Screaming Frog – what is it?

Screaming Frog is nothing more than an advanced crawler that scans websites for a comprehensive analysis of their structures and elements affecting on-site SEO. The tool facilitates the work of auditors because it detects numerous irregularities in connection with meta tags, duplicate content, headers (H1-H6), 404 errors or even incorrectly implemented redirects.

Free version of Screaming Frog
The free version of Screaming Frog allows you to e.g. generating XML sitemaps, analyzing 500 random URLs from a selected website, as well as visualizing specific domains.

The paid version of Screaming Frog
The paid version of Screaming Frog offers much more and costs around $ 150 a year. At this price, we can, among others analyze any number of URLs, render JavaScript, integrate the tool with Google Analytics / Google Search Console, and even check spelling and grammar on the page.

Screaming Frog – how to use?

To start working with Screaming Frog, enter any URL that you want to be scanned by robots (Mode -> Spider / Mode -> List). Then, it is worth learning how to use the basic functionalities of this tool to facilitate the collection of information on the subject of the website, which are presented below.

Title tag and meta description, H1 / H2 headers
The tool provides us with information about duplicate or missing parameters, possibly not matching the Google guidelines. We can analyze this type of data by entering the target URL. In the SERP Snippet tab, we will check how individual tags are displayed in the search engine.

Verifying broken or redirected sites
This functionality is especially appreciated by Paraphrase-Online.com on-site specialists. Well, it allows you to find all broken pages within the site. That’s not all, because if we click a specific address – we will verify where the links to pages returning the 404 code came from.

Checking the loading time of domains
The third, very useful option of Screaming Frog is checking the loading time of domains. Just go to the Internal tab, then HTML, and then click “Response Time”. Then we will be able to sort the data based on the loading time and of course compare it with the GA (Google Analytics) report on the bounce rate.

Remember!
Pages that load much slower tend to have a higher bounce rate than sites that load faster.

Information on internal links that lead to specific pages
An important point for every SEO specialist specializing in link building. Well, thanks to the Screaming Frog tool, we will verify each URL address based on internal links leading to it, as well as text anchors. Just select the “Inlinks” tab at the bottom of the program to find out, among other things, what pages are the links coming from, are they dofollow / nofollow links and what anchor texts have been redirected to the site.

Additional “Tree” view facilitating the analysis of the website structure
ccording to Paraphrase-Online experts, the analysis of the website structure, using the additional “Tree” view, is very useful because it allows you to verify what the URL of each subpage looks like. Thanks to this, we will be able to eliminate incorrect navigation elements and implement the necessary structural changes.

Checking the correctness of the implementation of Google Analytics and Google Search Console
Screaming Frog also allows you to verify the implementation of GSC and GA tags on each of the subpages of the selected website. It is also worth knowing that the columns available in the program can be rotated and placed in the correct order. As we mentioned before, all information can be easily exported to Excel.

Create an XML Map
The functionalities of Screaming Frog allow you to instantly create a graphic sitemap and XML sitemap. If we want additional configuration – we will determine the frequency of visits to the site by the robot, which will be based on the place in the domain structure of a specific subpage.

Remember!
We can open the sitemap in Excel. This is very useful because we will verify that the specific addresses do not contain duplicate parameters. That’s not all, because for key URL links we can set the most important guidelines manually (e.g. frequency of changes, priority, and other values). After you finish working with the sitemap, save the file as XML.

It is also worth mentioning the possibility of verifying information in the context of website graphics (eg images exceeding 100 Kb, with a missing “alt” attribute or exceeding 100 characters). Screaming Frog SEO spider also allows you to check the correctness of URLs and list errors, e.g. URLs exceeding 115 characters, including underscores or uppercase letters.

How to speed up the analysis in Screaming Frog?

To speed up the analysis in Screaming Frog, you should divide your work into stages – then we will be able to initially verify selected information about a given website, and then use the additional functions of this tool. First of all, we recommend paying special attention to, among others:

– page size,
– the number of dofollow and nofollow links,
– number of internal and outbound links,
– page description (meta description),
– page title (meta title),
– keywords,
– status (there is 200 or 404), – page encoding (UTF),
– domain address.

