SEO for startups is among the most significant of considerations for new businesses hoping to successfully navigate growth.

If you're here, you already know that a solid online presence is crucial for the success of your new venture. But where do you start? Amidst the buzzwords and complex strategies, one term stands out as absolutely pivotal: technical SEO audits.

Technical SEO audits might sound like something reserved for the big players, but they’re just as essential for startups. Think of it as giving your website a health check-up. Without it, you could be missing out on opportunities to rank higher in search engine results, drive more traffic, and ultimately, grow your business.

In this guide, we’re diving deep into the nuts and bolts of technical SEO audits tailored specifically for startups. We'll cover everything you need to know to ensure your website is in top shape to compete in the crowded online marketplace.

Whether you’re new to the world of SEO for startups or looking to refine your existing strategy, our goal is to arm you with practical, actionable insights.

What is a Technical SEO Audit?

A technical SEO audit is a comprehensive analysis of your website's technical elements that impact its search engine visibility and performance. This audit identifies issues that could hinder the site's ability to rank well in search engine results and provides recommendations for improvements.

Let's run through the various key components of a technical SEO audit to give you a clearer picture of how it all works.

Crawling and Indexing

Crawling and indexing are fundamental processes in technical SEO - ensuring that search engines can effectively discover, understand, and rank your website's content. Your technical SEO audit should start with a crawl of your website via one of the many SEO tools out there.

Crawling

Crawling involves search engine bots, also known as spiders, systematically browsing the web to find new and updated pages.

These bots follow links from one page to another, capturing content and adding it to the search engine’s index.

A crucial aspect of crawling is the crawl budget, which refers to the number of pages a bot will crawl on a site within a specific timeframe. Your site must manage its crawl budget effectively, especially larger sites, to ensure that important pages are crawled regularly.

The XML sitemap guides crawlers moving through your website's structure, helping to easily find new or updated content. Well-structured internal links also help bots to navigate and discover content deeper within your site, establishing a hierarchy of page importance.

Indexing

Once the crawling process is complete, indexing begins. Indexing involves processing the crawled data and adding it to the search engine's database. During this phase, the search engine analyses the content, meta tags, and other relevant information to understand what each page is about.

Proper indexing is crucial because if a page is not indexed, it can't and won't appear in search engine results, rendering any SEO efforts on that page ineffective.

The only way to guarantee that all critical pages are indexed involves regularly monitoring the index status through tools like Google Search Console, addressing any indexing errors, and optimising content for search engines to understand its relevance and context.

By comprehensively auditing and optimising these crawling and indexing processes, your website can significantly enhance its visibility and ranking in search engine results

Site Architecture

Your site's architecture links directly to how search engines crawl, index and understand your website's content. The most effective site architecture improves the user experience and crawl efficiency while boosting the overall SEO performance of your startup's website.

Remember, crawlability refers to the ease with which search engine bots can access and navigate your website. A well-structured site helps keep all important pages within reach for bots. A few key elements of a good site structure include:

• Logical Hierarchy: Your content should be organised logically and practically which helps search engines understand the relationship between different pages.
• Internal Linking: Well-structured internal linking helps distribute link equity across the site and ensures bots can find deeper pages not directly accessible from the homepage.

Good site structure also helps to avoid duplicate content and guarantees proper configuration of robots.txt and meta tags, thus improving your web pages' indexability.

Additionally, hierarchically organising content ensures that the most important pages (often the homepage, category pages, etc.) are given higher prominence. This includes:

• Silo Structure: Grouping related content into silos or clusters helps emphasise thematic relevance, making it easier for search engines to understand the content's context.
• Topical Authority: A clear hierarchy helps build topical authority, which can improve rankings for related keywords.

The importance of site structure for a startup SEO strategy should never be understated and may be key to search visibility.

During an SEO audit, your website's architecture is analysed to make sure there are no duplicate or orphan pages, and everything is set up logically.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is a crucial component of technical SEO, focusing on optimising individual web pages to improve search engine rankings and drive organic traffic. During a technical SEO audit, an agency will review your website's on-page SEO to make sure all factors have been considered.

While technical SEO addresses the underlying aspects of website optimisation, on-page SEO concentrates on each page's content and HTML source code. There are a few key considerations when it comes to on-page SEO.

Content Quality and Relevance

High-quality, relevant content is the foundation of on-page SEO. Search engines prioritise pages that provide valuable information to users. Important elements include:

• Keyword Optimisation: Incorporating relevant keywords naturally into the content helps search engines understand the topic of the page and match it with user queries.
• Content Depth: Detailed content is more likely to satisfy user intent and rank higher in search results. It also encourages longer dwell times, which is a positive signal to search engines. As such, getting your content marketing strategy right is key.

