Quality content boosts online business, but without applying Technical SEO, you can`t reach your target audience.
That`s because search engines rely on Technical SEO to crawl, index, and rank websites on the search results.
But what is technical SEO and how can you apply it and rank your content and avail it to your target audience?
In this guide, we comprehensively cover Technical SEO to help you drive traffic and skyrocket your online business.
What Technical SEO Means
Technical SEO refers to improving the technical elements of a website so that search engines can index and rank it on high search result pages.
Elements of Technical SEO
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Technical SEO is made up of five elements, which entail a site being :
- Crawlable
- Indexable
- Renderable or accessible
- Rankable
- Clickable
A Site Being Crawlable
For search engines to understand and rank your content they have to crawl and index your site. In case of any hindrance, they can`t index and avail your site to the audience.
To make your website crawlable,
List Your Webpages in an XML Sitemap
This is a file that provides information about website content. XML sitemap helps prioritize your important pages by grouping them in one place where they can be easily accessible.
Grouping files in an XML sitemap enables search engines to crawl your web pages and index them even when your website`s pages are not interlinked. This also makes it easy to find and update old pages.
There are several types of sitemaps you can create per the type of content you want to rank, including:
- Page sitemaps
- Video sitemaps
- Image sitemap
- News sitemap
- Sitemap Index
If you are a technical expert, you can manually create XML sitemaps; however, you don`t have to be tech-savvy to create them. You can use sitemap generators and plugins to create them.
Some of the tools to help in creating sitemaps include:
Here is how to create an XML sitemap with Screaming Frog.
After creating an XML sitemap for your web pages, submit them to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster to facilitate faster and easier content indexing.
Work on Your Crawl Budget
Crawl budget refers to the number of web pages a search engine crawls per day. You cannot decide how many pages search engines can crawl your site. However, prioritizing your important pages helps them rank.
Instead of crawling many pages that aren`t helpful to your audience, search engines will index the prioritized ones. To maximize your crawl budget,
Delete or canonicalize duplicate pages
Duplicate pages make it difficult for search engines to decide the one to rank.
Having duplicate pages is considered plagiarism–a black hat SEO practice–which can make search engines lower your site`s rank or remove it from the search engines. To avoid this, remove the pages or canonicalize them.
To canonicalize means to prioritize the content that you want search engines to crawl. So, the canonicalized content becomes a representation of the duplicate pages.
You can canonicalize your website using tools like RankMath.
Learn how to canonicalize your web pages here.
Remove or redirect broken links
Search engines cannot index broken links. This can reduce the chances of your website's rank when it`s crawled through the broken links.
To enhance crawlability, remove or redirect such links to other content.
You can find broken links by using Ahref`s free broken link checker, which is simple to use. You only need to paste your site`s URL in the tool`s site explorer and click on internal or external backlink sections. You will get a report of all broken links that you should fix on your site.
Find and Unblock No-Index Pages On Your Site
No-index pages are website pages that are set so that search engines that support no-index rules don`t index them.
Check your website for no-in-index pages that you wish to be indexed and unblock them. To check on-index pages, check the page indexing report in Google Search Console.
When you find non-index pages, unblock them by editing the robots.txt file.
Analyze Your Crawl Stats Regularly
Check your crawl statistics and make corrections in case of a decrease in the crawl budget. That will enable you to know how to improve your website.
Whenever you create or update a page, ensure to update Your Sitemap and submit it to the search engines for indexing.
Check Your Site Architecture
Your web pages should be logically organized to make them navigable and enable the search engines to crawl.
This is possible through linking relevant pages. However, prioritize the most important pages so they can be the first for search engines to rank and the audience to see.
For example, if you want your “services” page to be easily visible, put it at the top of the site. If the “policies” page is less important, put it at the footer.
Create a Good URL Structure
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URLs help people and search engines understand a web page's context. Therefore, ensure to display them in an organized structure.
A good URL structure looks like this: a protocol, subdomain, second-level domain or main domain, top-level domain, and a subdirectory.
Besides, make URLs short and descriptive, and use lowcase letters. Short URLs are easy for people to understand and search engines to crawl.
Also, incorporate your content keywords to enable search engines to relate your URLs to your content and rank it.
Check this content and learn how to research and incorporate the appropriate keywords in your content.
Use Robots.txt.
Also known as the robots exclusion protocol, robots.txt is a protocol that can allow and deny search engines to index certain sections of pages or whole pages of a website.
