Master the art of creating a perfect technical SEO reports for clients

Technical SEO Report

Taking off on an online adventure? Imagine it like suiting up your website with a superhero outfit, and that outfit is nothing else but the in-depth check by Technical SEO reports – which when translated would mean the ultimate superhero verification of your client’s online presence!

A skilled SEO agency reveals itself through the development of a detailed technical SEO report. 

A clever opening of the report ought to impressively represent technological SEO problems revealed and provide a strategic approach in dealing with it within this digital entanglement.

This paper is a navigational compass for SEO Agencies to enable them to understand the nature and complexities of performance intricacies in their client’s websites. 

As they manage the digital space, SEO agencies are in a great position to offer an elegant tale that mentions SEO challenges involved with implementing good SEO practices and – most importantly- suggests ways of building the roadmap for long-term success online.

Moreover, the power of SEO optimization reports cannot be overstated in this journey. These reports are like the vital diagnostics tools that give a clear picture of where a website stands in the digital realm. 

They provide crucial insights into the effectiveness of your SEO strategies, highlighting areas that need attention and improvement. An SEO report isn’t just a collection of data; it’s a roadmap that guides SEO agencies in fine-tuning their tactics for optimal performance. 

1. Initial technical SEO overview

In an initial technical SEO assessment, checking a site’s core technical elements is necessary to ensure that the content of the site will be crawled, indexed, and interpreted by search engines in their accurate terms.

The following explains the main points that are usually included in a preliminary technical SEO overview.

Crawlability

Crawlability in technical SEO is the capability of the crawlers belonging to search engines (often referred to as bots, crawlers, and spiders ) to explore and traverse the pages of a website.

Search engines including Google employ robotic agents to scan websites, extract their content, and store it in the databases.

The crawlability of a website directly determines its ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) as a search engine can’t crawl a page that isn’t crawlable and therefore won’t be indexed and won’t appear in the search results.

Here are some key aspects of crawlability in technical SEO

  • Robots.txt: The robot exclusion text file is very important in the website’s root directory guiding search engine crawlers on which pages not to index. The correct configuration makes sure that significant page content is displayed while blocking irrelevant or sensitive data.
  • XML Sitemap: A file listing website URLs and metadata, helping search engines to find quickly and crawl all pages. Primarily useful for large or complex websites.
  • Internal Linking: Links between pages within a website which facilitates navigation by crawlers and distributes link equity among pages. Improves site crawlability and each page’s ranking ability.
  • Crawl Errors: Eure characteristics of the pages online, for instance, 404 or server errors, during search engine bot crawling. Regular monitoring and resolution prevent indexing of all pages.
  • URL Parameters: Other elements of the deeper length of a URL cause additional values in its content which have to be adequately managed to avoid indexing of duplicate or irrelevant pages. Crucially, search engine crawl efficiency is very much dependent upon.
  • JavaScript and AJAX: Search engine crawlers can parse JavaScript and AJAX content as well but relying on these technologies solely for critical content accessibility is not advisable. Secures consistent indexing and ranking of website content.

Site Speed

Fundamentally both within SEO in the area of site speed and with this relates to user experience are crucial. Sites with poor loading times are likely to experience higher bounce rates and hence low search engine ranking.

A technical SEO audit will assess the speed of page load and highlight areas that might be improved including image optimization, browser caching, or faster server response.

The following are the major aspects of site speed in technical SEO

  • Page Load Time: It’s how long a webpage takes to be fully loaded, a must to keep people on the website and lower the bounce rate, with a few seconds as a better time for better engagements.
  • Mobile Page Speed: Considering the growing trend of mobile browsing, loading speed, and responsive layout are paramount for any mobile user irrespective of their devices and screen size.
  • Google PageSpeed Insights: This tool provides web page performance evaluation, suggesting ways to improve speed and user experience by analyzing such factors as server response time and image optimization.
  • Technical Optimization: Bettering site speed via technical manipulations such as reducing server response times, utilizing browser caching, and optimizing CSS and JS files.
  • Content Delivery Network (CDN): Content delivery networks effectively deliver web resources by caching and serving them from servers closer to users, hence noticeably reducing page loading times.
  • User Experience Impact: The website loading time affects all the UX (user engagement) metrics like bounce rate, time on a page, and conversion rate which in turn affects the business revenue.
  • SEO Impact: Webpage speed is a very important factor for a search engine, especially for mobile search results since popular websites that load quickly are ranked better and get more visitors.

