In general, a website audit is the deep inspection of a site structure, security, its content, backlinks and backend errors and issues related to speed.
A site without an audit is just like a plane taking off without having gone through a checklist of special items. And you can guess what might be the fate of such a plane. If anything goes wrong, pilots have no clue of the causes and therefore can’t control the consequences.
Likewise, a site running without proper inspection could spell disaster, unlikely to rank on search engines. Besides, it will provide poor user experience and fail to drive enough traffic.
Not only that, such a site will have an inferior ranking among its peers and fall behind in the race. Worst yet, it could face penalties from Google.
By now you may have got the basic idea of the importance of auditing a site. However,
Site audit checklist
Canonical issue
Sometime a domain name may exhibit canonical issues, wherein a single domain may exist with two different URL’s. This severely impacts SEO and hurts the authority of a website. In no case this duplication should occur. Always ensure that your domain is registered against one URL and proper redirection is taking place.
For instance https://mysite.com- https://www.mysite.com- http://mysite.com http://www.mysite.com
Are four formats of a site URL. The first two represent correct domain addresses and will execute without causing any problem. The last two are unsafe versions and should redirect the visitor to the authentic domain URL.
Security
The safety of your website comes as the top priority since this is where no compromise should be made. Be sure to add security features like SSL certification so that no hacker can gain unauthorized access into database or admin panel.
SSL is an encryption protocol that protects the link between browser and hosting server of the website. If enabled, it supports the HTTPS version which is fully protected.
Another type of security layer comes with plugins. To exemplify, Login panel security is also crucial. First up, choose a strong password that is impossible to guess. Also add multiple checks at login- Google Captcha or Login attempt counter. Moreover, disguise login credentials with the help of reliable plugins in the case of a WordPress website.
Structure
Bad design means a site that does not comply with Google’s algorithm. Your site might look appealing superficially, but deep scrutiny might reveal the opposite. It may not have a robust and systematic layout that facilitates easily accessible links. Furthermore, it hinders jumping from one section to another.
During website audit, its architecture is something you want to pay attention to.
This is how you can do it.
- Provide complete interlinking among main pages to provide comfortable navigation for both users and search engines.
- Create maximum category pages to segregate relevant content. Add child-categories under related parent categories to help quick navigation. But keep in mind not to overdo, as going beyond 3rd sub level the site might be difficult to crawl and therefore pose indexing challenges.
Design
This is the utmost part of an organized site. Design a home page that is arresting as well as fully responsive while going from top to bottom. Your site’s header should have all vital links- menu, social media, and search.
Add a default sidebar which will feature the latest content, fresh updates about your business.
Sitemap
With the increasing number of pages your site will also become bigger and heavier. It also means that you will need a straight roadmap to inform search engines about new content and restructuring. Auditing a site must include this crucial step.
- A sitemap creates a listing of pages and categories in XML format, which is readily decipherable for both people and Google.
- Any subtraction and addition from or to the site should be updated, and sitemaps will do the job efficiently.
- Owners can instantly know the brief of their website in case a calamity.
Indexing issues
Properly indexed pages rank higher on SERP but there are fewer non-indexed pages that might hinder smooth performance. These pages might be errored or dead. Any SEO expert doing site audit should regularly check for this issue.
There is a smarter way of managing this matter, Google Search Console. This online tool has a separate section where all errors are shown.
Mostly are caused by internal issues that need attention. By properly redressing these errors one can not only boost performance of the site but can also strengthen its presence on internet.
Broken links
A broken image or text links are detrimental elements, and it is critical to identify and correct them. Timely check and removal of such links will flush the unwanted content while improving rank and provide user satisfaction. There are several online tools that can help you find dead links.
Redirection issues
Even after keeping a full watch over the site, some unwelcome situations occur. Some pages that are either dead or expired long ago may need redirection.
Although it is easy to control and redirect these dysfunctional pages to their correct or relevant versions. Some tried and tested plugins will carry out the task. But the complete redirection may take several months before search engines can start considering new pages as the destination for the old pages.
Important pages
Some quintessential pages must be added before submitting a site on search engines. A comprehensive website audit will include- About, Privacy policy, contact, and disclaimer (in case you are selling products, dealing in legal services etc.).
Privacy policy contains information about how you are going to use this site under standard regulations, how customer data will be treated and other policies regarding the business operation of your site. If not published, it is highly unlikely that your site will be approved on the internet.
Similarly, the About page will tell the visitor who they are interacting with, whether the site is an informational blog or an ecommerce platform or a business landing page. One should candidly describe every detail and let the users know the purpose of the site.
A disclaimer can be given if there are certain legal restrictions, or the possibility of any law violation exists.
Backlinks
One core item in the site audit list is to check how many backlinks are associated with the website. Backlinks are referring links from other sites to your own site. The more the backlinks the higher the authority.
But the quality of a backlink is the main concern, poor or paid links from ill-reputed sites can do more harm than profit. Therefore, practice caution and check the domain authority of referring domains.
Domain authority
Domain authority explains the reputation or status a site has attained on the internet, since it began operating. It’s a number on the scale of one hundred. The higher the number, the greater the DA. For example, if A site has DA-80 and another site B owns DA-70, then A site has higher Domain authority than B.
It may depend upon quality of content, number of visitors, no. of backlinks, search engine ranking and what value it is adding to the user. Keep an eye on domain authority during each site audit.
Performance
Google search console Integration
Search console is one of the best online tools to conduct site audit free of charge. It is easy to subscribe and once you have registered on your site, it will start updating all performance data under various sections.
This tool makes it super easy for you to audit a website, analyses and improve its performance.
There are certain key areas everyone must check while auditing a site.
Performance tab- it displays impression, clicks and CTR data for all the indexed pages. Increasing impressions and clicks suggest positive trend, higher click through rate signals more people are clicking on your page links in the organic search. Such a positive response is a true sign of success.
