What is Technical SEO?
Technical SEO is the practice of improving the technical aspects of a website to increase its rankings on search engine results pages. These improvements are typically made to your server, website code, domain host, and content delivery network (CDN).
Technical SEO makes it easier for search engine bots to find, crawl, and index your content. It also makes it easier for visitors to access your site and interact with your content.
Importance of Technical SEO
Technical SEO directly impacts a site’s crawlability, indexability, and rankability. An improperly optimized site may not be crawled or indexed. Even if it is, it may be done efficiently, which will affect its rankings on search results pages.
Visitors to poorly optimized sites will typically end up with a poor user experience. This could lead to a loss of conversions and sales for the site. It will also increase the Absprungrate as visitors leave the site frustrated. Such visitors are less likely to return and, in cases where they recognize the site, are less likely to click on it on search results pages.
In contrast, sites with good technical SEO create a seamless experience for search engine crawlers and visitors. This allows search engines to crawl and index the sites properly. Visitors will also likely remain on such sites to explore their content and complete desired actions, such as purchasing or signing up for a newsletter.
Technical SEO vs. On-Page SEO vs. Off-Page SEO
Technical SEO is one of the three major types of SEO. The other two are on-page and off-page SEO. Bloggers typically implement all three together to provide visitors with a great user experience and ensure search engines can crawl and index their content.
1 Technisches SEO
Technical SEO focuses on the technical aspects of a site. It ensures that visitors and search engines can efficiently access the site and its content without issues. Technical SEO is often out of the expertise of writers and content creators and is typically handled by webmasters and developers.
2 On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing a site’s content to ensure it is helpful to visitors and understandable to search engines. Creating great content, using internal und external links, and using appropriate header tags und structured data are examples of on-page SEO. On-page SEO is typically handed by writers experienced in SEO.
3 Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO refers to the actions taken outside of a website to improve its rankings on search results pages. Off-page SEO typically includes link building, social media marketing, and brand mentions. It is handled by SEOs and writers, though large sites may delegate it to dedicated outreach specialists.
Technical SEO Best Practices
Technical SEO requires you to modify and optimize multiple systems. You can refer to this guide on improving your technical SEO. Implement them along with these technical SEO best practices to ensure your site is crawled, indexed, and ranks on search results pages.
1 Optimize Your Page Load Speed
Your site must load fast. A slow-loading site will frustrate visitors and cause them to leave the site in frustration. This will increase your bounce rate and could hurt your user experience. So, make sure your site is never slow to load. You can refer to this guide on optimizing your site for speed.
2 Ensure Your Site is Mobile-Friendly
You will likely have more mobile visitors than desktop. So, ensure your site is accessible and friendly to mobile users. The content should automatically adjust to the visitor’s viewport, and the font size, buttons, and other elements should also optimized for mobile. You can refer to this guide on optimizing your site for mobile.
3 Use HTTPS Instead of HTTP
HTTPS encrypts the data exchanged between the visitor’s browser and your server. It is a ranking factor, and search engines like Google prefer it over the HTTP version of the site. Many search engines even display a warning when visitors try to access non-HTTPS sites. So, make sure your site uses HTTPS instead of HTTP.
4 Optimize Your Core Web Vitals
Die Kern-Web-Vitals are a set of metrics that Google uses to determine how visitors experience your site. It is one of the multiple signals and metrics that Google uses to determine your page experience, which is a ranking factor.
So, monitor your Core Web Vitals and optimize your site for it. This will typically result in a better user experience for your visitors and higher rankings on search results pages. You can refer to this guide on optimizing your site for Core Web Vitals.
5 Create and Submit an XML Sitemap
Die XML sitemap provides search engines with the URLs of the important pages on your site. Search engines use this to discover your content and understand your site’s structure and hierarchy.
So, create one, upload it to your site, and submit it to search engines. You can refer to this guide on configuring your sitemap using Rank Math.
6 Include Structured Data Markup
Structured data provides search engines with additional information about your content. This helps search engines understand the context and content of your webpages. Google also requires you to include structured data in the content you want it to display as a rich result.
So, make sure to include relevant Schema structured data in your content. You can refer to this guide on adding Schema markup to your site.
7 Fix Broken Links and 404 Errors
Broken links und 404 Not Found errors negatively impact your visitor’s user experience and can harm your site’s SEO performance. To avoid that, audit your site regularly to identify broken links and 404 errors.
Once done, fix them so visitors and search engines can seamlessly navigate your site. Refer to this guide on fixing 404 errors.
8 Use a Clear Website Architecture
A clear and logical site architecture helps users and search engines to navigate your website efficiently. It also allows them to understand the hierarchy and relationship between multiple pages on your site. So, use a clear architecture with properly labeled categories, tags, and subcategories.
9 Use Clean and Descriptive URLs
Use a clean URL structure that provides visitors and search engines with the context of the content on the page. They should be able to evaluate the content on the URL even without visiting it. The URLs should also include relevant Schlüsselwörter and should not be excessively long.
10 Optimize Your Images
Improperly optimized images can significantly increase a webpage’s page speed. So, make sure to resize and compress your images when necessary.
You should also use the correct file formats and utilize responsive images to improve your loading time and the user experience. You can refer to this guide on optimizing your images for SEO.
11 Upload a robots.txt File
EIN robots.txt file specifies which areas of a website should be crawled by search engine bots and which areas should be excluded. Many search engine crawlers look out for it when they arrive at a site, so upload one and include rules that ensure search engines only crawl your important pages. You can refer to this guide on editing your robots.txt files.
12 Use Canonical Tags to Prevent Duplicate Content
Duplicate pages can dilute your link equity und Seitenrang. To prevent such a problem, specify the canonical URL when you have a group of duplicate pages. That way, search engines can identify your most preferred webpage, which reduces the chances of duplicate content diluting your ranking signals.