Site Audit List of Issues & Best Practices
As a comprehensive website audit feature, Sequence Stats is able to display a list of issues that successfully crawled on your page. The issues found vary, therefore, you should be able to fix the arising issues according to best practices.
In this article, you will find an explanation of all kinds of issues and the fixing steps that can be taken. Here are the details. We categorize issues based on their group. Below is a list of issue groups and the categories within them.
CSS
CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, are essential tools for designing and styling websites. However, sometimes CSS can be corrupt and cause problems for websites. This can happen for many reasons. Here's an explanation
BrokenCSS
This issue occurs when the CSS file cannot be accessed and causes your page to display incorrectly. This issue can cause a drop in the user experience.
Tips: Review all CSS files to make sure they are accessible and loaded correctly.
CSS File Size Too Large
As the name suggests, this problem appears when your CSS file is too big or larger than 15 kB. Even if your file contains only text, a CSS file that is too large can slow down web page loading. This can negatively impact the user experience as the visitor may have to wait longer for the page to load.
Tips: Review and optimize the code. You can minify files, split files, or remove unused styles.
CSS Redirects
In some cases, your CSS file URL may redirect to another URL. It can make crawlers perform HTTP requests to reach the final URL. In this way, the page loading time will be longer
Tips: Review the CSS link redirection to the last link or updated the link
HTTPS Page Link to HTTP CSS
This issue occurs when you have mixed content that uses HTML to load HTTPS that links to another source over an HTTP connection. This will compromise the security of the HTTPS page.
Tips: Make sure to use HTTPS for all your content and fix the links.
Content - Indexable
Multiple Title Tags
Almost the same as the previous issue, multiple title tags appear when a page is detected to have more than one title tag. For that, you need to choose the most appropriate title.
Tips: Apart from choosing the most appropriate title, ask the developer team about this issue. They may have a technical answer that causes multiple title tags to appear.
Title Tag Missing or Empty
Pages that don't have a title tag at all will have a hard time showing up properly in the SERPs. This is because HTML title tag is crucial in on-page SEO. If it doesn't have this element, then the page will be displayed using the site name.
Tips: Add a title tag that best describes the topic of discussion on the page. Also, make sure the title uses the appropriate target keywords.
Title Too Long
Titles that are too long will appear truncated in the SERPs. Therefore, this issue will need to be considered so that all titles can be displayed as a whole. This will affect how users view your website.
Tips: Make sure the character length is between 50-60 characters or 520 pixels. Try to make the title relevant to the content.
Meta Description Too Short
Google sometimes uses the contents of the meta tag to display snippets. This is done if Google thinks the meta description provides a more accurate description to the user than taking it directly from the content.
Short meta descriptions don't summarize your content well. So this issue arose.
Tips: Make sure the meta description is between 110 and 160 characters long, although Google may sometimes show longer snippets.
Meta Description Too Long
If you have a meta description that is too long, Google will truncate it so it can be displayed in the SERPs. This will certainly affect the essence of the description you make.
Tips: The thing you can do is the same as when your meta description is too short, namely to make sure it's long. You can use the title and meta description checker to find out the ideal metadata length.
H1 Tags Missing or Empty
The H1 tag is the top title of the page. While not as important as your page title, headings are an SEO-supporting component of content. With this tag, you can help search engines understand the content and context.
Tips:
- Each page must have a unique H1 tag.
- It is recommended to use only one H1 tag per page.
Title Too Short
A title that is too short may not properly describe the content of your page. Therefore, it is considered an issue in content
Tips: Make sure page titles are between 50 and 60 characters, review all reported pages and create longer titles.
Low Word Count
This issue will appear when your page has less than 50 words. Pages with very few words are considered less useful and of less quality. Therefore, it is important to fix it.
Tips:
You don't always have to create very long content, just make sure the word count is sufficient to cover the topic clearly. Usually, the ideal length is between 350 to 2000 words on one page.
Meta Description Tag Missing Or Empty
Without a meta description, you will miss the opportunity to display content summaries in the SERPs. Quality descriptions can appear in Google search results as search snippets that benefit your website.
Tips:
Create a unique meta description for each indexable page on your website. That way, you help search engines and users understand your page more quickly.
