Technical SEO plays a critical role in ensuring your website is accessible, crawlable, and indexable by search engines like Google. Without a solid technical foundation, even the best content and backlinks may struggle to rank well.
This guide covers the top technical SEO fixes you can implement to boost your website’s performance and rankings.
1. Conduct a Comprehensive Website Audit
Before diving into fixes, it’s essential to assess your site’s current technical health.
How to perform a website audit:
- Use tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, or SEMrush.
- Check for crawl errors, broken links, duplicate content, and site speed issues.
- Prioritize high-impact fixes that can improve user experience and search visibility.
Regular audits help identify and address potential technical issues proactively.
2. Fix Crawl Errors
Crawl errors occur when search engine bots can’t access specific pages on your site. These issues can harm your SEO by preventing critical content from being indexed.
How to fix crawl errors:
- Check Google Search Console: Navigate to the Coverage report to identify errors.
- Resolve 404 errors by redirecting broken links to relevant pages using 301 redirects.
- Fix server errors (5xx) by ensuring your server is stable and has sufficient resources.
- Update your robots.txt file to ensure important pages are crawlable.
3. Optimize Site Speed
Page speed is a confirmed ranking factor, and slow-loading pages can lead to higher bounce rates and lower rankings.
Steps to improve site speed:
- Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to analyze load times.
- Compress images using tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim.
- Enable browser caching and use Content Delivery Networks (CDNs).
- Minimize CSS, JavaScript, and HTML using tools like WP Rocket or Minify.
Fast websites enhance user experience and boost search engine rankings.
4. Implement HTTPS
Security is a priority for search engines and users. An HTTPS-enabled website ensures secure communication, which is now a must-have for ranking well.
How to switch to HTTPS:
- Purchase an SSL certificate from your hosting provider.
- Update all internal links to use HTTPS instead of HTTP.
- Redirect HTTP pages to their HTTPS counterparts using 301 redirects.
- Test your site for mixed content errors (HTTP elements on HTTPS pages).
Search engines favor HTTPS websites and label HTTP sites as “Not Secure,” which can deter visitors.
5. Ensure Mobile-Friendliness
With Google’s mobile-first indexing, the mobile version of your website is now the primary version used for ranking.
How to check mobile-friendliness:
- Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to evaluate your site.
- Adopt a responsive design that adjusts to different screen sizes.
- Avoid intrusive interstitials (pop-ups) that hinder mobile usability.
- Test your site’s navigation and loading speed on mobile devices.
A mobile-friendly website improves user experience and ensures better rankings.
6. Fix Duplicate Content Issues
Duplicate content confuses search engines and dilutes your website’s authority, leading to poor rankings.
How to address duplicate content:
- Use canonical tags (
rel="canonical") to specify the preferred version of a page. - Redirect duplicate pages to the original using 301 redirects.
- Consolidate similar content into a single comprehensive page.
- Use tools like Siteliner or Copyscape to identify duplicate content issues.
7. Optimize Your XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap helps search engines discover and index your site’s pages.
Best practices for XML sitemaps:
- Include only canonical URLs in your sitemap.
- Ensure your sitemap is updated automatically when new pages are added.
- Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Limit the number of URLs in your sitemap to 50,000 or less.
A clean, well-structured sitemap ensures better crawlability and indexing.
8. Fix Broken Links
Broken links create a poor user experience and waste crawl budget.
How to find and fix broken links:
- Use tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to identify broken internal and external links.
- Update or remove broken links.
- Replace outdated external links with newer, relevant sources.
- Set up 404 pages to guide users if a link cannot be fixed.
9. Optimize Structured Data (Schema Markup)
Schema markup provides search engines with additional context about your content, enhancing how your pages appear in search results.
How to use schema markup:
- Add schema for articles, FAQs, products, reviews, or events.
- Use Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper or JSON-LD format for implementation.
- Test your structured data using Google’s Rich Results Test tool.
Rich snippets from structured data can increase click-through rates and rankings.
10. Improve Internal Linking
Internal linking helps search engines understand your site structure and passes link equity between pages.
Tips for effective internal linking:
- Use descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text.
- Link to high-priority pages from your homepage or key articles.
- Avoid overusing the same anchor text repeatedly.
- Regularly audit your internal links to fix broken or irrelevant ones.
A strong internal linking structure improves navigation and ranking potential.
11. Address Indexing Issues
If your pages aren’t indexed, they won’t appear in search results.
How to fix indexing problems:
- Use the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console to check if pages are indexed.
- Remove “noindex” tags from pages you want to rank.
- Avoid “crawl budget” wastage by excluding unnecessary pages (e.g., thank-you pages) using robots.txt.
- Ensure your website isn’t blocked by search engine crawlers.
12. Use a Clean URL Structure
A clean, user-friendly URL structure improves both SEO and user experience.
Best practices for URLs:
- Keep URLs short and descriptive.
- Include target keywords in your URLs.
- Use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) to separate words.
- Avoid using special characters or dynamic parameters when possible.
13. Leverage Google Search Console and Analytics
Google’s free tools offer invaluable insights to monitor your website’s technical health.
Key tasks:
- Identify pages with poor performance or high bounce rates.
- Analyze crawl stats to understand how Google views your site.
- Monitor Core Web Vitals for speed and usability metrics.
These insights help you fine-tune your technical SEO efforts.
Final Thoughts
Technical SEO is the backbone of a well-optimized website. By addressing crawl errors, improving site speed, ensuring mobile-friendliness, and implementing structured data, you can create a strong foundation for higher rankings and better user experience.
Invest time and resources into regular audits and continuous improvements. Remember, a technically sound website not only ranks higher but also keeps visitors engaged and coming back for more.
