Siteimprove is a tool that Content Management System (CMS) editors can use to review their pages for content quality and assurance. Content editors can understand issues relating to accessibility, quality assurance and technical search engine optimisation (SEO) issues.
Access to Siteimprove is given on top of your existing CMS access. If you do not have a CMS account, you will not be given Siteimprove access.
If you have a CMS account but do not yet have access to Siteimprove, you can request for access by completing the User access request form. Select 'Siteimprove Access' on the User Access Request Type drop-down.
Using the Siteimprove Plugin on the CMS
The Siteimprove plugin is accessible on every page in the CMS and supports users throughout the entire process of uploading and checking content.
Furthermore, Siteimprove is now integrated with single sign-on (SSO), so you will not need a separate password from the CMS to login to Siteimprove. This gives you a more secure and seamless login experience as you do not need a new set of credentials just for Siteimprove.
Follow along with the below steps to login to the Siteimprove plugin.
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Firstly, you will need to be logged in to the CMS.
Read through Logging in to the CMS for guidance on how to login to the CMS though single sign-on.
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Secondly, navigate to the page you would like to use Siteimprove on.
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The Siteimprove plugin is accessible by clicking on the three dots overlayed on your CMS screen. It will be on the right-edge of your window screen towards the middle half
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The overlay tab will then be expanded. Click on the Login button
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From here, you will need to enter your email address and click on Continue.
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You will then be prompted to login through Okta. Type in your email address on the Username field, then click Next.
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You may be prompted to verify yourself on the system. Click on Verify
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From here, you will be automatically logged in to Siteimprove. This is because, through single sign-on (SSO), Siteimprove now uses the same credentials you use to login to the CMS.
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The Siteimprove plugin should now resemble the below screenshot -
The circular icon is the Siteimprove icon, while the number inside the red circle is the number of issues Siteimprove has found on the page.
If you experience any issues logging in, let us know by submitting the details on our form, selecting User Access Request type: Siteimprove Access and Request type: I am experiencing issues logging in to Siteimprove.
Navigating the Siteimprove Plugin
After you have logged in on the Siteimprove plugin, click on the Siteimprove icon.
This will open the Siteimprove plugin with a quick snapshot of Siteimprove’s assessment of the page and its relative site.
Below are details on each of the headings numbered on the screenshot:
This option is available when on a content editing page in the CMS and allows you to re-check/re-crawl the page. When pages are re-checked, results will be returned immediately.
The 'See unpublish impact' section shows data relating to a page if you were to unpublish that page. It provides information regarding impacted areas in Quality Assurance, Ads, and SEO, that you should be aware of before unpublishing.
This area is separated into areas of 'Main impact' and 'Potential impact'. The 'Main impact' area shows issues that impact your page the most should it be unpublished. 'Potential impact' shows other issues relating to the unpublishing of the page.
The following data is displayed under this area of the plugin:
- Data on when the page was added to Siteimprove
- Referring Tags
- Quality Assurance: External or internal links that refer to the page.
- SEO: Effect on pages included in Search engine optimization (SEO).
Click on the 'Close results x' button on the top-right to close out the Unpublish page impact section
This section lists 10 pages you have checked recently using the plugin. It displays the total number of Errors (not Warnings, Review items, or Potential issues) under the Page Content Issues (Quality Assurance, Policy, and Accessibility) and SEO. Analytics is not included in the information shown here.
The Site Overview shows general information about your site including:
- Site last crawled information
- DCI® Score
- Quality Assurance issues
- Accessibility issues
- SEO issues
- Policy matches
- Overall Analytics information
- Overall Readability score
You can expand and collapse some of the different data components listed. To collapse components select the minus (-) sign next to the component. If components are collapsed, you should be able to find and select the plus (+) sign to expand them under the 'Collapsed components' area.
‘This page’ details are divided into 2 sections via a drop-down:
- Page Content Issues
- SEO
Page Content Issues
The Page Content Issues section shows data relating to the following:
- Page Last Checked Data
- DCI Page Score
- Readability levels
- Broken links
- Misspellings
- Accessibility issues (A, AA, and Accessibility best practices conformance levels)
- Accessibility best practices
SEO
The SEO section gives details on the following:
- Page Last Checked Data
- SEO Score
- SEO Technical issues
- SEO Content issues
- SEO User Experience issues
- SEO Search snippet preview
- SEO Keywords related to this page
- SEO Competing content
If you click on issues under the SEO section, another browser tab will open to the overall SEO issue page in the Siteimprove platform. It doesn’t open to the specific page report directly for the issue as many SEO issues are overall sitewide issues or may not be highlightable on the page report.