If there are pages that you don`t want search engines to crawl, set a no-index rule to disallow crawling. This helps manage your site budget by directing search engines to the appropriate pages.
Some pages you should add to robot.txt and set no-index can include admin, login, and thank you pages.
It wouldn`t help and convince your clients to make purchases if such pages rank. So, if they are non-indexed it wouldn`t harm your site.
Use Structured Markup Data
Structured data is data added to a website`s HTML to allow the search engines to understand content and display complete and accurate results.
Applying structured data helps websites display content in a way that people can easily navigate. It also enhances crawling and indexing since the content is organized logically.
There are different types of structured data, which include breadcrumbs, featured snippets, video snippets, etc.
You can apply structured markup data according to how you want your content to be displayed. For example, setting breadcrumbs displays linked pages so users can find related content in one place.
Breadcrumbs are mostly used in e-commerce websites to group items to enhance navigation.
Proper usage of structured data allows search engines to easily crawl your site.
Use Pagination
Pagination refers to splitting website content into a series of sections. It entails using code to tell search engines how related URLs are.
For example, if you have created a long piece of content, you can use pagination to break it into subsections so people can click and move to desired sections.
To facilitate pagination, go to the <head> of your content and type rel=“ next” to indicate which section or page to crawl. On the second page or section, use rel=“ next” again so it can take you to the next one.
When somebody touches any section on the outline, they are taken to the section they want automatically.
Pagination enhances navigation and lets people find comprehensive information about a topic in one place, which builds trust and authority.
It also makes a site look organized and easy to crawl, which increases traffic.
Examine Your SEO Log Files
Log files are website files that store information about the SEO activities happening on your site. They are the perfect tools to determine your crawl budget.
If your website is crawled, they record the time, the crawled pages, and the crawling IP address.
This information helps determine the crawling hindrances that search engine bots face so you can fix them.
To check your log files, use log file analyzers like:
Here is how to do log file analysis with Semrush.
Ability to Be Indexed
Indexing is the process through which search engines add websites to the indexes.
Search engines use keywords and metadata to index websites. This enables them to understand the context of website content and match it with the relevant search queries.
To facilitate indexability, you have to
Make Your Webpages Accessible
Search engines cannot access non-indexed pages. Putting your webpages in robots.txt files disallows indexing.
Should you have content or pages that aren`t crawled, check the robots.txt files and unblock them.
If you want to know whether a page isn`t crawled, examine your page log files. You`ll know all your crawl budget and determine which pages haven`t been indexed.
Alternatively, you can use Google Search Console to check why your site isn`t crawled, and debug it.
Remove Duplicate Content
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Specify the content you want to be indexed. Identical content is difficult for search engines to index and rank.
Therefore, canonicalize or delete identical content to enable search engines to know the content to index and show in the search results.
Audit Site`s Redirect
Ensure your webpage links are well set. Broken URLs hinder search engines from crawling your website.
Therefore, redirect or delete broken URLs. This helps to avoid blocking the search engines when accessing your site through these problematic links.
Work on Your Site Mobile Responsiveness
Since many people access the internet on mobile phones, your site can increase traffic if it`s mobile-friendly.
A site's being mobile irresponsive signals the search engines that it doesn`t benefit readers, which lowers its rank and traffic.
To check your site's mobile responsiveness, use Google`s Friendly-Mobile Test Tool. It will let you know your site`s mobile responsiveness and whether you should improve.
Learn how to make your website mobile responsive here.
Correct HTTP Errors
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HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. HTTP errors involve messages from the web servers that something is wrong.
There are various HTTP errors, and each one of them has a specific course and solution.
These errors include
301 Permanent Redirects
This HTTP error permanently directs traffic from one URL to the other. To avoid this error, do not use redirect chains.
Redirect chains refer to linking more than one source on a single link. So, one has to go through more than one resource to reach the destination.
Redirect chains also lower your site speed, making people skip it for others and it loses traffic.
302 Temporary Redirects
This implies temporarily redirecting users from one webpage to the other. Unlike in permanent redirect, here the users are sent to a new website but the cached title tag, URL, and description remain intact with the origin URL.
To fix the 302 error, check if the URL redirects are valid or clear your browser cookies and cache.
403 Forbidden Messages
This happens when the content requested is restricted due to a lack of access permission or server misconfigurations.
