Thứ Sáu, 1 tháng 7, 2022

How to use Screaming Frog's 14+ amazing features

Screaming Frog is one of the effective SEO tools used to check and optimize the website. A website with too many errors will greatly affect the ranking and SEO efficiency.

Therefore, it is very important to regularly audit your website for search engine optimization. In this article, I will guide you in detail how to exploit +14 great features of the Screaming Frog tool.

Screaming Frog can run on computers of operating systems such as: Windows, Mac OS or Linux. Although this is a paid tool, you should consider using Screaming Frog to help save time and effort for your website audit.

Instructions for downloading and installing Screaming Frog

Before diving into the most useful uses of Screaming Frog , GTV SEO will show you how to download and install the Screaming Frog SEO Spider tool.

How to download Screaming Frog

Instructions for downloading Screaming Frog
Instructions for downloading Screaming Frog

To download the Screaming Frog tool you need to follow these steps:

  • Step 1: Visit  the following link: https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/  to access the website of Screaming Frog
  • Step 2: Click “Download” button
  • Step 3: Select the appropriate operating system  , then the application will automatically download.

How to install Screaming Frog

Screaming Frog main interface
Screaming Frog main interface

The Screaming Frog tool is quite user-friendly in Vietnam, so after downloading, you just need to install it like other normal applications to be able to use it.

Instructions for using the features of Screaming Frog

After completing the installation and setup for Screaming Frog, you are ready to use this tool. Let's explore more than 14+ attractive features of this SEO tool with GTV SEO!

Response Codes(Check response codes)

To check the status of the URLs on the first website, at the interface of Screaming Frog, click the  "Response Codes" tab .

Response Codes URL Screaming Frog
Check Response Codes in Screaming Frog

After that, the response codes of the URLs will be returned, you can click on the "Status Codes" section  to check each response code in turn.

There are a total of 6 cases happening with web address navigation on a website when the response code is returned as follows:

  • 200: “ Success” means the request was successful. The meaning of success depends on the following HTTP methods:
    • GET: Data has been successfully retrieved
    • HEAD: The headers, entities are all in the response returned
    • PUT or POST: The result of the action is returned
    • TRACE: The message body contains the request message received by the server
  • 301:  “Moved Permanently” – The requested URL has been permanently changed to a completely new URL.
  • 302 : “Temporary redirect” – this response means that the URL of the requested resource has been changed temporarily.
  • 404:  “Not found” – this status is all too familiar, the server could not find the request to return simply accessing a post that is not in the system.
  • 500:  “Internal Server Error” – The URL on the web is having some server system error.
  • 503:  “Service Unavailable” – The URL on the web is in a state of being temporarily down.

Each case of URL error will have different ways to fix it:

  • Case 301 and 302 : You need to double check the incoming pages that your URL went to. The page referred to needs to be an appropriate page.
  • Case 404:  Please check all pages that appear 404 response code and need to correct the redirected page. Choose their landing pages should be those with content and topics that link together.
  • Case 500 and 503 : Please check to make sure there is no error with the website's server.

To export and download data to correct redirect errors, you can do as shown below:

Error Redirection Screaming Frog
Instructions for exporting redirect error data in Screaming Frog

Select All  > Select Redirect Errors and click “ Export”  to export the data.

The quality of the website will be enhanced, and improved significantly after you have completed all the redirection errors in the pages.

URLs (Check your URL structure)

URL  stands for Uniform Resource Locator , roughly translated as uniform resource locator. The URL may not seem important, but it has a huge impact on the security and SEO efficiency of a website.

URLs containing too many parameters, confusing characters not only make it difficult for users to navigate through your site, but it also makes the process of crawling and ranking your search results complicated. more complicated.

To check the URL structure and promptly detect bad URLs with the Screaming Frog tool, you need to do 2 steps:

  • Step 1: Go to the “URL” tab on Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Check URLs with Screaming Frog
Check the website URL structure in Screaming Frog
  • Step 2: View your list of URLs. As you test each URL, make sure it's:
    • URLs of reasonable length
    • URL has no weird characters or punctuation in parameters
    • URL is unique (no duplicates)

In addition, you also need to pay attention to the response code (Status Code) of the URL on the website so that you can handle it to avoid a bad user experience.

