The Sempre Group - Website Report

Introduction

The following summary highlights the key aspects from various technical and SEO audits that can significantly impact the performance and conversion rates of the website. By focusing on these critical areas, the website can improve its loading times, security, search engine optimisation, and overall user experience.

Key Findings

1. Implement HTTPS: Transitioning to HTTPS is crucial for securing user data and enabling modern web features, which will enhance user trust and SEO rankings.

2. Optimise Loading Performance: The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) time is above the recommended threshold. Prioritising the loading of large images or text elements can improve user experience.

3. Enhance Main-thread Work: Reducing JavaScript execution time will decrease load times and improve Time to Interactive (TTI), contributing to a smoother user experience.

4. Canonicalisation and 4xx Error Fixes: Resolve issues with canonical tags and 403 errors to improve search engine indexing and avoid duplicate content problems.

5. Improve Internal and External Linking: Developing a comprehensive linking strategy will enhance navigation and SEO effectiveness, ensuring all key pages are accessible.

6. Keyword Strategy: Focus on enhancing content for non-branded and industry-specific keywords to capture a wider audience and improve search visibility.

7. Backlink Profile Strengthening: Building a robust backlink profile from relevant sources will boost domain authority and improve keyword rankings.

8. JavaScript and CSS Optimisation: Minify and reduce unused JavaScript and CSS to decrease loading times, enhancing site speed and performance.

9. Database and Security Enhancements: Regularly optimise the database for better performance and implement comprehensive security measures, including firewalls and regular audits.

10. SEO and Analytics Monitoring: Continuously update SEO strategies and expand analytics tools to gain deeper insights into user engagement and site performance.

By addressing these key findings, the website can achieve significant improvements in performance, security, and user experience, leading to higher conversion rates and better search engine visibility.

Summary

The website’s current performance indicates several areas for improvement to enhance user experience and optimise loading times. Key areas include implementing HTTPS, optimising images and scripts, and addressing main-thread work. By prioritising these areas, the website can achieve faster loading times, better security, and more efficient resource usage.

Key Performance Metrics

Security (HTTPS)

• • Issue: The website does not use HTTPS, which is crucial for secure communications.
  • Recommendation: Implement HTTPS to protect user data, avoid mixed content, and enable modern web features.

Loading Performance

• • First Contentful Paint (FCP): 1.0 seconds.
  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): 6.2 seconds, which is above the recommended 2.5 seconds.
  • Time to Interactive (TTI): 6.9 seconds, indicating a delay in page interactivity.
  • Speed Index: 5.0 seconds, showing the speed at which content is visibly populated.
  • Total Blocking Time: 650 ms, suggesting some tasks are taking too long to complete.

Resource Optimisation

• • Main-thread Work: 6.2 seconds of main-thread tasks suggest a need to reduce JavaScript execution.
  • Network Payload: Total size is 7,593 KiB; reducing it can significantly improve load times.
  • Images: Serving next-gen formats could save 1,016 KiB, and resizing images could save 1,575 KiB.
  • Unused CSS and JavaScript: Potential savings of 75 KiB for CSS and 455 KiB for JavaScript.
  • Caching: Efficient cache policy needed for 194 resources.

Accessibility and SEO

• • Descriptive Links: 1 link lacks descriptive text, impacting accessibility and SEO.

Recommendations

Security Enhancement

• • Implement HTTPS: Secure the site with HTTPS to protect against data breaches and ensure compatibility with modern web features.

Improve Load Performance

• • Optimise Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Reduce the size of large images or text elements and prioritise their loading.
  • Enhance Time to Interactive (TTI): Minimise JavaScript execution and prioritise critical scripts.

Resource Management

• • Minimise JavaScript and CSS: Reduce unused JavaScript and CSS, and minify these resources to decrease load times.
  • Optimise Images: Convert images to next-gen formats like WebP and resize them appropriately for faster downloads.
  • Efficient Caching: Implement a long cache lifetime for static resources to speed up repeat visits.

Accessibility and SEO

• Improve Link Descriptions: Ensure all links have descriptive text to enhance accessibility and SEO.

By implementing these recommendations, the website can significantly improve its performance, security, and user experience.