Content - Not Indexable
The Not Indexable classification appears when pages cannot be indexed with certain issues. The following is a list of issues arising from non-indexable content:
- The meta description tag is missing or empty
- Multiple title tags
- Title tags are missing or empty
- H1 tags are missing or empty
- Low word count
- The meta description is too long
- Title too long
- Title too short
- The meta description is too short
In general, the issues that arise are almost the same as the Content - Indexable classification. Therefore, the way to solve the above issues you can do is the same as solving the Content - Indexable problem.
Duplicates
Duplicate issues occur when you have content that is almost the same as another page. If this problem occurs, then Google will select only one content to be displayed in the SERP.
However, Google may select versions of content that you don't want to be indexed. Thus, you need to set the canonical attributeto signal search engines which version of the content to prioritize.
Tips:
- Review all pages with duplicate content issues.
- Select a canonical version that you want to be indexed in search results. Add a rel=canonical URL attribute on every page with duplicate content, including the canonical page itself.
External Pages
The next issue is external pages which concerns the problem of links from external pages. Here's an explanation.
External 3XX Redirects
It appears when some external URL linked from your site is redirected to another URL. External page redirects can be set once you have added the link from your website. So, there is a possibility that your link will lead to another page
Tips:
- Manually review external redirect URLs linked from your website to ensure the landing page has relevant content.
- Avoid redirects and use direct links to landing pages whenever possible.
External 4XX
Some external URLs that your website links to generate HTTP 4xx codes. These links are also known as broken links. Broken links can degrade the user experience on your website.
Tips:
Review all pages with broken links and share links to the correct pages.
External 5XX
This issue will appear when some external URLs to which your website is linked generate HTTP response code 5xx (Server Error).
Tips:
Make sure your website only has links to active pages.
External Time Out
Occurs when an external URL that your website links to leads to a page that takes too long to get a response from the server.
External links on your page that result in time-outs can degrade the user experience, so users will leave your page soon.
Tips:
Review all pages reported with this issue and replace the link to the active page.
Images
Images are important visual elements on a page because they can affect the user's experience in understanding the content. Here are some image issues and how to fix them.
Image Broken
Appears when some of the images on your website cannot be displayed. Broken images will negatively impact the user experience. Also, Google will not be able to index this image in search results.
Tips:
Review all broken images and replace, repair, or remove links to these images on your page.
Page Had Broken Image
It is an issue when your page links to an image URL that has one of the 4xx or 5xx HTTP status codes. So, the image cannot be displayed
Tips:
- Fix image links because files may have been replaced, moved, or deleted.
- Review pages with broken links to images and update or delete them.
- For HTTP 5xx status codes (server error), you may need to contact your web developer or hosting provider.
Image File Size Too Large
If the loaded image file is too large, it will slow down the page loading time. This will lower your website's Core Web Vitals score.
Tips:
- Review the image and compress it if possible
- In general, image size and quality can affect file size.
- Use the WebP format for optimal results.
Missing AltText
The alt attribute is used to describe your image. Search engines will use it to understand the content of the image file. Additionally, this text will be displayed if the image cannot be displayed.
Without using Alt text then Google will have difficulty reading it.
Tips:
Make sure each of your images has concise and descriptive alternative text.
HTTPS Page Links to HTTP Images
This issue is an example of mixed content that occurs when an HTML page is loaded over an HTTPS connection but links to an image over an insecure HTTP connection. Some browsers block unsafe pages by default.
Tips:
- For your own domain, serve all content in HTTPS and fix your links.
- For images hosted on other domains, use the HTTPS version if available. If HTTPS isn't available, you can try contacting the domain and asking if they can serve content over HTTPS.
Image Redirects
Occur when some image URLs on your website redirect to other URLs. On a large scale, this issue can significantly increase page load times.
Tips:
Review the page that has the link to the redirect URL and replace this link with a direct link to the destination image file.
Indexability
Canonical points to 4XX
Appear on pages that have a canonical link that points to a 4xx URL. The 4xx HTTP status code indicates that the page cannot be accessed.
When a search engine's crawler is unable to access the specified canonical page, this instruction is ignored, and the incorrect (non-canonical) version of the page may be indexed.
Tips:
- Review the list of pages with canonical links pointing to 4xx URLs.
- Replace the canonical URL that returns the 4xx status code with a link to page version 200 (OK).
