2023 saw nine Google algorithm updates. When search algorithms are changing so rapidly, monitoring the health of your website is the key to digital survival. Adaptation is the next logical and non-negotiable step.
Thankfully, there are tools that can help you assess the health of your website and make changes to stay ahead of the curve. So, below, we’ll talk about three great SEO audit tools that can be your indispensable companions in deciphering the nuanced language of search engine algorithms.
Ranq-ing the best site audit tools for SEO
Just like algorithm changes, our judging criteria change too. Here are the tools that made it to our list:
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
This one is our favorite, and we’re not the only ones who love it. SEO professionals, SEO agencies, and business owners alike trust the Screaming Frog SEO Spider tool for its powerful auditing capabilities. This tool offers the most exhaustive and comprehensively detailed analysis of websites.
Screaming Frog points out broken links, analyzes page titles, scrutinizes meta descriptions with meticulous precision, and pretty much delves into all other intricacies of a site. It excels at providing a visual representation of site architecture, making it easier to identify and rectify structural issues.
We love it for its graphic visualization options, its ability to save crawls, customizable filters, export functionalities, and easy integration with other tools like Google Analytics, Search Console, and other APIs. Let’s look at a few key features:
Key features
- Comprehensive crawling: Conducts thorough website crawls to analyze key SEO elements, including URLs, page titles, meta descriptions, header tags, and more.
- Broken link detection: Identifies broken links, redirects, and server errors, facilitating efficient management of website integrity.
- Page titles and meta description analysis: Evaluates and reports on SEO elements like page titles and meta descriptions for improved SERP visibility.
- Visual representation of site architecture: Provides a visual representation of website structure, helping identify hierarchical relationships.
- Customizable filters: Allows users to use filters and sort data based on various parameters, allowing for focused analysis.
Pricing
Screaming Frog SEO spider tool has a no-fuss, straightforward pricing model. There’s a free and a paid version. The free version is a great starting point for smaller websites or individuals seeking basic SEO audits. It has limitations on the number of pages that can be crawled (typically up to 500), making it suitable for small to medium-sized websites.
For more extensive website audits for more elaborate websites, users can opt for the paid version, which costs $259 per year. This removes the limitations on the number of crawled pages and provides additional features, including advanced configurations, integration options, and priority support. Users can also schedule, save, and compare crawls with the paid version, which is a convenient feature.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Provides comprehensive and complete site audit.
- Allows you to schedule, save, and compare crawls.
- Easily integrates with other tools and APIs
- Provides graphic visualization options
Cons:
- Needs an expert to interpret data
- Data can get overwhelming for a few users.
- Not cloud-based
- The paid version can be pricey for some.
Ahrefs Site Audit
When you can crawl websites well, many optimization options open up. So, it’s not a surprise that we get one of the better technical SEO auditing tools from the makers of one of the most reliable SEO tool-makers on the market. Ahrefs’ site audit tool provides an extensive overview of on-page and technical SEO elements.
Ahrefs Site Audit tool checks all the critical technical SEO health markers like indexability, on-page SEO, internal linking, status codes, and many more. It strongly emphasizes backlink analysis, making it particularly valuable for users operating in competitive niches. Let’s look at some key features:
Key features
- Thorough site crawling: Ahrefs Site Audit employs a powerful crawler to scan and analyze websites comprehensively.
- Crawlability and indexation analysis: Evaluates and reports on 140 factors affecting crawlability and indexation, such as broken links, redirects, and others.
- Backlink analysis: Offers backlink analysis tool, allowing users to understand their website’s link profile.
- Real-time data updates: Users are provided the most current insights that reflect the website’s latest status.
Pricing
Here’s the best part. The Ahrefs Site Audit tool is a free feature of the Ahrefs webmaster tools. However, you do have to verify site ownership to use it for free.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Provides an easy-to-understand health score
- Can provide as broad or as granular analysis as you want.
