Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a powerful desktop crawler that reveals how search engines see your website. While it doesn’t measure Domain Authority (DA) directly, it helps identify structural and technical issues that may hold back your ability to rank and earn backlinks.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to use Screaming Frog to uncover on-site weaknesses, improve crawlability, and create a stronger internal architecture—key elements that support better DA over time.
Domain Authority is based largely on backlink signals, but technical SEO supports DA in indirect yet critical ways:
Pairing Screaming Frog audits with content and backlink strategies helps your site grow holistically.
The crawl summary shows:
How it helps DA: Removing crawl errors and broken redirects improves link flow and user experience - key for ranking stability and backlink retention.
Use the “Site Structure” and “Inlinks” tabs to:
Why it matters: Pages without internal links don’t benefit from DA flow. Use Screaming Frog to surface them and fix with the help of our Internal Linking Guide.
Under “Page Titles” and “Meta Descriptions” tabs, you’ll find:
How it helps DA: Well-optimized titles improve CTR and increase visibility—earning you more natural links over time. Cross-check with Title & Meta Description Length Guide.
Go to “Directives” tab to see:
How it helps DA: If important pages are blocked from indexing or have conflicting canonicals, they won’t benefit your SEO or backlink profile.
Use “Images” and “Response Codes” filters to detect:
Why this matters: Clean pages with proper image optimization reduce bounce and increase shareability. Fixing broken links preserves earned link equity.
Compare two crawls to see if issues have improved or worsened after SEO changes. This helps measure the impact of technical cleanup on crawlability and rankings.
Export lists of:
Then cross-reference with backlink data from Moz, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to prioritize cleanup on link-worthy pages.
This regular process ensures your technical foundation supports your authority-building efforts.
Despite these, it remains one of the best tools for on-site SEO diagnosis.
Domain Authority doesn’t rise from backlinks alone. A healthy site structure, free of errors and rich in internal signals, amplifies your chances of earning and retaining high-value links.
Screaming Frog helps you build and maintain that structure effectively.
Whether you’ve done a crawl and don’t know what to do next - or want a full technical + authority growth roadmap—we can help.
Reach out via our Contact page or explore our SEO Services, and Digital Marketing Services, to optimize your site for authority and rankings.
You can also revisit our Domain Authority Guide or read practical tutorials on our Blog where tools meet results.
