Technical SEO Audit
This playbook outlines the steps to conduct a comprehensive technical SEO audit. It aims to identify and troubleshoot issues affecting a website's performance in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Step 1: Crawl Website
Use a crawling tool such as Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to perform an in-depth crawl of the entire website. This will give you an overview of the site structure and identify initial issues.
Step 2: Analyze Titles
Check for duplicate, missing, or too long title tags within the website's pages. These are critical for both SEO and user experience.
Step 3: Meta Descriptions
Review and optimize meta descriptions to ensure that they are unique and effectively describe the content of each page to improve click-through rates.
Step 4: Check Headings
Verify proper use of H1 and other heading tags throughout the site. Ensure that they are structured correctly and include relevant keywords for SEO.
Step 5: Audit Content
Perform a content audit to identify thin, duplicated, or outdated content. Plan to refresh or remove any low-quality content.
Step 6: Inspect URLs
Ensure that URLs are descriptive, concise, and use hyphens (-) to separate words. Avoid lengthy URLs, excessive parameters, or session IDs.
Step 7: Mobile Responsiveness
Test the website’s mobile responsiveness using tools like Google's Mobile-Friendly Test. Mobile usability is a key factor in SEO.
Step 8: Analyze Site Speed
Utilize tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to analyze loading times and implement recommendations to improve site speed.
Step 9: Check HTTPS
Ensure the site is using HTTPS for security. Check for any mixed-content issues that could cause warnings in browsers.
Step 10: Internal Linking
Review the internal linking structure to ensure pages are interconnected properly and relevant pages are highlighted.
Step 11: External Links
Check for broken external links and ensure that backlinks to your site are from reputable and relevant sources.
Step 12: Indexability
Check robot.txt files, canonical tags, and meta robots tags to ensure that search engines can index the site correctly.
Step 13: XML Sitemaps
Verify that XML sitemaps are up-to-date, free of errors, and submitted to appropriate search engine webmaster tools.
Step 14: Structured Data
Implement and test structured data (schema.org) to enhance search results with rich snippets, aiding in better visibility and CTR.
Step 15: Follow-Up
Create an actionable plan to address the findings from the audit. Prioritize issues based on impact and difficulty to resolve.
General Notes
Tools Required
Prepare a list of SEO tools needed for the audit such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, crawling software, and others relevant to the process.
Continuous Process
SEO is an ongoing process. Schedule regular audits to maintain optimal site performance and stay ahead of evolving SEO practices.
Collaboration
Coordinate with your web development, content, and design teams to implement the recommendations effectively and efficiently.