Introduction

The comprehensive audit of the website highlights both strengths and areas requiring immediate attention to optimise performance, conversions, and search engine visibility. The report focuses on technical performance, SEO factors, keyword rankings, and the technology stack in use.

Key Findings

1. Performance and Speed: While the First Contentful Paint is quick at 0.6 seconds, the Time to Interactive is delayed at 6.1 seconds. Optimising image formats and reducing JavaScript and CSS payloads are crucial for improving load times.

2. SEO Technical Issues: Duplicate title tags and missing meta descriptions on multiple pages need addressing to enhance SEO effectiveness and improve user experience.

3. Keyword Rankings: The website ranks for seven keywords but lacks any in the top ten positions. Enhancing content and backlink strategies could improve rankings.

4. Image Optimization: Serving images in next-gen formats and implementing lazy-loading can significantly reduce load times and enhance user experience.

5. JavaScript and CSS Optimization: Eliminating redundant JavaScript and deferring non-essential scripts will reduce total blocking time and improve interactivity.

6. Caching and Resource Management: Implement efficient caching strategies and eliminate render-blocking resources to enhance repeat visit performance.

7. Content and URL Optimization: Low content rate on several pages affects search visibility. Enriching content and ensuring URLs are SEO-friendly are necessary steps.

8. Backlink and Authority Building: Increasing backlinks to key pages will improve domain authority and rankings, particularly for high-cost-per-click keywords.

9. Technology Stack Improvements: Transitioning from jQuery to modern JavaScript frameworks and optimising CDN usage can enhance site performance.

10. Security Enhancements: Implementing Content Security Policy and ensuring robust configurations for HSTS will bolster site security and user trust.

By implementing these recommendations, the website can achieve enhanced performance, increased organic traffic, better user experience, and higher conversion rates. Regular audits and continuous optimisation are advised to maintain and improve site performance and SEO health.

Summary

The website exhibits a mix of strengths and areas for improvement in terms of performance. The First Contentful Paint (FCP) is relatively quick at 0.6 seconds, indicating a fast initial load. However, there are significant opportunities to enhance performance, particularly by optimizing image formats, reducing JavaScript and CSS payloads, and addressing render-blocking resources. Furthermore, the site experiences delays in becoming fully interactive, with a Time to Interactive (TTI) of 6.1 seconds. Key recommendations include using next-gen image formats, minimizing JavaScript and CSS, and optimizing caching strategies.

Key Performance Metrics

First Contentful Paint (FCP)

• 0.6 seconds: Indicates a quick initial load of visible content.

Speed Index

• 3.4 seconds: Suggests room for improvement in how quickly the page’s contents are populated.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

• 2.4 seconds: A relatively decent time, but improvements can be made to enhance user experience.

Total Blocking Time (TBT)

• 1,550 ms: High blocking time due to JavaScript execution, impacting responsiveness.

Time to Interactive (TTI)

• 6.1 seconds: Indicates a delay in the page becoming fully interactive, which can affect user experience.

Max Potential First Input Delay (FID)

• 700 ms: Suggests occasional lag in user interactions due to long tasks.

Key Recommendations

Improve Image Performance

• Serve Images in Next-Gen Formats: Adopt formats like WebP or AVIF to reduce the image size, offering potential savings of 179 KiB, leading to faster downloads.
• Properly Size Images: Ensure images are appropriately sized for their container to save 137 KiB in data and improve load times.
• Defer Offscreen Images: Implement lazy-loading for images not immediately in view to optimize load performance, saving about 10 KiB.

Optimize JavaScript and CSS

• Remove Duplicate JavaScript Modules: Eliminate redundant JavaScript to save 120 KiB, reducing unnecessary network activity.
• Reduce Unused JavaScript: Identify and defer loading of non-essential JavaScript, potentially saving 657 KiB.
• Minify CSS: Reduce CSS file sizes by minifying, with potential savings of 4 KiB.
• Reduce Unused CSS: Trim unused CSS rules, which could save 68 KiB, and defer styles not needed for initial rendering.

Address Render-Blocking Resources

• Eliminate Render-Blocking Resources: Inline critical JS and CSS while deferring non-essential styles and scripts, with potential savings of 210 ms.

Enhance Caching Strategies

• Serve Static Assets with an Efficient Cache Policy: Optimize caching to improve repeat visits by setting long cache lifetimes for 17 resources.

