The First Technical Task of an SEO Audit Is to Test the Functionality of the Site’s Links! !
The foundation of any website is the technical part. If this part does not work correctly, then it does not matter how good is the rest of your site because most people will not be able to or will not want to visit it. Why? Well, think about it. Even if you have the perfect website, but if your links do not work correctly, then most of your site visitors will not be able to access it. They will be left with a negative impression of your website, and the chances are that they won’t be visiting it anymore. So, you should find a reliable agency that offers SEO plans for small business and a complete SEO audit. Although the technical part is essential, you should use an SEO website audit that will take care of every part of your website.
Quick Links
Speaking about the technical errors and the problems that your links may have. What are they? How can an audit find them, and how can the agency help you solve the problems? Well, the first thing that you need to know is how the links should work correctly. The first step is to understand the 4 states that a page address can have. Every page address can either use “http” or “https”, and it can include “www.” or be without it. So, the 4 states are combinations based on these two differences.
For a link to function correctly, you need to make sure that it has a chosen state, and all other alternatives will redirect to that form. The best option is to use the “https” format and does not use the “www.”. Why? Because https is a more secure protocol, and a link is faster to memorize without the “www.”. An SEO audit must ensure that all the links on your website use a single format, preferable the one mentioned above and that all the other states of the links are redirecting to the chosen one.
The same principle applies to external links as well. No one likes to visit a website, get a recommendation, and click a broken link that either does not work, or it redirects to a dangerous page. So, the audit must also test all the external links present on your website and help you ensure that all of them are working correctly. Make sure that you choose an audit that either gives you the solution for all the problems, or they offer a service that will solve everything for you.
An SEO Audit Must Test Your Site Loading Speed and Help You Improve It!
The second technical factor that an SEO audit must test is the loading speed on your website. Is this important? Well, would you have the patience to wait for more than 5 seconds for every page of a website to load? You will probably be frustrated and avoid that site at all costs. So, you need to ensure that all the pages of your website have a loading speed that is as fast as possible. And that is the second essential step that an SEO agency must take into a technical SEO website audit.
A reliable SEO agency will do two things. Firstly, they will check the loading speed for all the pages on your website. Most of the time, there is a limit that will decide if the page is fast enough or not. All the pages that are not fast enough should be optimized. Yet again, the agency should be able to offer you some solutions that will help you solve the problem. There are two types of solutions that you can get.
- Manual optimization. Keep in mind that a website is still a code of data. Some agencies will be able to directly optimize your site manually, by optimizing the program as much as possible. But there are two small obstacles to this solution. The first one is the fact that you will need to give direct access to your website source to the agency. And the second one is that the problem may be caused by the host of the website. So, a better solution may be to improve your hosting.
- Using internet services. Nowadays, there are many different methods that you can use to speed up your website. One of them is hosting services that guarantee the fastest speed. But these services will cost you some money. You can also use different programs that will increase the loading speed of your website through some tricks. For example, loading the pages gradually, piece by piece. By doing this, your visitors will be able to access the page very fast, even if it is not completely loaded. So, an agency may recommend some of the best services that will help you solve the problem. Apart from this, you may use my site auditor’s page speed option to your website or you may use Google Page Speed Insight as my site auditor alternative to identify specific problems with your page speed.
Through an SEO Website Audit, You Will Find Out How Compatible Your Site Is with Mobile Devices!
The third essential factor that needs to be checked through an SEO website audit is the compatibility of your site with mobile devices. Yes, this one is important as well. In recent years, more and more search engine users are from mobile devices. So, the engines also place greater importance on this factor. So, you also need to do the same. And ensure that your site is optimized for mobile devices. You may wonder what problems may appear with this factor?
There are 2 types of main problems that may appear.
- Lack of page conversion. As you may know, most mobile devices have smaller screens than PCs. So, your page must adapt its sized to that screen. If this is not done correctly, then it will be difficult for a mobile visitor to navigate your website.
- Overcrowded pages. This problem may happen while the adaptation happens from a PC page to a mobile version. If all the elements of your website, like photos, menus, ads, text, and pop-ups, converge in a much smaller screen. They may overcrowd it and stop the visitors from using your site. Both of these problems must be verified for all your pages, and solutions must also be provided.