HTML tags and Metadata

You should also keep HTML tags and metadata in mind for on-page SEO success. A few key aspects include:

• Title Tags: A descriptive and relevant title tag on each page helps search engines understand the topic and page relevance.
• Meta Descriptions: Not directly an SEO ranking factor for search queries, but a compelling meta description can improve click-through rates.
• Header Tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.): The proper use of header tags to structure content leads to improved readability and helps search engines understand the hierarchy and main points of the page.

URL Structure

An optimised URL structure is a significant aspect of on-page SEO that impacts both user experience and search engine indexing. Best practices include:

• Descriptive URLs: URLs that include keywords and accurately reflect the page content make it easier for users and search engines to understand the page's topic.
• Short and Clean URLs: Keeping URLs short and free of unnecessary parameters or characters improves readability and usability.

Image Optimisation

Images are an important part of web content and can significantly affect both user experience and SEO. Key optimisation techniques include:

• Alt Text: Using descriptive alt text helps search engines understand the content of images and improves accessibility for users with visual impairments.
• File Names and Sizes: Optimising image file names with relevant keywords and compressing images to reduce load times and improve page speed and SEO.

Content Updates and Maintenance

Regularly updating and maintaining content ensures that it remains relevant and accurate, which is essential for maintaining and improving search rankings. This includes:

• Refreshing Outdated Content: Updating old posts with new information and keywords to keep them relevant.
• Fixing Broken Links: Regularly checking for and fixing broken links to improve user experience and maintain site integrity.

All in all, on-page SEO is an essential component of technical SEO, directly influencing how search engines interpret and rank your web pages.

Site Speed and Performance

Site speed and performance are also critical factors in technical SEO audits. The importance of site speed and performance shouldn't be understated, as it directly impacts:

• Bounce Rate: Slow-loading sites have higher bounce rates as users are more likely to leave a site that takes too long to load.
• Engagement: Faster sites lead to better user engagement, higher session durations, and more pages per session.
• Conversions: Improved site speed can lead to higher conversion rates, as users are more likely to complete transactions on a fast site.

Google has also introduced Core Web Vitals, a set of metrics created to help quantify aspects of the user experience:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures loading performance. Ideally, LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds of when the page first starts loading.
• First Input Delay (FID): Measures interactivity. Pages should have an FID of less than 100 milliseconds.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures visual stability. Pages should maintain a CLS of less than 0.1.

An SEO agency focuses on the following key areas to audit and optimise your startup’s website for improved technical SEO:

Server Response Time

• Hosting Quality: Ensure the hosting provider offers adequate speed and reliability. Upgrading to a better hosting plan or a dedicated server can improve performance.
• Content Delivery Network (CDN): Use a CDN to distribute content across multiple servers worldwide, reducing latency and improving load times for global users.

Resource Optimisation

• Image Optimisation: Compress and resize images to reduce file size without compromising quality.
• Minification: Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files to reduce their size and improve load times.
• Lazy Loading: Implement lazy loading for images and other media to delay loading until they are needed, reducing initial page load time.

Caching

• Browser Caching: Set up browser caching to store static resources in users’ browsers, reducing load times on subsequent visits.
• Server-Side Caching: Use server-side caching techniques to store dynamically generated pages, reducing the need for repeated processing.

Code and Database Optimisation

• Clean Code: Remove unnecessary code, comments, and whitespace. Ensure that the code is clean and well-organised.
• Database Optimisation: Regularly clean up and optimise the database by removing unnecessary data and optimising queries to improve performance.

Mobile Friendliness

Assessing mobile friendliness is a pivotal part of technical SEO audits due to the significant amount of web traffic originating from mobile devices. Search engines, particularly Google, prioritise mobile-friendly websites in their search results, making it essential for startup SEO success.

During a startup's technical SEO audit, an agency will focus on the following key areas to assess mobile-friendliness:

Responsive Design

• Flexible Layouts: Ensure your website uses responsive design principles, allowing it to adapt to various screen sizes and orientations.
• Fluid Grids: Implement fluid grids that use relative units like percentages instead of fixed units like pixels, allowing elements to resize proportionally.

Page Speed

• Mobile Performance: Evaluate and optimise mobile page load times. Slow-loading mobile pages can lead to higher bounce rates and lower engagement.
• Optimised Images: Compress and resize images for mobile devices to reduce load times without sacrificing quality.
• Minimize Render-Blocking Resources: Reduce the number of render-blocking CSS and JavaScript files to speed up the rendering of mobile pages.

Mobile Usability

• Touchscreen Compatibility: Ensure that buttons, links, and other interactive elements are large enough and well-spaced to be easily tappable on a touchscreen.
• Readable Text: Make sure text is readable without zooming. Use appropriate font sizes and line spacing for mobile devices.
• Viewport Configuration: Set a viewport meta tag to control the layout on mobile browsers, ensuring your site scales correctly on different devices.

