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How to Audit a Website

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Avoid common mistakes and problems with your website by performing a website audit.

As a website owner, you want to ensure that your site is performing at an optimal level and providing the best possible experience for your visitors. Many websites have errors, including misspellings and broken links, that can frustrate visitors and make a bad impression. Identification of search engine optimization (SEO) missteps has also eluded many website owners, particularly when they rely on a third party web designer or have an incomplete understanding of basic SEO principles. Performing a website audit can help you to recognize any potential errors or SEO missteps.

Things You'll Need

  • HTML editor Spellchecking tool
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Instructions

    • 1

      Check for broken or inactive links, both internal (links to pages within your site) and external (links to third-party websites). Make sure that all links are active and direct visitors to the correct page. Perform this check regularly, especially with external links, to ensure that all links arrive at active pages. Simplify this task by using a link checker tool.

    • 2

      Check your website's navigation structure. Make sure that all pages link back to your home page and all key pages on your website to ensure that your visitors will not have difficulty navigating. If you have a large website (more than seven to 10 pages), you may also consider adding a search function to help users find what they are looking for on your site.

    • 3

      Check for misspelled words and typos. Use your HTML editor's spell-checking function or copy the textual content of your site into a word processing program that has a built-in spell checker. Correct misspelled words to ensure that your visitors will not be confused or have a bad impression of your site. Misspellings can also lower your site's search ranking. However, you can add common misspellings of your keywords or keyword phrases in your site's keyword meta-tags to enable searchers who misspell to still find your website.

    • 4

      Analyze your website's keywords. Your site should focus on one main keyword phrase, with additional pages focusing on related keyword phrases. For help selecting keyword phrases, try using Google's keyword tool. For the best possible results, be sure that your keyword phrase is used in the site's title, description, links and headings and consistently throughout the body content. It is important to exercise restraint and not overuse keywords. As a guideline, use a keyword density of approximately 2 to 4 percent.

    • 5

      Be sure that your website has a sitemap. A sitemap is a file that provides search engines with the information needed to navigate your website. In simple form, it is a file that lists all of the pages on your site that are available for crawling. Sitemap files are typically in .XML or .text format and are solely for use by search engines. This is different from an HTML sitemap, which is designed for visitors. If you need help creating a sitemap file, try using a free sitemap generator.

Tips & Warnings

  • Perform a website audit regularly to ensure that there are no potential issues or problems. Check with an experienced attorney for a legal website audit to ensure that your website, privacy policy, copyrights, terms of service, purchase agreements and other related items are in compliance with the law.

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  • Photo Credit http://www image by Fatih Düzgören from Fotolia.com

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