Search engine optimization (SEO) can seem mystifying at first glance. Behind the scenes, search engines use complex algorithms and machine learning to rank websites. While the details are complicated, improving technical SEO really comes down to understanding some core web development best practices.
For hands-on help auditing and optimizing your website’s technical SEO, get in touch with Small Biz Web Design Studio. Properly optimizing these aspects mentioned below provides the search bots with clear signals to understand your content and rank you higher in the SERPs. Let’s explore each area:
Optimize Site Architecture
A clear, logical website architecture makes it easier for search bots to crawl and categorize content. Some best practices include:
- Simplify main navigation – Avoid convoluted menus deeply nested sub-categories. Keep main nav links to core content areas.
- Set up a sitemap – A sitemap helps search bots index all your pages more efficiently. Use an XML sitemap file and submit it to Google Search Console.
- Consistent URL structures – Use descriptive keywords in slugs, and consistent patterns for category, content type and date-based pages.
- Limit large pages – Long pages with extensive text and media can be hard to crawl. Split up into continued pages if needed.
- Minimize dynamically generated pages – Too many combinations of date, tags, filters etc can bloat indexing. Reign in the permutations.
Optimize Page Speed
Faster page load times improve user experience and help search ranking. Test site speed and optimize areas like:
- Image compression
- Caching
- Minifying code
- Optimizing web fonts
- Asynchronous loading
- Reducing redirects
Aim for load times under 3 seconds on mobile. Use tools like Lighthouse or WebPageTest to measure and address bottlenecks.
Optimize For Mobile
With over 60% of searches now on mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly site is mandatory. Ensure:
- Responsive design
- Legible text scaling
- Tap-friendly links and buttons
- Page speed on cellular networks
- Accelerated mobile pages (AMP)
Google Search Console and Lighthouse can help spot mobile UX issues. Stay on top of latest best practices as mobile tech evolves.
Implement Security Protocols
Security signals like HTTPS and DNSSEC help establish trust and authority.
- Upgrade sites to HTTPS – Obtain an SSL certificate and switch to the secure HTTPS protocol. This also provides SEO benefits like better indexing and ranking.
- Enable DNSSEC – Thiscryptographic protocol verifies DNS records and prevents hijacking/manipulation. It assures search bots your site is authentic.
- Remove insecure elements – Eliminate mixed content errors, insecure texts, downgrades from HTTPS etc.
Avoid Duplicate Content Penalties
Having the same or very similar content published on multiple URLs gets flagged as duplicate content. Avoid this by:
- Using canonical tags to point to the single source of truth URL.
- Having a consolidation strategy for retired pages that merge content to one updated URL.
- For common templates, varying details like images, examples and commentary.
- Offering unique value proposition on each page – not purely duplicated blurb.
Fix Broken Links and 404s
Broken links ruin user experience and indicate neglect.
- Run link checkers regularly to spot broken links and fix or remove them.
- For removed pages, set up proper 301 redirects to relevant active pages.
- Customize 404 error pages with user-friendly messages and navigation.
- Remove links to 404s from site menus, internal links etc proactively.
Optimize Title Tags and Metadata
Optimized title tags and metadata improve click-through rates from SERPs.
- Title tags – Include primary keyword early, keep under 60 characters.
- Meta description – Accurately summarize content in under 160 characters – highlight value proposition.
- Alt text – Use descriptive text for images to aid visually impaired and SEO.
- H1, H2 tags – Highlight titles and structure content hierarchy.
- Schema markup – Can enhance SERP display as mentioned above.
Conclusion
Technical SEO certainly involves some complex factors under the hood. But you can make significant progress by following core web development best practices and optimizing your on-page elements. Focus on speed, mobile UX, security, duplication, broken links, metadata and structured data. With diligent improvement across these fronts, you can demystify technical SEO and expect to see positive results.
