Any Legit SEO "Check" Tools?

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Any Legit SEO "Check" Tools?

l008comm

8:03 am on Jul 14, 2024 (gmt 0)

Over the last few years, all of my sites have been shrinking in traffic pretty dramatically. I have some ideas of why this might be. But it's really just speculation. Are there any valid SEO tools that aren't just ads for crappy internet services? Tools that can legitimately look at my sites and give me reasons why I'm struggling, reasons that are more than just random shots in the dark?

not2easy

12:06 pm on Jul 14, 2024 (gmt 0)

You can get a legitimate, free report on any possible errors in your CSS and HTML at [validator.w3.org...]

Other than that there are checkers like Lighthouse that can show you where/how to improve your site: [pagespeed.web.dev...]

Kendo

11:54 pm on Jul 14, 2024 (gmt 0)

Obsolete? I don't see any of these traditional WW3 coding practices not working!

Trailing slash on void elements has no effect...
<meta charset="utf-8" />

The font element is obsolete...
<font color="#7CD6EF">

Bad value 100% for attribute width on element img...
<img src="images/838.png" width="100%" border="0">

The align attribute on the h1 element is obsolete...
<h1 align="center">

The border attribute is obsolete...
<img src="images/c128.png" border="0" width="128" height="128">

l008comm

6:48 am on Jul 15, 2024 (gmt 0)

Kendo I'm confused, are you replying to something specific?

Kendo

12:31 pm on Jul 15, 2024 (gmt 0)

Yes. Those WW3 validation reports are questionable.

not2easy

12:47 pm on Jul 15, 2024 (gmt 0)

Unless you have a DOCTYPE element of

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

for that page, the validation reports are accurate and it tells you that it will not render the same on all devices.

Martin Potter

8:34 pm on Jul 16, 2024 (gmt 0)

I regard the W3C standards as The Standard, and I try to code according to them whenever possible. Any browser that does not display W3C-coded webpages is not worth my fretting about. If people want to use a browser that does not display properly any page that tries to adhere to the W3C standards, that is their choice and not mine. IMHO, the W3C standards have already saved us from chaos and probably will again.

But then I am not making a living from my website, so I suppose that sticking to this Principle is easier for me than for some others. Please forgive me if I sound dogmatic; it is just from my fear of what will happen if there are no standards.

Kendo

5:29 am on Jul 17, 2024 (gmt 0)

Perhaps the coders that developed those validation scripts only look at WordPress sites.

justinmundia

1:30 pm on Jan 13, 2025 (gmt 0)

You can check technical seo of the website apart from code.Because Google gives high preference to it. You can also analyze through video recordings or heatmaps if users are facing any issues or not.
For just reference i am using semrush.com,screamingfrog and hotjar for website issues.

[edited by: not2easy at 2:46 pm (utc) on Jan 13, 2025]
[edit reason] Please see TOS [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

thecoalman

12:11 pm on Jan 15, 2025 (gmt 0)

Obsolete? I don't see any of these traditional WW3 coding practices not working!

I'm assuming those are all labeled as info or warnings, they aren't errors which require immediate attention. While it may work now it doesn't mean it will continue to work down the road.

lucy24

6:20 pm on Jan 15, 2025 (gmt 0)

html and css were both designed to be forgiving, as they will be used by ordinary humans. The browser won�t melt down ... but that doesn�t mean there may not be the dreaded Unintended Consequences if you do something non-compliant.

I think it was Ian (g1smd) who used to say that his kind of SEO was technical SEO: get all your rewrites and redirects right, and it�s one less thing for the search engine to hold against you.

JennyWilson

12:21 pm on Mar 3, 2025 (gmt 0)

Definitely check out Google Search Console for indexing problems, penalties, and search performance, and Google Analytics for traffic trends and user behaviour. If you're looking for an in-depth analysis, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz can point to areas like ranking drops, issues with backlinks, and keyword performance. Also, check Lighthouse for technical SEO audits. I hope this helps!