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What is Technical SEO?

Technical SEO is often a challenging aspect of many SEO strategies. It focuses on the crawlability and indexability of your website. Over the years, Google’s methods for crawling and indexing pages have evolved significantly. With the constant updates and innovations from Google, tackling technical SEO can be difficult without technical expertise. In fact, not all SEO specialists are equipped with the skills and knowledge required for effective technical SEO. At Ad Hornets, we’re here to guide you through the key themes and techniques, ensuring your website performs at its best!

A Commonly Overlooked Factor

Many websites, even those from large companies, neglect technical SEO or treat it as a one-time task. This oversight often leads to poor site speed and a negative user experience. Consistent attention to technical SEO improves site speed, enhances user experience, and optimizes your crawl budget, ensuring better crawlability and indexability for your pages.

The Foundation of a Successful Website

Starting with a strong technical foundation saves time, effort, and headaches down the road. Elements like site structure, URL design, and the main menu are best optimized early in the website development process to set your SEO strategy up for success.

Why is Technical SEO Important?

While content and link building remain essential pillars of SEO, technical SEO has become increasingly vital due to crawl and indexing issues faced by websites. Ensuring your website is crawler-friendly is key to boosting its performance and visibility.

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Grasping Technical SEO Insights

To truly master technical SEO, it’s important to understand key elements like sitemaps, robots.txt files, and 3xx or 4xx status codes. While knowing these terms is essential, applying them effectively is even more critical. For instance, if you’re unsure how to create a 301 redirect, it’s time to dive deeper into technical SEO practices!

Using SEO Tools Doesn’t Make You a Technical SEO Expert

While free tools may seem tempting, they often come with limitations. These tools provide basic insights but fail to identify deeper technical SEO issues. For example, many tools only check if a robots.txt file exists but don’t verify whether it’s properly configured. Misconfigured robots.txt files, such as excluding too many or too few pages, are a common oversight we frequently encounter.

Technical SEO Checklist

Simplify your technical SEO analysis with this checklist, organized by priority to ensure your website performs at its best.

1. Website Structure

A well-organized website structure helps Google prioritize and index your pages effectively. Use internal links strategically in the header menu to indicate page importance. Redirecting traffic to specific pages signals to Google their relevance, helping with ranking. Avoid orphan pages—those with no internal links—and ensure every page connects to your site’s overall structure.

2. Header Menu

The header menu is crucial for navigation and appears on every page. Follow these tips to optimize it:

  • Prioritize pages based on revenue, margins, and SEO importance (use keyword research insights).
  • Organize and display the most important pages logically in the header.
  • Use tools like Hotjar to test and improve the menu.
  • Seek feedback from trusted business partners.

Remember, too many links in the header dilute the value directed toward key pages. Keep it focused on high-priority pages to maximize link equity.

3. Footer

The footer is a useful area for linking to less critical but still important pages, such as the contact or about pages. Reserve the header for top-priority pages and use the footer for supplementary navigation.

4. Content

Internal links within your page content enhance user experience and indicate value to Google. Linking to other relevant pages not only keeps visitors engaged but also boosts the authority of those linked pages. Use this tactic to position your content as a comprehensive and valuable source of information.

By implementing these steps, you’ll ensure your website’s technical SEO is optimized for both search engines and user experience.

Optimizing Website Loading Speed

Improving your website’s loading speed is crucial for user experience and search engine rankings. Below are some common factors that may impact performance and tips to address them.

2. Redirect Chains

Redirect chains occur when multiple redirects exist between the original URL and the destination URL. These chains confuse search engines and reduce loading speed. Detect and resolve them using Screaming Frog:

  1. Go to the “Reports” tab and select “Redirects.”
  2. Click “Redirect Chains” to export a list.

Simplify chains by updating internal links and setting proper 301-redirects. Tools like Yoast’s premium version can automatically manage redirects when URLs are changed or pages are deleted.

