Search engine optimization or SEO has become an essential aspect for every website. It helps in giving a website a better rank in online searches that further allows greater reach and access of the available content to more users. However, it is not limited to the use of important keywords and properly structured content. There are various technical aspects related to a website that requires attention as well. The use of proper indexation, tags, and overall JavaScript code are essential as well. Online search engines use crawlers that analyze such aspects and rank websites accordingly. Technical search engine optimization audit, therefore, becomes essential in such cases.

Technical SEO audit is a dedicated process that analyses a website based upon various internal aspects irrespective of the quality of content. The utilization of the best practices of building a website and its proper analysis are included within technical SEO audit. This analysis process gives an overview of the website and helps in giving it a better rank in the user search.

Website basics:

Technical SEO audit starts with the basics of a particular website. These include proper optimization of the about and contact page, Robot.txt file, and ensuring the website is mobile-friendly. The robot.txt file placed in the root directory of a website serves as instructions for search engines as to which content and pages can be crawled in for search engine ranking. Dedicated SEO optimization solution providers ensure there are unwanted blockings in the file. Moreover, a website is made user-friendly by making sure these can be accessed on smart devices without damaging user experience.

Overall site architecture:

A website’s architecture includes a URL, 404, 301, and 302 pages that must be fully optimized. Such dedicated pages must be linked from the home page for easy navigation. The use of the proper structure for a website is very essential. Companies providing audit services analyze a website based upon its overall structure. URLs are investigated, 301 and 404-page errors are ensured to be linked with the main website and properly fixed, etc. Breadcrumbs that help with website navigation are optimized too.

Website loading speed:

The speed with which a website loads is also important for a better user experience. Various hurdles can lead to a reduction in the loading speed of the website. These include extensive use of large-size images, heavy pre-made themes, JS and CSS files, and scripts in the head tag. These must be rooted out by image size compression, minifying JS and CS files, use of cache plug-in, and reduction in usage of scripts.

Content issues:

Duplication of both on and off-site content can also lead to serious problems. Search engines sometimes are not able to differentiate between pages of a single website. This leads to duplication and therefore reduction in the ranking of the website in online searches. The non-usage of canonical URLs is the main reason behind this problem. Canonicalization is a process of differentiating between different pages and informing search engines about the main page. Canonical URLs are used for the elimination of duplication and improving the SEO performance of a website.

SSL integration:

Audit of a website even includes finding out whether or not a site has SSL integration into its HTTPS. SSL serves as a security certification for a website to protect its data like usernames and passwords. SEO audit helps in revealing the same and is fixed by installing an SSL certificate. Being a mandatory step, SSL helps in improving the overall ranking of a website.