Technical Audit: How to improve your technical SEO?

SEO technical audit: what are we talking about?

What is the meaning of an SEO technical audit?

The technical audit, also called technical SEO audit, is defined as an evaluation process that includes all technical aspects of a website. It focuses on optimizing the site for search engines, and allows you to evaluate its web performance global.

This audit is based on the analysis of several technical and structural criteria, includingindexability, The architecture, user experience, accessibility, The tags And the microdata.

The objective of this audit is to detect possible technical faults that could harm the posturing of the site on search engines. It is said that you have to respect the prescribed rules and be up to standards. At the end of this analysis, an action plan is established in order to correct these shortcomings and improve the visibility of the website.

Why is the technical audit of a website important?

In more detail, the SEO technical audit represents a strategic lever for anyone wishing to optimize their online visibility. It offers several major advantages:

• Precise diagnosis : It makes it possible to identify technical problems that may affect SEO and the user experience.
• Effective SEO strategy : It guides the development of a personalized optimization strategy, identifying opportunities for improvement.
• Durability : By ensuring the good technical health of the site, the audit contributes to the longevity of your online presence.

The challenges are also significant:

• Web performance : A technically optimized site improves the quality of traffic, the conversion rate and, ultimately, the turnover.
• Competitiveness : The audit makes it possible to differentiate yourself in an increasingly competitive digital environment.
• Reputation : A well-structured and efficient site reinforces the company's brand image.

Global technical audit: what are the prerequisites to identify before starting an audit?

Before starting a technical audit, several prerequisites must be identified to ensure a quality analysis.

It must be clearly defined your goals, and more precisely what is your problematic related to this audit? What are you looking to achieve? This can vary: from the loss of traffic to be improved to the resolution of indexing errors for example.

Finally, you have to understand your technical environment, Otherwise, the scope of the SEO technical audit. It is therefore to be careful not to get lost in other criteria that may be linked to other types of audit such assemantic audit Or of popularity.

SEO technical audit: 8 technical aspects to analyze

Criterion 1 - Site Security

La site security is an essential criterion in an SEO technical audit. It is directly linked to the trust of users and search engines.

Your site needs to use the HTTPS protocol. This guarantees a secure connection between the server and the user, thus protecting against malicious attacks and data theft.

Also, consider:

• Update your scripts and applications regularly
• Ensure the cleanliness of your domain name and IP address
• Verify the validation of your SSL certificate

These simple actions can greatly improve the security of your site.

Criterion 2 - Verification of the indexing and accessibility of the website

Indexing refers to how search engines discover and store your site's pages in their database. It is therefore essential to check that all pages on your site are properly indexed.

Accessibility, on the other hand, is about how easy it is for users and search engines to access your site.

To begin with, we always say that we launch a “crawl” of our site and that we use the Robots.txt file to explore all URLs. The Screaming Frog tool is very often recommended here for its effectiveness in identifying the various links on your site very clearly.

• Indexing : For this part, remember to analyze your log files. This allows you to check the activity of search engines on your site, to understand how they crawl and index it. Likewise, it will help you detect indexing errors and problems, as well as pages not visited. Also, be sure to have an xml sitemap, which lists the contents of your site in order to see if all the important content is accessible to search engine robots.
• Accessibility : Check that your site is compatible with the different platforms (desktop, mobile) and the different browsers. Also, make sure your site is easy to navigate, with a clear structure and functional links.

Criterion #3 - Charging time and mobile adaptability

Site load time

The charging time of the site is an important point for user experience and SEO. A site that takes more than 3 seconds to load risks losing visitors quickly. Tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights or Google Test My Site can help you assess and optimize this parameter: They provide a detailed report of your site's load time and recommendations for improving speed.

• Make sure your images are optimized to reduce their size (lazy load them) and speed up the loading time.
• Use caching to improve the loading speed of pages that have already been visited.
• Minimize the number of redirects on your site to avoid unnecessary loading times.

This criterion is particularly important for mobile users who may have a less efficient Internet connection.

Mobile adaptability

THEmobile adaptability, also known as Responsive design, has become a decisive criterion for the positioning of a site in mobile search results. A responsive site is a site that adapts its display according to the size of the user's screen.

• Check the adaptability of your site using tools like Google Mobile-Friendly Test. The latter indicates whether your site is easily usable on a mobile device.
• Make sure that the content is easy to read, that the buttons are big enough to click, and that users don't need to zoom or scroll horizontally across the page.
• Also check that your site does not contain elements that are inaccessible on mobile

This step is important because a site that is not mobile-friendly can be penalized by Google and offer a poor user experience.

Criteria #4 - Page architecture and URLs

The Hn structure

La Hn structure refers to the organization of title tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) on a web page. These tags help search engines understand the priority order of content and the relationship between different sections of a page. The correct use of Hn tags sends a positive message because it allows Googlebots to clearly read your site.

- To check the Hn structure of your site, you can use source code analysis tools (element inspector in your browser) or use SEO audit tools more advanced such as “SEO META in 1 click” to facilitate your analyses (detailed report).

- It is also necessary to ensure the internal networking of your site. Making links between your pages in a clear and relevant way makes it easier for robots to read and indicates healthy content.

The URLs

One URL (Uniform Resource Locator) well built is an essential element for good referencing. It should be clear, concise, and meaningful, both for users and for search engines.