A few common mobile SEO problems include unplayable content, faulty redirects, interstitials and pop-ups, and slow load times.

Security

Like with everything in the digital age, security is absolutely pivotal, as it protects both the user data and the integrity of the website. A secure website builds trust with users and search engines, leading to improved search results and overall SEO performance.

The key security aspects to consider in technical SEO audits are as follows:

HTTPS and SSL Certificates

• HTTPS Protocol: Ensuring that your website uses HTTPS instead of HTTP is incredibly important. HTTPS encrypts data transmitted between the user's browser and the server, protecting sensitive information.
• SSL/TLS Certificates: Implementing and maintaining SSL/TLS certificates ensures that your site can use HTTPS. Regularly check the validity and expiration dates of these certificates to avoid lapses in security.

Secure Configuration

• HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security): Enabling HSTS tells browsers to only communicate with your site over HTTPS, preventing protocol downgrade attacks and cookie hijacking.
• Content Security Policy (CSP): Implementing a CSP helps prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks by specifying which dynamic resources are allowed to load.

Software and Plugin Updates

• Regular Updates: Keeping all website software, including CMS platforms (like WordPress), themes, and plugins, up to date is key. Outdated software is a common entry point for hackers.
• Security Patches: Apply security patches as soon as they are released to mitigate vulnerabilities.

Malware and Vulnerability Scanning

• Regular Scans: Perform regular malware and vulnerability scans to detect and address any security threats promptly. Tools like Sucuri, SiteLock, and Google Search Console can help with this.
• Web Application Firewall (WAF): Implementing a WAF can help protect your site from common web threats, including SQL injection and XSS attacks.

Access Controls

• Strong Passwords: Enforce the use of strong, unique passwords for all user accounts, especially those with administrative access.
• Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Enable 2FA to add an extra layer of security to user accounts, reducing the risk of unauthorised access.
• Data Encryption: Ensure that sensitive data is encrypted both at rest (stored data) and in transit (data being transmitted).

Security is an integral part of technical SEO audits, encompassing HTTPS implementation, regular updates, malware scanning, access controls, security headers, and monitoring.

Schema Markup

Schema markup, also known as structured data, is a form of microdata that you can add to your website's HTML code to improve the way search engines read and represent your page in search engine results pages (SERPs). 

It uses a standardised vocabulary, provided by Schema.org, to categorise and define various types of content on the web. This helps search engines understand the context and content of the page better.

Numerous types of schema markup can be implemented as part of an effective SEO strategy, depending on the content of your website. Some common types include:

• Article: For news articles, blog posts, and other content pieces.
• Product: For e-commerce products, including details like price, availability, and reviews.
• Local Business: For local businesses, provide details like address, phone number, and business hours.
• Breadcrumb: For navigation breadcrumbs, enhancing the way paths are displayed in search results.
• Event: For events, including date, location, and ticketing information.
• FAQ: For frequently asked questions, provide a structured format for Q&A content.
• Recipe: For recipes, including ingredients, cooking time, and nutritional information.

You should apply schema markup relevant to your content to avoid penalties. The information in the schema markup must be accurate and match the visible content on your page.

By applying schema markup to your content, you help the search engines understand the meaning of your pages. Use SEO tools like Google’s Rich Results Test and Schema.org validator to test and validate your schema markup.

While schema markup itself doesn't directly improve search rankings, it can lead to better click-through rates by making your listings more visually appealing and informative. This can indirectly improve your SEO performance.

Here’s a basic example of how schema markup for a local business might look in JSON-LD format:

The Benefits of Technical SEO Audits for Startups

Improved Search Engine Rankings

• Algorithm Compliance: Regular audits ensure that the website complies with the latest search engine algorithms and best practices, which can prevent penalties and improve rankings.
• Keyword Optimisation: Identifying opportunities for better keyword targeting can enhance the site’s relevance and authority on search engines.

Better User Experience

• Faster Load Times: Technical SEO audits identify issues that slow down website loading times, such as unoptimised images, excessive JavaScript, or lack of browser caching. Faster websites enhance user experience and reduce bounce rates.
• Mobile Optimisation: Audits ensure that websites are mobile-friendly, which is crucial since mobile traffic often exceeds desktop traffic.

Increased Crawlability and Indexability

• Crawlability: Audits help ensure that search engines can crawl and index the site efficiently. Issues like broken links, duplicate content, or improper use of robots.txt can hinder indexing.
• Structured Data: Implementing structured data (schema markup) can improve the way search engines understand and display your content, leading to rich snippets and potentially higher click-through rates.

