A Site Audit is a comprehensive analysis of your website's technical SEO health and performance. Using automated crawlers, it examines your website’s pages to identify issues that could affect rankings, user experience, and overall performance.
OTTO’s Site Audit tool is designed to spot areas of improvement for any live website. While no backend access is required to run an audit, connecting OTTO’s pixel is essential for deploying fixes based on audit results.
👉 Always run your Site Audit before creating OTTO projects. This ensures the crawler captures all pages correctly, avoids incomplete crawls, and sets up a smooth integration with the OTTO pixel later.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step-by-Step Instructions
🔍 Setting Up Your Site Audit
🔍 Setting Up Your Site Audit
Enter Your Website URL
Input the complete URL (e.g., https://www.example.com).
Verify that the URL includes the correct protocol (http:// or https://).
Configure Crawl Depth
Set the total number of pages you want analyzed.
Recommended: Total pages + 10% buffer.
Example: For 1,000 pages, set the limit to 1,100.
Set Crawl Frequency
Minimum: Monthly
For critical pages: Weekly
Consider factors like content update frequency, site size, and server capacity.
Choose User Agent
Simulate search engine behavior. Recommended:
Search Atlas User Agent
Googlebot Mobile
Adjust Crawl Speed
Faster = quick overview
Slower = more detailed insights
⚠️ Important: A slower crawl usually yields more accurate results.
Crawl Settings
Robots.txt Behavior:
Follow Robots.txt (Recommended): Matches Google’s crawl behavior.
Ignore Robots.txt: Crawls all accessible pages for full debugging.
JavaScript Rendering:
Available only on Pro & Enterprise plans.
Detects dynamic content and verifies OTTO fix implementations.
URL Exclusion Conditions (Beta)
Exclude irrelevant pages to optimize crawl budget.
Options:
Exclusion Rules: Block URLs containing specific terms (e.g., /blog).
Inclusion Exceptions: Add exceptions back (e.g., /blog/*).
Handle 404 pages by excluding them and re-running the audit.
⚙️ Excluding Pages in OTTO
⚙️ Excluding Pages in OTTO
Open the OTTO application → go to Settings.
Navigate to Crawl Settings (or Widget & AI Settings / Autopilot Settings, depending on version).
Add URLs you want to exclude from crawling or optimization.
Save changes to apply.
✅ Use cases for exclusions:
Sensitive content (private or restricted pages).
Pages under development.
Duplicate content that harms SEO.
⏱️ Post-Setup Audit Automation
⏱️ Post-Setup Audit Automation
Once the OTTO pixel is connected:
Go to Audit Scheduling in your OTTO dashboard.
Define frequency (daily, weekly, monthly).
Save your schedule.
OTTO will automatically monitor your site, ensuring consistent tracking of your SEO health.
FAQs
FAQs
❓ Why do crawled pages not match total site pages?
❓ Why do crawled pages not match total site pages?
💡 By default, audits crawl a limited number of pages. Adjust the page limit in settings to capture the full site.
❓ Should I run the Site Audit before connecting the OTTO pixel?
❓ Should I run the Site Audit before connecting the OTTO pixel?
⚡ Yes. Running the audit first ensures all site elements are detected correctly before integration.
❓ Can I audit only certain sections of my site?
❓ Can I audit only certain sections of my site?
✅ Yes. Use URL inclusion/exclusion rules to focus crawls on specific sections.