15 Technical SEO issues you didn’t know were affecting your site
If you’re a webmaster, you know the importance of SEO. But did you know that there are a number of technical issues that can affect your site’s ranking? In this article, we’ll discuss 15 of these issues and how to fix them.
What are Technical SEO issues?
When it comes to SEO, there is more to it than just the content on your website. Technical SEO is just as important, if not more so, in order to ensure that your site is visible and easily accessible to search engines. Here are 15 technical SEO issues that you may not be aware of that could be affecting your site’s ranking:
1. Crawling and indexing
When it comes to SEO, one of the most important aspects is crawling and indexing. This is what allows search engines to find and rank your website. Unfortunately, there are a number of things that can go wrong with this process.
For example, if your website is not well-linked, it can be difficult for search engines to find and crawl all of your pages. This can lead to lower rankings and less traffic. Additionally, if your website takes too long to load, search engines may give up on trying to index it entirely. This means that even if you do have great content, you could still be missing out on potential traffic.
Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to improve your website’s crawling and indexing. First, make sure that all of your pages are well-linked together.
2. Site speed and performance
As a website owner, you’re probably well aware that site speed and performance are important factors in the success of your business. However, what you may not know is that there are a number of other factors that can affect your site’s speed and performance.
Your hosting provider: If you’re using a shared hosting provider, your site’s speed and performance will be affected by the other sites on the same server. Consider upgrading to a VPS or dedicated server for better results.
Your content management system: If you’re using a CMS like WordPress, Drupal or Joomla, your site’s speed and performance will be affected by the quality of the code as well as the number and size of the plugins you’re using. Choose wisely and keep your site lean for best results.
3. Mobile optimization
As more and more people use mobile devices to access the internet, it’s important to make sure your website is optimized for these users. Mobile optimization includes making sure your site loads quickly on all devices, has a user-friendly design, and is easy to navigate. If you’re not sure how to make your site mobile-friendly, there are a number of resources available to help you get started.
4. Duplicate content
One of the most common issues affecting websites is duplicate content. This can be caused by a variety of factors, including incorrect setting up of the website’s CMS, copied content from other sources, or even user-generated content.
Duplicate content can have a negative effect on a website’s search engine rankings, as it can be seen as spam by the search engines. It can also cause problems with users, as they may be presented with the same content multiple times when they are trying to find something specific.
There are a few ways to combat duplicate content, such as using canonical tags or setting up 301 redirects. However, the best way to avoid it in the first place is to make sure that your website’s CMS is set up correctly, and that all content is original and unique.
5. Meta data and titles
If you’re not paying attention to your website’s meta data, you could be missing out on crucial information that could help your site rank higher in search engine results pages. Meta data includes things like page titles, descriptions, and keywords – all of which can help your site show up in relevant searches.
Page titles are one of the most important pieces of meta data, as they tell search engines what your page is about. Make sure your titles are descriptive and include the main keyword for the page. Page descriptions are another important piece of meta data, as they give users a brief overview of what they can expect to find on your page. Again, make sure these are descriptive and include relevant keywords.
Finally, keywords are essential for helping search engines understand what your page is about.
6. Structured data
Search engines reward sites that are well organized and easy to read. One way to make your site more search engine friendly is to use structured data. Structured data is a system of organizing information so that search engines can easily read and understand it.
Using structured data can help your site appear in rich snippets, which are short summaries of your content that appear in search results. Rich snippets can increase your click-through rate, which is the number of people who click on your result in the search results page.
Structured data can also help you get featured in Google’s Knowledge Graph, which is a collection of information about real-world entities. Being featured in the Knowledge Graph can increase your visibility and traffic.
If you’re not using structured data on your site, you’re missing out on an opportunity to improve your SEO.
7. Security
Security is an important aspect of any website. There are many potential security risks that can affect a website, including hacking, malware, and phishing. These risks can jeopardize the safety of a website’s users and the website itself. To protect against these risks, it is important to implement strong security measures. This includes both technical measures, such as ensuring that all software is up to date, and non-technical measures, such as educating users about how to spot phishing attempts. By taking these precautions, you can help keep your website safe from security threats.
8. Internationalization
If you’re expanding your business internationally, it’s important to take your website’s SEO into account. You need to ensure that your website is accessible and visible to people in different countries and that it appears in the right language for them. This process is known as internationalization.
