Receive A Technical SEO Audit
Technical SEO involves optimizing the behind-the-scenes aspects of your website, such as site speed, crawlability, and code structure. It ensures that search engines can access, understand, and rank your site effectively.
Technical SEO is crucial because it directly impacts your site’s visibility on search engines, improving rankings, user experience, and ultimately, driving organic traffic and conversions.
To achieve this, it’s essential to address the following aspects of technical SEO:
Crawl Errors
Crawl errors occur when search engine bots, such as Google’s web crawlers, encounter issues while indexing your website. These errors can hinder your site’s visibility on SERPs.
Common crawl errors include
404 Errors: These occur when a page on your website is not found. To address this issue, ensure that all internal and external links are up to date and that pages are correctly redirected.
Server Errors (5xx): Server errors indicate that your website’s server is having issues, preventing search engines from accessing your site. Ensure your hosting infrastructure is stable and responsive.
Redirect Chains: When a URL redirects to another URL, which in turn redirects to another, it creates a redirect chain. Limit these chains to improve crawl efficiency.
Regularly monitor your website’s crawl errors in Google Search Console or similar tools to identify and fix these issues promptly.
Mobile Friendliness
Mobile friendliness is a critical factor in SEO, given the increasing use of smartphones for online browsing. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in its rankings. Ensure your website meets the following mobile-friendly criteria:
Responsive Design: Your website should adapt seamlessly to various screen sizes and orientations.
Fast Loading Speed: Optimize images and use efficient coding practices to ensure quick page loading on mobile devices.
Readable Text and Tappable Elements: Fonts should be legible, and buttons or links should be easily tappable on smaller screens.
Mobile-Friendly Navigation: Simplify your website’s navigation menu for mobile users.
Fixing Broken Links (Internal And External)
Broken links can negatively impact user experience and SEO. They lead to 404 errors, frustrating visitors and diminishing your site’s credibility. To fix broken links
Regularly Audit Links: Use tools like Google Analytics or third-party crawlers to identify broken links on your site.
Update or Remove Broken Links: Replace broken internal links with the correct URLs or remove them altogether. For external links, reach out to the website owner to request corrections.
301 Redirects: When changing URLs, set up 301 redirects to ensure a seamless user experience and maintain SEO value.
HTTPS Security
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is an encryption protocol that ensures secure data transfer between your website and users’ browsers. Google considers HTTPS a ranking factor and labels non-secure websites as such in the Chrome browser. To enhance your website’s security and SEO:
SSL Certificate
Install an SSL certificate to enable HTTPS on your site. Many hosting providers offer free SSL certificates.
Update Internal Links: Ensure all internal links use the HTTPS protocol to prevent mixed content issues.
Monitor for Security Threats: Regularly scan for malware or vulnerabilities to protect your site and user data.
Improving Content Quality
Quality content is the cornerstone of a successful website and a crucial element of SEO. To enhance your website’s SEO, it’s imperative to address plagiarized, duplicate, and thin content issues:
Plagiarized Content: Plagiarism can severely damage your website’s credibility and rankings. Always create original content or properly attribute and cite sources when using others’ work. Plagiarism detection tools can help identify and rectify any instances of copied content.
Duplicate Content: Duplicate content, whether within your site or across multiple sites, can confuse search engines and lead to lower rankings. Use canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of a page when similar content appears in multiple places on your site. Additionally, regularly check for and consolidate or rewrite duplicate content.
Thin Content: Thin content refers to pages with very little substantive content, often found in doorway pages, affiliate sites, or pages with minimal value. Google prefers websites with valuable, comprehensive, and informative content. Identify thin content pages and either beef them up with more relevant information or consider removing them.
Site URL Structure – Permalink
A well-structured URL, often referred to as a permalink, can significantly impact SEO and user experience. Follow these best practices:
Descriptive and Readable URLs: Use URLs that are easy to understand and describe the content of the page. Avoid cryptic or lengthy strings of numbers and symbols.
Keyword Inclusion: Include relevant keywords in your URLs, but don’t overdo it. Keep URLs concise and focused on the page’s primary topic.
Hyphens or Underscores: Use hyphens (-) to separate words in URLs, as search engines interpret hyphens as word separators more accurately than underscores (_).
Consistency: Maintain a consistent URL structure across your site to help both users and search engines navigate and understand your website’s hierarchy.
Enhanced XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap is a blueprint of your website that helps search engines index and understand your site’s structure. To optimize your XML sitemap:
Include All Important Pages: Ensure that your XML sitemap contains URLs for all essential pages on your website, including updated URLs after any structural changes.
Priority and Frequency: Assign priority and change frequency attributes to indicate the importance and update frequency of each page. This helps search engines prioritize crawling.
Submit to Search Engines: Submit your XML sitemap to major search engines like Google and Bing through their respective webmaster tools to facilitate indexing.
Optimized Robots.Txt File
A robots.txt file instructs search engine crawlers on which parts of your website to crawl and which to exclude. To optimize your robots.txt file:
Use Disallow Wisely: Only use the “Disallow” directive for pages or sections that you don’t want indexed. Be cautious not to inadvertently block important content.
Test with Google’s Robots.txt Tester: Google provides a tool in its Search Console that allows you to test your robots.txt file to ensure it’s configured correctly.
Regular Updates: Periodically review and update your robots.txt file as your site’s structure evolves.
Structured Data Or Schema Markup
Structured data, also known as schema markup, is a powerful tool for providing context to search engines and enhancing the visibility of your content in search results. To implement structured data:
Identify Opportunities: Determine which types of structured data are relevant to your content, such as articles, products, reviews, or events.
Implement Markup: Add structured data markup to your HTML code according to the guidelines provided by Schema.org. Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper can assist in generating structured data code.
Test and Monitor: Use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to validate your markup and ensure it appears correctly in search results. Regularly monitor and update your structured data as needed.
Bottom Line
Technical SEO enhances site user experience and performance by ensuring that the website loads quickly, has clean and accessible navigation, and functions seamlessly across devices. Optimized code and site structure make it easier for search engines to index and rank content, leading to higher visibility.
This improved visibility attracts more organic traffic, while faster load times reduce bounce rates, keeping users engaged. Ultimately, technical SEO fosters a user-friendly, efficient, and reliable online environment, which positively impacts user satisfaction, retention, and overall website performance.
Why Us?
We possess the expertise and specialized tools necessary to uncover and address critical issues that may be inhibiting your website’s performance in search engine results.
By conducting a thorough examination of your website’s technical infrastructure, including factors such as site speed, mobile-friendliness, crawlability, indexability, and structured data implementation, we can identify opportunities for optimization that will enhance your website’s visibility and ranking potential.
Our agency’s proven track record of success in improving organic search traffic and maximizing ROI for our clients demonstrates our commitment to delivering tangible results.