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Why Regular Website Audits are Crucial in Drupal Maintenance?

All websites require ongoing support and maintenance to ensure smooth website operation, a high level of security, and the absence of bugs & vulnerabilities. One of the crucial points of Drupal support and maintenance services is regular website audits. Without regular website audits and checkups, issues will go undetected, pile up, and ultimately lead to a breakdown in the site's functionality and security.

Today, the Drupal specialists at Drupfan explain why regular website audits are crucial for a successful maintenance plan, as well as highlight key elements to consider during a Drupal website audit.

Why Regular Website Audits Are Important for Drupal Maintenance?

By conducting regular (weekly, monthly & yearly) website audits, you keep abreast of the site’s health and performance and ensure it remains fully functional and bug-free. Website audits help to catch a potential threat or malfunction before they cause serious discrepancies and security vulnerabilities.

Why Regular Website Audits are Crucial in Drupal Maintenance?

Key advantages of Drupal website audits

  • Website performance remains high.

Performance audit allows us to evaluate key performance metrics, compare them with older results, and apply updates as necessary. By identifying weak points in web performance, the optimization procedures can be implemented immediately, so visitors always receive a positive user experience after the interaction with your platform. Besides, web performance is evaluated by search engines when placing your website in search rankings. 

Learn how to improve Drupal website performance in Drupfan’s recent blog post.

  • Keep the website secure.

The most vital objective for conducting website audits is a search for security vulnerabilities. The lack of security or any digital vulnerabilities can lead to spam-bot attacks, website malfunction, and even data leaks. By determining and fixing security holes on time, you maintain your platform secure against hacker attacks or malicious code injections.

Discover how to keep your Drupal 10 website secure.

  • Better Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engines are constantly evolving, and so are their approaches to website SEO ranking. Keeping abreast with the latest search engine updates and requirements is crucial if you want your platform to rank higher in search results. Besides, regular SEO audits help to eliminate broken links, unnecessary redirects, irrelevant content or keywords, and more. All these things worsen the website’s SEO.

Learn more about Drupal technical SEO.

  • Regular Drupal updates

As an open-source Content Management System (CMS), Drupal gets core, modules, and themes updates regularly. These updates are aimed at the improvement of the site’s functionality, bug fixing, security enhancement, and old features substitution. It is crucial to monitor Drupal core, modules & themes updates, as well as implement their timely update on your Drupal site.

Key Points You Have to Consider in Drupal Website Audits

The variety, complexity, and regularity of Drupal site audits are enormous. The audit schedule directly depends on your website’s size, complexity, and functionality. Here, the Drupfan specialists outlined key general points that should be taken into consideration during the website audition.

  • Website security.

  • Website performance.

  • Mobile responsiveness.

  • Drupal updates.

  • Search engine optimization.

  • Content relevance.

  • Web accessibility.

Let’s look at each point in more detail.

Drupal website security audit

Regular Drupal security audits help determine and eliminate security vulnerabilities and weak points before they turn into a disaster. By implementing security fixes and updates on time, you guard both your website’s code & data.

Drupal website performance audit

Page loading speed and overall website performance can change over time due to the development of new features, updates, outdated code, or fixes. Thus, it is crucial to monitor web performance and implement updates as necessary. One of the best tools for performance audits is PageSpeed Insights. Along with a detailed analysis of performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO audit, PageSpeed Insights provides valuable advice on optimization.

Mobile responsiveness audit

With a mobile-first digital landscape, it is crucial to keep your Drupal website responsive. Responsiveness is the ability of a site to look and function well across multiple devices and screen sizes. Auditing a website for responsiveness and optimizing it for mobiles is crucial for a positive user experience and SEO.

Drupal updates audit

Drupal constantly evolves and new Drupal core versions, as well as modules and themes updates, appear regularly. It is important to audit your Drupal core/modules/theme versions and conduct all the necessary updates and upgrades on time. Such regular updates guarantee high performance, flawless functionality, and a high level of security.

Search engine optimization audit

SEO campaigns are crucial for the success of any online business. However, SEO requirements change over time, so it is important to implement regular SEO audits to find outdated or irrelevant features and substitute them with the most recent ones.

Content relevance audit

Along with SEO requirement changes, it is important to keep all the content, data, and metadata relevant. Regular content audits help to find irrelevant content, as well as determine broken links on unnecessary redirects.

Drupal web accessibility audit

Website accessibility is a must for a successful business. It is crucial to make a platform accessible for every user, especially for those with physical impairments. There is a special set of guidelines for web accessibility called WCAG. Accessibility audits will help to find weak points in your website’s accessibility, as well as make your site compliant with WCAG requirements.

Best Tools for Website Audits

Various online tools help perform website audits. Here are the most popular tools for site audits:

Along with these online tools, numerous Drupal contributed modules are aimed at website audiences. Contact Drupfan today to get an in-depth audit of your website.

Final Thoughts

Website audits are an integral part of a Drupal maintenance plan, as they help to determine weak points or vulnerabilities beforehand and, as a result, prevent serious consequences. Besides, regular website audits guarantee a positive user experience and high customer satisfaction rates after the interaction with your platform.

Need assistance with website audit? Contact the Drupfan team for exceptional Drupal services!