Technical SEO is a generic term used by SEOs to describe the tasks that are performed to optimize a site for Google’s bots. It goes beyond the content and metadata that is custom-made according to keyword research that is done and requires a bit of technical knowledge and knowledge of what Google likes to see.
Things like crawling, indexing, page load speed, and website architecture all fall under the umbrella of technical SEO, and while more often than not, you can’t see the effects of technical SEO work, it’s still a major component of a comprehensive SEO plan.
Technical SEO Checklist
Technical SEO doesn’t need to be a guessing game every month–while there’s more to it outside the scope of this blog, you can always refer back to this checklist to ensure you’re doing the bare minimum to maintain your website’s health on a monthly basis and while you’re creating your website.
Make Sure Your Site Is Secure
SSL certificates should be a foregone conclusion in today’s day and age, however, many sites still don’t have them. Many hosting plans include SSL certificates for free, and it’s an easy way to ensure data on your site stays encrypted.
Google isn’t very forthcoming about many things, however, they made it clear in no uncertain terms that HTTPS sites are given preference over HTTP sites. If your intention is to be found on Google, you must have an SSL certificate on your site.
Prioritize Page Speed
Users like fast load times, and if users like something, then Google likes it too.
Sites that load pages faster are given preferential treatment in the search engine rankings with the always-increasing emphasis on user experience. You can accomplish this by minifying your CSS and Javascript, using a fast hosting plan, reducing image sizes, compressing web pages, implementing lazy load, and a number of other small tweaks that all contribute to a page’s load speed.
Mobile Responsiveness
Having a responsive site design is one of the most important ranking signals for Google, With a majority of web traffic coming from mobile devices, it’s imperative that you provide the same experience to mobile users as you do desktop users.
A few years ago Google announced mobile-first indexing, which means the mobile version of your site is the one that it will consider for ranking purposes. Make sure you’re properly navigating this with a responsive site design!
Add Structured Data
Structured data, generally JSON-LD, is a universal language understood by all major search engines. It allows you to mark up pages that helps Google understand the content on them better, and enables your search results to have “rich snippets,” which can improve click-through rate.
While structured data isn’t a ranking signal, improving how your search results look on the SERP makes your listing more appealing and provides users with the information they need immediately. This indirectly impacts your search ranking by indicating to users that you’re a trustworthy source with a great user experience. Learn how to use structured data from our experts!
Use Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool that diagnoses a number of issues that may exist on your site, including mobile responsiveness, indexing and crawling errors, duplicate content, page speed, and plenty more. You can take a look at our full guide on Google Search Console to familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of it, but one of the first things you should be doing if it’s not done already is registering your site for Search Console.
Looking to improve your search engine performance and site’s overall health? Contact us today to speak to one of our SEO experts!
