what matters and what doesn’t

a practical approach to semrush audits.

Understand what’s there

semrush audits can be confusing and overly complicated. Know what you’re looking at and why or if it matters to your site.

Organize by Importance

There are hundreds of different ranking factors for Google. Know which ones will increase organic traffic for your site.

know the next step

Some items you can fix yourself. Other items might require a developer. Know the next step based on each item in the audit.

What this course is.

This course is designed to help you make sense of your semrush audits. There are thousands of errors, warnings, and notices that do not always make sense. There are dashboards that do not provide any context. My goal is to help you organize and prioritize what is important, and to know what to do with the information. If you want to understand what matters from an semrush audit and how to prioritize and organize your workflow, this is the audit for you.

What this course is not.

This course is not an all-in-one solution for remediating each point of the semrush audit. The how-to of fixing a redirect chain or broken canonical link is not covered in this course. Websites are built so differently that the how-to part of fixing an error could be indistinguishable from one another. If you take this course and hope to find out how to update your title tags you will be disappointed.

course description and lessons

Categorizing errors, warnings, and notices into meaningful lessons

Semrush site audit: Errors.

There are hundreds of different ranking factors used my multiple ranking systems. They do not all matter to your site. Sort out which ones do.

Semrush site audit: Warnings.

The line between warnings and errors isn’t clear. For your site an error could be nothing important and a warnings could be vital for conversions. Find how to prioritize your semrush audit results.

Semrush site audit: Notices.

What shows up as a notice in one section can be an error in another semrush dashboard. Learn what notices to pay attention to and which ones can pass by.

Three broad categories become 13 helpful lessons

The three semrush audit categories are divided into meaningful lessons to help you understand and prioritize the tasks from the audit.

An introduction to what this course aims to provide you. And a little bit about your instructor.

Take a look at the intake settings of the audit. We will review the how to run a useful audit. Covered section will include how to crawl only portions of a site, when authentication is useful, and better understanding the dashboard cards. There are thematic cards that cover crawlability, http, core web vitals, and more. We will sort through each one.

This lesson will be reviewing what semrush considers and error, warning, and a notice. After reviewing the three broad categories we will reorganize the sections into more specific and actionable lists.

Links on a website are fundamental for navigation and establishing an interconnected online environment. They not only guide users through a site, enhancing the user experience, but also contribute to search engine optimization by helping search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of website content. Additionally, links between different websites increase the reach and authority of a site, influencing its ranking in search engine results and driving traffic. In essence, links are the pathways that connect the vast expanse of the internet, making it a cohesive and navigable network.

The “hreflang” attribute is a vital tool in website development for indicating the language and geographic targeting of a webpage. It helps search engines understand which language and region a specific page is intended for, ensuring that users are directed to the most relevant version of the content based on their location and language preferences. This is especially important for websites that have content in multiple languages or cater to diverse geographic regions. Proper use of hreflang improves user experience by reducing language barriers and enhances the site’s SEO by preventing duplicate content issues across different language versions.

Titles and headings are key elements in website design, crucial for both user experience and search engine optimization (SEO). A well-crafted title provides a clear and concise summary of a page’s content, guiding users and search engines to understand the main topic at a glance. Headings, structured hierarchically (like H1, H2, H3 tags), organize content into digestible sections, making it easier for users to read and navigate through the page. This structured approach also aids search engines in indexing the site, improving the page’s visibility and ranking in search results. Effective use of titles and headings enhances readability, engagement, and the overall effectiveness of a website in reaching its audience.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) are a technology designed to enhance the performance of web content and advertisements on mobile devices. They enable pages to load faster and more efficiently on smartphones and tablets, significantly improving the user experience. By prioritizing speed and readability, AMP helps in reducing bounce rates and increasing engagement. This is particularly crucial given the growing number of users accessing the internet via mobile devices. Additionally, AMP can positively impact a website’s visibility and ranking in mobile search results, aligning with the increasing focus of search engines on mobile-first indexing.

Website security is a critical aspect of online presence, essential for protecting sensitive data and maintaining user trust. It involves implementing measures to safeguard websites against cyber threats like hacking, malware, and data breaches. Strong security protocols prevent unauthorized access, ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of both user and company data. This is particularly vital for sites handling sensitive information like personal details, payment information, and login credentials

A website’s robots.txt file serves as a tool for managing and controlling the access of bots to the site’s content. This simple text file, placed in the root directory of the website, provides instructions to bots about which parts of the site should or should not be scanned and indexed. By specifying these directives, you can prevent irrelevant content from being included in search engine results.

Sitemaps are a helpful tool for website navigation and search engine optimization. They provide a structured layout of a website’s content, making it easier for search engines to crawl, understand, and index the site’s pages. This facilitates improved visibility and ranking in search results, enhancing the site’s accessibility to users. Sitemaps are particularly beneficial for large websites with numerous pages, ensuring that all content is discovered and available to search engines and visitors alike.

There are 11 oddball type items in the semrush audit that don’t fit nicely with other categories. An example of this would be pages that return a 5XX status code. While these are often lumped together with the 4XX status codes the cause and solutions are drastically different. Other times covered are are the difference between www vs non www sites, what structured data is and why viewports are important.

From an SEO perspective, search engines prioritize website speed as a ranking factor. Faster websites are likely to rank higher in search results, making them more visible to potential visitors. This is especially true since the rise of mobile browsing, where speed is even more crucial due to varying network conditions.

URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) are fundamental in defining the online identity and structure of a website. They serve as the web addresses for individual pages, allowing users and search engines to locate and navigate to specific content. A well-structured URL is clear, concise, and descriptive, offering insights into the content of the page, which enhances user experience and aids in memorability.

Thanks for taking the time to work through these lessons. Here are next steps for learning more and a few pointers on how to keep your semrush technical audits manageable and practical.