Mobile-friendliness

In this respect, mobile is gradually becoming the primary means of internet access in most parts of the world; hence websites must be structured for such operators.

Given assuring the right user experience by use of different devices and screen sizes, a responsive website is analyzed in this overview.

A few key elements of technical SEO’s mobile friendliness

  • Mobile-Optimized Content: Mobile users should be catered for by making content concise, easy to scan, and with important content appearing at the top for quicker access.
  • Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP): The implementation of AMP, a framework that generates mobile-optimized lightweight versions of web pages to increase page load speed and enhance user experience on mobile devices.
  • Optimized Navigation Menus: Making mobile navigation menus more accessible by using hamburger menus or collapsible navigation to save screen space and enhance usability.
  • Readable Fonts and Text Sizes: To ensure the text is easily readable on mobile devices without zooming in, using readable fonts and appropriate text sizes would improve the users’ experience.
  • Optimized Forms: Reducing forms for mobile users by minimizing the number of fields, using autofill wherever possible, and using mobile-friendly input methods like date pickers and dropdowns.
  • App Indexing: Developing app indexing for websites that have corresponding mobile apps, thus enabling users to effortlessly move between the mobile web and the app without breaking the user’s flow.
  • Location-Based Optimization: Using location-based optimization techniques to provide content that is personalized and relevant for mobile users with geographic information, improves user engagement.
  • Mobile-Friendly Pop-ups: If the pop-ups or overlays are used, make them accessible on mobile and do not block the main content or obstruct the navigation on mobile devices.

URL Structure

An orderly and logical URL structure helps consumers as well as search engines to understand how content is organized on a website.

The assessment of readability, coherence, and keyword optimization on the URL structure will be drawn from this overview.

Crucial aspects of URL structure in technical SEO

  • Readability and Relevance: Make URLs user-friendly and include keyword phrases that are important to both users and search engines, thus increasing the click-through rate and search engine ranking.
  • Hierarchy and Organization: Reflect the website’s structure in URLs paying attention to a logical hierarchy of directories and subcategories to promote better navigation and understanding for users and search engines.
  • Keywords in URL: Include keywords in the URLs without over-optimization, making your pages more relevant and visible in the search engine results.
  • Hyphens vs. Underscores: Use hyphens instead of underscores to separate words in URLs, because search engines consider hyphens the separators, while underscores are misread.
  • Static vs. Dynamic URLs: Statical URLs are superior to dynamic ones as they are more friendly to users, easier to index, and more comprehensible for both users and search engines.
  • Canonicalization: Specify the preferred version of a URL to avoid problems with duplicate content and save link equity, using the 301 redirects and canonical tags for consolidation.
  • URL Length: Concise and focused URLs improve the readability, shareability, and indexing of the pages by search engines.
  • HTTPS Protocol: Use the HTTPS protocol for secure communication between the user’s browser and the server, strengthening security, trust, and possible search engine ranking advantages.

Site Architecture

All the dimensions of the internal linking structure, navigation, and hierarchy play a key role in defining user experience as well as search engine optimization.

In the overview, we will examine the architecture of such a website to ensure that it promotes efficient link equity distribution and easy navigation.

