How often are you running technical site audits, and what metrics actually matter?
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We recently acquired a client whose organic traffic has been consistently in decline for the last several months despite being very active in terms of posting good quality content on their blog. Upon digging deeper in understanding their troubles with traffic issues, we discovered that no one had evaluated their technical setup in the last two years. The site had severe issues with having redirect loops, broken canonical tags, and lack of image compression. This case serves as a good reminder that it is easy to ignore some tech hygiene aspects when one is immersed in creation of beautiful content. Performing a regular site health check is pretty much the digital equivalent of taking your car in for routine maintenance—if the engine is failing, the best paint job in the world won't get you down the road.
I’m curious to know how everyone here manages this in their workflow. What tools are you relying on for routine technical monitoring? Also, it raises an important question - what should be done when the audit comes with a huge number of pointers, what should be prioritized? Let's exchange stories about common site audit practices and issues!