle that includes on-page and off-page optimization. In particular, it takes care of what is happening “behind the scenes.” 

It also helps provide answers to some of your pressing questions about why your pages may not be ranking or converting well, such as:

• Is your website optimized for crawling and indexing?
• Do you have any technical issues preventing Google or Bing from properly understanding your site’s content?
• Are all pages on your domain correctly optimized? Are they delivering a great user experience?
• Is your site secure?
• Do you have an effective internal link structure?
• Are you following the latest online guidelines and best practices?
• Is your site mobile-friendly?

All of these questions matter because:

• User experience (UX) helps you engage, convert, and retain customers. It reduces the abandonment rate, increases the click-through rate (CTR), and improves the time spent on pages.
• Technical SEO helps you stay competitive in the search results. It tells you if you have optimized your pages according to the latest algorithm changes.
• This type of optimization acknowledges changes in consumer behavior. For example, people are more likely to leave a site if it does not load in three seconds or less.
• Trust is a major online issue and a sought-after quality for any business. People who see you as credible and trustworthy will likely buy from you. They can even become advocates for your brand.
• Your success and failure in the search results can reflect your brand.

In short, technical SEO helps San Diego firms succeed online by strengthening and improving on- and off-page efforts.

Technical SEO Audit Checklist

A digital marketing firm might perform a one-time audit, but usually it is an ongoing activity. Most do it every quarter or even monthly. It is also most ideal when:

• Search engines have rolled out new algorithms.
• Analytics reveal massive changes in the key performance indicators (KPIs).
• The website has experienced an attack.
• You and the team have launched or modified some of your SEO tactics.

Like the others, it is not uncommon for a San Diego technical SEO agency to use a template or checklist for auditing. It helps them save time, considering completing it can take days to weeks. It also ensures that they do not miss any factor important to your campaign’s success.

What goes into the technical SEO audit checklist can vary, but it mostly focuses on the following:

     1. Crawling and Indexing

Ensuring that search engines do both is one of this optimization element’s primary priorities. Otherwise, you cannot expect anyone to see your content.

What and How to Check

You have two options. The first one is to perform a manual search. You can type in your website name or target keywords and check if your pages appear. The other is to use tools, such as Google Search Console, to monitor crawling and indexing.

Besides these, you should check the following:

• XML sitemap, which helps search engines find and understand your domain’s content
• Robots.txt file, which tells the bots what pages to crawl or ignore
• No indexation errors or manual action reports
• Rendering of the content and images on JavaScript and CSS

     2. Security and Safety

Google provides strict policies about what can and cannot appear in its listings. For instance, online safety is a big issue for the search engine giant. As such, a non-HTTP site is likely to rank lower than one with HTTPS.

What and How to Check

• Website running HTTPS instead of HTTP
• Previous HTTP site now redirects to HTTPS
• Malware threats and attacks
• Errors or issues that can make the website vulnerable to attacks
• SSL certificate
• Server security, such as firewalls and other controls

     3. Mobile Optimization

Between Google’s mobile-first indexing and people’s increasing reliance on their devices, mobile optimization is now necessary. Having a site that loads on smartphones and tablets is simply not enough. 

Experts like a San Diego technical SEO agency ensure that your site is responsive, fast, and optimized for the best user experience.

What and How to Check

• Page speeds, especially on a 5G Internet connection
• Core Web Vitals
• Design elements optimized for different screen sizes
• Single website version for both desktop and mobile
• Mobile-Friendly Test

     4. Site Structure and Metadata

Having a neat and organized structure helps you maintain your SEO efforts. It also makes it easier for search engine crawlers to find and index your content, aiding in ranking. It even satisfies users because of its improved navigation.

What and How to Check

• URL structure and organization (e.g., schema markup and structured data)
• Permalink structures, especially for blogs or other content management systems
• Page titles and meta descriptions (if they are optimized)
• Headings and subheadings (if they are in the proper hierarchy)
• Organized internal linking structure

     5. Content

While on-page and technical SEO differ, they can work together to increase your rankings and drive conversions, and you can test both during the audit.

What and How to Check

• Duplicate content
• Intrusive interstitial ads (usually promotional overlays that distract or obstruct a user’s view)
• Excessive ads above the fold
• Alt tags on the images
• Schema markup for the videos
• Visual assets included in the XML sitemap
• Link issues (e.g., no broken or missing links, appropriate internal linking on the pages)

Summing Up

Today, you cannot treat any optimization error or issue as minor. It can snowball over time, damaging your rankings and visibility. It then becomes easy to lag behind your competitors.

While you can download or copy an audit checklist, doing it is still complicated. Digital Authority Partners (DAP), a San Diego technical SEO agency, uses its expertise, knowledge, and experience to conduct a thorough audit, identify problems, and suggest appropriate solutions. Contact us today and get your website up and running properly.