What is Technical Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
written by eric johnson
Fall 2017
What is technical SEO?
What is technical SEO?
Technical SEO is optimizing a website for Google’s search algorithm. It’s a subset of SEO that focuses on
improving a website’s crawling, indexation, and ranking. Technical SEO can improve a website’s visibility
in search engine results pages (SERPs).
While traditional SEO techniques like keyword research and link building are still important, technical
SEO is becoming increasingly important as Google continues to evolve its search algorithm. To stay ahead
of the curve, it’s important for website owners and SEO professionals to keep up with the latest changes.
There are many aspects of technical SEO. Still, some of the most common include optimizing title tags
and meta descriptions, improving site speed, and fixing broken links. By improving these elements of
your website, you can boost your rankings and get more traffic from Google.
The Basics of Technical SEO
Technical SEO is about improving your website’s visibility in search engines. It optimizes your website to
be easily found and indexed by search engines.
Technical SEO is an important part of any successful online marketing strategy. By improving your
website’s visibility in search engines, you can increase traffic to your site and improve your business’s
bottom line.
Benefits of Implementing Technical SEO
● It can help you boost your rankings in search engines.
● This can help you improve the crawling and indexing of your website by search engines.
● Also, it can help you improve your website’s architecture and make it easier for search engines to
crawl and index your site.
● It can help you troubleshoot errors on your website that could prevent it from being indexed or
ranked by search engines.
Common Technical SEO Mistakes to Avoid
Several common technical SEO mistakes can negatively impact your website’s ranking in search engine
results pages (SERPs). Here are some of the most common mistakes to avoid:
● Not Optimizing Your Website for Mobile
With the majority of web traffic now coming from mobile devices, it’s critical to ensure that your website
is optimized for mobile. It means having a responsive design that scales to fit all screen sizes and
ensuring that your Content is accessible and easy to read on a smaller screen.
● Poor Site Structure
Your website’s structure plays a big role in how easy it is for search engines to crawl and index your
Content. A well-structured website will have a logical hierarchy with clear navigation, making it easy for
search engines to find and index all your important pages.
● Slow Page Speed
Page speed is another important factor for both users and search engines. Users are less likely to stick
around on a slow-loading website, and search engines also consider page speed when determining
rankings. Make sure to optimize your images and code to ensure fast loading times.
● Broken Links
Broken links can frustrate users and cause them to leave your site, hurting your ranking in SERPs. Check
regularly for broken links on your website and fix them as soon as possible.
● Duplicate Content
Duplicate content can make it difficult for search engines to understand which version of a webpage
should be shown to users, hurting your search engine ranking. It can also lead to decreased visibility,
traffic, and conversions. To avoid duplicate content, ensure that your website has unique and original
content, and if you are using content from external sources, always use canonical tags to avoid
confusion.
Strategies for Optimizing Your Site for Technical SEO
No matter how great your website is, it will only rank well in search engines if it’s optimized for technical
SEO. It refers to the aspects of SEO that are concerned with the behind-the-scenes infrastructure of your
website, such as site speed, indexability, and crawlability. In this post, we’ll share some strategies for
optimizing your site for technical SEO so you can boost your rankings and get more traffic.
Make sure your site is fast and responsive.
Site speed is one of the most important ranking factors for technical SEO. Google wants to deliver the
best possible user experience, favoring websites that load quickly and are easy to use on mobile devices.
You can improve your site speed in a few ways, such as compressing images, using a content delivery
network (CDN), and minifying CSS and JavaScript files.
Ensure your website is easy for search engines to crawl and index.
If search engines can’t find or read your website, it won’t rank well in search results. Make sure your
website is crawlable and indexable. It is only possible by creating a sitemap, using robots.txt file
directives, and avoiding duplicate Content.
Use structured data markup to help search engines better understand your Content.
Structured data markup can improve how search engines understand your content. It can improve
visibility and enhance the display of your content in search results. It can also make your website eligible
for enhanced features like rich snippets, knowledge graphs, and more.
Tools and Resources for Analyzing Your Site’s Performance with Technical SEO
There are several tools and resources you can use to help you analyze your website’s performance with
SEO. Some of these tools are free, while others are paid.
Free Tools:
● Google Search Console: Google Search Console is a free tool that allows you to see how Google
crawls and indexes your website. It also provides data on your website’s search traffic, including
which keywords are driving traffic.
● Bing Webmaster Tools: Bing Webmaster Tools is a free tool from Microsoft that provides similar
data to Google Search Console, including information on how Bing crawls and indexes your
website and data on your website’s search traffic.
In conclusion, it is an essential piece of the puzzle when optimizing your website for search engines.
These techniques, like improving site speed and mobile responsiveness, are also important steps towards
achieving success with your SEO efforts. Taking time to understand SEO fundamentals will go a long way
in helping you reach new heights with your SEO goals.