Conducting a Technical SEO Audit with Sitebulb: A Step-by-Step Guide

As an SEO professional, you know that technical SEO is just as important as on-page optimization when it comes to driving traffic and rankings. But how do you ensure your website’s technical foundation is solid? That’s where Sitebulb comes in – a powerful tool designed specifically for conducting technical SEO audits. In this article, we’ll take you through the process of using Sitebulb to identify and fix technical issues that can hinder your website’s performance.

Step 1: Sign up for a Sitebulb account

To get started, simply sign up for a free trial or paid account on Sitebulb. As a bonus, if you’re new to Sitebulb, they’ll give you a complimentary audit of one of your websites.

Step 2: Enter Your Website’s Information

Once signed in, enter the URL of the website you want to audit and any additional information required (e.g., login credentials for password-protected sites).

Step 3: Run the Sitebulb Audit

Sitebulb will then crawl your website, analyzing its technical aspects such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more. This process may take a few minutes, depending on the size of your site.

Step 4: Review Your Audit Report

Once the audit is complete, Sitebulb will generate a comprehensive report highlighting areas that require improvement. The report will be organized into categories like:

• HTML & CSS: Identifies issues with HTML structure, semantic markup, and CSS styles.
• JavaScript & Analytics: Evaluates JavaScript files, analytics setup, and tracking codes.
• Images & Assets: Analyzes image optimization, compression, and lazy loading.
• Security: Checks for SSL certificates, browser warnings, and potential security vulnerabilities.
• Performance: Assesses page load times, render-blocking resources, and other performance-related issues.

Step 5: Identify and Prioritize Issues

Review each section of the report to identify areas that require attention. Be sure to prioritize the most critical issues first, as some may have a more significant impact on your website’s performance than others.

Some common technical SEO issues you might encounter include:

• Broken or missing canonical URLs: Sitebulb will flag instances where canonical URLs are not set correctly or do not exist at all.
• Duplicate or missing meta tags: The report will highlight situations where duplicate or missing meta tags can negatively impact search engine rankings.
• Outdated or incorrect robots.txt files: Sitebulb will alert you to any issues with your website’s robots.txt file, which can affect how search engines crawl and index your site.

Step 6: Implement Fixes

Once you’ve identified the most critical issues, it’s time to implement fixes. For example:

• Update canonical URLs: Make sure each page has a unique and correctly set canonical URL.
• Add or update meta tags: Ensure all necessary meta tags are present and accurate, including title tags, descriptions, and keywords.
• Optimize images and assets: Compress images, optimize image sizes, and consider implementing lazy loading for improved performance.

Step 7: Verify Fixes

After implementing fixes, re-run the Sitebulb audit to verify that your changes have resolved the identified issues. This ensures you’re not overlooking any potential problems.

Conclusion

Conducting a technical SEO audit with Sitebulb is an invaluable step in ensuring your website’s technical foundation is solid. By following these steps, you’ll be able to identify and prioritize critical issues, implement fixes, and verify the effectiveness of those changes. This will ultimately help drive more traffic, improve user experience, and boost search engine rankings.

Additional Tips

• Regularly re-audit your site: Schedule regular audits with Sitebulb to ensure your website remains technically sound.
• Monitor performance metrics: Keep an eye on key performance indicators like page load times, bounce rates, and conversion rates to gauge the impact of your fixes.
• Keep learning and improving: Continuously educate yourself on the latest technical SEO best practices and stay up-to-date with Sitebulb’s features and improvements.

By following these steps and using Sitebulb for your technical SEO audits, you’ll be well-equipped to tackle any technical challenges that come your way. Happy auditing!