Refer to Siteimprove's Drupal Integration page for more information on features of the plugin.
Prepublish Check
It is also possible for Siteimprove to check your page's content before it is published through the Prepublish Check functionality.
To use Prepublish Check, navigate to the page you want to check with Siteimprove, click on 'Siteimprove' logo at top of the screen (1) then 'prepublish check' (2). The Siteimprove plugin window will pop-up on the right (3). The prepublish check will begin. Once it is finished click 'see results' (4).
From there, the Siteimprove window will show you all of the issues for the currently unpublished page
When checking for accessibility issues, select only the options for A and AA compliance.
Note:
- Prepublish checks can only be performed on a page that is being edited (ie, in a 'Prepublish Draft' status and not in a 'Published - Live' status)
- Prepublish checks cannot check PDFs. PDFs can only be checked by Siteimprove when the page is in a published state.
- Prepublish checks do not check for broken links.
Using the Siteimprove site
You are also able to login to Siteimprove on its own site if you wish. Logging in on the Siteimprove site is also through SSO, and mimics the login journey of the CMS. Furthermore, if you are already logged in to the CMS prior to accessing the Siteimprove site, you will not need to login and verify yourself again. You will automatically be logged in to Siteimprove by having an active session on the CMS as they are both using the same set of credentials.
If you are accessing Siteimprove without first logging in to the CMS, the below will guide you through how to login. Expand the below accordion that matches how you login to the CMS.
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Head over to the Siteimprove Okta Authentication page.
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On the Username field, type in your email address, then click on Next.
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You will now need to type in your Password on the field provided, then click on Verify.
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Click on the Verify button to verify your identity with Okta.
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You should now be automatically signed in to Siteimprove and redirected to the Siteimprove dashboard page. You can now bookmark the Siteimprove dashboard page for immediate access to Siteimprove.
If you experience any issues logging in, let us know by submitting the details on our form, selecting User Access Request type: Siteimprove Access and Request type: I am experiencing issues logging in to Siteimprove.
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Head over to the Siteimprove Okta Authentication page.
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On the Username field, type in your email address, then click Next
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Verify your account with a password by clicking on Select to the right of Password
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You will now need to type in your Password on the field provided, then click on Verify.
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Once successful, you will need to complete the verification of your account with at least one security method you had set up when you set up your CMS account.
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Okta Verify - Get a push notification: you will get a push notification on your device. Open up the notification (or manually open the Okta Verify app), and select the number that appears
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Google Authenticator: you will need to access Google Authenticator on your device and enter the verification code that appears
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You should now be automatically signed in to Siteimprove and redirected to the Siteimprove dashboard page. You can now bookmark the Siteimprove dashboard page for immediate access to Siteimprove.
If you experience any issues logging in, let us know by submitting the details on our form, selecting User Access Request type: Siteimprove Access and Request type: I am experiencing issues logging in to Siteimprove.
Quality Assurance, Accessibility and SEO overview
Siteimprove focuses on 3 main areas for its assessment of your site - Quality Assurance, Accessibility and SEO. Expand each of the accordions below for a demonstration on these 3 topics.
Quality Assurance is in reference to broken links, misspellings and readability of the content of your site. Inventory is an up-to-date audit of all the digital assets on your site.
Accessibility issues and recommendations against Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Siteimprove tests nsw.gov.au only for AA compliancy. For more on accessibility for nsw.gov.au, head over to I want to learn about accessibility for nsw.gov.au
SEO issues and recommendations ranging from Content, Mobile and Technical issues. Clicking on each issue shows the detailed page for the issue, outlining what the issue is and recommendations for resolution.
Head over to Siteimprove's Guides and FAQs page for detailed guides on each of the topics
Key things to note when using Siteimprove
- Users will first need to request for Siteimprove access on top of/as an addition to their access the CMS. Users can fill in the User Access Request form to request for access to Siteimprove.
- Users will only be able to use Siteimprove on pages owned by the Agencies whose editorial groups they are assigned to. Eg, if a user is assigned to the Births, Deaths and Marriages editorial group, they will only be able to use Siteimprove on pages owned by Births, Deaths and Marriages.
- Siteimprove only tests nsw.gov.au for AA compliancy.
- There is currently no analytics module available on Siteimprove for nsw.gov.au. Reach out to our Google Analytics team if you require this for your page.
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Siteimprove takes 5-7 days to crawl a website. If your page appears with a 'Page not found' error on the plugin, check back on the page within 5-7 days after creation.
- Refer to Siteimprove's Drupal Integration page for more information on features of the plugin.
Need any more help?
If you have any questions, or require assistance with anything mentioned on this article, let us know by submitting them on our form.