Website analysis - everything you need to know about it

What is website analytics?

The website analysis is an auditing process during which we examine the site from the SEO, user experience, web design and conversion optimization aspects and prepare a report on those errors or shortcomings, the correction of which will improve the performance of the website as much as possible.

The emphasis of the website analysis is on a comprehensive due diligence that does not overlook any area that may negatively affect performance.

Advantages of website analysis

Before I get too deep into the topic, let's look at the benefits of website scanning. Here are the main benefits:

1. The performance of the website increases: the scan evaluates not only the content of the page, but also the technical side. As a result, it will be possible to improve the security, speed, navigation and availability of the site.
2. Page rankings improve: the scan highlights neglected areas in search engine optimization. At the end of the website scan, you will get an accurate picture of the areas that can be used to improve the site's search rankings as effectively as possible and avoid the use of outdated, illegal or downright penalized methods.
3. Conversion increases: a complete analysis of the website points out the shortcomings of lead generation. Most often, we encounter missing or poorly structured landing pages, and in many cases a complete lack of incentive to action. After eliminating the problems and shortcomings, the conversion rate increases, a higher percentage of visitors become customers on the site.

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5 steps of website analysis

Reviewing the entire website, from coding, content to SEO information, is no small task. At the same time, in order to achieve an objective and comprehensive result, it is important that all of the following 5 main areas are affected.

1. Technical analysis of the website

The technical analysis is the first step in any audit, as it provides information about the performance of the website as software. The results achieved here have a serious impact on all other areas, which is why they are indispensable during website analysis.

Steps of technical analysis:

• Does the website display flawlessly in all browsers? Is it cross-browser compatible?
• Is the website responsive? Does it work flawlessly on desktop, tablet and mobile?
• Are the Google Analytics traffic measurement software and Google Search Console connected to the website?
• Is the website's content management system secure and updated to the latest version?
• Does the website have an SSL certificate? Is it accessible via an HTTPS secure connection?
• Are the registration, login and other forms working flawlessly?
• Does the website have regular backups?

2. On-page SEO analysis

Google examines more than 200 elements of a website when determining its rankings. The on-page SEO analysis focuses on those 200 elements that most influence rankings.

Steps of on-page SEO analysis

• Do all pages have a keyword-optimized Title Tag and Meta Description?
• Is the text of the website of sufficient length, content and informative?
• Are the contact details (address, telephone number, e-mail address) clearly visible on the website?
• Does the website have the right amount and quality of trust-building elements?
• Does the website have a data protection statement, cookie policy and legal statement?
• Is the website content easily shareable on social media?
• Does the website have an XML sitemap to facilitate indexing and crawlability?
• Is the URL structure of the website logical and search engine friendly?
• Are the website contents well structured, do they contain a main heading and sub-headings?
• Are the main content elements of the website easily accessible from the home page?
• Are the ALT information of the images filled out and optimized for the right keyword?
• Do the internal and external links of the website work? Are there any broken links on the site?
• No duplicate content on the site?

3. Off-page SEO analysis

Off-page SEO is one of the biggest challenges for websites. Links to the website have a huge impact on the site's rankings, but thanks to Google's continuous algorithm updates, it is becoming more and more difficult to build valuable links. That is why off-page SEO focuses not only on the quantity of links, but also on their quality.

Steps of off-page SEO analysis

• How many different domains does the website get backlinks from?
• How are backlinks distributed between individual subpages?
• What is the quality of the backlinks? Are there no spam links among them?
• Are spam links blocked with Disavow?
• What amount of shares does the website have on social media?
• Is the backlink growth process natural?

4. User experience analysis

A high user experience has become critical in recent years. According to statistics, a poor user experience leads to distrust and high bounce rates in the eyes of visitors, so improving it is practically a never-ending process for a website.

When analyzing the user experience of the website, we touch on all the areas that have a positive impact on visitor engagement.

Steps for user experience analysis:

• How is the website loading speed? Is it close to the ideal value of around 3 seconds?
• Is the website navigation simple, consistent and easy to use? Also on mobile?
• Is the grouping and naming of the menu items OK?
• Are there too many pop-ups and extraneous advertisements on the website?
• Does the website also display perfectly on mobile? Are your texts easy to read even on a small screen?
• Does the website not contain large videos that start automatically?
• Does the design of the website match the image?
• Is the appearance of each page consistent?
• Does the website have a 404 error page?

5. Analysis of content and conversion optimization

Auditing website content is a priority area within website analysis. In the majority of cases, the content of the website attracts the visitor to the page, and with a good content marketing strategy, it is possible to ensure a continuous high number of visits to a page.

However, even the most beautiful and fastest website will not achieve results with poor quality, rarely updated and little content.

Steps to analyze content and conversion optimization:

• Are the website contents structured according to the needs of the potential target audience?
• Does the website answer the visitor's questions?
• Are the contents of adequate length, informative, well structured and free of technical jargon?
• Does the text of the website support scanning?
• Does the website have well-structured and optimized landing pages for promoting services and products?
• Are the textual contents provided with high-quality, unique images and illustrations?
• Are the main content elements equipped with social sharing options?
• Are the texts on the website free of spelling and grammar errors?
• How many steps are needed from the landing page to the conversion?
• Is the position, shape, color and wording of the CTAs, i.e. call-to-action elements, appropriate?

What can you learn from website analysis?

The website analysis provides countless useful information:

• What are the weakest areas of the website that absolutely need to be fixed?
• What are the elements that improving your website's rankings will improve?
• What should be changed on the website in order to convert more visitors into customers?
• How does the site compare to its competitors in terms of links?
• Is the content of the website of sufficient quality for the site to achieve good performance?
• Is the structure of the website appropriate or does it require modification?

Summary

When analyzing a website, experts tend to focus on a sub-area, e.g. Focusing on SEO, UX or even the technical side, while there may be completely different reasons behind the poor performance of the site.

In my article, I tried to cover the entire spectrum and present all the areas that can affect the performance of a website and therefore need to be analyzed.