Technical Audit, explained properly.
In a nutshell
A technical audit is a deep review of your website's technology and structure to find issues preventing it from ranking. It checks crawlability, indexability, page speed, mobile usability, structured data, and security, separately from content or backlink work. For example, a misconfigured robots.txt file can block your blog from being indexed at all.
What is a technical audit?
A technical audit is an in-depth review of your website's technical aspects that affect its performance, crawlability, and indexability. It assesses elements like site speed, mobile responsiveness, URL structure, broken links, and overall structure.
Why technical audits matter
- **Improves site crawling and indexing:** prevents search engines from being blocked from your pages. - **Enhances site speed:** Core Web Vitals is the primary measure here. - **Improves mobile usability:** essential under mobile-first indexing. - **Prevents SEO issues:** avoids penalties from duplicate content, incorrect redirects, or missing meta tags.
How to conduct a technical audit
### 1. Check site speed and performance Identify slow page-load issues and address them by optimising images, leveraging browser caching, and minimising HTTP requests. ### 2. Evaluate mobile usability Test mobile responsiveness so the site displays properly across devices, and check for touch-friendly navigation and legible fonts. ### 3. Identify crawl errors Use Google Search Console and Screaming Frog to find 404 errors, redirect loops, and other issues. ### 4. Review URL structure and internal linking Ensure URLs are clean and descriptive, and assess the internal linking structure. ### 5. Check for duplicate content Identify and resolve duplicate meta tags, titles, and body content. ### 6. Ensure proper use of redirects Prevent redirect loops or broken redirects and make sure old URLs redirect appropriately. ### 7. Check for structured data Review schema markup implementation so pages can earn rich snippets in search results.
How technical audits affect SEO
- Improve crawlability and indexing. - Enhance site speed. - Prevent SEO penalties. - Improve user experience.
Common technical audit mistakes
- Neglecting mobile usability. - Ignoring crawl errors. - Not addressing site speed issues. - Overlooking structured data.
How we conduct technical audits at BrisTechTonic
- Site speed optimisation. - Mobile optimisation. - Backlink profile review. - SEO best-practice implementation.
Technical Audit: common questions.
What is included in a technical SEO audit?
Eight areas: crawlability (robots.txt, internal linking depth), indexability (canonicals, noindex, sitemap), site architecture (URL structure, hierarchy), page speed (Core Web Vitals), mobile usability, HTTPS and security, structured data (schema), and rendering (JavaScript and CSS execution).
How is a technical audit different from a regular SEO audit?
A technical audit covers only the technology layer, while a regular SEO audit is broader and includes technical, content, backlinks, and competitive analysis.
How often should I do a technical audit?
Annually for stable sites. After every major change (migration, redesign, platform switch, theme update). And whenever organic traffic drops without an obvious content or competitive cause.
Can I do a technical audit myself?
Tools like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, and Ahrefs Site Audit help you gather the data, but interpreting the findings and knowing which issues actually matter is where the value is added.
What clients say about working with us.
“I've had the pleasure of working with Chris on several SEO projects for my websites in the health field. He was definitely been able to demystify things so that I felt able to make decisions with him and feel confident they were the right ones. For a non-techie, that is worth gold! I look forward to working with Chris again and warmly recommend him to anyone who - like me - is unsure about all things SEO.”
“I was recommended by my branding partner to use Chris and his team last year. I can’t recommend them highly enough. They are very responsive , easy to communicate with and great at translating techy stuff when needed. They are now an essential part of my business model”
“We've been working closely with Chris, Hannah and the team for over 12 months now. As a small company with ambitious growth plans, it was incredibly important that we made the right choice on who to trust with our SEO. 18 months later, we're totally thrilled with our experience so far and our growing online presence within our market. We'd happily recommend BTT and their services to other SMEs. Drop them an enquiry!”
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You work directly with the senior people who do the work, a small Bristol team you will actually get to know, not a call centre or an account manager relaying messages.
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