What is technical SEO & Why is it so important?

Published a year ago

First things first, technical SEO refers to the optimisation of your website's infrastructure and backend processes to improve its search engine visibility. It's all about ensuring your site is user-friendly, easy to navigate, and optimised for search engines to crawl and index.

So, what are the key components of technical SEO? Let's break it down

Site Speed

Nobody likes a slow website, and neither do search engines. Site speed is a critical component of technical SEO. If your website takes too long to load, search engines will penalise you by lowering your rankings. Plus, visitors will likely leave your site before it even loads. You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to analyse your site speed and identify areas for improvement.

Mobile-Friendliness

More and more people are browsing the web on their mobile devices, which means your website must be optimised for mobile devices. Google even uses mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor. Ensure your website is responsive, loads quickly, and is easy to navigate on mobile devices.

Website Architecture

Your website's architecture is its structure and organisation, including URLs, categories, and navigation. A well-organised site structure makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your content, and for users to navigate your site. Use descriptive URLs and organise your content into relevant categories and subcategories.

On-Page Optimisation

On-page optimisation refers to optimising individual pages on your website. This includes optimising title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and content for relevant keywords. Use descriptive and unique title tags and meta descriptions to entice users to click on your site in search results.

Technical Backend

There are several technical backend elements that need to be optimised for SEO, such as XML sitemaps, robots.txt files, and schema markup. XML sitemaps provide a roadmap for search engines to crawl your site, while robots.txt files tell search engines which pages not to crawl. Schema markup helps search engines understand your content and display it in rich snippets in search results.

In conclusion, technical SEO may sound intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. Just take it one step at a time, focus on the key components, and don't forget to test and analyse your results regularly. Remember, optimising your website for search engines ultimately benefits your users and improves their experience on your site.