The main elements of Site architecture in technical SEO

  • Hierarchical Structure: The structure of your website should facilitate indexation by search engines and browsing by users. To achieve this, it should consist of a logical hierarchy of categories and subcategories.
  • Internal Linking: Create a balanced link distribution within the site by linking relevant pages, which will enable search engine crawlers to find and index all the pages on the site.
  • Clear Navigation: Verify that the links and menus are user-friendly and that they help users navigate the website and access the vital pages. This ensures a good user experience, and all the sites on the website are accessible to the users and search engines.
  • Breadcrumb navigation: The implementation of breadcrumb navigation helps people to determine where they are on the website and provides search engines with additional context in terms of the hierarchical path to the current page.
  • URL structure: Develop short, exact URLs that reflect the hierarchy and content structure of the website. This will benefit both search engines and users by making keywords more relevant and more usable. 
  • Sitemaps: Generate XML sitemaps automatically. All the pages from the website are included in the sitemaps, hence the search engines enjoy a broadened index, which makes it easier for the spiders to find the content that is newly added.

Technical Errors

Some technical issues that affect SEO and user experience are broken links, 404 pages, server errors as well as HTTPS problems. The overview will highlight these non-technical errors and place the highest priority on them.

Common technical errors in technical SEO

  • 404 Errors: A 404 error is issued when the page that you requested doesn’t exist on the server. This can be the result of broken links, removed pages, or typos. 404 errors can have a bad effect on both user experience and SEO.
  • Redirect Chains: Chain redirections are a sequence of redirects one after the other thus resulting in multiple redirection jumps before arriving at the final destination URL. Redirect chains can slow down the page load time, spread link equity, and confuse search engine crawlers, which has a bad effect on SEO performance.
  • Redirect Loops: Redirect loops are formed when two or more pages redirect to each other in a continuous loop. This can be a result of the incorrect redirection configuration or conflicting redirection rules.
  • Server Errors (5xx Errors): Server errors, which include 500 Internal Server Error and 503 Service Unavailable, happen when the server meets an error while it is processing a request. These errors may be caused by server downtime, misconfigurations, or overloaded servers.

Structured Data Markup

Structured data markup aids in making search engines interpret the content of any website better and might lead to improved visibility for your site’s pages in searches as well.

The overview will determine whether the markup used is valid structured data and what opportunities should be taken into consideration for its implementation.

Significance of structured data markup in technical SEO

  • Enhanced Search Results: Structure Data Markup adds rich information to search engine results thus making them more attractive, and so more clicks are made which translates to better visibility by offering context about the page content
  • Schema.org Vocabulary: Adhering to Schema.org specifications allows for proper semantics in defining the content of web pages, thus enabling machines to easily interpret content.
  • Types of Structured Data: Multiple types – Product, Recipe, Event, etc – possess certain attributes that represent entities appropriately, increasing the ability to query search engines.
  • Implementation Methods: Implementing JSON-LD, Microdata, or RDFa allows you to insert structured data into HTML for flexibility. JSON-LD is preferred because of its simplicity and manageability.
  • Benefits for SEO: The use of Structured Data Markup improves search relevancy, click-through rate, and user engagement by providing rich snippets and more detailed search results.
  • Google Search Console: The Rich Results report in the Google Search Console can help detect and rectify errors, maximizing usage and visibility in search results for structured data.

2. Deep dive into technical aspects

Technical SEO explores the specifics to improve your client’s site’s clarity and enjoyment. It’s the digital handyman, tightening and fastening those nuts and bolts so your client’s online presence may sparkle in this vast picture that is constituted by all.

On-page SEO analysis overview:

Title tag and meta description brilliance:

  • Review and enhance title tags and meta descriptions.
  • Ensure optimization for targeted keywords.
  • Craft striking snippets that will intrude in search results.

Internal linking insight:

  • Analyze the internal linking structure.
  • Improve areas that will ensure a smooth user journey.
  • Improve navigational and connectivity within your client’s website.

Content quality assurance:

  • Evaluate overall content quality.
  • Ensure that keywords are relevant to the entire website.
  • Improve the digital story for users as well as search engines.

Related Article: How to write a content analysis report?

Unpacking technical issues in technical SEO reports:

Technical problems in the SEO are like demons that prevent your client’s website from working properly. 

