Doing a technical SEO audit can often feel like navigating a complex labyrinth. The sheer volume of data to sift through, coupled with the intricacies of website architecture and performance metrics, can be daunting. But, fear not – we’re here to guide you through the process and demonstrate how you can simplify the task with ease and efficiency. Let’s dive in and discover how to simplify your technical SEO audit for optimal results.
Streamlining Screaming Frog SEO Audits
Screaming Frog is our favorite website crawler. Its capabilities are unmatched, providing invaluable insights into site architecture and SEO performance. Yet, like any powerful tool, managing its output efficiently can be a challenge.
This integration streamlines the workflow, simplifying your technical SEO audit process and prioritization with ease.
Why We Like Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog to Google Sheets isn’t just another add-on. Here’s why it’s a must-have in your arsenal:
1. Time Saver Extraordinaire
Bid farewell to hours lost in file management limbo. Screaming Frog swiftly identifies website development priorities, organizes Screaming Frog files, and delivers comprehensive reports in minutes.
2. Seamless Integration
No need to jump through hoops to sync your tools. Screaming Frog effortlessly syncs with your Google Drive, Gmail, and Screaming Frog Scheduler, ensuring a seamless workflow from start to finish.
3. Foolproof Reporting
Are you always getting report-related headaches? Screaming Frog not only generates SEO audit reports but also ensures their accuracy with built-in checks, keeping you and your clients in the loop at all times.
4. Security First
Rest easy knowing your data is in safe hands. Screaming Frog leverages Google’s robust security features, offering automatic versioning backup, access controls, and secure sharing options.
Key Screaming Frog Features
Behind its user-friendly interface lies a powerhouse of features designed to elevate your SEO game.
1. Comprehensive SEO Analysis
From identifying underperforming pages to detecting broken links, Screaming Frog leaves no stone unturned.
2. Automated Reporting
It lets you schedule and send detailed SEO audit reports directly to your clients, saving you valuable time and effort.
3. Personalized Setup
You can tailor Screaming Frog to your unique needs, whether you’re managing multiple client sites or fine-tuning your reporting parameters.
4. Efficient File Management
It cleans up your Google Drive effortlessly, with unused files automatically moved to the trash for easy retrieval.
Check out the details of what Screaming Frog is capable of:
- Retrieving and processing documents from Google Drive for SEO review.
- Finding underperforming pages with lack of engagement.
- Detecting recent 404 errors for immediate correction.
- Searching for new 500 server errors impacting page display.
- Tracking down broken external links.
- Identifying pages without titles, descriptions, H1 tags, and alt text.
- Coordinating a comprehensive SEO audit to enhance site visibility.
- Detecting errors in page numbering sequences and pagination affecting indexing.
- Identifying errors in navigation links.
- Identifying pages lacking inbound links
- Checking for non-searchable canonical links.
- Identifying spaces in URLs that cause broken links.
- Uncovers indexing issues with mobile page links.
- Finding broken internal links and internal soft 404 errors..
- Checking external links for security.
- Scanning the site for potential security risks.
- Flagging mixed content security issues.
- Scanning for forms with potential security risks.
- Searching for pages with blocked content access.
- Identifying internal redirects and redirect chains.
- Identifying duplicate content.
- Managing SEO tasks for any number of client sites.
- Seamlessly transitioning to the next client after task completion
- Using the cache at all times, minimizing API costs, and ensuring smooth operation within Google’s script runtime limits, preventing disruptions.
How to Set Screaming Frog to Google Sheets Up
Ready to harness the power of Screaming Frog to Google Sheets? Follow these simple steps to get started:
1. Set Up Screaming Frog
When purchasing a Screaming Frog license, you gain access to scheduling crawls.
First, go to ‘File’ → ‘Scheduling’, then click ‘Add’.
You schedule a crawl by naming your task and project, and setting up the frequency of your crawl in the general tab.
In the ‘Start Options’ tab, add the URL of your website and your config file location in Screaming Frog.
Then, set up API access in the ‘API’ tab – Screaming Frog currently uses Google Search Console data.
2. Customize Your Settings
Finally, you can fine-tune your preferences, from scheduled crawls to report formats.
You can set up export files under the ‘Export’ tab.
To ‘export tabs’, select ‘External:HTML’ and ‘Internal:HTML’.
For bulk exports, you need to select the following:
And to set up reports, select ‘Crawl Overview’ and ‘Issues Overview’.
3. Save Exported Files
Once a crawl is scheduled, simply save the exported files to your Google Drive. You can do that even with a free version of Screaming Frog. Screaming Frog Scheduler automatically adjusts the files for compatibility with Screaming Frog.
P.S. Screaming Frog operates with green files in your Drive, distinguishing them from blue files, even if they share similar names or have a .csv extension.
Once a Screaming Frog export file is utilized by Screaming Frog, it’s temporarily moved to the Drive trash for 30 days to prevent reuse in subsequent crawls.
Working with Multiple Websites and Clients?
Screaming Frog is designed to manage SEO audits for multiple websites and clients. Once it’s set up, it automatically conducts your SEO audits, manages your crawl files, generates a client report, and even sends clients links to the central report.
You can always modify the settings, and add your or the client’s branding.
