Conducting a comprehensive website audit is so important to maintain an optimized, user-friendly, and high-performing website. This checklist will guide you through key areas to ensure your site is optimized for both users and search engines. To make it more actionable, we’ve included an infographic summarizing the points below.
Accessibility/Findability | |
|---|---|
| Robots.txt | Make sure your website is crawlable and indexable to search engines. |
| HTML Sitemap | Create a HTML sitemap to navigate your users through your website. |
| XML Sitemap | XML sitemap navigates search engine's crawler through your website's contents. |
| Custom 404 Page | Custom 404 page improves SEO by reducing bounce rates, guiding users to relevant content, and maintaining a user-friendly experience that keeps visitors engaged on your website. |
| Site’s Loading Speed | Make sure your website is fast loading. Keep loading speed bellow 3 sec. |
| Mobile-Friendliness | Verify mobile responsiveness and ensure all touch elements are appropriately spaced. |
On Page SEO Checks | |
| http & https check | Make sure you have valid SSL certificate to secure your website. |
| www & non www version check | Use proper canonical tag to avoid duplicate content issues. |
| Meta Title | Use unique, relevant and click encouraging meta title to increase CTR. |
| Meta Description | Meta Description improves click-through rates by providing a clear and compelling overview of the page content. |
| Heading/Sub-headings | Place heading tags properly through the contents. It helps search engines to understand content hierarchy and improves user experience. |
| Image ALT Tags | Use keyword based image ALT tags relevant to content. |
URL Analysis | |
| URL Friendliness | Keep URLs clean and descriptive. Avoid URL delimiter. |
Architecture Checks | |
| Check for Breadcrumbs | Breadcrumbs navigate user's from the homepage to the current page they visit. They help both users and search engines understand the site structure and improve SEO by creating internal links. |
| Top Level Navigation (TLN) Analysis | Use optimized header menu or primary menu to navigate users throught your website. It helps users quickly find important sections of the site and improves SEO by creating clear pathways for search engine crawlers. |
| Footer Analysis | It helps with navigation and can improve SEO through internal links. |
Schema Markup | |
| Use of Structured Data Markup | Use proper schema markup to help search engines understand your content better. It enhances search engine results by providing rich snippets like ratings, prices, and event details, improving visibility and click-through rates. |
Content Optimization | |
| Rich Semantic Content (NOT thin) | Rich semantic content refers to well-structured, informative, and meaningful text that provides value to users and search engines. |
Follow this checklist to ensure your website is optimized for both search engines and users. Regular audits can help identify issues before they affect performance, keeping your website at peak efficiency. If you need any help, feel free to contact us.