To resolve 403 forbidden messages:
- Check your .htaccess File
- Reset the File and Directory Permissions
- Disable Plugins
- Scan Your Website for Malware
- Clear Your Web History/Cache
404 Error Pages
When this happens, it means that the page requested doesn`t exist. A user might have typed a wrong URL or the owner could have deleted the page.
To resolve this error:
- Try to reload the page
- Check for errors in the URL and rewrite it
- Search for the page in a popular search engine
405 Method Not Allowed
This indicates that your web server understands the method through which the content is accessed but still blocks it.
This error can be caused by using a wrong URL that the browser can`t open because it doesn`t exist.
To solve this,
- Rewrite the URL properly
- Uninstall new plugins and themes.
- Check your web server configurations
- Check the .htaccess File
500 Internal Server Error
This occurs when your web server experiences problems when displaying your site to the requesting search engine.
Here is how you can resolve this issue:
- Refresh the webpage
- Uninstall plugins
- Delete your browser cookies
- Check your site's .htaccess file.
- Check your PHP and ensure it`s correctly configured
502 Bad Gateway Error
This error happens when a server receives an invalid response from the upstream server.
You can resolve this problem by:
- Checking your log files
- Fixing any firewall problems
- Reloading the page
- Resolving server connectivity issues
- Checking for DNS changes
503 Service Unavailable
This error indicates that your server cannot fulfill your request. It mostly happens when a server is down for maintenance or overloaded.
Here is how to correct this problem:
- Check the server logs
- Check the server firewall settings
- Refresh your page
504 Gateway Timeout
This error means that the upstream server did not respond in time for your web server to access the requested data.
To solve this problem,
- Reload the web page
- Check your proxy settings
- Reboot your network devices
Ability to Be Rendered
This implies the possibility of search engines finding your web pages, running your code, and accessing your content to understand your site structure. This enables indexing of your content and ranking it.
Elements of site renderability include:
Server Performance
You should use a server that displays error-free web pages to users. Servers that show HTTP errors to users block search engines from indexing sites, hence reducing traffic.
Whenever your website develops HTTP errors, resolve them on time. Failure to do so may cause your web pages to be removed from the search engine indexes.
HTTPS Status
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HTTPS refers to HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). It is made up of a combination of HyperText Transfer Protocol and Secure Socket layer.
It is used to enhance secure communication by hindering hackers from accessing a website, which increases your site`s trustworthiness.
When people trust your site, it`s easy to convince them to perform your calls to action and increase conversions.
However, if your website uses only HTTP, it is marked as insecure, which makes people mistrust and avoid it, therefore, reducing traffic.
Websites Speed
Ensure that your website loads faster. A website that loads slowly puts off users and lowers its rank.
If your website loads faster, it increases the chances of people visiting and search engines crawling it.
Errors that can lower a website's speed include
- Huge image or video size
- Too many plugins
- Server errors
These errors may block the search engines from crawling your site.
You can use the Google Page Speed Insight Tool to check your site speed. It will show whether your site is slow and the reason for being slow so you can fix it.
Here is how to fix a slow-loading web page.
JavaScript Accessibility
JavaScript accessibility helps search engines understand your website structure and easily index your content.
You can enhance your JavaScript accessibility by implementing dynamic rendering as Google explains.
Orphan Pages
These are pages that are not internally linked to other pages. Internally linking pages helps users easily navigate through your content. That enables people to follow your links to find more information on related topics.
Linking your pages makes people stay for a long time on your site and enables search engine bots to easily crawl your site.
Search engines cannot understand and rank pages that aren`t interlinked to others on a site. Therefore, whenever you create a web page, ensure to link it to others to expose it to your audience and allow search engines to crawl it.
Check this resource for more on how to interlink your web pages and increase your website dwell time and conversions.
Page Depth
This refers to the number of layers there are in your website structure, eg., the number of links there are from your home page to your service page.
To enhance page depth, keep your important pages at the top so users can easily find them. Websites with too much page depth are unnavigable and difficult for search engines to crawl.
An example of a website that uses too much page depth is Myntra. It has so many subcategories within one category, making it difficult for users to find what they need.
Redirect Chains
This happens when there is more than one link that redirects to the destination. For example, one link redirects to another, which directs to the last resource link.
If not properly set, redirect chains can lower a webpage load time and slow crawling, which increases website inaccessibility.
To avoid complications, minimize redirect chains.
Ability to Be Ranked
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This involves enabling your site to appear on the top pages of the search results. This comprises applying the following steps:
Incorporate Internal and External Links
Internal linking enables content to be found through different pages on a site, while external linking helps a website to be accessed from third-party sites.
