Welcome to this guide on technical SEO, brought to you by Sitecrafter. In this guide, we’ll explain why technical SEO is essential for your business and provide a step-by-step approach to identifying and fixing common technical SEO issues using free tools.
Why Technical SEO is Important
Technical SEO refers to the process of optimising your website’s infrastructure so search engines can crawl and index it more effectively. Good technical SEO ensures that:
- Your site loads quickly.
- It’s mobile-friendly.
- It has a secure connection (HTTPS).
- Search engines can easily find and understand its content.
These factors not only improve your search engine rankings but also enhance user experience, leading to higher engagement and conversions.
Components of Technical SEO
- Website Speed
- Mobile-Friendliness
- Secure Connection (HTTPS)
- Crawlability
- Indexability
- Structured Data
Steps to Identify and Fix Technical SEO Issues
1. Website Speed
Identify Issues:
- Use Google PageSpeed Insights to analyse your website’s speed.
Fix Issues:
- Compress images using tools like TinyPNG.
- Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML using Minifier.org.
- Leverage browser caching by adding expiration headers.
2. Mobile-Friendliness
Identify Issues:
- Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check if your site is mobile-friendly.
Fix Issues:
- Use responsive design techniques.
- Ensure buttons and links are easy to click on mobile devices.
- Avoid using Flash.
3. Secure Connection (HTTPS)
Identify Issues:
- Check if your site uses HTTPS by looking at the URL in the browser.
Fix Issues:
- Obtain an SSL certificate from a provider like Let’s Encrypt (free) or purchase one from your hosting provider.
- Update internal links from HTTP to HTTPS.
4. Crawlability
Identify Issues:
- Use Google Search Console to see if Google can crawl your site.
Fix Issues:
- Create and submit a sitemap through Google Search Console.
- Check for ‘robots.txt’ file issues that might block crawlers.
5. Indexability
Identify Issues:
- Use Google Search Console to check which pages are indexed.
Fix Issues:
- Ensure important pages are not marked with “noindex” tags.
- Use canonical tags to avoid duplicate content issues.
6. Structured Data
Identify Issues:
Fix Issues:
- Add structured data markup (Schema.org) relevant to your business type.
- Use plugins like Yoast SEO for WordPress which often have built-in support for structured data.
Summary
In this guide, you’ve learned about the importance of technical SEO and its key components: website speed, mobile-friendliness, secure connection (HTTPS), crawlability, indexability, and structured data. By following the steps outlined here and utilising free tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights, Google Mobile-Friendly Test, Google Search Console, TinyPNG, Minifier.org, Let’s Encrypt, and Schema Markup Validator, you can identify and fix common technical SEO issues that may be holding back your website’s performance.
Remember, this is just one part of a comprehensive SEO strategy. Stay tuned for our next guide where we’ll cover on-page and off-page SEO strategies tailored specifically for small businesses in the UK.
Thank you for choosing SiteCrafter as your partner in digital success!