After a thorough analysis of the above factors, let’s check the side functions of the program, that is: all internal and external links, meta robots, duplicate domains, etc. Below are the other Screaming Frog options:

– page depth level,
– file size,
– inlinks,
– outlinks,
– XML Sitemap Generator,
– pictures,
– cannonical,
– 301 or 302 redirects,
– User-Agent Switcher,
– flaws with urls,
– Anchor text.

It is also worth mentioning the possibility of analyzing file sizes, errors (e.g. 4xx, 5xx), headers, as well as problems with URLs, which include, for example, underlines, capital letters or even the lack of ASCII characters.

We can significantly speed up the work in Screaming Frog by performing actions in the right order, taking into account individual assumptions specified in the initial SEO strategy. If we want a comprehensive on-site website optimization – this tool will turn out to be perfect, however, we have to buy the premium version, because the free version is too limited to perform a meticulous domain analysis.

How to crawl problematic sites with Screaming Frog?

Crawling problematic sites doesn’t have to be difficult. All you have to do is go to the “Advanced” tab, and then change the settings of several important options, including “Always follow redirects”, “response timeout” as well as “max redirects to follow”.

Always follow redirects
After selecting this option, Screaming Frog will pay attention to 3XX redirect directives, and what’s more – he will ignore the so-called crawl depth. The above functionality is very useful when we intend to strongly change the structure of the website or migrate to other URLs.

Remember!
Thanks to the “always follow redirects” option, we will verify multiple redirects and the redirect loop much more accurately than in the default settings. This is because SF often does not identify all “deep redirects”.

If, however, we want to check incorrect redirections within the website – we recommend downloading the “Redirect Chains” report from the Reports tab. We will then check the URLs redirected more than twice (single redirects are not visible here).

Response timeout
In the event that we have a free domain, but we want to obtain as much relevant data as possible about it, we should increase the waiting time by Screaming Frog for an HTTP response. We recommend that you change the value beyond the default of 20 seconds.

Max redirects to follow
An interesting option that allows you to direct Screaming Frog robots to determine the length of the redirect path that they are to present in the summary. As a standard, crawlers follow 5 consecutive redirections.

This tab offers one more additional function – extracting images with the srcset attribute. The use of this option is very useful when we want to place the same image in different resolutions – for example in responsive websites.

Summary

Screaming Frog, developed in 2010 (founder: Dan Sharp), is used all over the world by the vast majority of SEO specialists. It has many useful functions, and its main operation is based on reliable scanning of websites, so that you can later verify their dysfunctions and effectively fix them. At Paraphrase-Online, we use Screaming Frog primarily to improve on-site SEO audits and we believe that in this aspect it is an absolute leader!

FAQ

Here are the answers to the most frequently asked questions about Screaming Frog SEO spider!

When is it worth analyzing the website?
The analysis of the website is very useful when we see that it is not working properly, its position does not increase according to the assumptions made, and the traffic from SERPs has definitely decreased. It is then worth verifying meta tags, headers, internal and external links, as well as other on-site factors available in Screaming Frog, which may be a potential cause of irregularities.

What is the price of Screaming Frog?
Screaming Frog is priced at $ 149 annually. The premium version is free, but it has many limitations (e.g. no possibility of integration with Google Search Console and Google Analytics).

The most effective advertising for big players

The programmatic campaign was carried out in April this year and lasted a month. Our client has just introduced a new product to the market, so the main goal was to achieve the widest possible reach of advertisements to reach the largest possible group of potential customers. At the same time, however, we did not want to lose quality, so the campaign was to be visible mainly on high-quality portals that were very popular among Internet users. We have been cooperating with our client for a long time, creating other types of campaigns, so we knew his recipient profile, which made it easier for us to choose the means to achieve the set goal.

We decided that the best solution for the client would be to use video ads published on YouTube and in places automatically purchased by the Programmatic system as part of Open Auctions. We supplemented these activities with the Display campaign, using, among others, the Rich Media (Parallax) creation, whose advanced functions increase the possibilities of interaction with the recipient. We also decided to use animated HTML5 banners, which draw the attention of a typical user much better than traditional ones. What effect did the chosen strategy bring? In a month, it managed to reach 22,823,700 views in the most attractive advertising spaces on the Internet.

