Why Screaming Frog?
- Technical audit : Detect 404 errors, redirects, crawl problems
- On-page analysis : Titles, meta descriptions, H1, duplicate content
- Free version : Up to 500 URLs analyzed free of charge
- Contract reference : Used by all SEO consultants
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is THE crawler that all SEO professionals have in their toolbox. Free for up to 500 URLs, it can technically audit any website.
What is an SEO crawler?
A crawler is a piece of software that crawls your site like a Googlebot, following all the links. It collects information on each page: title, meta description, tags, images, links, loading time, etc.
Key Screaming Frog features
1. Technical error detection
- 404 error pages
- Redirect chains
- Server errors (5xx)
- Pages blocked by robots.txt
2. Beacon analysis
- Missing, duplicate or too long titles
- Missing or duplicated meta descriptions
- Multiple or missing H1 tags
- Canonical tags
3. Content analysis
- Number of words per page
- Internal duplicate content
- Orphaned pages
4. Image analysis
- Images without alt attribute
- Images too heavy
- Non-optimized formats
How do I use Screaming Frog?
- Download and install the software (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- Enter your site URL in the address bar
- Click on "Start" and let the crawler do its work
- Analyze results by tab: Protocol, Response Codes, Page Titles, etc.
- Export data to create your action plan
Advice : For a site of over 500 pages, the paid license (approx. 200EUR/year) is a worthwhile investment. It also unlocks advanced features such as integration with Google Analytics and Search Console.
Screaming Frog vs. other crawlers
Alternatives exist (Sitebulb, DeepCrawl, Oncrawl), but Screaming Frog remains the benchmark for :
- Unbeatable price (free for small sites)
- Fast turnaround
- Its community and resources