Canonical points to 5XX
The website page that has the canonical link points to a 5xx URL (Server Error).
Tips:
Error 5xx indicates a problem with your web server. You need to check with your hosting provider or with the development team as your server may be overloaded or misconfigured.
You should also understand that this could be a temporary problem. For example, when a crawl takes place during some maintenance on your website server.
Canonical points to redirect
Similar or duplicate pages of a website must specify a canonical page to instruct search engines to display the most canonical version of the page in search results.
Redirect URLs that are set as canonical can be misinterpreted by search engines; Such conflicting instructions can be ignored. As a result, incorrect (non-canonical) versions of pages may be indexed.
Tips:
- Review the list of pages with the canonical link pointing to the redirect URL.
- Replace the redirect canonical link with a direct link to the 200 (OK) page version you want to be indexed in search results.
Nofollow Page
Issue on pages with 'nofollow' meta tag. The 'nofollow' tag is used on a page to instruct search engine crawlers not to follow the links.
Tips:
Only use this tag on pages whose links search crawlers are not allowed to follow.
Noindex page
Pages with the 'noindex' meta tag. The 'noindex' tag is used on the page to prevent it from being indexed by the search engines.
Tips:
- Only use this tag on pages you don't want to show in the SERPs.
- If you want the page to be indexed by search engines, you must remove this tag.
Non-canonical page specified as canonical one
Pages set as canonical has 'rel=canonical' links to other pages. This issue creates a canonical chain where page A links to page B which links to page C from their 'rel=canonical' element.
Tips:
- Although Google insists that they can follow the canonical chain, it is highly recommended to avoid it.
- The canonical chain can confuse search engine crawlers; Misconfigured canonical tag will be ignored.
- Navigate to a single canonical page whenever possible to ensure optimal canonicalization results.
Noindex and nofollow pages
Pages with 'noindex' and 'nofollow' instructions. The 'noindex' tag instructs search engine crawlers not to display the page in search results. The 'nofollow' directive instructs search engine crawlers not to follow links on a page.
Tips:
Only use these instructions if you don't want your page to be indexed in search results and the links in it to be followed by search engine crawlers.
Canonical from HTTP to HTTPS
The HTTP page on your website with the canonical link pointing to the HTTPS page.
Tips:
It is recommended to use HTTPS throughout your website.
Canonical from HTTPS to HTTP
HTTPS page on your website with a canonical link pointing to the HTTP page.
Tips:
HTTPS is one of the ranking signals for Google. Make sure the canonical URL on your site points to an HTTPS page.
Noindex follow page
Pages that have 'noindex' but no 'nofollow' tags in the HTML code or in the HTTP response headers.
This page will not appear in search engine results. However, since they don't have a 'nofollow' tag, all links in them are supposed to be followed by search engine bots.
Tips:
- Check this report for the 'noindex' pages you'd expect
- If you want to ensure search engine bots will not follow links on 'noindex' pages, add 'nofollow' as a meta tag or as an HTTP response header.
Internal Pages
Issues on internal pages are almost the same as the classification of issues on external pages. The difference lies on the page in question. In this classification, the issues that arise come from internal pages. Here's a list of issues:
- 404 Page: the most common 4xx error indicating that the requested URL is not available
- 4XX Page: indicates that the requested page or resource cannot be accessed. 401 - Unauthorized, 403 - Forbidden, 408 - Request Timeout, and 404 - Not Found
- 500 Pages: indicates a potential problem with your web server
- 5XX Page: This URL is not accessible to either your website visitors or search engine crawlers because the server was unable to fulfill the request.
- Time Out: The response from the server takes a longer time when requesting a page or other resource.
JavaScript
Broken JavaScript
Occurs when the JavaScript file cannot be loaded. Corrupted JS files will negatively impact the user experience on your page. In addition, this issue can reduce the authority of your page in the eyes of search engines.
Tips:
Review all JavaScript files with the issue and make sure files are loaded correctly.
HTTPS page links to HTTP JavaScript
This issue occurs when an HTML page is loaded over an HTTPS connection but links to a JS file over an insecure HTTP connection.
Tips:
Use HTTPS for all JS files and content on your website
JavaScript Redirects
Occurs when a linked JavaScript file URL from your website redirects to another URL.