These may include:

  • Crawl Errors: When search engines are finding it hard to direct their users across the site because of non-working links or pages that need passwords.
  • Site Speed Glitches: Slow-loading pages that annoy users and hurt search rankings.
  • Mobile Unfriendliness: The websites are not mobile-friendly and hence offer a poor user experience.
  • Incorrect Redirects: Users and search engines are being led to erroneous pages.
  • Indexing Woes: Missing proper indexed pages, which are not visible.
  • XML Sitemap Hiccups: Problems associated with the roadmap that search engines prescribe to navigate through the site.

Fixing these glitches will help ensure that your client’s website functions correctly, and the users as well as search engines are happy campers!

Uncovered: Security and HTTPS

Technical SEO is revolutionary in matters concerning security and HTTPS dynamics.

  • SSL Certificate Accuracy: You should provide a service for careful application of the SSL certificate ensuring protection and encryption from user-server connection.
  • Enhancement of SEO using HTTPS: Hence, HTTPS is both a safe option and an effective SEO solution that not only increases visibility but also boosts ranks.
  • User Confidence and Guarantee: HTTPS is not only a protocol, but also a confidence level in protecting user’s data, trust and secure navigational interaction with users.
  • Data Fortress and Data Shield: Aside from SEO, HTTPS helps establish a high protection wall when it comes to online transactions due to privacy as well as the safeguarding of data integrity for users.
  • Seal of Security for Browsers: Find the padlock by looking! A secure connection is visible in the browser as HTTPS, and users feel more confident when they see it displayed.
  • SEO Approval: Use HTTPS. Adoption of this will link your client’s site with the best codes and it is not just a fad since major search engines support the use of such.

In essence, HTTPS is more than just a security protocol; it lies at the root of everything reliable and SEO-friendly out there on the Internet that does not compromise users’ trust.

The much more intricate dance of SEO, the backlink profile is nearly akin to a digital popularity contest. Here’s the breakdown:

Examine the number of backlinks that are pointing to your client’s website and evaluate their quality. Generally, quantity is a crucial factor in the world of backlinks; however, quality frequently prevails.

Diversity check:

Building appropriate backlinks from diverse sources is crucial. You need to look at the task variety to ensure that the backlink profile is a well-blended cocktail.

Relevance matters:

Relevant links from authority sites are pure gold. You need to assess the significance of each link, meticulously focusing on those that bring real value.

Anchor text examination:

Anchor texts refer to the words linked up with the site. We look into them for variety and relevance, making sure they add a positive touch  SEO drives.

Not all links are friends. You should identify and decry the toxic backlinks that pose a risk to your SEO attempts, so you can have a healthy and positive digital footprint.

Competitor benchmarking:

Comparative analysis of your client’s backlink profile vs competition is needed. You should benchmark and strategize to ensure the continued lead in popularity of the digital world.

Aligning with SEO goals:

Your client’s back-link profile needs to make sense in terms of achieving SEO goals. You should review and fine-tune, ensuring every click adds valuable input to your client’s online power.

3. Competitive analysis

Competitive analysis in technical SEO is about evaluating the technical part of a website against other sites to see what is good, bad, or needs to be fixed. Technical SEO competitive analysis helps SEO professionals get in-depth information about their competitive environment and reveal areas that need improvements to increase the visibility and search engine performance of their websites.