Minimize Main-Thread Work

• Reduce JavaScript Execution Time: Aim to lower execution time, currently 5.7 seconds, by minimizing JS payload.
• Avoid Excessive DOM Size: Consider reducing the number of DOM elements (13,097) to decrease memory usage and improve rendering times.

Improve Accessibility and SEO

• Links Do Not Have Descriptive Text: Ensure link text is descriptive to enhance accessibility and search engine understanding.

Reduce Third-Party Impact

• Reduce the Impact of Third-Party Code: Limit and optimize third-party code as it blocks the main thread for 1,500 ms, affecting load performance.

Address Deprecated APIs

• Uses Deprecated APIs: Update site code to avoid reliance on APIs that will be removed from browsers.

By addressing these areas, the website can achieve faster load times and a more responsive user experience, ultimately improving overall site performance and user satisfaction.

Technical SEO Report Summary

The technical SEO audit for the domain digital.ecit.app has been successfully completed. The website demonstrates good overall performance with a high on-page SEO score of 90.69. However, there are several areas that require attention to optimise search engine visibility and improve the user experience. Key issues identified include duplicate title tags, missing meta descriptions, and missing image alt attributes. Immediate attention to these areas can enhance the site’s SEO effectiveness.

Detailed SEO Issues and Recommendations

Duplicate Title Tags

• Issue: 50 pages have duplicate title tags.
• Impact: Duplicate titles can confuse search engines and dilute keyword relevance, affecting page rankings.
• Recommendation: Ensure each page has a unique and descriptive title tag that accurately reflects the page content. Use primary keywords relevant to each page.

Missing Meta Descriptions

• Issue: All 80 pages lack meta descriptions.
• Impact: Missing meta descriptions can lead to lower click-through rates from search engine results pages (SERPs) as users have less context about the page content.
• Recommendation: Create compelling and concise meta descriptions for each page, incorporating relevant keywords and a call to action to improve CTR.

Title Tags Too Short

• Issue: 80 pages have title tags that are too short.
• Impact: Short title tags may not fully convey the content of a page to search engines and users, potentially affecting rankings and CTR.
• Recommendation: Expand title tags to be more descriptive and include relevant keywords without exceeding 60 characters.

Low Content Rate

• Issue: 40 pages have a low content rate.
• Impact: Pages with insufficient content may not rank well in search engines as they may not be deemed informative or relevant.
• Recommendation: Enrich content on these pages by adding valuable information, ensuring it is well-structured and keyword-optimised.

Missing Image Alt Attributes

• Issue: 80 pages are missing image alt attributes.
• Impact: Missing alt attributes can negatively affect image search visibility and accessibility for users with visual impairments.
• Recommendation: Add descriptive alt text to all images, using keywords where appropriate, to improve image SEO and accessibility.

SEO Friendly URL Checks

• Issue: Only 19 pages have SEO-friendly URLs.
• Impact: Non-SEO-friendly URLs can be difficult for search engines and users to understand, affecting crawl efficiency and user trust.
• Recommendation: Optimise URLs to be short, descriptive, and include relevant keywords. Avoid using special characters or parameters.

Additional Observations

• Valid SSL Certificate: The site has a valid SSL certificate, ensuring secure data transmission.
• No Broken Links: The site has no broken links, indicating good link management.
• HTTPS Implementation: The site uses HTTPS, which is beneficial for SEO and security.

Conclusion

The audit reveals that digital.ecit.app is performing well in several areas, but there are critical improvements needed, such as addressing duplicate titles, enhancing metadata, and ensuring image accessibility. By implementing these recommendations, the site can improve its search visibility, user experience, and overall SEO performance. Regular audits are recommended to maintain optimal SEO health.

Summary

The website utilises a robust technology stack that includes Cloudflare for CDN, Google Font API for font scripts, jQuery for JavaScript libraries, and Google Tag Manager for analytics. Security measures include HSTS, and Weglot is used for translation services. Recommendations for improvement include updating the JavaScript libraries, optimising CDN usage, and enhancing security measures.

Servers

CDN

• Cloudflare: Cloudflare is a widely-used content delivery network (CDN) that improves site performance and security. It is an excellent choice for reducing latency and enhancing the overall user experience.
• Google Hosted Libraries: Utilising Google Hosted Libraries ensures that popular JavaScript libraries are delivered efficiently. However, ensure that the libraries are up-to-date to avoid potential vulnerabilities and performance issues.
• jsDelivr: JsDelivr is another effective CDN that is used for delivering files at high speed. Consider regularly reviewing the files served to ensure they are optimised and current.