• Readability : a good URL must be easily readable and understandable by Internet users. Avoid codes, numbers, or letters that have no apparent meaning.
• Keywords : The URL is a good place to include relevant keywords that reinforce the relevance of your page for these terms.
• Length : the longer a URL is and contains slugs, the more you increase the depth of your pages and it is difficult for Google to reach them. Try to keep your URLs as short and to the point as possible.
• Structure : A well-structured URL clearly indicates the hierarchy of information on the page. Use slashes (/) to separate different parts of the URL.
• Consistency : try to keep the URL format consistent across your site.

Criteria 5: Meta tag

La meta tag (or meta data) consists mainly of two elements: the Meta title And the Meta description.

• The meta title (or title tag), is the title of your page that is displayed in the search results. It should be unique and contain the main keyword and not exceed 60 characters.
• La Meta description, on the other hand, is a short summary of your page that appears under the title in the search results. It should be relevant, engaging, and no longer than 150 characters.

These tags allow search engines to understand the content of your page and provide relevant information to users.

Criterion #6 - Duplicate content

La duplicating content is a factor that can negatively affect the positioning of your site in search engines.

Duplicate content occurs when the same or very similar content is available on multiple different URLs. It is important to note that duplication can be internal (on the same site) or external (on different sites). Both are penalized for SEO and need to be addressed.

To detect duplicate content, you can use specialized tools such as Siteliner. It will allow you to inspect your site and identify duplicate content.

Once duplicate content has been identified, several solutions are available to you:

• Remove duplicate content.
• Use the canonical tag to tell search engines what version of the content they should index.
• Use 301 redirects to direct users and search engines to the preferred version of content.

In any case, it is best to create unique content and quality in order to improve your SEO and offer a better experience to your users.

Criterion 7 - Management of 404 errors and redirections

404 errors: what are we talking about and how to manage them?

Les 404 errors are error messages generated by a web server to indicate that a page is not available. They can be caused by broken links, deleted pages, or URL entry errors by users.

These errors damage the user experience but can also cause you to lose places in the search results (by pointing out errors to the bots).

To deal with 404 errors, start by identifying them. Tools like Screaming Frog or SEMrush can help you find erroneous pages on your site. You can then either correct them by creating a page at the URL in question, or set up redirects to relevant pages.

Custom 404 error pages can also improve the user experience by providing useful information and directing visitors to other parts of your site.

The redirects

There are several types of redirects that can be used for a variety of reasons. The most common are:

• 301 Redirect : It is a permanent redirect used when the content of a page has been permanently moved to a new URL. It is often used during redesign of a site or the restructuring of URLs.
• 302 Redirect : It is used to indicate a temporary movement of the page. This is a technique that we do not recommend, as it can cause confusion for search engines.
• Redirection called “in chain” : These are completely to be avoided and monitored. It is a redirection to another URL that is itself a redirection. This practice conveys no authority to the site and needs to be corrected.

To properly manage the redirects, remember to plan them during the origination or the redesign of a site, and to monitor them regularly to detect any possible problems.

Criterion 8 - Structured data and microdata, the guide

Microdata: definition

Les microdata is additional information that you can add to your web content to help search engines better understand and index your content. They are often used to provide detailed information about specific items on your page, such as products, the location of your service, FAQs, recipes, etc.

They can also help generate enriched snippets (or “rich snippets”) in the search results, thus improving the visibility and the click rate of your site.

Microdata, which one to choose and for what purpose?

Which microdata to use depends primarily on the nature of your content and your SEO goals. There are several types of microdata that you can integrate into your site, including:

• Product microdata : This microdata provides details about a product, such as its name, price, availability, and description. They are particularly useful for e-commerce sites.
• Location microdata : They make it possible to provide information about a physical location, such as a local business or an event. They may include address, phone number, business hours, etc.
• FAQ microdata : This microdata makes it possible to display frequently asked questions directly in the search results snippet, thus improving the visibility of your site.
• Recipe microdata : If your site has recipes, this microdata can help show detailed information, such as preparation time, ingredients, and instructions, directly in the search results.

Other microdata exist among those listed above.

These microdata also play a crucial role in the demonstration ofE-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Reliability) of your site in the eyes of Google. By providing structured information about your authors, qualifications, or sources, you increase the credibility of your content and send positive signals to quality assessment algorithms.

The main technical audit support tools

To successfully carry out your technical SEO audit, several tools are essential.

• Google Search Console : This tool allows you to monitor and solve the indexing problems of your site. It also provides valuable data on your site's search performance.
• Screaming Frog : It is a crawling tool that analyzes the various elements of your site, such as URLs, page titles, meta tags, etc. It is ideal for detecting 404 errors, content duplication problems or site architecture problems.
• SEMrush : This tool offers a full range of features for SEO auditing, such as keyword analysis, backlink analysis, site audit, and many more.
• google PageSpeed Insights : It assesses how fast your site loads on mobile devices and desktops, and offers recommendations for improving it.
• Google Analytics : It is essential for understanding user behavior on your site, it provides data on the number of visitors, time spent on the site, bounce rate, etc.
• Ahrefs : It is a complete tool that allows you to analyze your site and those of your competitors. It offers a multitude of features, including the analysis of Backlinks, keyword analysis, site audit, and many more.

Each tool has its own advantages and it is often necessary to use several tools to get a complete overview of the technical health of your site.

In summary, the SEO technical audit is an essential practice for any company or person wishing to optimize its natural referencing. It makes it possible to take stock of the site, to identify technical errors and weaknesses, and to identify, through precise recommendations, a set of actions to correct and improve its performance and its visibility on search engines. It should be noted that the technical audit is only one component of the SEO audit. Other aspects, such as content, visibility, and user experience, should also be considered for comprehensive SEO optimization.

Are you looking for an expert to carry out your technical SEO audit? Contact our agency!