Page Titles

To check in detail for any title related issues of all pages you will use the “Page Titles” tab. Here, you can check issues such as: title, word count, character count, title pixel length, errors appearing on pages will also be displayed in detail.

Check Page Titles Screaming Frog
Check out Page Titles in Screaming Frog

Usually the errors that your headline will encounter are displayed in the "Filter" or in the "Overview" section, including:

  • Missing:  The page is missing a title
  • Duplicate:  Equip with duplicate title
  • Over 60 characters : Title is longer than 60 characters
  • Below 30  characters : Title is shorter than 30 characters
  • Over 555 Pixels:  Title displays longer than 555 pixels
  • Below 200 Pixels:  Title displays less than 200 pixels
  • Multiple:  Page has more than 1 title
  • Same As H1:  The page has the same title as the Heading 1 . tag

Corresponding to each problem will have the following handling:

Missing error:  If your page does not have a title, what you need to do is immediately add a title to your site. In order not to have to re-edit many times, you need to be careful to avoid making the mistakes I will list below.

Duplicate error: There are 2 common cases of duplicate titles. Case 1 is the main page and the pagination has duplicate headers. The case where 2 different pages in your website have the same title.

With case 1 you can skip, and in case 2, you have to change the title of the page so that your website doesn't have the duplicate title error.

Error Over/Below Characters:  Title length between 58-60 characters  is the most reasonable.  

If your title is too long beyond 60 characters or more than 555 Pixels, it will not be displayed at all on search engines. If the title is too short under 30 characters or under 200 Pixels, it will not be informative and attractive enough for your users.

Multiple Error:  A page should have only 1 title. In case there are more than 1 title, you should keep only the 1 title that best suits your site.

Same As H1 error: Title is 100% similar to H1, you need to change 1 or more words to be different from H1.

Meta Description – Check the description tag of the pages on the website

To check the "Meta description" of the pages on your website, follow these instructions: At the Screaming Frog interface > Click on the "Meta Description" tab .

Based on the data Screaming Frog extracted, you can know what problems your website description is having? Is there a missing description, a duplicate description, or a description that is too long or has more than 1 description?

Meta Description Screaming Frog
Check Meta Description in Screaming Frog

Remember that a well-reviewed description tag is a description that is between 155-160 characters in length . If you want to filter and check for specific issues (e.g. lack of meta description), use the filter drop-down menu.

  • Missing:  Missing description
  • Duplicate : Duplicate description
  • Over 155 characters: description is too long
  • Below 70 characters:  description is too short
  • Over 1016 Pixels:  description displayed too long
  • Below 400 Pixels : the display description is too short
  • Multiple:  Page has more than 1 description

Images – Optimize images

Images are also one of the deciding factors for how fast a page loads. The standard specification of an image before being uploaded to the website is under 100KB .

Because images consume a large amount of bandwidth during data transmission. If the image is not optimized, it will bring a bad experience to the user when accessing the website.

Image error in Screaming Frog
Checking for Image Errors in Screaming Frog

To check images on the Screaming Frog tool: Click on the “Images” tab , here you will see all the images on your site. Besides, you can also see the size and number of incoming links.

Based on the above information, you can detect images that have not been properly optimized to compress them to a smaller size or choose an image with a size of less than 100Kb with suitable content instead.

Along with image optimization, Screaming Frog also helps you to optimize the ALT tag of the image, you will know which image is missing the ALT tag or the ALT tag is longer than 100 characters. You can see instructions on how to optimize images at the link: https://gtvseo.com/seo-hinh-anh/

Preview and check the display on SERP

The Screaming Frog tool can help you preview your page when it appears on search engines. Select any URL you want to see, your site's data about how title and description show up on the search page.