Competitive Advantage

• Benchmarking: Understanding the technical strengths and weaknesses of competitors’ websites can provide insights into how to outperform them in search rankings.
• Innovation: Staying ahead of technical trends and updates in SEO can give startups a competitive edge in rapidly changing digital landscapes.

Foundation for Scalable Growth

• Scalability: A well-optimised technical foundation ensures that as the startup grows and adds more content or features, the website remains efficient and effective.
• Adaptability: Ensuring the website can adapt to future technological advancements and SEO best practices is critical for long-term success.

Compliance with Search Engines Guidelines

• Regulatory Compliance: Ensuring the website complies with legal requirements, such as GDPR or ADA, is crucial to avoid penalties and provide an inclusive experience for all users.
• Accessibility: Improving accessibility not only widens the audience but also aligns with best practices that search engines favour.

The Best Tools for Technical SEO Audits for Startups

Using these tools in combination can help you perform a comprehensive technical SEO audit, ensuring that all aspects of your website are optimised for search engine visibility and user experience. Each tool has its strengths, so selecting the right combination based on your specific needs and objectives is key.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free web service by Google that aids you in monitoring and maintaining your site's presence in Google Search results. It provides insights into how often a site appears in searches, which queries lead to the site, and the click-through rates.

The service includes tools to check the indexing status of pages, identify any indexing issues, and receive detailed performance reports, including clicks, impressions, and average positions.

Additionally, it helps you identify mobile usability issues, alerts users to security problems like hacking or malware, and allows sitemap submission to ensure comprehensive indexing. 

Overall, it helps you understand and enhance your startup site's search performance and user experience.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a powerful web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. It provides you with detailed insights into user behaviour, such as the number of visitors, their geographical location, the devices they use, and their journey through your website. Users can analyse traffic sources, including search engines, social media, and referral sites, to understand how visitors find the site.

The service offers metrics on user engagement, including session duration, pages per session, and bounce rates, and supports goal tracking to measure conversions and other critical actions.

Google Analytics helps you optimise your online presence, improve user experience, and make data-driven decisions to enhance your marketing strategies and business outcomes.

SEMrush

SEMrush is a powerful online visibility management and content marketing SaaS platform. It provides robust tools for SEO, PPC, content, social media, and competitive research. Users can perform keyword research, track keyword rankings, and analyse backlinks.

SEMrush also offers insights into competitors' strategies, allowing you to identify their strengths and weaknesses.

Additionally, it includes tools for content optimisation, site audits to identify technical SEO issues, and PPC campaign management. With its extensive data and analytics, SEMrush helps marketers and businesses improve their online visibility, drive traffic, and enhance their overall digital marketing strategy.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a robust SEO toolset that provides extensive features for optimising website performance and analysing online competitors. It includes tools for keyword research, allowing you to discover relevant keywords and analyse their difficulty and search volume.

Ahrefs excels in backlink analysis, offering detailed insights into a site's backlink profile and identifying opportunities for link building.

The platform also features site auditing tools that help identify technical SEO issues and track the health of a website. Additionally, Ahrefs provides competitive analysis, enabling you to uncover competitors' strategies and identify gaps in your own SEO approach.

With its comprehensive data and intuitive interface, Ahrefs helps businesses and marketers enhance their search engine rankings and increase organic traffic.

Moz Pro

Moz Pro is a comprehensive SEO software suite designed to improve search engine visibility and drive organic traffic. It offers a range of tools for keyword research, enabling you to discover and prioritise the best keywords to target. Moz Pro includes robust site audit capabilities, which help identify and fix technical SEO issues that could affect your site's performance.

The platform also provides backlink analysis, allowing users to monitor their backlink profile and uncover link-building opportunities. Additionally, Moz Pro features rank tracking, which allows you to monitor your search engine rankings over time and gain insights into your SEO progress.

With its user-friendly interface and in-depth analytics, Moz Pro assists businesses and marketers in optimising their websites, improving search engine rankings, and enhancing overall digital marketing strategies.

Summing Up

In conclusion, technical SEO audits are indispensable for startups aiming to dominate the digital space and increase brand awareness.

By addressing technical issues that impede search engine visibility and user experience, your startup can lay a strong foundation for long-term digital success. Regular audits keep your websites optimised, secure, and in line with the latest search engine algorithms, which is crucial in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

Investing in technical SEO audits not only improves search engine rankings but also improves site performance and user satisfaction, ultimately driving growth and competitive advantage. If you're striving to make a mark, prioritising technical SEO audits is a strategic move that can yield significant returns.

Looking for a free SEO audit? We've got you covered. At SEO Rocket, we help spearhead SEO campaigns for startups looking to reach new heights.