How to Use Screaming Frog to Improve On-Page SEO

In the dynamic world of search engine optimization, if you want your website to attempt to rank competitively, technical audits are essential. Specifically, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, a desktop application, is one of the most valuable SEO tools available that provide insights into on-page SEO errors and fixes. Screaming Frog crawls a website like a search bot which is essential for finding all the data you need to overcome technical SEO issues and makes your life easier by providing reports that help you improve your website’s performance in organic search results.

Understanding Screaming Frog’s Core Functionality

Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a website spider that crawls all the important on-page SEO factors across your whole domain. Unlike a manual check, which is tedious and leaves the door open for human error, this tool will crawl every accessible page on your site, pulling information about title tags, meta descriptions, headers, images, internal links, and much more. The free version allows you to crawl up to 500 URLs, and the paid license removes this limit, so it can be utilized on any website, regardless of size.

Setting Up Your First Crawl

Before starting optimization, the configuration must be done correctly. Open Screaming Frog and type in your website’s URL in the input box at the top. Make sure that you are in “Spider” mode instead of “List” mode for most thorough audits. Click Configuration > Spider and adjust options to your liking. If your website is heavily dependent on JavaScript rendering, enable the JavaScript rendering option. Crawl speed settings are important too. You won’t want to crawl faster than your server can handle.

After you complete your configuration, you click ‘Start,’ and now your crawler will do its job. This process can take a matter of minutes, or even hours, depending on the size of the site. As the tool moves itself along, several tabs will be filled with this actionable data.

Optimizing Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Your first chance to connect with search engines and potential visitors is through title tags and meta descriptions. Use Screaming Frog to help with this and head to the “Page Titles” tab. Check to see if you have any missing, duplicate, very short (less than 30 characters), or very long (over 60 characters) titles. These guidelines matter because you want to create a title that displays properly in search results without truncation.

Once you’ve imported this data to Excel, it will be easier to manipulate and create a priority list based on the importance of each page. For example, obligations should be completed first for pages that receive higher traffic and/or serve as important landing pages. Take some time to write descriptive and appealing titles for each page that target keywords that describe the content of the page accurately – with the same length guidelines in mind.

Follow the same strategy with meta descriptions, which can be reached through the “Meta Description” tab in Screaming Frog. While meta descriptions are not a ranking factor, they do receive a lot of clicks, so they are valuable. You should consider a best practice length of 120 -155 characters for your meta descriptions and include a target keyword or two, and a compelling call to action whenever appropriate.

Identifying and Fixing Header Tag Hierarchy

Using proper header tag structure (H1, H2, H3, etc.) will help the search engines see the content and organization of your content. In Screaming Frog, click on the “H1” and “H2” tabs and scan through the pages to see if you have these crucial aspects on each of your pages. Each page should only have one H1 which clearly states the topic of the page. Having more than one H1 tag will confuse search engines regarding the main content of the page.

Take those pages that either have missing H1 tags or more than one H1 tag, and restructure those pages. Also, check your H2 and H3 tags to make sure they logically follow the H1 tag in hierarchy. The content outline should make sense and be easy for the user to understand, as well as the search engines.

Resolving Image Optimization Issues

Images are an enormous potential optimization opportunity that often goes unnoticed in the on-page SEO evaluation process. Simply go to the “Images” tab and filter for images without alt text. Alt attributes perform two primary functions. First, they support web accessibility for visually impaired users, and second, they tell engines what is depicted in the actual image.

Second, analyze images for being oversized—large images will slow down page load time. Screaming Frog does not compress images, but it does let you know which images are above a reasonable size. You can then use that information to optimize those images outside of the tool and re-upload the compressed versions. Optimizing images for file size can greatly improve page speed— and speed is a ranking factor.

Detecting Broken Links and Redirect Chains

The internal linking structure has a bearing on user experience and search engine crawlability. Use the “Response Codes” tab and filter for 404 errors to reveal broken internal links. Broken links end a user’s journey and waste crawl budget, which may prevent search engines from discovering significant content.

Similarly, redirect chains (pages that redirected countless times before reaching the destination) dilute link equity and similarly slow user experience. Filter for 301 and 302 redirects and follow the redirect path(s) in the “Redirect Chains” report. Streamline the redirect chains by updating links to reference the final destination.

Leveraging Custom Extraction for Advanced Optimization

If you’re a seasoned SEO professional, Screaming Frog’s custom extraction taps into some advanced opportunities for optimization. You can extract specific on-page elements like schema markup, canonical tags, or custom data attributes using an XPath or CSS selector. This enables you to audit virtually any HTML element, and check for inconsistencies or opportunities to improve.

Conclusion

Screaming Frog SEO Spider takes the guesswork out of SEO on-page optimization to methodical and analytical process. By using this powerful software to run regular crawls on your site and systematically resolving the issues it uncovers, you’ll establish a reliable technical structure that will lead to better rankings, improved user experience, and more organic traffic. Become proficient in using this tool and you’ll gain a valuable competitive edge the digital world is full of noise.