SERP Snippet Screaming Frog
Show SERP search results in Screaming Frog

To see the results on the SERP on Screaming Frog you need to perform the following steps:

  • At the Screaming Frog interface > Click on any URL
  • Select “SERP Snippet” located on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen
  • You will see SERP results including: URL, Title, Meta Description.

Here, if you want to change your title and description, you can reset the Title and Description preview, no need to go to Wordpress to draft. After making reasonable adjustments, proceed to publish.

Check the Heading 1 . tag

Heading error 1 in Screaming Frog
Check Heading 1 error in Screaming Frog

Well-optimized Heading 1 (H1) tags will help your website get better rankings and attract more users to click on. To fake an H1 tag you can rely on the following criteria:

  • All:  All pages must have an H1 . tag
  • Duplicate:  Only 1 H1 tag per page
  • Missing:  H1 tag covers the topic of each page
  • Over 70 Characters:  The length of the H1 tag is between 20 and 70 characters
  • Multiple:  H1 tag does not overlap   with any other tags on the website
  • Heading 1 tag  must contain the main keyword

Check Anchor Text

With the Screaming Frog tool you can easily control the quantity and quality of Anchor Text pointing to a page. You just need to do a simple task of pasting the full URL into the link that needs attention.

Screaming Frog will help you optimize Anchor Text keywords and offer different content. Keywords with more optimal potential are reviewed and marked by hand.

To perform an Anchor Text test you need to follow these instructions:

  • Step 1: At the Screaming Frog interface > Click on the "Internal" tab
Check Internal Links with Screaming Frog
Check for internal link errors with (Internal) Screaming Frog
  • Step 2: Enter a URL you want to check
Internal Link in Screaming Frog
Test a URL in the Internal tab with Screaming Frog
  • Step 3: Select the “Inlink” tab  to view information about Anchor Tex t.
Check Anchor Text Screaming Frog
Test Anchor Text with Screaming Frog

At  the “Inlink” tab , the information that you should pay attention to is: The pages that are placing internal links to the page you choose (Column “From”)  and the Anchor Text of the internal links to the page you choose  (Column “Anchor Text”) .

External Link helps provide more information to users, contributing to creating credibility and improving rankings on the search results page. Regularly checking External Links on the website will help you to detect broken external links, too few External Links, etc., thereby offering a plan to remove or add external links related to your website topic.

To be able to check External Links with the Screaming Frog tool, you need to follow these steps:

  • Step 1: Click on the “External” tab  on the tool
External links in Screaming Frog
Check Internal Links (External) in Screaming Frog
  • Step 2: Choose the information you want
    • URL (Address)
    • Content  Type
    • Response Code (Status Code)

Check Directives

To check for technical issues on the Screaming Frog tool you need to go to the “Directives” tab Here, you click on the “Menu” filter drop-down and select the option you want to see.

Check Directives in Screaming Frog
Checking Technical Elements with Directives in Screaming Frog

With the “Directives” tab you can view elements such as: web address, index, noindex, follow, nofollow and other attributes. In addition, you can also check how the robots.txt file is being implemented and if any further optimization is needed.

Review the page response time (Response Time)

Pages that load too slowly not only make the Google bot's crawl time take a long time, but also drag down the user experience.

Response Time Screaming Frog
Check Response Time in Screaming Frog

To check the page response time  click on the “Internal”  tab  > scroll  to the  “Response Time” column . If a page takes longer than 2 seconds to load, you should adjust them for better site optimization.

Find and fix pages with thin content (Word Count)

A website that provides useful, highly specialized content will certainly be appreciated by Google more than a website that provides only sketchy content, lacks authenticity and authority. Therefore, you need to analyze the crawl depth using the “Word Count” information column, located under the “Internal” tab. You can click this column header to sort the pages in order from least to most words or vice versa to check.

Word Count with Screaming Frog
Check Thin Content (Word Count) with Screaming Frog

At the interface of Screaming Frog  > Click on the "Internal"  tab  > Click on the  "Word Count" column . The tool will arrange your pages in order from the most words to the page with the least number of words. Let's check the amount of content of each page. Whether each page has provided enough and relevant information for the user.

