Working with a digital marketing service starts with an audit. Conducting a Website Security Audit benefits any business aiming to increase its online presence. A site audit identifies problems with website architecture. As a result, sites learn where to improve technical site performance.
The website auditing process includes:
- User engagement
- User experience
- Traffic
- Functionality
- Site health
- Website performance
A complete website audit discovers discrepancies that may result in Google penalties. Penalties affect ranking on Google’s search engine rankings page (SERP). The audit also assesses how vulnerable the website is to security breaches.
SEO Audits Make Large Enterprises More Profitable
A website audit is especially important for Enterprise. An audit is an integral part of creating an Enterprise SEO plan. For a large company, audits offer a lot more than discovering errors.
Enterprises become more profitable through SEO audits. They allow companies to backout search to discover new revenue opportunities. They also help uncover the most profitable areas of search. As well as how your online presence affects profitability online and offline.
A large business that does not run an SEO audit is leaving money on the table.
A website audit can be broken down into:
Site Health Audit:
A site health audit assesses the architecture and usability of a website. It also identifies potential gaps in content structure, technical gaps, and website speed. Additionally, it discovers new opportunities for key performance indicators (KPIs).
Website Security Audit:
The website security audit is one of the most important components of a website audit. It identifies vulnerabilities to security breaches. A security audit prevents compromising sensitive information of a business or its visitors.
Social Media Presence Audit:
An active social media presence is important to website traffic. A relevant and targeted social media strategy drives more qualified leads. It also increases visibility and improves engagement.
A social media audit analyzes which content channels perform best. Content channels include tools like blogs, video, infographics, and social media.
Conversion Rate Optimization Audit:
Conversion rate optimization audits examine how conversions occur or where they are lost. They provide insights on how to convert web traffic and increase leads. The process informs the development of strategic landing pages and forms. Optimizations are ongoing to better motivate the desired response from visitors.
Negative SEO Audit:
Sometimes competitors engage in SEO tactics that intentionally harm their competition. A negative SEO audit can identify and solve these harmful practices on the website.
Competitor Website Audit:
Auditing a competitor website is advantageous for business growth. Businesses discover insights and opportunities to implement into their own online strategies.
Penalty and Recovery Audit:
Completing a penalty or red flag audit uncovers manually or algorithmically penalizations. These are penalties which have a direct negative effect on search ranking. Identifying these penalties reveals the penalty’s cause, and presents solutions for site recovery.
Duplicate Content Audit:
Websites that contain duplicate content confuse search engines. This can cause rankings to suffer, and even result in algorithmic penalization. This is a common issue and can be corrected by an auditor.
What can a business expect after completing a website audit?
A business receives a summary report including any discrepancies discovered. It also provides the most effective way to correct them. Regular website audits keep businesses agile and aligned with Google’s best practices.
Website audits are an essential measure to improve the efficiency and visibility of a website. Audits improve Google search ranking while increasing site traffic and performance. A website audit presents a business with an exceptional opportunity for growth online.
How to do a website security audit?
Step 1: Preparation and Scope Definition
Before diving into the web security audit, determine which aspects of your website you’ll assess, such as server infrastructure, application software, user authentication, data handling, and more. Identify the tools and resources needed for the audit, including scanners and relevant documentation access.
Pro Tip: Prepare a testing environment like a staging environment and testing credentials to conduct the audit without affecting the live website.
Step 2: Basic Hygiene & Malware Check
Perform a basic hygiene check on the web application to ensure all the best security practices are followed. These practices include enforcing proper encryption, implementing security headers, and checking SSL-related vulnerabilities. Tools like Astra’s security Website scanner or Mozilla’s Observatory can help you identify security gaps and Malware infections.
Step 3: Vulnerability Assessment
Conduct a thorough vulnerability assessment using appropriate security scanning tools. These tools will scan your website for known vulnerabilities, outdated software, misconfigurations, and potential weaknesses. Vulnerabilities like SQL injection & cross-site scripting (XSS) are the most common vulnerabilities.
Step 4: Manual Inspection and Testing
Review the scan results and ask cybersecurity experts to manually perform a penetration test on critical areas of your website. Remember to examine user authentication and authorization processes to ensure secure access controls.
Step 5: Fixing Vulnerabilities
Once vulnerabilities are found and the mitigations are suggested, work closely with the development team to implement these patches and secure the web application. Prioritize the more severe vulnerabilities to mitigate the risk of their exploitation.
Step 6: Remediation and Certification
Perform a final assessment of the web application to make sure all the patches are in place and implemented properly. Get the cybersecurity experts to issue a certificate and badge for the application and increase the trust of your users.
Website security audit checklist
A website security audit checklist is a structured list of tasks and best practices designed to assess and enhance the security posture of a website. Here are some basics to get you started in the right direction:
Vulnerability Assessment
- Regular scans/audits: Conduct regular security scans to identify vulnerabilities in your website, such as outdated software, plugins, and libraries.
- Severe Threats: Address critical vulnerabilities promptly to prevent potential exploitation.
Secure Authentication and Authorization
- Password Strengthening: Enforce strong password policies and encourage users to use unique, complex passwords.
- Multi-Step Authentication: Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) with existing authentication to add an extra layer of security.
- Role-based Access Control: Review and restrict user access privileges to only necessary areas of the website.
Data Protection
- Encryption Standards: Use (SSL/TLS) to encrypt the data transmission between the user’s browser and your server.
- Input Sanitization: Implement proper data validation and sanitation to prevent SQL injection and other injection attacks.
- Continuous Assessment: Regularly review and audit sensitive data handling and storage practices to minimize the risk of data breaches.
Regular Updates and Patch Management
- Regular Updates: Regularly update the content management system (CMS), plugins, themes, and underlying server software.
- Regular Patching: Apply security patches as soon as they are released to address known vulnerabilities.
Security Monitoring and Incident Response
- Continuous Monitoring: Set up security monitoring tools to detect abnormal activities and potential breaches.
- Incident Response: Develop an incident response plan to take the necessary steps if a security incident occurs.
- Regular Log Review: Review logs regularly and monitor for signs of unauthorized access or suspicious behaviour. Understand the weaknesses and update your application’s security.