In the ever-evolving landscape of search engine optimisation (SEO), technical SEO has increased in importance as a crucial aspect of website optimisation. While on-page and off-page factors play a significant role in improving search rankings, technical SEO serves as the foundation upon which all other SEO efforts are built. In this blog post, we will explore the importance of technical SEO and highlight the key aspects that every website should consider to achieve online success.
Technical SEO: The foundation of everything:
Technical SEO acts as the backbone of your website’s performance in search engines. It focuses on optimising the technical aspects of your site to improve its visibility, crawl-ability, and overall user experience. Without a solid technical foundation, even the most exceptional content and link building strategies may not yield the desired results.
The way we like to describe technical SEO is to imagine you are building a house, the foundations of the house are similar to what technical SEO best practices are to a website – without them, all of the great content (the walls of the house) will fall short of where they could potentially be in the SERPs.
By adhering to technical SEO best practices, you ensure that search engine crawlers can effectively understand and index your website’s content. This leads to increased organic traffic, better search engine rankings and enhanced user engagement.
Essential aspects of technical SEO for every website:
a)Website speed and performance: Fast-loading websites not only provide a better user experience but are also favoured by search engines. Optimising page load times, minimising server response times, and optimising images are vital for a smooth user experience and improved search rankings. This is in direct relation to mobile first indexing. Most people will visit your website on a mobile device, which means your website needs to be light enough to be downloaded via a cellular network.
b) Mobile-friendliness: With the rise in mobile device usage, having a mobile-friendly website is imperative. Ensuring responsive design, mobile-optimised content and intuitive navigation on smaller screens is essential for attracting and retaining mobile users, as well as improving search engine rankings.
c) Indexing and crawling: technical SEO ensures that search engine crawlers can efficiently access and understand your website’s content. This involves creating and submitting an XML sitemap, optimising robots.txt files, and utilising structured data markup to help search engines interpret your site’s content accurately.
d) URL Structure and Canonicalisation: Implementing clean and concise URLs, optimising URL structure, and using canonical tags prevent duplicate content issues and provide search engines with clear signals on the preferred versions of your webpages.
Website Structure and Internal Linking for Technical SEO:
An organised website structure and internal linking strategy are crucial for technical SEO purposes. By organising your content in a logical hierarchy and utilising internal links effectively, you can enhance crawl-ability, distribute link authority and improve user navigation. There is no reason to be overly complicated about your website’s structure.
A well-structured website allows search engine crawlers to discover and index your content more efficiently. Internal linking enables search engines to understand the relationships between different pages on your site, improving their ability to rank relevant content higher in search results.
Additionally, internal links provide users with a seamless browsing experience, allowing them to discover related content easily. This leads to increased user engagement, longer session durations, and a higher likelihood of conversions.
Building websites with technical and general SEO in mind:
When building a website, incorporating both technical and general SEO considerations from the beginning is essential. By doing so, you lay a solid foundation for long-term success in search rankings and user engagement.
Technical SEO best practices, such as optimising website speed, ensuring mobile-friendliness, and implementing clean URL structures, should be considered during the development phase. This proactive approach saves time and resources that would otherwise be spent on fixing technical issues later. Meta data is also extremely important to the website’s overall optimisation and rules for the structure of your title tags should be implemented along with the foundations of everything else.
Furthermore, integrating technical SEO with general SEO strategies, such as keyword research, content optimisation, and link building, ensures that your website is optimised holistically. This synergy maximises the impact of your SEO efforts and leads to improved organic visibility, increased traffic, and higher conversions.
Technical SEO serves as the bedrock of a successful website in today’s digital landscape. By optimising the technical aspects of your site, you create a solid foundation for improved search rankings, increased organic traffic, and enhanced user experiences. Remember to focus on website speed, mobile friendliness, indexing and crawling, and effective website structure and internal linking. By prioritising technical SEO alongside general SEO best practices, you set yourself up for online success and establish a competitive edge in the digital realm. Ensure this is a top priority during the build process of your website.
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