What Is A Log File Analysis? & How To Do It For Seo

What Are Log Files?

Log files are documents that grounds each petition made to your server, whether owed to a personification interacting pinch your tract aliases a hunt centrifugal bot crawling it (i.e., discovering your pages).

Log files tin show important specifications about:

• The clip of nan request
• The IP reside making nan request
• Which bot crawled your tract (like Googlebot aliases DuckDuckBot)
• The type of assets being accessed (like a page aliases image)

Here’s what a log grounds tin look like:

Servers typically shop log files for a constricted time, based connected your settings, applicable regulatory requirements, and business needs. 

What Is Log File Analysis?

Log grounds study is nan process of downloading and auditing your site’s log files to proactively spot bugs, crawling issues, and different method SEO problems.

Analyzing log files tin show really Google and different hunt engines interact pinch a site. And too uncover crawl errors that effect visibility successful hunt results.

Identifying immoderate issues pinch your log files tin thief you commencement nan process of fixing them.

What Is Log File Analysis Used for successful SEO?

Log grounds study is utilized to stitchery accusation you tin usage to amended your site’s crawlability—and yet your SEO performance. 

This is because it shows you precisely really hunt centrifugal bots for illustration Googlebot crawl your site.

For example, study of log files helps to:

• Discover which pages hunt centrifugal bots crawl nan astir and least
• Find retired whether hunt crawlers tin entree your astir important pages
• See if location are low-value pages that are wasting your crawl fund (i.e., nan clip and resources hunt engines will springiness to crawling earlier moving on)
• Detect method issues for illustration HTTP position codification errors (like “error 404 page not found”) and room redirects that forestall hunt engines from accessing your content
• Uncover URLs pinch slow page speed, which tin negatively effect your capacity successful hunt rankings
• Identify orphan pages (i.e., pages pinch nary psyche links pointing to them) that hunt engines whitethorn miss
• Track spikes aliases drops successful crawl activity that whitethorn awesome different method problems

How to Analyze Log Files

Now that you cognize immoderate of nan benefits of doing log grounds study for SEO, let's look astatine how to do it. 

You’ll need:

• Your website's server log files
• Access to a log grounds analyzer

1. Access Log Files

Access your website’s log files by downloading them from your server.

Some hosting platforms (like Hostinger) personification a built-in grounds caput wherever you tin find and download your log files.

Here’s really to do it.

From your dashboard aliases powerfulness panel, look for a files named “file management,” “files,” “file manager,” aliases point similar.

Here’s what that files looks for illustration connected Hostinger:

Just unfastened nan folder, find your log files (typically successful nan “.logs” folder), and download nan needed files. 

Alternatively, your developer aliases IT maestro tin entree nan server and download nan files done a grounds proscription protocol (FTP) customer for illustration FileZilla.

Once you’ve downloaded your log files, it’s clip to analyse them.

2. Analyze Log Files

You tin analyse log files manually utilizing Google Sheets and different tools, but this process tin get immoderate tiresome and messy really quickly.

Which is why we impulse utilizing Semrush’s Log File Analyzer.

First, make judge your log files are unarchived and successful nan access.log, W3C, aliases Kinsta grounds format. 

Then, guidance and driblet your files into nan tool. And click “Start Log File Analyzer.” 

Once your results are ready, you’ll spot a level scheme showing Googlebot activity complete nan past 30 days. 

Monitor this level scheme to find immoderate different spikes aliases drops successful activity, which tin bespeak changes successful really hunt engines crawl your tract aliases problems that petition fixing.

To nan correct of nan chart, you’ll too spot a breakdown of:

• HTTP position codes: These codes show whether hunt engines and users tin successfully entree your site’s pages. For example, excessively galore 4xx errors mightiness bespeak room links aliases missing pages that you should fix.
• File types crawled: Knowing really overmuch clip hunt centrifugal bots locomotion crawling different grounds types shows really hunt engines interact pinch your content. This helps you spot if they’re spending excessively overmuch clip connected unnecessary resources (e.g., JavaScript) alternatively of prioritizing important contented (e.g., HTML).

Scroll down to “Hits by Pages” for overmuch circumstantial insights. This study will show you:

• Which pages and folders hunt centrifugal bots crawl astir often
• How often hunt centrifugal bots crawl those pages
• HTTP errors for illustration 404s

Sort nan array by “Crawl Frequency” to spot really Google allocates your crawl budget.

Or, click nan “Inconsistent position codes” fastener to spot paths (a URL’s circumstantial route) pinch inconsistent position codes.

For example, a measurement switching betwixt a 404 position codification (meaning a page can’t beryllium found) and a 301 position codification (a imperishable redirect) could awesome misconfigurations aliases different issues.

Pay peculiar attraction to your astir important pages. And usage nan insights you summation astir them to make adjustments that mightiness amended your capacity successful hunt results.

Prioritize Site Crawlability

Now you cognize really to entree and analyse your log files.

But don’t extremity there.

Take proactive steps to make judge your tract is optimized for crawlability.

One measurement to guarantee to do that is to behaviour a method SEO audit utilizing Semrush’s Site Audit tool. 

First, unfastened nan instrumentality and configure nan settings by pursuing our configuration guide. (Or instrumentality pinch nan default settings.)

Once your study is ready, you’ll spot an overview page that highlights your site’s astir important method SEO issues and areas for improvement.

Head to nan “Issues” tab and premier “Crawlability” successful nan “Category” drop-down. 

You’ll spot a database of issues affecting your site’s crawlability.

If you don’t cognize what an rumor intends aliases really to reside it, click connected “Why and really to spread it” to study more. 

Run a tract audit for illustration this each month. And robust retired immoderate issues that celebrated up, either by yourself aliases by moving pinch a developer.