There are a few things you need to keep in mind when internationalizing your website. Firstly, you need to choose the right domain name. If you want people in different countries to be able to find your site, you need to have a country-specific domain name, or a generic top-level domain that’s appropriate for multiple countries. You also need to make sure that your site’s content is written in the right language for your target audience.
9. Accessibility
As the world increasingly turns to the internet for news, entertainment, and general information, it’s more important than ever that website content is accessible to as many people as possible. Unfortunately, many websites are not designed with accessibility in mind, and as a result, they exclude a significant portion of the population.
There are a number of different disabilities that can make using the internet difficult or even impossible for some people. For example, those who are blind or have low vision may not be able to see the content on a website. Those who are deaf or hard of hearing may not be able to hear audio content. And those with cognitive disabilities may have difficulty understanding complex text or navigating website menus.
Making your website accessible is not only the right thing to do, but it’s also good for business.
10. Canonical tags
As a website owner, you want to make sure that your site is accessible to search engines and that your content can be easily found. This is where canonical tags come in.
Canonical tags are HTML elements that help search engines understand which version of a page to index. They also help to prevent duplicate content issues.
Duplicate content can occur when there are multiple versions of a page on your site (for example, if you have both www and non-www versions of your site). This can cause problems for search engines, as they may not be able to determine which version is the most relevant.
Canonical tags help to solve this problem by telling search engines which version of the page is the original or “canonical” version.
11. Redirects
A redirect is a way to send both users and search engines to a different URL from the one they originally requested. There are several types of redirects, each with its own benefits and drawbacks.
The most common type of redirect is the 301 redirect, which is used to permanently redirect one URL to another. 301 redirects are often used when a website’s URL has been changed, or when a page has been moved to a new location.
302 redirects are used for temporary changes, and are often employed when a website is undergoing maintenance or undergoing updates. Search engines will typically index the original URL, rather than the redirected URL.
Meta refresh tags are a type of redirect that is not commonly used due to its poor user experience. Meta refresh tags instruct the browser to automatically refresh the page after a certain amount of time, or display a different page altogether.
12. Site architecture
Site architecture is a critical element of any website design and can have a significant impact on search engine optimization (SEO). A well-organized website will be easier for search engines to crawl and index, and will provide users with a better experience. Poorly designed website architectures can create duplicate content, make it difficult for search engines to find your content, and make it hard for users to navigate your site.
Some common issues that can affect site architecture include:
– Duplicate content: If you have multiple pages with the same or similar content, it can be difficult for search engines to determine which page is the most relevant. This can also lead to lower rankings in search results.
– Broken links: If there are broken links on your website, it can be difficult for users to navigate your site and find the information they’re looking for.
13. XML sitemaps
An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the URLs on your website. It helps search engines index your website so that people can find it more easily.
You should create an XML sitemap for your website if you want people to be able to find it easily online. Creating an XML sitemap is not difficult, and there are many online tutorials that can help you do it.
Once you have created your XML sitemap, you need to submit it to search engines like Google and Bing. You can do this by adding a link to your sitemap in the <head> section of your website’s code.
If you want people to be able to find your website easily, then creating an XML sitemap is a good idea.
14. Robots.txt file
Robots.txt is a file that tells search engine crawlers which pages on your website to index and which to ignore. If your robots.txt file is not configured correctly, it can prevent your website from being properly indexed by search engines, which can in turn negatively impact your website’s search engine ranking.
There are a few things to keep in mind when configuring your robots.txt file:
-Make sure that all of the pages you want indexed are included in the file.
-Include a sitemap in the file so that crawlers can easily find all of the pages on your site.
-Be careful not to block any important pages on your site, such as your home page or contact page.
15. 404 errors
If you’ve ever clicked on a link and been taken to an error page, you’ve encountered a 404 error. These errors are frustrating for users, and can negatively impact your site’s SEO.
404 errors occur when a page cannot be found at the URL specified. This can happen for a number of reasons, including:
-The page has been deleted
-The URL has been misspelled
-The link pointing to the page is broken
If you’re seeing 404 errors on your site, there are a few things you can do to fix them:
-Check the spelling of your URLs and correct any mistakes.
-If a page has been deleted, redirect visitors to another relevant page on your site.
-Fix any broken links pointing to your pages.
Conclusion
As you can see, technical SEO is a complex and ever-changing field. There are many factors that can affect your website’s ranking, and it can be difficult to keep up with all the latest changes. However, by following the tips in this article, you can make sure that your website is optimized for search engines and that you are doing everything you can to improve your ranking.