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The Beginner’s Guide to Understanding Technical SEO

What Is Technical SEO

 

What Is Technical SEO?

 

Technical SEO refers to the optimisation of a website’s technical aspects to improve its visibility and performance in search engine rankings. It involves implementing various technical practices and optimisations to ensure that search engines like Google can crawl, index, and understand a website’s content effectively.

 

For long-term exposure and growth, optimising your website for technical SEO is a must. You need to provide users with a pleasant online experience whenever they visit your website.

 

Key Technical SEO Elements

 

Key Technical SEO Elements

 

1) Site architecture and URL structure

 

Organised site architecture and URL structure allow Google bots to crawl your website and take precedence over users. Organised content avoids competition and makes it easier for Google to determine the essential contents of your website.

 

A General Example Of A Site Map

 

Site Hierarchy

 

A website should have a proper site hierarchy, whether it has a few or many web pages. Creating a site map allows you to organise the web pages, and online users can navigate the website without a struggle, which enhances the user experience (UX).

 

URL Structure

 

Your website’s URL structure plays an essential role in SEO. An understandable URL structure makes it easier for online readers to comprehend the website before clicking on it. Additionally, search engines will better understand your website and rank it higher. As part of technical SEO, create a URL structure that is short, understandable, and can even incorporate keywords. Here’s an example:

 

Effective and Ineffective URL

 

ALSO READ: How Does User Experience (UX) Affect SEO?

 

2) Mobile Optimisation

 

Responsive Design

 

Responsive design enables your website to function across different platforms, including mobile phones, tablets, desktops, and laptops, which helps improve user experience. Users can access the website through various digital devices. Hence, it is user-friendly.

 

Part of getting SEO services in Singapore is to assess the website and ensure it is responsive design for a better user experience.

 

ALSO READ: 8 Benefits Of Responsive Website Design For SEO

 

Moreover, Google prioritises mobile-friendly websites, resulting in higher rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Additionally, responsive web design leads to more social media shares or engagement, helps avoid duplicate content, improves page speed, and provides a better customer experience.

 

Technical SEO Tools

 

Tools to Analyse Technical SEO

 

1) Google Search Console

 

What it’s for: Google Search Visibility and Ranking

 

Google Search Console is a free web service provided by Google that allows website owners to access important information. It provides features such as website monitoring, indexing and crawling, mobile usability, security issues, structured data and rich results, and the URL inspection tool.

 

By utilising Google Search Console, you can gain valuable insights to monitor your site’s performance. It also enables you to address issues and improve your technical SEO performance effectively.

 

2) Google Analytics

 

What it’s for: Website Traffic Monitoring

 

Google Analytics is a powerful web analytics tool provided by Google that helps you track and analyse website traffic and user behaviour. It provides valuable insights, including traffic analysis, user behaviour analysis, site speed analysis, landing page analysis, and conversion tracking.

 

Although Google Analytics doesn’t directly address technical SEO issues, it can offer valuable insights to enhance your SEO performance and optimise your website.

 

READ MORE: How To Set Up Conversion Tracking Goals In Google Analytics?

 

3) Google Page Speed Insights

Google Page Speed Insights is a web tool provided by Google that evaluates the performance and speed of a website. It analyses the content of a web page and provides suggestions to optimise its speed and improve user experience. While it may not directly affect the technical SEO performance of your website, it still provides valuable insights to identify areas that need improvement. When using Google PageSpeed Insights, you’ll gain insight into performance evaluation, mobile-friendliness, optimisation suggestions, diagnostic insights, and the impact on user experience.

 

Technical SEO Mistakes to Avoid

 

Technical SEO Mistakes to Avoid

 

1) Core Web Vitals

 

Core Web Vitals is Google’s strategy to improve the user experience (UX) of your website. It focuses on three vital elements: loading times, interactivity, and visual stability. All of these factors can impact SEO ranking and overall technical SEO performance.

 

Moreover, Core Web Vitals provides specific metrics to measure your website’s performance: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). By utilising this information, you can enhance your site’s performance and ranking, effectively reaching your target audience.

 

READ MORE: A Guide To Google Core Web Vitals

 

Site Speed And Performance

 

Since technical SEO focuses on the technical aspects of your website, you must also consider site speed and performance. Slow loading times can negatively impact user experience, causing impatience and higher bounce rates.

 

Technical SEO influences page speed through website crawlability, website architecture, page speed, and mobile responsiveness. If you’re unsure how to maximise your technical SEO, it’s advisable to partner with a professional SEO agency in Singapore.

 

ALSO READ: The Importance Of Regular Website Maintenance For Businesses

 

Page Load Time

 

Page load time is crucial for SEO effectiveness, and technical SEO is closely related to page speed. There are common issues to consider regarding page load time, including server response time, render-blocking resources, image compression and off-screen loading, JavaScript, and resource caching. If your business is facing these issues, seeking SEO services is the right choice to address them.

 

Image optimisation

 

Image optimisation is essential for technical SEO as it improves page loading speed, enhances user experience, aids mobile optimisation, optimises for image search, and promotes accessibility. To optimise images, you can reduce the file size and use descriptive alt tags for better search rankings.

 

ALSO READ: How To Optimise Your Images For Search Engines?

 

2) Duplicate content

 

Duplicate content is considered a technical SEO mistake as it can have detrimental effects on your website’s search engine rankings and overall visibility. It leads to search engine confusion, dilution of keywords, negative impact on user experience, dilution of backlinks, potential penalties, and drops in rankings.

 

To avoid this issue, it is crucial to focus on creating unique and original content that sets you apart from your competitors. Alternatively, you can seek the assistance of SEO services that specialise in content creation, ensuring that your website provides valuable and distinct information to users.

 

ALSO READ: 9 Digital Content Creation Tips That Work

3) Broken links

Broken links are hyperlinks that direct users to non-existent pages or display a “404 Not Found” error. They occur due to page deletions, content removals, URL changes, typos, or issues with external websites. Broken links pose technical SEO problems as they negatively affect user experience, diminish the credibility of your website, and result in missed opportunities for valuable backlinks.

 

404 error page example

 

To address these issues, it is advisable to partner with an SEO agency in Singapore that can implement solutions to avoid broken links and ensure a seamless user experience.

 

If you require assistance in resolving these technical SEO concerns, collaborating with an SEO agency will provide you with the necessary expertise and guidance to optimise your website effectively.

 

4) Missing Web Design For Mobile Use

 

Mobile optimisation in website development refers to ensuring that a website is designed and developed to provide a seamless and user-friendly experience on mobile devices. It involves implementing various technical SEO practices to improve the website’s visibility and search ranking in mobile search results.

 

Since 60.67% of the global web traffic comes from mobile devices, implementing web design for mobile use increases the chance of potential customers accessing your website. They can easily browse and read through your web pages without pinching the screen to see the content.

 

Conclusion:

 

When it comes to SEO services, remember to analyse both on-page and off-page aspects of your website. Doing so will give you a better understanding of how you can improve your online visibility. Focus on technical SEO services to increase your rankings in no time!

 

For more tips and tricks, contact OOm, our SEO agency in Singapore at +65 6391 0930.

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