Overall Feedback Summary

The technical SEO audit for thesempregroup.com indicates several critical issues that need attention. Although the site benefits from a valid SSL certificate and supports HTTP/2, there are problems with canonicalisation and a detected 4xx error that could impact user experience and search engine indexing. Addressing these issues promptly will help improve the site’s performance and SEO effectiveness.

SSL and Security

• • SSL Certificate:

The SSL certificate is valid and issued by Google Trust Services, expiring on 28th March 2025. This ensures secure data transmission and boosts trustworthiness in the eyes of both users and search engines.

• • HTTP/2 Support:

The site supports HTTP/2, which can significantly improve loading times and overall user experience due to multiplexing, header compression, and prioritisation features.

Canonicalisation

• • Canonical Tags:

The canonicalisation test failed, with a status code of 403. This suggests that the canonical URLs may not be set correctly or are inaccessible. Correct implementation of canonical tags is crucial to prevent duplicate content issues and consolidate link equity.

Fix:
Ensure correct canonical tags are implemented on each page. Verify that these tags point to the preferred version of a page and that the URLs are accessible.

Redirects and HTTP Status Codes

• • 4xx Errors:

A 4xx error (specifically, a 403 Forbidden error) was detected. This indicates that some pages are inaccessible to users or crawlers, potentially leading to a poor user experience and missed indexing opportunities.

Fix:
Investigate the cause of the 403 error. It could be due to permissions settings on the server or a misconfigured .htaccess file. Ensure that all public pages are accessible.

• • HTTPS Redirects:

The site correctly redirects from HTTP to HTTPS, ensuring secure connections by default. However, there is no evidence of a redirect from non-www to www, which could lead to inconsistent user experiences and indexing issues.

Fix:
Implement a 301 redirect from non-www to www (or vice versa) to ensure a consistent URL structure and prevent duplicate content issues.

Links and Content

• • Internal and External Links:

There are no internal or external links detected, which is unusual. This might be due to crawl restrictions or errors in the site’s navigation setup.

Fix:
Review the site’s navigation and linking strategy to ensure that all important pages are accessible and linked properly. Ensure that the sitemap is up-to-date and submitted to search engines.

On-Page Elements

• • Title and Meta Descriptions:

There are no duplicate titles or descriptions detected, which is positive. However, ensure that all pages have unique and descriptive titles and meta descriptions to enhance search engine visibility.

• • Alt Text for Images:

There are no missing alt texts for images recorded, which indicates good practice for accessibility and SEO.

Miscellaneous

• Sitemap and Robots.txt:

Both a sitemap and a robots.txt file are present, which are essential for guiding search engine crawlers through the site efficiently.

Recommendations

1. Canonicalisation: Resolve the 403 status code associated with canonical tags and ensure they point to the correct URLs.

2. 4xx Error Resolution: Investigate and rectify the 403 error to make the affected pages accessible.

3. Redirect Implementation: Ensure a consistent URL structure by adding a redirect from non-www to www or vice versa.

4. Link Strategy: Review and enhance the internal and external linking strategy to improve navigation and SEO performance.

By addressing these issues, thesempregroup.com can enhance its SEO performance, providing a better user experience and improving search engine rankings.

Summary

The website utilises a robust and popular technology stack centred around WordPress, enhanced by several plugins and services for performance, security, and analytics. While the current stack is comprehensive, there are opportunities for improvement, such as optimising database performance, enhancing security measures, and streamlining JavaScript libraries.

Server Infrastructure

• • CDN: The website employs Cloudflare, a reliable content delivery network, which enhances loading speeds and offers security benefits.
  • Caching: Utilising WP Rocket, which is known for its effectiveness in reducing load times through caching mechanisms.
  • Databases: The website uses MySQL, a widely used database system, which is suitable for WordPress but may benefit from optimisation settings or exploring MariaDB as an alternative for better performance.

Analytics and Testing

• • A/B Testing and Analytics: The site uses Complianz for A/B testing and Crazy Egg for analytics. Consider integrating additional analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, for a more comprehensive understanding of user behaviour.
  • Tag Management: Google Tag Manager is implemented, offering flexibility in managing and deploying marketing tags.

Privacy

• • Cookie Compliance: Complianz is used to ensure compliance with cookie laws, which is essential for user privacy and legal adherence.

Add-Ons and Plugins

• • WordPress Plugins: The website uses several plugins, including Complianz, Elementor, WP Rocket, and Yoast SEO. Regular updates and audits are recommended to maintain performance and security.

