Log file analysis for SEO is the way of seeing how search engines go to and scan your website and getting important information. Log files are records from web servers that show every ask and answer for a web page or thing. Log file analysis can help you find useful things about how your website is seen by search engines, make an SEO plan, and make sure the site is being gone to well and right.
But how do you do log file analysis for SEO? Here are some steps to help you:
First, you need to get your log files from your web server. Log files are kept by the web server for a certain time and are only given to the website owners. The way to get them depends on the web server, and the best way to find out is to search their docs, or even to Google it! For some, you can get log files from a CDN or even your command line. These can then be moved to your computer and changed from the format they are in.
Next, you need to use a tool or program to read and understand your log files. Log files can be hard to read and understand by yourself, so you need a tool or program that can help you. There are many tools or programs that can do this, such as Semrush Log File Analyzer, Botify, Screaming Frog, etc. These tools or programs can help you see and filter the data in your log files, such as the URL, the status code, the user agent, etc.
Then, you need to look for insights and answers in your log file data. Log file data can help you answer many questions and find many insights about your website’s SEO, such as:
How often are search engines going to your site, and its most important pages (and if they are going to them at all) and finding pages that are not often gone to
Which are your most gone to pages and folders
If your site’s go budget is being used on not important pages
Find URLs with things that are being gone to not needed
If your site has moved over to mobile-first adding
The specific status code given for each of your site’s pages and finding areas of worry
If a page is too big or slow
After that, you need to use the insights and answers from your log file data to make changes and improvements to your website’s SEO. Log file data can help you make better decisions and actions for your website’s SEO, such as:
Making sure that your most important pages are gone to often and right by search engines
Making sure that your site’s go budget is used well on important pages
Removing or changing URLs with things that are not needed
Making sure that your site is ready for mobile-first adding
Fixing any status code issues or errors on your site’s pages