This forces browsers and search engine crawlers to make additional HTTP requests to reach the destination URL. On a large scale, it can increase page load times for your website.
Tips:
Review the page that has a link to the redirect URL and replace this link with a direct link to the destination JS file.
Indexable Links
Page has links to broken page
Occurs when a page on your website that links to an internal or external URL displays a 404 or 410 HTTP response code. These links are widely known as broken links.
Tips:
- Remove broken links from affected pages or replace them with links to other relevant active pages.
- In addition, you can set redirects for deleted or moved pages.
Orphan page (has no incoming internal links)
Appears when an orphan page of a website has no incoming internal links. Crawlers can only find such pages from sitemap files or from external backlinks. Website visitors will not be able to navigate to this page from any other page on your website.
Tips:
Check the website navigation and link architecture to ensure all relevant pages are easily accessible.
Canonical URL has no incoming internal links
If the URL doesn't have incoming internal links, then users will have a hard time reaching it while browsing your website.
Tips:
Check the website navigation to make sure all canonical pages are easily accessible.
Link internally directly to the canonical URL whenever possible.
Page has no outgoing links
If a page has no outgoing links, it will lead to a dead end for both website visitors and crawlers.
Tips:
Check your website's navigation and link architecture to make sure your website isn't stuck.
Page has links to redirect
For redirecting URLs on your website then this is fine. However, it is recommended to directly link to the destination page.
Tips:
- It is generally recommended to replace links to redirect URLs on your website with direct links.
- You should manually review externally linked redirect URLs from your site to ensure that the destination URLs have relevant content.
Redirected page has no incoming internal links
The redirect destination page has no incoming internal links. In this case, website visitors cannot access it from your website other than the redirected URL.
Tips:
If possible, edit the links on the page to point directly to the destination page.
Link Not Indexable
The Link Not Indexable classification appears when pages cannot be indexed with certain issues. Here is a list of issues arising from non-indexable links:
- Page has links to broken page
- Orphan page (has no incoming internal links)
- Page has no outgoing links
- Page has links to redirect
In general, the issues that arise are almost the same as the Link - Indexable classification. Therefore, you can solve the above issues in the same way as solving the Link - Indexable problem.
Performance
Slow pages
Occur when a page on your website takes a long time to load the HTML code. Web page loading speed is one of the ranking signals for Google.
Also, page speed affects the user experience on your website.
Tips:
Make sure the HTML code is optimized on all your pages. If this problem persists, consider moving your website to a faster server.
HTML file size too large
Happens when the HTML code is too large. Even if the HTML code contains only text, it can slow down your page if it is too large.
Tips:
- Review all reported pages and consider optimizing the HTML code.
- Check if your website uses text compression like GZIP.
Not compressed
Pages that don't use text compression. To reduce the size of data transferred from the web server to the user's browser, compression should be used for text-based assets: CSS, JavaScript, and HTML.
Tips:
All browsers currently support GZIP compression, so make sure your server is configured to enable GZIP.
Pages with poor CLS
CLS measures how elements move or how stable the page layout is. This can interfere with the user experience when clicking something on the page scrolls and ends up clicking something unwanted.
The range is 0-1, where 0 is stable and 1 means a lot of shifting. A CLS score of more than 0.25 is considered bad.
Tips:
To solve the problem, check the most common causes of bad CLS such as
- Dimensionless images
- Dimensionless ads, embeds, and iframes
- Inject content with JavaScript
- Applies a font or style at the end of the load
Pages with poor FID
FID is the time from when the user interacts with your page until the page is able to respond. You can also think of it as responsiveness. An FID score over 300 ms is considered bad. This score comes from the Chrome User Experience Report which looks at user data.
Tips:
To fix this issue, you need to break up long tasks and defer unnecessary JavaScrip.
Pages with poor LCP
LCP measures visual loading performance. If the largest content element is visible for more than 4 seconds, the LCP is considered bad.
Tips:
To solve the problem, you need to load the largest content elements faster than you currently do. The most common causes of a bad LCP are:
- Slow server response time
- JavaScript and CSS block page rendering
- Slow resource load times
Those are some classifications of issues that you can find on the Site Audit along with tips for fixing them. The issues above require improvements so they don't hinder your website's SEO implementation. If you are having problems regarding the Site Audit, please contact our team via support@sequence.day