How to Conduct a Site Audit with Ahrefs?

A site audit is a comprehensive analysis of your website’s performance, health, and optimization opportunities. Ahrefs is one of the best tools available for this purpose. It helps you identify issues that could harm your website’s SEO and provides actionable insights to improve rankings and user experience. This guide will walk you through conducting a detailed site audit using Ahrefs.

What is a Site Audit, and Why is it Important?

A site audit is the process of analyzing various technical and on-page SEO elements of a website to ensure it aligns with best practices. The key benefits include:

• Improved Search Rankings: Fixing issues enhances your visibility on search engines.
• Better User Experience: Resolving errors improves navigation and page load speed.
• Enhanced Website Health: It ensures that your website is secure and functional.

Ahrefs’ Site Audit Tool is perfect for identifying these issues and fixing them systematically.

Step-by-Step Guide to Conduct a Site Audit with Ahrefs

1. Set Up Your Ahrefs Account

If you don’t already have an Ahrefs account, start by signing up. Ahrefs offers various subscription plans based on your needs. Once you’re logged in:

1. Go to the Site Audit Tool from the main dashboard.
2. Click New Project to start auditing a website.

2. Configure Your Project

When creating a new project, you’ll need to configure the following settings:

a. Enter Your Website URL

Type in the URL of the website you want to audit. Ensure you use the full domain, including “https” if applicable.

b. Set Crawl Scope

Ahrefs lets you define which parts of your website should be audited:

• Entire website
• Subdomains
• Specific directories or pages

c. Verify Ownership

Verifying your website ensures you get access to all available data. You can verify ownership through methods like:

• DNS records
• HTML file upload
• Google Analytics or Google Search Console

d. Set Crawl Settings

Adjust the crawl settings to control how the Ahrefs bot scans your website:

• Crawl Speed: Choose between slow, medium, or fast.
• User-Agent: Specify the type of bot, such as desktop or mobile.
• Crawl Sources: Include links from sitemaps or external referring domains.

3. Start the Crawl

Once everything is configured, initiate the crawl. Depending on your website’s size, it might take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. Ahrefs will scan your website and gather data about its structure, performance, and SEO.

4. Analyze the Audit Overview

When the crawl is complete, Ahrefs presents an overview of your site’s health. Key metrics to review include:

a. Health Score

• What it is: A percentage score indicating overall site health.
• Goal: Aim for a score of 90% or above.

b. Errors, Warnings, and Notices

• Errors: Critical issues that need immediate attention (e.g., broken links, missing meta tags).
• Warnings: Less severe issues that could still affect performance (e.g., duplicate content).
• Notices: General recommendations for improvement (e.g., optimize image alt text).

5. Dive into Specific Issues

Ahrefs categorizes issues into various sections. Here’s how to address them:

a. Technical Issues

1. Broken Links: Check the list of 404 errors and fix broken internal or external links.
2. Redirect Chains: Avoid multiple redirects to improve page load speed.
3. HTTPS Implementation: Ensure all pages are secured with HTTPS.

b. Content Issues

1. Duplicate Content: Identify and fix pages with duplicate meta descriptions or titles.
2. Low-Word Count Pages: Add valuable content to thin pages to improve user engagement.

c. Performance Issues

1. Slow-Loading Pages: Optimize large images and minify CSS/JavaScript.
2. Core Web Vitals: Use the data to improve metrics like LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) and FID (First Input Delay).

d. Indexability

1. Orphan Pages: Link to pages that have no inbound links to improve crawlability.
2. Blocked Pages: Remove unnecessary noindex or robots.txt restrictions for important pages.

e. Link Issues

1. Broken Backlinks: Fix backlinks leading to 404 pages.
2. Internal Linking: Add more internal links to improve content discoverability.

6. Review and Optimize HTML Tags

Ahrefs highlights on-page SEO elements like:

• Missing Title Tags: Add descriptive and keyword-rich titles.
• Meta Descriptions: Ensure every page has a unique, engaging meta description.
• H1 and H2 Tags: Structure your headings properly with relevant keywords.

7. Check for Mobile-Friendliness

Mobile optimization is a major ranking factor. Use Ahrefs to:

• Identify issues like small font sizes, unresponsive design, or tap target errors.
• Ensure your website is fully responsive and works seamlessly on all devices.

8. Audit Your Website’s Backlinks

Ahrefs’ Backlink Checker allows you to:

• Review your backlink profile for toxic or spammy links.
• Disavow harmful links through Google’s Disavow Tool.
• Analyze anchor text distribution and ensure diversity.

9. Export the Audit Report

After completing your audit, export the report for future reference. You can download it in CSV or PDF format and share it with your team or clients.

Post-Audit: Fixing and Monitoring Issues

1. Prioritize Fixes

Start by addressing high-priority issues (errors), then move to warnings and notices.

2. Track Progress

Re-audit your website after making fixes to ensure issues have been resolved.

3. Schedule Regular Audits

SEO is an ongoing process. Schedule audits monthly or quarterly to keep your website healthy.

Why Use Ahrefs for a Site Audit?

• Comprehensive Reports: Ahrefs provides detailed insights into every aspect of your website.
• Ease of Use: The interface is beginner-friendly and well-organized.
• Actionable Suggestions: It offers specific recommendations to fix SEO issues.
• Versatility: In addition to site audits, Ahrefs is powerful for keyword research, backlink analysis, and competitor tracking.

Conclusion

Conducting a site audit with Ahrefs is a crucial step to maintaining a high-performing website. It identifies weaknesses and provides actionable insights to improve your SEO strategy. By following the steps in this guide, you can systematically enhance your website’s health and boost your rankings. Regular audits ensure your website stays competitive in the ever-evolving world of search engine optimization.

Make site audits a routine part of your SEO strategy, and watch your website thrive!