How to Conduct a Technical SEO Website Audit for a Large-Scale Website with Over 1,000,000 URLs

2 responses to “Conducting a technical SEO audit for large websites”

1. Conducting a technical SEO audit on a large-scale website with over 1,000,000 URLs can be a daunting task, but it is entirely manageable with the right strategy and tools. Here are some steps and approaches that can help you efficiently audit such a massive website, taking into account the challenges you’ve faced with crawling:

   Step-by-Step Guide for Large-Scale SEO Audit

   1. Define Audit Scope and Goals

   • Objectives: Decide what you want to achieve with this audit. Is it to improve crawl efficiency, enhance site speed, boost indexation, or identify and fix technical SEO issues?
   • Prioritize Areas: Since auditing a gigantic site is resource-intensive, prioritize tasks based on business goals. Focus on high-traffic areas and those that can significantly impact seo performance.

   2. Break Down the Website

   • Segment the Site: Divide the site by directories, content types, or silos. This way, you can focus on one section at a time, making crawling manageable.
   • Prioritize Sections: Focus on the most critical or potentially problematic parts of the website.

   3. Use Advanced Tools and Strategies

   • Crawling Tools: Use specialized tools that can handle large-scale sites, like JetOctopus, DeepCrawl, or Sitebulb, which provide cloud-based crawling services less limited by local machine constraints.
   • Google Search Console: Use this to get insights directly from Google about your site’s performance, including index coverage, mobile usability, and more.
   • Log File Analysis: Analyzing server log files helps understand how search engines are currently crawling your site.

   4. Optimize Crawling and Indexing

   • Sitemaps: Ensure that your XML sitemaps are comprehensive and correctly updated. Divide them logically (e.g., by category or date) to ensure proper coverage.
   • Robots.txt: Make sure it’s correctly configured to guide search engines to critical pages and exclude non-essential ones.
   • Internal Linking: Strengthen the internal linking structure to ensure important pages are easily accessible to search engines.
   • Pagination and Faceted Navigation: Review the use of pagination and faceted navigation to prevent crawl space wastage.

   5. Performance Analysis

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2. Conducting a technical SEO audit on a large-scale website is indeed a formidable task! It’s great to see your proactive approach with Screaming Frog; it’s a powerful tool but can sometimes hit limitations with extensive sites.

   In situations like yours, I’ve found that leveraging multiple crawling tools can yield better results. For example, combining Screaming Frog with tools like Sitebulb or Deep Crawl can help cover more ground since each tool may have its unique strengths. Additionally, consider breaking the audit into segments based on your site’s structure—crawling individual categories or sections can make the process more manageable and provide deeper insights specific to those areas.

   Another tactic is to utilize Google Search Console to understand which URLs are receiving impressions and clicks. This data can help prioritize which sections of the site to focus on during your audit and identify any potential issues that may not be apparent through crawling alone.

   Lastly, don’t underestimate the power of logs analysis. Analyzing server logs can reveal how search engines are currently crawling your site and highlight any areas that are underperforming. This could provide a clearer picture of where to focus your efforts during the audit.

   Looking forward to seeing how your audit progresses and the solutions you uncover!

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