You might be wondering, what is technical SEO and do I actually need it? If you want your website to rank higher and reach more customers, then the answer is yes.
This guide will explain what is technical SEO, why it’s important, and 5 techniques you can implement to optimise your website to boost visibility and traffic.
So, what is technical SEO? Technical SEO refers to the process of optimising the technical elements of your website so that search engines can find, understand and index your content. This improves visibility and search engine rankings. A few key elements of technical SEO include page speed, mobile friendliness and website architecture, all of which contribute to a better user experience.
Technical SEO is just one of the 4 fundamental pillars of SEO, which you can read more about here.
You may have a really valuable website with great content, but weak technical performance such as slow page speed and a lack of mobile-friendliness can prevent it from ranking.
For your page to appear in search results, it needs to be accessible to search engines, meaning they can be properly crawled and indexed. Technical errors, such as broken links and slow load times, can block this process and stop your website from ranking.
In fact, website speed and mobile-friendliness are confirmed Google ranking factors and so ignoring them can directly impact your visibility.
Over time, this can lead to reduced traffic and missed conversions, negatively impacting your business.
In short, technical SEO ensures search engines can access your website for it to rank online, making it crucial for driving website traffic.
Now that we’ve answered what is technical SEO, let’s further explore crawling and indexing for an even greater understanding.
Crawling is when search engines follow links across the web to discover new pages. These newly discovered pages are reviewed and stored in a search index, which consists of millions of web pages. This process is known as indexing. If your page is not indexed, it will not rank.
Essentially, crawling and indexing are how Google can find your content and make it available to web users. You can also think of crawling as a librarian discovering new books and indexing is adding them to the catalogue for readers to find.
So, now that we have discussed why technical SEO matters, it is also important to understand what is technical SEO in practice. Here are 5 technical SEO strategies you can implement today:
Site structure, also known as site architecture, refers to how the pages on your website are organised and linked together.
You should ideally aim for a simple, ‘flat’ website structure where each page site is just a few clicks away from each other. This makes it easier for search engines to crawl your website.
The three-click rule suggests that all pages and information on a website should be accessible within just 3 clicks. Failing to do so can frustrate users and cause them to leave the site. However, this is not an official rule and is widely debated. Instead, it is often argued that having a well-organised website is more important than number of clicks. Ultimately, the value of the three-click rule depends on individual judgement and preference.
Your website should also be organised in a logical manner to avoid any orphan pages. These are web pages without any internal links pointing to them, making them difficult to find.
Page speed is a confirmed ranking factor. Ensuring your website loads quickly helps boost visibility and ranking in the search engine results page. Google’s PageSpeed Insights is a helpful tool for checking your website’s current page speed for both mobile and desktop devices.
You can improve your page speed by:
Broken internal links makes it more difficult for Google to crawl and index your website. Updating broken links is crucial for maintaining the technical health of your website and optimising user experience.
Broken pages also negatively impact user experience and any internal links on these pages have gone to waste.
You can use Google’s Search Console to help identify any issues with your web pages and links.
If you have several pages on your website with similar content, this can confuse search engines. Google may struggle to determine which is the original page and which one they should index. This risks your page not being indexed at all, reducing your website visibility.
Canonical tags let search engines know which is the main page and should be indexed and that the other pages are variations of this. The tag is typically placed in the head of the duplicate pages.
Google uses mobile-first indexing. This means Google primarily uses the mobile version of a website for indexing and ranking a page. So, ensuring you have a mobile-friendly website is crucial for earning top positions in search engine results.
Some factors to look out for:
Now that we have covered five core technical SEO strategies, you can use this list as a technical SEO checklist to ensure your webpage is properly optimised.
By now, you’re no longer asking ‘what is technical SEO’ and fully understand its purpose and value in ranking your business online.
You don’t need a huge technical overhaul, but making sure your website is technically sound is crucial for achieving high search engine rankings, or even ranking at all.
Neglecting the technical components of your website could cost you visibility, traffic and conversions.
To conclude, if you’ve ever asked yourself ‘what is technical SEO’, hopefully this guide has made it clear: it is the technical foundation of your online visibility.
If you’re unsure on where to start, we’re here to help.
We’re an expert Technical SEO Agency. Get in contact and request a SEO audit today.
Technical SEO focuses on improving the technical aspects of a website. This allows search engines to better crawl and index your website and improve your rankings in search engine results.
Key elements of technical SEO include simple website architecture, fast page loading times, fixing broken links and pages, mobile-friendliness and using canonical tags. Implementing these factors helps technically optimise a website.
Very important. Technical SEO directly impacts visibility of your page online. A website with poor technical components will rank low, or may not rank at all, regardless of how great its content is. Search engines need to be able to find and index your page at the very minimum.
What is crawling in SEO?
In SEO, crawling is the process where search engines will find and explore new content they have not come across before. This content will be analysed and stored in a search index alongside millions of other webpages. This process is known as indexing. Both processes are crucial for search engines to discover and promote your website.
Technical SEO can seem complex, especially if you don’t have a technical background. However, the good news is that many elements are easily implemented with the right guidance. If you’re unsure on where to begin, we’re here to help. As an experienced SEO agency, we offer technical SEO support. Get in touch with us today.
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