Best practices for using Screaming Frog effectively?

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Mastering Screaming Frog: Tips and Best Practices

Hello everyone,

I hope this topic is pertinent to our discussion. Screaming Frog is undeniably a crucial tool for SEO. However, I’ve observed that many experts tend to utilize it primarily for basic tasks such as generating reports on internal linking and URL status codes. As I venture into more advanced applications, I find myself somewhat overwhelmed about where to begin. This brings me to the questions that form the basis of this post:

  • Do you leverage Screaming Frog beyond the typical reports, perhaps by integrating automated exports with other tools?
  • Are there any best practices for configuring Screaming Frog that I should keep in mind? For instance, aspects like database storage mode, crawl frequency, and other settings.
  • How does Screaming Frog serve you when it comes to client reporting? I understand it’s vital for SEO experts, but I’m curious if there are ways to use it to create easy-to-understand reports with relevant insights for those who aren’t SEO specialists.
  • Can you share any methods for visualizing data from Screaming Frog?

I realize these questions delve into more advanced topics and I don’t expect anyone to divulge specific workflows they’ve painstakingly developed. However, even general insights into the extent to which professionals use Screaming Frog would be invaluable to me. I’m quite uncertain currently and would like to determine whether this is an area that warrants significant attention or if it’s somewhat negligible. Therefore, any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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Hubsadmin

2 responses to “Best practices for using Screaming Frog effectively?”

  1. Certainly! Using Screaming Frog SEO Spider for more advanced tasks can significantly enhance your SEO efforts and reporting capabilities. Here are some tips and best practices that might help you make the most of this versatile tool:

    Advanced Utilization of Screaming Frog

    1. Custom Extraction:

    2. Screaming Frog allows you to use XPath or CSS Path to scrape data from the HTML of your web pages. You can extract on-page elements like meta tags, structural data, and more, which can be aligned with your SEO strategy or custom reporting needs.

    3. Automating Exports and Integrations:

    4. API Connections: Integrate Screaming Frog with Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and PageSpeed Insights API. This enables you to pull organic traffic data, analytics metrics, and page speed scores directly into your crawl data.
    5. Automate Exports: You can schedule regular exports in various formats (e.g., CSV, Excel) and automate the process with command-line options. This can be scripted to run periodically, feeding into more extensive data analysis workflows.

    Best Practices for Configuration

    1. Storage Mode:

    2. Use Database (DB) Storage Mode for large sites. It’s more resilient and allows you to pause and resume crawls without losing data. This is crucial when handling large-scale projects or when your computer might not have enough RAM to crawl a massive site using memory storage.

    3. Crawl Configurations:

    4. Crawl Depth: Limit the crawl depth if you’re only interested in specific sections of a website. This can save time and resources.

    5. User-Agent: Customize the user-agent to avoid crawling blocks and simulate different environments (e.g., Googlebot or mobile devices).

    6. Crawl Frequency:

    7. Determine crawl frequency based on the size and update frequency of the site. More dynamic sites might benefit from more frequent checks to monitor for issues or changes in real-time.

    Client Reporting

    1. Custom Report Generation:

    2. Configure custom filters and extract lists tailored to your client’s KPIs. By focusing these reports on the specific areas of interest like organic traffic conversion paths or Technical SEO issues, you can produce more meaningful insights.

    3. Visual Outputs:

    4. Export crawl results into visualization tools like Google Data Studio, Tableau, or Power BI. This can help in creating dashboards that make it easier for clients to digest data through
    Reply

  2. Absolutely! Screaming Frog is indeed a powerhouse for SEO analysis, and it can be used in far more sophisticated ways than just generating standard reports. Here are a few insights that might help you explore its full potential:

    1. **Automated Exports and Integrations**: You can create automated exports using Screaming Frog’s API; this allows seamless integration with tools like Google Data Studio or Excel for advanced data visualization. Setting up scheduled crawls and automatically pushing the data to a dashboard can save you a lot of time while providing real-time insights for your clients.

    2. **Configuration Best Practices**: When it comes to settings, it’s helpful to adjust the crawl configuration based on your goals. For example, if you’re working with large sites, enabling the “Limit Crawl Depth” option can help avoid overwhelming data. Additionally, utilizing the “Database Storage” mode can help you store and manage extensive crawl data, which is beneficial for tracking progress over time.

    3. **Client Reporting**: Making reports understandable for non-SEO specialists is crucial. I recommend utilizing Screaming Frog’s custom extraction features to pull specific data points that matter most to your clients, such as page load times, mobile friendliness, or rich snippets. Present this data alongside visuals to make it digestible—think pie charts for keyword usage or line graphs for performance over time.

    4. **Data Visualization**: Beyond basic spreadsheets, consider using visualization tools like Tableau or Google Data Studio. You can export your crawl data and

    Reply

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