Web Development

Font Scripts

• Google Font API: This service is used to load fonts efficiently. Ensure that only necessary font weights and styles are loaded to reduce page load times.

JavaScript Libraries

• jQuery: Although jQuery is a popular library, it is worth considering replacing it or reducing its use for modern JavaScript frameworks like React or Vue.js, which may offer better performance and more features.

Analytics

Tag Managers

• Google Tag Manager: This tool is crucial for managing analytics and marketing tags without modifying the codebase. Regularly review the tags to ensure they are necessary and do not negatively impact performance.

Security

Security

• HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security): Implementing HSTS is a good practice to protect against man-in-the-middle attacks. Ensure that HSTS is configured correctly with an appropriate max-age directive to maximise security benefits.

Content

Translation

• Weglot: This service is effective for offering multilingual support. Regularly update the translations to maintain accuracy and consider SEO best practices for multilingual sites.

Recommendations for Improvement

• JavaScript Libraries: Transitioning from jQuery to more modern JavaScript frameworks could enhance the site’s performance and capabilities.
• CDN Optimisation: Regularly audit the files served through CDNs to ensure they are necessary and optimised for speed.
• Security Enhancements: Consider implementing additional security measures such as Content Security Policy (CSP) and ensuring all third-party integrations are secure.
• Performance Monitoring: Use tools to monitor site performance and load times regularly, making adjustments as needed to maintain optimal speed and user experience.

By implementing these improvements, the website can achieve better performance, security, and user experience.

Summary

The SEO analysis reveals several areas for improvement regarding keyword rankings and traffic acquisition. The website is currently ranking for seven keywords, with none in the top ten positions. The estimated traffic value (ETV) is relatively low, indicating a need for strategic enhancements to improve visibility and capture more organic traffic. This report details the strengths, weaknesses, and recommended strategies to bolster SEO performance.

Keyword Rankings

• Total Ranked Keywords: 7
• Position 1 Keywords: 0
• Position 2-3 Keywords: 0
• Position 4-10 Keywords: 0
• Position 11-20 Keywords: 2
• Keywords: “ecit” (Position 14), “opus capita” (Position 13)
• Position 21-50 Keywords: 2
• Keywords: “invoice capture” (Position 50), “invoice capture” (Position 42)
• Position 50+ Keywords: 3
• Keywords: “ocr definition” (Position 57), “capture invoices” (Position 64), “definition of ocr software” (Position 71)

Keywords Analysis

• High Value Keywords (CPC > $1): 3
• Keywords: “invoice capture” (CPC: $40.80), “invoice capture” (CPC: $55.21), “capture invoices” (CPC: $55.21)
• Highest Search Volume Keyword: “ocr definition” with a search volume of 590.
• Top Ranked Keyword: Not applicable as no keyword ranks in the top 10 positions.

Backlinks and URL Performance

• The primary URLs being ranked are concentrated around specific blog posts, such as “/blog-post/understanding-ocr” and “/blog-post/invoice-capture-what-you-need-to-know.”
• Focused content around these URLs could potentially improve their search engine ranking positions.

Estimated Traffic Value

• Total Estimated Traffic Value (ETV): 3.43
• This low ETV suggests that despite having keywords with high CPC, the actual traffic driven to the site is minimal.

SEO Strengths

• Presence of High CPC Keywords: The presence of keywords with high cost-per-click indicates potential for monetization if rankings improve.
• Diverse Keyword Portfolio: Keywords span across different topics, potentially catering to varied audience interests.

SEO Weaknesses

• Lack of High-Ranking Keywords: With zero keywords in top positions, there’s significant room for ranking improvement.
• Low Estimated Traffic Value: Despite high CPC keywords, low traffic suggests a disconnect between keyword value and actual visitor numbers.

Recommended Strategies

• Content Optimization: Enhance content quality and relevance for high-value keywords. Use
  

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  tags effectively for keyword emphasis.

• Backlink Acquisition: Increase backlinks to key pages to improve authority and rankings.
• Keyword Targeting: Focus on improving the ranks of keywords in positions 11-20 to move them into the top 10, where they can generate more traffic.
• Technical SEO: Ensure optimal site speed, mobile-friendliness, and proper indexing to improve search engine visibility.
• Local SEO Tactics: If applicable, optimize for local searches to capture region-specific traffic.

By implementing these strategies, the website can enhance its SEO performance, leading to increased rankings, traffic, and ultimately, conversion opportunities.