Tag Archive for: Semrush site audit tips

How to fix: Subdomains don’t support SNI

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Issue: If your web server doesn’t support Server Name Indication (SNI), it may be unable to securely serve multiple subdomains on a single IP address, affecting security and user trust.

Fix: Verify that your server supports SNI to handle multiple SSL certificates on the same IP address. Be aware that very old browsers may not support SNI, so check your audience’s browser usage if necessary.

Recommendations

  1. Check Hosting Provider: Ensure your hosting provider or server configuration supports SNI to secure all subdomains with HTTPS.
  2. Upgrade Older Systems: If your server doesn’t support SNI, consider updating or migrating to a provider that does.
  3. Review Browser Compatibility: Check analytics to see if a significant portion of your audience uses outdated browsers; if so, consider alternative approaches.
  4. Test SSL Configuration: After enabling SNI, use SSL testing tools to ensure each subdomain is correctly served with its certificate.

Tip: SNI improves HTTPS compatibility across subdomains, enhancing site security and user confidence.

How to fix: Sitemap.xml not found

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Issue: Without a sitemap.xml file, search engines can’t easily find and index all the URLs on your site, potentially missing important pages and updates.

Fix: Create a sitemap.xml file, upload it to your website, and notify search engines about it. 

How to Fix for Beginners 

  1. Generate a Sitemap: Use free tools like XML Sitemap Generator or your CMS to create a sitemap.xml file.
    • Example: The sitemap will include your site’s important URLs, like https://example.com/page1.
  2. Upload to Your Site: Place the generated sitemap.xml file in your website’s root directory (e.g., https://example.com/sitemap.xml).
  3. Add to robots.txt: Update your robots.txt file to include the location of the sitemap.
    • Example: Add Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml to the file.
  4. Submit to Google Search Console: Use the “Sitemaps” tool in Google Search Console to test and submit your sitemap for indexing.
  5. Monitor and Update: Keep your sitemap updated as you add or remove pages on your site.

Tip: A sitemap improves crawl efficiency and helps search engines quickly discover new content.

 

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How to fix: Pages with too many on-page links

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Issue: Pages with over 3,000 links can look spammy to search engines and harm your rankings. It also negatively impacts user experience by overwhelming visitors.

Fix: Remove unnecessary links and keep the number of on-page links manageable.

How to Fix for Beginners

  1. Identify Problematic Pages: Use SEO tools to find pages with more than 3,000 links.
    • Example: Your site’s homepage has 3,500 links, many of which are repetitive or irrelevant.
  2. Prioritize Important Links: Focus on keeping links that are crucial for navigation or valuable for users.
    • Example: Retain links to categories, key pages, and popular articles while removing unnecessary ones.
  3. Remove Duplicate or Irrelevant Links: Delete repetitive, outdated, or irrelevant links that don’t add value.
    • Example: Multiple links to the same product page from one page.
  4. Organize Your Content: Use menus, dropdowns, or pagination to group and display links more effectively without overwhelming users.
  5. Check Internal Linking: Use internal linking reports to ensure that your important pages still have adequate link coverage after cleanup.

Tip: Fewer, well-placed links improve user experience and make your page look more authoritative to search engines.

How to fix: Internal links containing nofollow attribute

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Issue: Using rel="nofollow" on internal links prevents search engines from following these links, blocking the flow of SEO value (“link juice”) across your site. This can cause valuable pages to be overlooked by crawlers.

Fix: Review your internal links and remove any nofollow attributes to ensure link juice flows freely and all important pages are accessible to search engines.

Recommendations

  1. Check Link Attributes: Ensure that all internal links use rel="follow" or simply omit the attribute to let search engines crawl them naturally.
  2. Use Nofollow Only When Necessary: Reserve nofollow for external links that don’t need to pass link juice, rather than for internal site links.
  3. Audit Link Structure: Periodically check your site’s internal links for accidental nofollow tags, especially after updates or migrations.
  4. Use SEO Tools for Validation: Run a site audit using SEO tools to catch any internal links marked as nofollow that may have been overlooked.

Tip: Letting internal links pass link juice helps with site structure, page ranking, and overall crawlability.

How to fix: Broken external links

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Issue: Broken external links direct users to non-existent webpages, hurting user experience and potentially lowering your search engine rankings by signaling poor site maintenance.

Fix: Check all reported broken links. Remove or replace links leading to error pages, and contact the website owner if the links appear functional in a browser.

How to Fix for Beginners

  1. Test the Links: Manually click on the links to confirm they are broken or working.
    • Example: If example.com/resource shows a 404 error, it’s broken.
  2. Replace or Remove Broken Links:
    • Replace the link with a working URL if an alternative resource exists.
    • Remove the link entirely if no replacement is available.
  3. Contact the Target Website: If the link works in your browser but not in the crawler, reach out to the website owner to let them know about potential access issues.
    • Example: “Your link at example.com/resource isn’t accessible to crawlers. Can you check your server settings?”
  4. Audit Regularly: Use SEO tools to periodically scan for new broken external links.

Tip: Keeping external links functional improves user trust and helps maintain good SEO practices.

