Technical SEO refers to the practices and techniques used to optimise a website’s technical infrastructure and architecture in order to improve its visibility and ranking in search engines.
It’s an important component of SEO because it helps to ensure that search engines can crawl and index a website’s pages efficiently, which is necessary for the website to rank well in search results.
There are several factors that can affect it, including the website structure, the use of header tags, the presence of broken links, the speed of the website, and the use of mobile-friendly design.
To do it well, it’s important to focus on these and other technical factors to ensure that the website is optimised for search engines. Here are some tips and tricks for beginners looking to improve their technical SEO:
Technical SEO Guide – Key Points
Use an XML sitemap
An XML sitemap is a file that lists all of the pages on a website and helps search engines understand the structure and organisation of the site. Creating and submitting a sitemap to search engines can help to improve the crawlability of a website.
Use header tags
Header tags (H1, H2, etc.) help to structure the content of a webpage and make it easier for search engines to understand the hierarchy of the information on the page. Using header tags appropriately can help to improve the SEO of a website.
Fix broken links
Broken links can be frustrating for users and can also hurt a website’s SEO. Regularly checking for and fixing broken links can help to improve the user experience and the SEO of a website.
Optimize website speed
A slow-loading website can be frustrating for users and can also hurt a website’s SEO. Optimising the speed of a website can help to improve the user experience and the SEO of the site. If you use WordPress, there are lots of speed optimisation plugins available, for example. You could install one, or a combination, to achieve the results you need.
Use a mobile-friendly design
With more and more users accessing the internet from mobile devices, it’s important to ensure that a website is mobile-friendly. Since Google and other search engines are becoming mobile-first in their approach to scoring your site for their indexes, using a responsive design or a separate mobile version of the website can help to improve the SEO of the site.
URL structure
Having a clear and logical URL structure can help search engines understand the content of a website and can also make it easier for users to navigate the site.
Page titles and meta descriptions
Page titles and meta descriptions are HTML elements that appear in the search results and can help to inform users about the content of a page. Including relevant keywords and a compelling description in these elements can help to improve a website’s SEO, but avoid keyword stuffing.
Image optimization
Optimising images by using relevant file names and alt text can help to improve the SEO of a website. It can also help to ensure that the images on a website load quickly, which can improve the user experience.
Internal linking
Internal linking refers to the practice of linking to other pages on the same website. Internal linking can help to improve the ranking of a website by helping search engines understand the structure and organisation of the site and by helping users navigate it.
For example, if you want a page to rank for Pillar Pages in SEO, then you’d definitely want a page about Technical SEO to link back and vice-versa, to help build a topic cluster around the topic and demonstrate the concept.
Use of social media tags
Including social media tags (such as Twitter Cards and Open Graph tags) on a website can help to improve the SEO of the site by allowing social media platforms to better understand and display the content of the website.
Concluding our Technical SEO guide.
Technical SEO refers to the practices and techniques used to optimise a website’s technical infrastructure and architecture in order to improve its visibility and ranking in search engines.
There are many factors to consider, including the website’s structure and organisation, the use of header tags and other HTML elements, the presence of broken links, the speed of the website, and the use of mobile-friendly design.
Other important factors include the website’s URL structure, the use of relevant keywords in page titles and meta descriptions, the optimization of images, the use of internal linking, and the inclusion of social media tags.
By working on these points, as well as creating a solid Local SEO presence, you can definitely help to improve the visibility and ranking of your website in search engines.