Human users follow these links to access your site, which signals search engines about the importance of your site. Besides, search engines also use these links to crawl and index your site and rank it.
Therefore, add relevant internal and external links to your website and enable it to be navigable.
However, interlink web pages with high traffic to display your site to many people to increase chances of getting traffic, and increase its rank.
Add Quality Backlinks
This is an off-page SEO practice, which entails acquiring links from third-party websites. Backlinks build brand awareness and authority. They indicate that your site is valuable.
However, find backlinks from relevant, authoritative sites with high traffic.
Getting backlinks from sites with low traffic indicates that you provide low-quality content as well.
Additionally, weak sites have low traffic and can`t expose your site to a big audience, which can reduce your site traffic.
When your site gets less traffic, search engines regard it as less valuable, and that lowers its rank.
To get backlinks, use methods like
- Sending Outreach
- Acquiring organic backlinks
- Guest posting
Here is more on how to conduct off-page SEO and find backlinks that can increase traffic and conversions to your website.
Utilize Content Clusters
Content clusters involve creating long in-depth content and breaking it into sections so users can find comprehensive information on one piece of content.
For example, you can create content about SEO and cover On-page, Off-page, Technical, and Local SEO. So, the main topic is SEO and the sub-topics covered are the topic clusters.
This type of content provides in-depth information to readers and keeps them on a page for a long time, which increases a website's dwell time—a factor that facilitates indexing.
This method helps prove your expertise on a topic and increases authority and traffic.
To make such content navigable, apply pagination so users can easily move through and search engines index it.
Ability to Be Clicked
For readers to click and read your content, it must entice them. And that` by showing how they can benefit from your content.
That`s how you can make your website clickable, and to facilitate that,
Use Structured Data
Structured data organizes and labels elements of a site for search engines to understand them. It helps the search bots interpret content so they can display the exact content searched.
For example, if you apply structured data to recipe content and someone searches for relevant content, it is displayed as such so people easily understand and be convinced to read and purchase.
Displaying clear results enables people to easily understand and be convinced to read and make purchases. It also enables search engines to rank websites and attract an audience with a high potential to make purchases.
Utilize Rich Snippets
Also called search engine results page (SERP) features, rich snippets refer to search engine results that display additional descriptive data. Rich snippets include videos and photos.
You can enable this by creating valuable content and using structured data to enable search engines to understand the elements of your site.
Content that appears in SERP features has a high click-through rate. Such content includes:
- Videos
- Articles
- Reviews
- Images
- Faqs
- Business Listings
Learn how to apply structured data here.
Get Featured Snippets
Featured snippets are brief descriptions that appear in Google search results to answer targeted queries. The main types of featured snippets are steps, definitions, tables, and lists.
Featured snippets increase the chances of getting more clicks even when your website doesn`t appear on the top pages of the search results.
Here are things to do to get featured snippets:
- Create content that answers question-based search queries
- Create a definition style of content.
- Create a step-by-step guide for solving a specific problem.
- Make your featured snippet 54-58 words long.
- Apply featured markup data and utilize your focus keywords.
- Organize your content with headings and paragraph tags.
Here is a comprehensive guide for getting featured snippets.
Aim to Appear in Google Discover
Google Discover is a mobile-related algorithm listing that displays valuable information relevant to the users. It matches information to the users based on their interests.
This algorithm feature keeps users` records of their regular searches and displays content that aligns with those search queries.
It`s not guaranteed to appear on Google Discover search results. However, creating content demonstrating expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness gives you more chances to appear in these search results.
Here is how you can create intent-focused content and attract readers.
FAQs
What Is the Importance of Technical SEO?
The importance of Technical SEO is to enable search engines to access your site and rank it high on the search results.
Technically optimizing your site makes it easy for search engines to crawl and index your site, avail it to the relevant audience, and boost traffic and conversions.
Apply Technical SEO and Raise Your Site Rank
No matter what an expert you may be in your specialty if you don`t apply Technical SEO, you can`t reach your target audience.
Technical SEO enables search engines to understand and avail your content to your potential clients.
Besides, it makes your website navigable, which helps build trustworthiness and attract more clients to your business.
If you are not a technical expert Technical SEO can be intimidating. However, it`s not as hard as it may sound.
All you need is to enhance your website's crawlability, indexability, renderability, rankability, and clickability, and your site rank will rise, and traffic increase.
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