When it comes to impressions, the natural question may arise as to whether the ad was actually spotted and worked. After all, the creations could appear in a place where the user will not notice them, or they could be scrolled so quickly that it was impossible to register the message. To avoid such doubts, the viewability parameter was created, which determines what percentage of displayed ads was most likely actually seen by the recipient. In the case of the discussed campaign, viewability was at the level of 89%, which means that almost every display was related to the achievement of the assumed goal.

The best surfaces at optimal prices

But let’s move on to a more detailed campaign analysis. As the main goal of advertising was to familiarize as many potential customers as possible with the new product, we focused on different formats and different environments – this maximized the chance of achieving the expected reach. Different activities in different systems and display places, however, always carry the risk of burning through the budget. In optimization activities, we focused mainly on minimizing the cost of impressions without losing their number and, of course, the quality of placements for advertising. We also set a common capping for all formats, i.e. the maximum number of ad impressions per day per user. Thanks to this, it was possible to avoid unnecessary expenses on repeating the message to recipients familiar with it, and thus reach a greater number of new potential customers.

We also took care to exclude low-quality placements on an ongoing basis, which allowed us to maintain high-quality broadcasts throughout the campaign. As a result, the ad was most often displayed in such recognizable and prestigious placements.

Of course, we also paid attention to brand safety, i.e. securing the brand’s reputation. Throughout the campaign, we made sure that advertisements did not appear on websites rich in controversial content or in provocative contexts that could harm the client’s image.

Programmatic campaign costs

The entire month of the campaign is also the work of both our specialists and self-learning algorithms on issues such as budget relocation and bid optimization to achieve maximum reach within the assumed budget. As a result, we significantly reduced the costs of the campaign – a single impression averaged 2 cents for open auctions in Programmatic and 3 cents for the YouTube platform.

– Average CPV Video total: $ 0.03,
– CPV Programmatic Average Open Auctions: $ 0.02,
– YouTube average CPV $ 0.03.

In the case of CPM rates, i.e. per thousand ad impressions, the costs were as follows:

– Average CPM total: $ 3.66,
– YouTube average CPM $ 12.7,
– Average CPM Programmatic Video open auctions $ 3.90,
– CPM Display Programmatic average open auctions $ 2.21.

The total cost of the campaign was $ 83,500 and allowed to reach almost 23 million views. So optimizing your bids resulted in a number of impressions close to the population of Texas. Of course, this does not mean that so many people saw the client’s advertising creations, as promotional videos and banners could be displayed several times to the same users. Still, this is the reach that has significantly helped raise awareness of both the brand and the new product.

It should not be forgotten that Programmatic is an advanced system that collects huge amounts of data about Internet users in order to display advertisements only to those who are likely to be interested in the offer. This is a significant advantage over television or outdoor campaigns, in the case of which we have very little influence on the selection of the target group, and thus the final result of activities.

What is hosting?

Almost every tutorial on starting your own website begins with a recommendation to get a domain and hosting. These are two key elements of any website. The domain is the same as the address (name) of the website, while the hosting is the server space on which it is located. However, hosting is also defined as a service consisting in making available part of the server space in order to publish a page on the Internet.

This dual meaning probably partly contributes to the fact that many people do not fully understand what hosting is. Basically, however, the point is the same in each case – the use of server space. The hosting user can place any files on it and then decide on their publication. It is hosting that makes it possible for anyone to enter a given website and use the shared resources. Depending on the type and size of the server part, it gives different possibilities, therefore the choice of hosting is a very important issue for every website owner.

What is a server?

It would be appropriate to explain what a server is, since hosting allows you to rent a part of its space. A server is a computer that:
– is continuously connected to the Internet,
– has specific performance parameters,
– has a specific space,
– meets specific safety requirements.

The owner (administrator) of the server can share the space on it with others. It can separate a specific space and allow any user to use it. However, it still exercises control over the parameters and operation of the server. It can also decide on the ways of using the server and the tools used for it – most often it is a dedicated user panel. This is what is called a hosting service. Web hosting is usually intended for website hosting (web hosting), but can also handle e-mail. It should also be noted that it is the administrator’s responsibility to ensure the proper, continuous and stable operation of the server and thus any hosting accounts used.