 

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How to fix: Pages containing frames

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Issue: <frame> tags make it hard for search engines to index the content within them, which can prevent your pages from appearing in search results. Frames also provide a poor user experience.

Fix: Replace <frame> tags with modern HTML and CSS layouts to ensure all content is accessible to search engines and users.

Recommendations

  1. Use Modern HTML/CSS: Replace frames with responsive layouts using HTML5 and CSS, which improve compatibility and SEO.
  2. Implement <iframe> Carefully: If embedding external content is necessary, use <iframe> but ensure essential content isn’t contained within it.
  3. Review Legacy Code: Older sites often contain frames; consider a redesign to modernize and enhance accessibility.
  4. Test SEO Visibility: After removing frames, test your pages in search engines to ensure content is now being indexed.

Tip: Frame-free pages are easier to crawl, improving both SEO and user experience.

How to fix: Pages without doctype declared

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Issue: Without a <!Doctype> declaration, browsers don’t know which version of HTML your page uses. This can cause layout issues, slow load times, and a poor user experience.

Fix: Add a <!Doctype> declaration at the very top of each page’s source code, just before the <html> tag.

How to Fix for Beginners

  1. Use the Correct Doctype for Modern Pages: For most websites, use the HTML5 doctype:
    • Example: <!Doctype html> goes at the very top of the page source.
  2. Check Your Pages: Open your HTML files or inspect your site’s source code in a browser to ensure the doctype is present and correct.
  3. Fix Missing Doctypes: If there’s no <!Doctype> declaration, add it manually or update your content management system (CMS) to include it automatically.
  4. Validate Your HTML: Use an HTML validator tool to ensure your page structure follows the standard for your declared doctype.

Tip: Declaring a doctype ensures browsers render your page correctly, improving layout and speed.

How to fix: Pages without character encoding declared

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Issue: Without a declared character encoding, web browsers might display your page incorrectly, leading to poor user experience. Search engines may also rank such pages lower.

Fix: Specify a character encoding for your webpage, preferably UTF-8, in either the HTTP header or the HTML <meta> tag.

How to Fix for Beginners

  1. Add a Meta Charset Tag: Include the character encoding directly in your HTML file.
    • Example: <meta charset="utf-8">
  2. Set Encoding in the HTTP Header: If you manage server settings, declare the character encoding in the HTTP Content-Type header.
    • Example: Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
  3. Use UTF-8 Encoding: UTF-8 is the most widely used encoding and supports characters from all major languages and symbols.
  4. Test Your Pages: Open your pages in a browser to ensure all characters display correctly, including special symbols or accented letters.
  5. Check with Tools: Use tools like SEO audits or validators to confirm the encoding is correctly set.

Tip: Declaring UTF-8 encoding ensures proper content display and improves SEO performance globally.

How to fix: Pages with no hreflang and lang attributes

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Issue: Pages without hreflang and lang attributes make it harder for search engines to show the correct language version of your site to users. This can confuse search engines and lead to misrepresentation in search results.

Fix: Add both lang and hreflang attributes to your pages to ensure proper language targeting and recognition.

How to Fix for Beginners

  1. Add the lang Attribute to Your <html> Tag: This tells search engines the primary language of your page.
    • Example: <html lang="en"> for English or <html lang="es"> for Spanish.
  2. Add hreflang to the <head> Tag: Use this to point search engines to alternate language or regional versions of your page.
    • Example:
      <link rel="alternate" href="http://example.com/" hreflang="en">
      <link rel="alternate" href="http://example.com/es/" hreflang="es">
  3. Ensure URLs Match Languages: Double-check that the URLs in hreflang point to the correct language-specific versions of your pages.
    • Example: Use /fr/ for French content and /de/ for German.
  4. Use Google’s Testing Tools: Use tools like Google Search Console’s International Targeting report to verify your hreflang implementation.
  5. Apply Consistently: Ensure all pages on your multilingual site have the appropriate lang and hreflang attributes.

Tip: Proper use of hreflang and lang ensures users see the right language version, improving SEO and user experience.

 

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How to fix: Pages with too many parameters in their URLs

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Issue: URLs with too many parameters (e.g., ?id=123&name=test&page=2&sort=asc) are hard for users to understand and may confuse search engines, leading to indexing problems.

Fix: Limit the number of URL parameters to four or fewer for better readability and SEO.

How to Fix for Beginners

  1. Simplify Your URLs: Remove unnecessary parameters or combine them into simpler formats.
    • Example: Change ?id=123&name=test&page=2&sort=asc to /products/test?page=2.
  2. Use Static URLs When Possible: Replace dynamic parameter-based URLs with clean, static URLs.
    • Example: /product/test is better than /product?id=123.
  3. Set Rules for URL Parameters in Google Search Console: If parameters are necessary, use Google Search Console to define how search engines should handle them.
    • Example: Specify which parameters to ignore to avoid duplicate content.
  4. Implement Canonical Tags: If multiple parameter variations exist, use a canonical tag to point search engines to the main version of the URL.
    • Example: <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/product/test">.
  5. Test URLs: Ensure your simplified URLs still work and lead to the correct pages.

Tip: Clean, simple URLs improve user trust, SEO rankings, and search engine efficiency.

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