Technical SEO Basics: A Complete Guide for Beginners
25 Jun 2020

A website gets preferential treatment from the search engines if it has some technical characteristics. It is owing to the reason that a site should facilitate the users in the best ways to get good rankings. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of comprehending the user intent and understanding the target audience's behavior to integrate all essential features to the website. In this way, technical SEO has to do a lot in optimizing your website.

Are you new to the technical aspects of SEO? The article brings all-inclusive food for thought to keep you updated with the latest information on the topic of technical SEO. Keep reading!

What is Technical SEO?

It is the process of improving a website technically to boost rankings in the popular search engines, including Google. Broadly speaking, the technical aspects are categorized as the on-page and off-page SEO to improve the crawling and indexing process.

The technical tasks and activities have nothing to do with the website promotion or content generation but deal with the website architecture and infrastructure.

Why is technical SEO important?

The chief objective of Google and other search engines is to provide the best match for user queries. Besides the information. So, Google robots evaluate the overall health of a web page before ranking them based on the information and overall user experience.

Therefore, the website should have a robust and technical foundation to please search engines and visitors.

Characteristics of a technically sound website

Nevertheless, technically sound web pages ensure the ease of crawling and prompt for the users. A comprehensive set up for improving website should focus on optimizing the site for the following characteristics:

  • The website should have the ability to load in the browser fast.

  • The website should maintain user-friendly User Interface (UI) design.

  • The website has a structure of internal linking for improved readability.

  • The website should have a powerful Robots.txt file for easy crawling.

  • The website doesn’t have dead-links or non-existence pages.

  • Webpages have unique content and regularly updated blogs.

  • Well-defined Meta title and description for web pages.

  • HTTPS is appropriately configured to secure the website technically.

  • The website has a well-structured navigational architecture.

  • A technically sound site has a proper XML sitemap.

It is imperative to note that the technical aspects of SEO need proper knowledge and essential skills. Therefore, website owners should rely on SEO experts to improve the performance of your website in Google.

Technical SEO Checklist for Beginners to Ensure Best Practices

Optimizing your website for search engines is essential to get higher rankings in Google. Therefore, a list of all tasks and activities starting from website building to optimization is given to you to help you get a better understanding.

1. Select a preferred website domain

First thing first, it is essential to consider the domain name of the website. Generally, the site is accessible with WWW or without it before the domain name. For example, you can access a website https://spiralclick.com or https://www.spiralclick.com (we are using this version https://spiralclick.com/). In the given case, both the URLs are fine for the users, but it can create confusion for the search engines while crawling.

Necessarily, you will get any SEO advantage by using any format, but it will declare your personal preference during web page indexing. So, don’t forget to specify a structure for the domain name.

2. Optimize Robots.txt file

Robots.txt is located in the root directory of your website. It is a text file that contains instructions for crawling and indexing for the search engines. Usually, the robots.txt doesn’t need any changes, but you should ensure information to eliminate the risks of false crawling blockings.

Remember! It will help if you have a proper understanding of everything written in the robotics.txt file while making a change in the information. It is because any wrong modification can be detrimental for website rankings.

3. Optimize the format of URLs

The overall structure of the URLs plays a significant role in optimizing the website in the search engines. It is better to define a proper structure of the URL to avoid any confusion. It is essential to make the URLs short and self-explanatory. Additionally, use appropriate keywords to make the URLs SEO-friendly.

Don’t forget to use lowercase characters for URLs and separate the words with the special character “-” to keep it understandable for permanent links after publishing.

4. Use structured schema markup

There is no denying that structured data improved your website’s presence in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Basically, the structured data is the code added in the web pages to enhance visibility in the search engines. It provides contextual insights about the content presented on the website.

Interestingly, you don’t have to add data markup manually in the websites designed using CMS. It is because you can add the featured snippets using input boxes available on every web page. However, get assistance from our technical SEO consultants in Dubai to improve the click-through rate (CTR) of your website.

5. Ensure optimized website navigation

The presentation and structuring of the information on the website are significant for accessibility. Users are more inclined to stay on a site with easy navigation as they can get their required information directly. So, if you want to improve website conversions, it is suggested optimizing the navigation for easier access to the data.

Don’t forget to define proper pages for about the company, services, categories, and contact us information in the top menu, main menu, and footer menu to retain users for an extended period. You can also use hamburger menu designs for improved accessibility.

6. Check 404 error and canonicalization

An error of the 404 pages is displayed if the URL doesn’t exist. It can be because the required page was deleted, or you have changed the URL. In other cases, the user has mistyped the URL. This type of error can deteriorate the website ranking. So, keep a check on all web pages to eliminate the risks of 404-page errors.

Besides this, you should consider optimizing the website for canonical URLs. In simple words, canonicalization refers to picking a suitable URL for your web page when multiple URLs redirect to a single page. You can use redirects and tags to help the users land on the right page of your website for information.

Improve Website Rankings With Technical SEO!

Summing up, search engine optimization enables the website to sail smoothly on the surface of prominent search engines, including Google. Technical search engine optimization is more related to the on-page SEO because the website owners need to check for overall website design, content presentation, and architecture of the web pages for enhanced user experience and easy indexing.

Primarily, it consists of several updates and checks on the website’s technical side, which requires adequate skills. Owing to this, you should consider hiring our technical SEO experts in Dubai to perform a comprehensive audit of your website and define a robust strategy to improve rankings in search engines.

Remember! The word technical reveals the very nature of SEO with necessary technical knowledge; else, the website may not get the desired result in the search engines. Be wise and select the best SEO consultancy for your website!

 

Learn more:

A Beginners Guide to Make SEO Friendly URLs

Top Tips for Insightful A/B Testing for SEO

How to Deal with Website Broken Links Issues?

Top Website Content Audit Tools To Improve SEO