Web Development

• • Page Builders: Elementor is used for page building, providing flexibility in design but potentially impacting site speed. Regular optimisation of page elements is advised.
  • Font Scripts: Font Awesome is employed for icons, a popular choice which should be monitored to prevent loading unnecessary icons.
  • JavaScript Libraries and Frameworks: The site uses jQuery, jQuery Migrate, and Slick, alongside Vue.js. Consider evaluating whether all libraries are necessary, as reducing the number can enhance performance.
  • Programming Languages: The site is built with PHP, the standard for WordPress, suggesting compatibility with most hosting environments.

Security

• • Security Measures: HSTS is implemented for secure connections, and reCAPTCHA helps prevent spam. Additional security measures, such as a firewall and regular security audits, are recommended.

Content Management

• • CMS and Blogs: WordPress is the foundation for both content management and blogging, offering ease of use and a plethora of plugins for extended functionality.

Marketing

• SEO: Utilising Yoast SEO, a robust plugin for optimising search engine presence. Regularly updating SEO strategies and content is recommended to maintain and improve search rankings.

Recommendations for Improvement

1. Database Optimisation: Regularly optimise the MySQL database or consider MariaDB for enhanced performance.
2. Security Enhancements: Implement a comprehensive security plugin and conduct regular audits to protect against vulnerabilities.
3. JavaScript Optimisation: Review and possibly consolidate JavaScript libraries to improve loading times.
4. SEO Monitoring: Continuously update SEO practices and use additional tools for better insights into search engine performance.
5. Analytics Expansion: Integrate further analytics tools for a more thorough analysis of user engagement and site performance.

By addressing these areas, the website can achieve improved performance, security, and user experience.

Summary

This report provides an analysis of the SEO strengths and weaknesses based on rankings, keywords, backlinks, and strategies. The data reveals a strong presence for specific branded keywords, while there is room for improvement in non-branded terms. The report identifies opportunities to enhance visibility and competitiveness.

Keyword Rankings

• • Position 1 Keywords: The website has two keywords in the top position, “sempre group” and “the sempre group”, demonstrating strong brand presence with a combined search volume of 320.
  • Position 2-3 Keywords: Only one keyword, “sempre”, is ranked here, indicating potential to capture more branded traffic with higher search volume.
  • Position 4-10 Keywords: Sixteen keywords reside in this range, including “l k metrology” and “opticline”, suggesting moderate visibility for industry-specific terms.
  • Position 11-20 Keywords: Another sixteen keywords fall into these positions, such as “industrial calibrations” and “runout”, revealing competitive pressure.
  • Position 21-50 Keywords: Sixty-five keywords are ranked in this bracket, highlighting a significant number of terms that could benefit from targeted SEO strategies to improve rankings.

Backlinks

While backlink data is not explicitly provided, the distribution of keyword rankings suggests the need for a stronger backlink profile to boost authority and improve keyword positions.

Competition Analysis

• • Average Competition: The average competition level across all keywords is low, indicating opportunities to increase visibility with targeted efforts.
  • Keywords with High Competition: Keywords such as “metrology equipment” and “engineering measuring tools” have high competition, requiring enhanced content and link-building strategies.

Traffic and Search Volume

• Estimated Traffic Value (ETV): The total ETV is 653.11, reflecting the potential traffic from current rankings.
• Total Search Volume: The data does not specify a total search volume, suggesting a need for enhanced keyword research to identify high-potential terms.

Strategic Recommendations

1. Enhance Content for Non-Branded Keywords: Focus on creating and optimising content for industry-specific terms with moderate competition to capture new audiences.

2. Backlink Acquisition: Develop a robust backlink strategy aimed at acquiring quality links from industry-relevant sources to improve domain authority.

3. Competitive Analysis: Conduct a detailed competitive analysis to understand the strategies used by top-ranking competitors and identify gaps in current approaches.

4. Technical SEO Improvements: Ensure technical aspects such as site speed, mobile-friendliness, and structured data are optimised to support improved rankings.

5. Keyword Expansion: Explore long-tail keyword opportunities that align with user intent and have manageable competition levels.

By addressing these areas, the website can enhance its SEO performance, leading to increased visibility and traffic in the competitive landscape.