1. Image Sizes

Large image files often slow down websites, but this issue is manageable with the right tools. Use tools like Screaming Frog to identify oversized images:

  1. Install Screaming Frog and enter your domain name.
  2. Click “Start” and let the scan complete.
  3. Navigate to the “Images” tab and check the ‘Size’ column for large images.
  4. Export the results for analysis.

Once identified, compress or resize images using free tools available online to improve load times.

3. Hosting

Your hosting service significantly affects loading speed. Consider the following factors:

  • Server Location: For international websites, server proximity to users is crucial. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to optimize global delivery.
  • Resources: Ensure sufficient CPU (processing power) and RAM (memory) to handle your site’s demands. Upgrade your hosting plan if your website is slow, especially during high traffic periods.

By addressing these areas, you can significantl

SEO and CSS/JavaScript Optimization

Websites rely on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for functionality and design. However, improper use of these elements can harm your SEO efforts. Here’s a concise guide to address key issues:

1. Unnecessary CSS

CSS ensures your website’s layout is user-friendly, but excessive CSS—common in poorly designed themes or page builders—can slow down performance. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify redundant CSS. Avoid unnecessary modifications if you lack development expertise, and opt for streamlined themes and page builders.

2. Unnecessary JavaScript

JavaScript enhances interactivity but can hinder SEO if mismanaged. Google struggles to interpret JavaScript, so:

  • Ensure key HTML elements are present in the source code.
  • Create accessible header menus for crawlers.
  • Use lazy-loading for JavaScript elements.
  • Leverage inline JavaScript.

3. Responsive Design

Mobile-friendly websites are critical for SEO. Google prioritizes responsive designs in its ranking algorithms. Many website builders, like WordPress, include responsive features. If issues arise, tools like Google Search Console can help detect and resolve them.

4. Avoid Duplicate Content

Duplicate content reduces SEO value. To prevent internal duplication:

  • Assign unique keywords to each page.
  • Use 301 redirects for redundant pages.
  • Optimize canonical tags.
  • Perform keyword research and link-building.

Use tools like Siteliner or Screaming Frog to detect duplicate content. Address conflicts by consolidating pages and ensuring clear URL structures.

By refining CSS, JavaScript, responsive design, and content strategies, you’ll enhance your website’s technical SEO and improve its performance.

Creating a Technical SEO Scan: A Step-by-Step Guide

Ready to get started with a technical SEO analysis? Here’s a streamlined guide to help you make the most of your efforts:

Step 1: Choose the Right Tools

Using effective tools is key for a technical SEO scan. Here are our top recommendations:

  • Screaming Frog:
    This powerful tool generates in-depth SEO data, such as redirect chains and orphan pages, but requires expertise to interpret. A free version works for websites with up to 500 URLs, but for larger sites, consider the paid version (€185/year) for more comprehensive insights.

  • Siteliner:
    Ideal for identifying internal duplicate content. Simply input a URL to get a detailed report highlighting duplicate issues and their corresponding pages.

  • Google Search Console:
    Analyze site performance and uncover issues like LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), FID (First Input Delay), and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift).

  • PageSpeed Insights:
    Enter your website URL to receive recommendations for improving page speed and addressing LCP, FID, and CLS.

Step 2: Conduct the Audit

Create a checklist of critical technical SEO elements to review, such as:

  • Footer
  • In-content links
  • Image size
  • Redirect chains
  • Hosting
  • CSS and JavaScript usage
  • Responsive design
  • Duplicate content
  • 301 redirects
  • 404 error pages
  • Canonical tags
  • Sitemaps
  • Robots.txt files
  • Hreflang attributes

Step 3: Highlight Priorities and Plan

After completing the audit, identify and prioritize areas for improvement. Since many technical SEO elements are interconnected (e.g., fixing duplicate content may require updating 301 redirects and internal links), create a clear schedule and assign tasks to specific team members to streamline the process.

Step 4: Resolve Technical Issues

Work closely with your web developer to fix the identified issues, emphasizing why these updates matter. Benefits include:

  • Improved crawl frequency by Google.
  • Faster indexing of new pages.
  • Enhanced user experience.

With these steps, Ad Hornets ensures your website’s technical foundation supports both performance and growth!

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