- Strong emphasis on backlink analysis
Cons:
- Learning curve
Semrush Site Audit
Semrush site audit is another well-known and well-rounded tool. We recommend this tool for beginner SEO professionals or small businesses looking to dip their toes in SEO waters.
We love it for its in-depth reports and the fact that it integrates so neatly with other Semrush applications. We also like it for its intuitive and user-friendly interface. It makes complex SEO data accessible to both seasoned professionals and beginners. Let’s look at a few key features:
Key features
- Comprehensive site health check: Conducts a thorough analysis of websites, evaluating on-page elements, technical SEO factors, and crawlability.
- User-friendly interface: Boasts an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced SEO professionals.
- Actionable recommendations: Provides actionable recommendations for correcting errors, warnings, and notices.
- Customizable reports: Allows users to generate customizable reports.
- Scheduled crawls: Offers the convenience of scheduled crawls.
Pricing
Semrush allows you to use the auditing tool for free with a few limitations. There are limits on the number of projects you can run simultaneously and the number of pages the tool can crawl.
While Semrush will allow you to export the data to PDF and XLS, you’ll have to upgrade to the paid plan to use its Looker Studio integration. The Semrush Pro plan starts at $129/month. The next rung is the Guru plan at $249/month.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Expansive toolset with features that cater to almost all online marketing needs.
- Ties in neatly with other Semrush tools
- User-friendly interface
Cons:
- Costly for small business
- Free plan limits the number of pages you can crawl
Understanding SEO audit tools better before you choose
Now that you know about our favorite SEO audit tools, here are a few other things to help you decide how to move ahead:
How do I audit a website for SEO?
A site audit examines a website to evaluate its performance. It identifies issues and looks for opportunities for improvement. Running an SEO audit is pretty straightforward. You find a trustworthy tool that can crawl web pages. You input the URL of the website you want it to crawl, specify the number of pages, or set parameters to limit the crawl, and the tool runs an audit for you.
You can pick any tool from the ones mentioned above or use the free technical SEO audit tool Ranq provides. A typical technical SEO audit report presents you with technical SEO data designed to improve the domain’s visibility on search engines. Usually, the tool also categorizes this data into labels such as ‘warnings,’ ‘urgent,’ ‘notices,’ etc to show the severity of the issue.
You can now use this information to work on the technical aspects of your website, like fixing broken links and redirects, adding header tags or meta descriptions, or improving site speed and mobile responsiveness. Some tools also offer actionable insights into what the issue entails and how you can go about fixing it.
What is the difference between SEO analysis and an SEO audit?
SEO analysis works a little differently. In practice, a tool can perform an SEO audit, but a thorough SEO analysis falls in the domain of a skilled SEO expert who knows how to wield data to ensure success.
Similarly, while SEO audit data will usually be limited to the technical elements of a website, SEO analysis will involve broader data that includes keyword research, competitor analysis, content analysis, on-page and off-page SEO, and more.
In effect, SEO analysis includes an SEO audit but is much more extensive in scope than an SEO audit. Another way to describe it would be that if an SEO audit is the starting point, an SEO analysis is how you move forward.
What is the typical cost of an SEO audit?
The cost of SEO audits conducted by an SEO agency varies according to the size of a website as well as the depth of the audit itself.
An extremely basic technical SEO audit is available for free, a manually managed SEO audit for a small business with a decently sized website starts from $600, and an in-depth SEO audit conducted by multiple experts for a large website can go as high as $1000.
Ranq’s free SEO audit offering is slightly different from the norm. Availing our free service will get you the free audit report, but our professionals will also get in touch with you later to help you decipher the report and provide added insights.
Get your own free SEO website audit with Ranq!
Getting an SEO audit is the first step towards making tangible changes that are going to have visible effects on your website’s rankings. While you mustn’t hold back from this step, it still doesn’t mean that you should break the bank doing it. Try our free SEO website audit. It’s helped so many of our clients!