How to do technical audit of a website

Conducting a technical audit of a website involves systematically analyzing various aspects of its technical infrastructure to identify issues, improve performance, and enhance user experience. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to perform a technical audit of a website:

1. Website Crawl:
   • Use crawling tools like Screaming Frog, DeepCrawl, or Google's own tools like Google Search Console to crawl the website.
   • Crawl both the desktop and mobile versions of the site to ensure comprehensive analysis.
2. Indexing and Accessibility:
   • Check the website's robots.txt file to ensure it's not blocking critical pages from being indexed by search engines.
   • Verify the website's XML sitemap to ensure all important pages are included.
   • Check for any crawl errors using tools like Google Search Console to identify pages that can't be accessed by search engines.
3. Page Speed and Performance:
   • Evaluate page speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Pingdom.
   • Analyze factors affecting page speed such as image optimization, caching, server response time, and render-blocking resources.
   • Optimize images, minify CSS and JavaScript, leverage browser caching, and utilize a Content Delivery Network (CDN) if necessary.
4. Mobile Friendliness:
   • Test the website's mobile-friendliness using Google's Mobile-Friendly Test tool.
   • Ensure responsive design, proper viewport configuration, and mobile-specific optimizations.
5. Technical SEO:
   • Check for proper implementation of canonical tags to avoid duplicate content issues.
   • Verify that each page has unique and descriptive meta titles and descriptions.
   • Ensure proper header tag (H1, H2, etc.) usage and semantic structure.
   • Check for broken links and fix them to maintain website integrity.
   • Ensure proper URL structure and optimize for search engine readability.
6. Security:
   • Check for SSL certificate installation and ensure the website is served over HTTPS.
   • Scan for malware, viruses, and security vulnerabilities using tools like Sucuri, Qualys SSL Labs, or OWASP ZAP.
7. Site Structure and Navigation:
   • Evaluate the website's navigation and structure to ensure it's intuitive and user-friendly.
   • Check for proper internal linking and hierarchical organization of content.
8. Technical Backend Analysis:
   • Review server logs and error logs to identify any server-related issues.
   • Check for server response codes (e.g., 404, 301, 500) and address any errors.
   • Analyze the website's hosting environment for performance and reliability.
9. Accessibility and Compliance:
   • Ensure the website meets accessibility standards outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
   • Check for compliance with relevant regulations such as GDPR, ADA, or CCPA.
10. Content Analysis:
    • Review the website's content for relevance, quality, and uniqueness.
    • Identify opportunities for content optimization and improvement.
11. Reporting and Recommendations:
    • Compile findings into a comprehensive report with prioritized recommendations.
    • Provide actionable insights and solutions to address identified issues and improve the website's technical performance.

Regularly performing technical audits helps ensure that a website remains optimized, secure, and user-friendly, ultimately contributing to its overall success.