Here are some tips to help your site become more user-friendly:

  • Make sure the content on your website is correct and sufficient for users
  • Does your page contain primary and secondary keywords related to the content?
  • The number of words in each page should not be too high.

Generate an unsafe content report (Insecure Content)

Insecure Content Screaming Frog
Check for Insecure Content in Screaming Frog

To check if your website is secure or not, click on the “Reports” menu  at the top of the page > Click on “Insecure Content” . You will get some reports such as: images, Javascript, CSS… and other unsafe elements on your site. Based on the report of Screaming Frog, please optimize the errors you are experiencing to ensure the safety and security of your website against bad guys.

Create XML Sitemap

Sitemap is a map of a website, where it stores a text file containing all the links to the main page and subpage of a website. A well-optimized sitemap will contribute to improving your website's ranking on search engines.

To create an XML Sitemap with the Screaming Frog tool, you need to follow these steps:

  • Step 1: Click on “ Sitemaps ” tab > Click “ Create XML Sitemap ”
Create Sitemaps with Screaming Frog
Instructions for creating Sitemaps with Screaming Frog
  • Step 2: Fill in the appropriate parameters in the generated Sitemaps file.
Files Sitemaps in Screaming Frog
Fill in Files Sitemaps with Screaming Frog
  • Step 3: Check External link on website

Cost of using Screaming Frog

Screaming Frog offers 2 free and paid versions. Depending on your needs, you can choose the appropriate version.

Use Screaming Frog seo tool for free

With the free version, you will only be able to use certain features such as:

  • Look for broken links, broken links or redirects
  • Analyze page titles and Meta . tags
  • Check Meta Robot and Index
  • Auditing the hreflang . attribute
  • Check for duplicate pages
  • Generate XML sitemap
  • Visual web site
  • Only collect up to 500 links
  • Some options are closed
  • Data cannot be saved at each collection
  • Do not crawl or extract from page source code or use XPath, CSS pipelines or Regex
  • Unable to connect Analytics

Use Screaming Frog for a fee

Screaming Frog Premium Edition Price List
Screaming Frog Premium Edition Price List

To use many features in the paid Screaming Fog , you will have to spend £149.00 / year (British Pound) equivalent to about VND 4,258,162 / year .

In addition to the features of the free version above, you will receive the following additional features:

  • Planning
  • Collect configuration information
  • Save crawl & re-upload
  • Collect and validate AMP
  • Structured Data & Validation
  • Custom source code search
  • Custom Mining
  • Google Analytics Integration
  • Integrated search panel
  • PageSpeed ​​Insights Integration
  • Built-in metric link
  • Form-based authentication
  • Store and view raw & rendered HTML
  • Free technical support
  • Find broken links
  • Analyze page title and Meta . tag data
  • Extract data with XPath
  • Create XML Sitemap
  • Crawl JavaScript Web Pages
  • Audit redirect
  • Check for duplicate content
  • Robots & Directives
  • Visually build your Web site architecture
  • Link Download Screaming Frog SEO Spider
  • Full Crack

Some questions about Screaming Frog

What does Screaming Frog do?

Screaming Frog is a tool that is installed on desktop, Mac or Linux computers. Screaming Frog helps to crawl a website's links, images, CSS, etc. from an SEO perspective.

How to analyze Screaming Frog?

Screaming Frog is considered a user-friendly tool in Vietnam. A lot of SEOers have used it until now. They consider this to be an indispensable tool for SEOs. You just need to carefully read this analysis of Screaming Frog to be able to use most of the important features of this tool in the most basic way.

How to use Screaming Frog for free?

To use Screaming Frog in the free version, you just need to download and register for an account, then connect to Google Analytics and Google Search Console to be able to use it.

If you really care about the health of your website, you certainly cannot ignore this Screaming Frog tool. Hopefully, the above article has helped you to master the main features of Screaming Frog.

#gtvseo #gtv_seo #screaming_frog

Thông tin liên hệ:

GTV SEO

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SĐT: 0919-009-319

Email: info@gtvseo.com

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