It is also possible to invest in your own server and use all its space. This is an option with many advantages (more on them later in the text), but also with one major disadvantage, which is high cost. That is why most websites on the Internet use the so-called Shared hosting, i.e. just a separate space on a shared server.

Hosting – types of servers

If you’re considering hosting, it’s also worth knowing the types of servers you can use. Each of them is intended for a slightly different recipient, so the choice in this area should not be a particular problem – even for someone who does not have specialist IT knowledge. What types of servers are available and what possibilities do they offer?

Shared hosting
Most websites use servers that offer shared hosting. It is the technology described above which consists in allocating a certain amount of space on a given server and assigning it to individual users. Usually, in this case, all accounts are assigned to the same IP. This makes such hosting the least efficient and stable. Of course, this does not have to mean problems – good shared hosting can only periodically (in times of increased traffic) work a little less smoothly, causing e.g. slower page loading. However, this is often only minimally noticeable.

The greatest advantage of shared hosting is definitely the affordable price. This is the cheapest solution, although of course each server owner proposes slightly different prices and payment plans. It is also a good choice for people without IT expertise. The account and website maintenance is usually done via an intuitive user panel, and all the work related to the maintenance and maintenance of the server is carried out by the hosting company. Shared hosting is used by basically all smaller websites, including blogs.

VPS (Virtual Private Server)
A slightly better solution in terms of stability or bandwidth is VPS hosting, i.e. hosted on a virtual private server. What does it mean? Hosting in this case is also a separate part of the server, but it is created as a separate virtual machine. This involves assigning a separate IP address and clearly better operation, completely independent of other users. You can freely customize and organize your workspace. Such hosting also allows you to install any software.

However, it should be remembered that the physical hosting is still only separate from the server used by many other accounts. Therefore, such a solution is not synonymous with the highest level of security. A VPS server is more expensive than a shared server. Usually, using it also entitles you to additional services, such as the care of a dedicated consultant. It is a solution designed for larger parties that care about stability and smooth operation. It is used, for example, by game servers and large online stores.

Dedicated server
A dedicated server can be called the “crème de la crème” of all web hosts. This option is based on the use of your own individual physical server. One computer supports one account, which of course offers many advantages. The first is independence. Second – stability, even in moments of increased traffic. Third, it is the safest solution. Separating the site on a separate server significantly reduces the risk of cyber attacks and other similar problems. Fourthly, a dedicated server gives you complete freedom of action, software installation, etc. So it is not difficult to guess that this is the most expensive solution – the price difference compared to a shared server is huge. That is why only the largest websites use it – e.g. e-mail servers, streaming services or popular internet portals. A dedicated server also requires the employment of professionals to operate it.

What Makes Good Hosting Different?

Website owners and entities planning to launch their own website often look for “good hosting”. But what does that actually mean? Hosting is largely responsible for the operation of the website – primarily its smoothness and speed. Therefore, it is important to:
– hosting used a high-quality, stable server,
– the operation of the server was constantly monitored by the technical team,
– the server was configured in such a way as to ensure data security for users, protection against cyber attacks and other threats on the network,
– the server’s connection to the Internet was stable (in the event of a link failure, it should be automatically changed so that there would be no disruptions).

For many people, server and hosting support will also be very important. It is important that the devices are supervised by specialists who know their job very well, and that any unforeseen faults are removed as soon as possible. Customer service will be no less important – technical support that allows you to consult both on problems and configuration of the website on the server or other activities.

Paid or free hosting?

There are both paid and free hosting plans on the market. Some companies offer different hosting plans, including one that is completely free. However, is it worth choosing? Not necessarily if you are thinking about creating a real functional website. Free web hosting may be tempting, but in many cases it just doesn’t work. Such a service is usually distinguished by:
– very limited disk space – which allows you to build only a very simple, small page;
– low, limited transfer – which may cause problems with displaying or loading the page;
– the presence of advertisements – often quite intrusive and making it difficult to read the content of the website.

In addition, when choosing such a solution, you often have to take into account failures and other similar problems. So you should never use free hosting for sites that are intended to represent any kind of business activity. A website that is inefficient, slow or flooded with advertisements looks highly unprofessional and has a negative impact on the company’s image. You can use free hosting, for example, when trying out new features or learning how to create, modify or maintain websites.

How to choose a hosting?