Key elements of a technical SEO competitive analysis

  • Localization and Internationalization: Look into how players manage localization and internationalization components including language-specific content and country-specific versions of the sites. Seek ways to make your website accessible to a global audience to compete in international marketplaces.
  • Accessibility Compliance: Check if the rivals are following online accessibility guidelines and standards such as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Secure upload accessibility and compliance by identifying any possible accessibility issues or barriers to the user experience and search engine results, and then solve them.
  • Technical Audits and Reports: Look at the technical SEO audits and reports of your competitors to unlock their approaches, goals, and focal points. Study various critical technological issues, ways to bring some innovations, and halts to fall out of step with industry trends.
  • Indexing by mobile-first competitors must be checked, considering mobile usability, responsive design, and mobile page performance as well. Figure out if you have any mobile-specific enhancements or optimizing techniques that give you an edge over your competitors in mobile search results.
  • Site Security and HTTPS Usage: Assess how other organizations have dealt with SSL/TLS certificates and other security measures within their websites. To gain the users’ trust, secure the sensitive data, and maybe improve the site’s search engine performance, ensure that your site is secure and HTTPS-enabled.
  • Local SEO strategies: Analyze the local SEO methods that competitors may be using like location-based content, local citations, and Google My Business optimization. Learn how to be more local, attract local customers, and take over from your local competitors.

4. Effective actionable plan & technical SEO reports

In the process of SEO strategy, effective actionable plans and technical SEO reports play a pivotal role. They involve the prioritization of technical issues, roadmap development, and systematic issue resolution. Realistic time frame setting ensures efficient problem-solving.

Issue prioritization and implementation roadmap:

Identify technical issues and grade them by the impact or urgency of fixing them. Develop a plan as to how it would be implemented Finally, make sure the concerns are resolved systematically.

Realistic time frame setting:

Identify and resolve important technical SEO issues realistically within an adequate period. Resolving issues efficiently lies in the balance between urgency and applying thoroughness.

Comprehensive reporting system establishment:

Install a reliable reporting system to monitor progress. Regular reports you notice how things get better to have some concrete proof of good results and they got them for people who are interested in the website’s performance.

Ongoing monitoring and maintenance emphasis:

Focus on the necessity of ongoing technical SEO monitoring. A website is an amount of expression that needs constant tendance to use for continued efficiency and keep from reoccurrence.

5. Navigating follow-up technical SEO reports:

After implementing technical SEO actionable plan, the next step is to delve into follow-up Technical SEO reports. These reports provide valuable post-implementation insights, showcasing how the website performs in search engine results. They are crucial for assessing the impact of changes, ensuring alignment with goals, and pinpointing areas for further improvement.

Post-implementation insight:

These reports reveal the site’s reaction to recent modifications and give an instant overview of the way this website looks in search engine results.

The crucial need for follow-up:

Follow-ups after implementation are essential. They measure the effects of changes, ensuring they are in line with goals and identifying areas where improvements can be made.

Crawlability, speed, and performance spotlight:

Present data on website crawlability, speed, and performance. These data reveal substantial positive changes that materialize in the cohesive picture of better user experience and search engine visibility.

Organic traffic and ranking shifts:

Changes in organic traffic and rankings on the search engine. The report quantifies the changes’ success, showing movements in visibility and positioning.

Effectiveness evaluation and optimization recommendations:

Provide a report on how effective technical SEO adjustments are. Make recommendations on additional optimization steps that will allow us to maintain and develop the website performance iteratively.

Conclusion

The complete technical SEO report becomes the foundation, for getting success in achieving one’s goal of an effective approach to creating search engine optimization. 

It doesn’t only emphasize the depth and intricacy of a website’s technological terrain but also proves that this SEO agency is highly proficient at identifying such nitty gritty, not to mention adeptly solving them. 

Reporting depicts the competence of this agency, which has been demonstrated as useful in optimizing website crawlability, speed, and overall performance. 

Therefore, prospective clients are offered to take advantage of the opportunity to cooperate with this agency for their technical SEO needs so that tact and good evidence-based building can be revealed. 

The comprehensive technical SEO report lays the groundwork for effective SEO strategies. It showcases the agency’s skill in enhancing website performance and client outcomes. Utilizing SEO Project Management Software is key to streamlining these efforts for maximum efficiency and success.

Additional resources:

Arun Andiselvam

As a serial entrepreneur, I have successfully established five brands over the past 12 years. After creating a successful rank tracker for SEO agencies, I am currently dedicated to developing the world's first SEO Project Management software.