If you run a business or engage in any part of a business’s online presence, you likely know the term SEO and that it stands for search engine optimisation. With today’s Google-centered web activity, optimising for search engine results is a key element of getting seen.
Maybe you even understand the basics of SEO: keyword research and user functionality to improve site traffic. However, SEO can be a lot more complicated than that. Technical SEO dives more deeply into web architecture and patterns to drive customer interaction with your site.
But what does that actually mean and how does it work? Here are some detailed answers to common Technical SEO questions
What is Technical SEO?
Search engines use complex algorithms to find and rank content on the internet, and then
present that content in an accessible list in your browser. Technical SEO is the process of optimising web pages to improve that ranking and to help search engines like Google list your site higher on search engine results pages (SERP).
In particular, Technical SEO refers to the meta-tags and site features that exist in the coding and architecture of a website. The optimisation handled outside of content writing and backlinking is typically Technical SEO, and it deals primarily with the structure, mapping, and functionality of your website.
Strategies like keyword research are fundamental to basic SEO. In Technical SEO, that keyword research is built into the data of the website so that search engines can quickly and easily find and rank your site’s content by meta-tags, site headings, and structure.
Terms to Know:
● SEO — search engine optimisation
● SERP — search engine results pages
● Technical SEO — site architecture optimisation
● Off-Page SEO — external backlinking to boost site ranking
● On-Page SEO — internal optimisation of content and links
Why is Technical SEO Crucial for Website Visibility?
You may be asking yourself whether dealing with the technical aspects of SEO are worth all the trouble. But if you want a website that gets the attention you need from search engine results pages, you need to have an eye for these details. Without proper Technical SEO practices, all the work you do to create and publish quality content isn’t worth much.
Increasing traffic to your website means conducting SEO audits, fixing errors, improving speed, and optimising design architecture. Here’s how the process works.
How Does the Technical SEO Process Work?
Technical SEO doesn’t have to be as complicated as it sounds. By following a few simple steps, you can quickly begin to raise your page’s ranking in Google and other search engines.
But first, you need to identify problem areas.
Conduct a Technical SEO Audit
To improve your Technical SEO strategy, you need to understand where your website isn’t up to par. Here is are a few things to consider when implementing a Technical SEO audit:
● Current XML sitemap status
● Overall site/page load time●Mobile-friendliness of site
● Status of site’s robot.txt file
● Audit for broken links
● ...and so on.
If any of these items haven’t been addressed, or are aspects you’re not familiar with, you now know where you can get started.
Correct Errors
In correcting your Technical SEO content for your website, you don’t need to become a master technician. You can make headway on increasing your web traffic with just a few simple tweaks.
First, ensure your site is operating with a Hypertext Transfer Protocol with a Secure Sockets Layer (HTTPS). This keeps data secure when sending it across the web, and it is a big boost in view trust even if only a small boost to Google ranking.
Next, fix all broken links and errors found on your site. You want Google to be able to index and guide searchers to the proper pages, and technical errors can keep your site from showing up inSERPs completely.
Finally, remove all duplicate content on your website. Identical content can confuse search engine crawlers as well as users, so rewrite duplicate meta-tags and fix any issues that arise.
Correcting for these errors will enhance your website design towards ideal optimisation, but you still have some work to do.
Optimise Website Design
A well-optimized website has an SEO friendly design. This means building a roadmap that will make sense to search engine crawlers through categories and subcategories.
Your website should be clearly organised by URL, smoothly transitioning between categories in a logical pattern. Create an XML sitemap to index the most important pages on your site and to ensure clarity in search engine navigation. Your sitemap should be easy to navigate for both search engines and users if you want to rank in Google.
Additionally, you want your site to load as quickly as possible. If your site takes more than three seconds to load, you risk 53% of users clicking elsewhere. You can achieve this by starting with cleaning up code and compressing large images and video files.
Technical SEO sounds daunting, but it really comes down to a few simple tasks that ensure your website is running as it should. You want the architecture of your website to work for you, bringing in necessary traffic through placement in search engine rankings. Without that visibility, all your hard work won’t pay off to the maximum effect.
Start by conducting an audit of important metrics, then optimise your site with a clear XML sitemap and faster load times. A little bit of work can go a long way with Technical SEO.