So how do you choose hosting? What parameters should you pay attention to? If you already know what type of server you need, it’s time to start looking at specific offers. Before you decide on a specific hosting, be sure to check all the above-mentioned parameters. Hosting providers often tempt with promotions and attractive fees, e.g. for the first year, and after signing the contract, it turns out that after this time, hosting costs increase dramatically. Sometimes it also happens that the server from the promotion simply “does not demand”. How to avoid such mistakes? Drive on hard data. Check what to look at before signing the contract.

Uptime
Uptime is a rather mysterious-sounding parameter that simply means availability. It determines how often the server is unavailable due to outages or other problems – that is, how often you have to reckon with a broken website. It is defined as a percentage. If you’re looking for good hosting, choose a company that boasts an uptime of at least 99%. Some service providers also provide compensation if the uptime drops below a certain level. It is a sign of customer care, as well as hard work on the stability and proper operation of the server.

Data transfer
Data transfer is called link speed. It indicates how much data can be transferred per second between your website and the network. How fast your website loads depends on the speed of your internet connection. Of course, it is worth looking for the highest possible values. Hardly anyone has the patience to wait more than a second for the site to load. Slow action is able to effectively discourage reading its content. It is also good to check if the hosting has any data limit. Of course, unlimited offers are the best.

Security
Security is one of the most important issues. Moreover, its importance is constantly growing. It is up to the hosting company to ensure the appropriate level of security to protect the data of the website owner and his customers. Of course, hosting should support the standard SSL certificate you already have, but it’s also worth checking if there are other security services available. Among other things, the frequency of backing up the accounts is important. It is also worth finding out how long these copies are kept.

Disk space limit
Each hosting service is associated with obtaining a specific slice of disk space. Depending on the complexity of the page, you will need more space. If you only intend to create a business card page, as little as a few hundred megabytes may be enough. However, most pages need more space. Remember that each subsequent bookmark, each photo or graphic will require a specific disk space. You can also attach an e-mail box to the domain, which will take up more megabytes. That is why adjusting the space limit to the user’s needs is so important.

It is also worth finding out what the company’s policy is in case of exceeding the space limit or the transfer limit. This is because sometimes the website is blocked. It is worth choosing a hosting provider that shows more understanding and, for example, sends warnings about exceeding the limits, asking you to modify the website or purchase a higher service package.

Other Limits
Depending on the type of account and hosting company, there are also other limits imposed on users. Of course, the most restrictions are related to the basic, cheapest accounts. Sometimes the number of databases may be limited, other times administrator accounts, domains or subdomains. Think about what is important to you and how you want to run your website before buying hosting, especially the cheapest one.

Technical assistance
Anyone may need technical support. Problems with the pages and their operation vary. They tend to be unexpected and quick removal is crucial. That is why good hosting offers its customers 24/7, easily accessible and reliable support. Everyone should be able to get answers to their questions quickly. It is also worth checking the issue of passing the crash messages and the average time needed to fix the problem. Good hosting can even offer you compensation related to breakdown, ongoing repair or maintenance.

Price
The price of the service is undoubtedly important. However, you should take into account not only the promotional price, which is often offered to new customers (even hosting plans for a dollar for the entire year are available), but also, and maybe even above all, the price for the next billing period. Extending the service with many hosting providers costs much more than creating an account and using it in the initial period. So let’s carefully analyze the offers before you decide on the right one.

Feedback
The feedback can definitely help you choose the right hosting. There are tons of sites on the internet that collect feedback on hosting services. However, it is worth remembering that the entries posted there do not always have to be reliable. It is a competitive market, and both positive and negative word of mouth marketing are basically the order of the day. Therefore, it may be a much better idea to use your friends’ experience. You can also ask a question e.g. on a trusted Facebook group or a closed forum. Then the chance of receiving reliable opinions is much greater.

Trial
What’s the best way to check a given hosting? Of course, during the trial period! Not every company offers such an opportunity, but if it is available, it is definitely worth taking advantage of. Usually it is no more than 14 days, but during this time you can check in practice how the server works and how convenient it is to use the hosting.

Hosting – essential for your website

Hosting is a must for any website. Without it, the site cannot reach other network users. There are many hosting service providers and many options for using them. Therefore, if you run a website or intend to set up one, you will surely find the right option for you.