Which Technical SEO Issues Are Most Important- A Guide to Optimal User Experience

In the dynamic realm of digital marketing, mastering Technical SEO is pivotal for ensuring your website's visibility and usability.

However, amidst the myriad of technical aspects, identifying the most crucial SEO issues can be daunting.

This guide aims to demystify this challenge by pinpointing the key technical SEO issues that hold the greatest significance in optimizing user experience.

Delve into this comprehensive exploration to elevate your website's performance and deliver an unparalleled user journey.

What Is Technical SEO?

Technical SEO refers to the optimization of your website's technical elements to improve its visibility and performance in search engine results pages (SERPs). This includes aspects such as website speed, mobile-friendliness, crawlability, indexing, entire site structure, and more.

The importance of Technical SEO lies in its ability to ensure that search engines can easily crawl, index, and understand your website's content. By addressing technical issues and optimizing your site's infrastructure, you enhance its overall user experience, increase organic traffic, and boost your rankings in search engine results.

In essence, Technical SEO lays the foundation for a successful digital presence and is a fundamental aspect of any comprehensive SEO strategy.

Why It Is Important to Solve Technical SEO Issues?

Solving technical SEO issues immediately is crucial for maintaining a positive user experience and maximizing your website's performance. Delaying the resolution of technical issues can lead to a range of problems:

• Enhanced User Experience: Resolving technical SEO issues ensures a seamless and enjoyable experience for website visitors, leading to increased engagement and lower bounce rates.
• Improved Search Engine Rankings: Addressing technical issues boosts your website's visibility and ranking potential, making it more likely to appear higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Prevention of Ranking Penalties: Ignoring technical SEO issues can result in search engines penalizing your site, leading to decreased organic traffic and visibility.
• Mobile Optimization: Solving technical issues related to mobile-friendliness ensures that your site is accessible and user-friendly on all devices, catering to the growing mobile audience.
• Faster Page Load Speed: Optimizing technical aspects like page load speed improves user satisfaction and retention, as well as positively impacting search rankings.

Which Technical SEO Issues Are Most Important To Solve

Identifying and prioritizing the most critical Technical SEO issues is akin to unlocking the key to online success.

Let's delve into the pivotal technical aspects that demand immediate attention to elevate your website's performance and enhance user experience.

Duplicate Content

Duplicate content refers to identical or very similar content that appears on multiple pages within your website or across different domains. This can confuse search engines and dilute the relevance of your content, leading to lower rankings and visibility in search results.

The Fix

• Canonical Tags: Use canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of a page to search engines, consolidating duplicate content under one URL.
• 301 Redirects: Redirect duplicate pages to the canonical version using 301 redirects, ensuring that users and search engines are directed to the correct page.
• Consolidate Similar Content: Merge similar pages or content to create a single authoritative page, eliminating duplicate content issues.
• Use Noindex Tag: For pages that must exist but shouldn't be indexed, such as printer-friendly versions or staging pages, use the noindex meta tag to prevent indexing by search engines.
• Monitor and Update: Regularly audit your website for duplicate content issues and update your canonical tags or redirects as needed to maintain SEO integrity.

Awful Mobile Experience

An awful mobile experience refers to a website's poor performance and usability on mobile devices. This can include slow loading times, unresponsive design, small text that is difficult to read, or elements that are not optimized for touchscreens. A subpar mobile site experience can frustrate users and lead to high bounce rates and decreased engagement.

The Fix

• Responsive Design: Implement a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes and devices, ensuring a seamless user experience across desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
• Mobile-Friendly Content: Optimize content for mobile viewing by using larger fonts, clear headings, and concise paragraphs. Ensure that images and videos are properly sized and load quickly on mobile devices, which is also part of On Page SEO.
• Fast Loading Times: Improve page load speed by optimizing images, minimizing HTTP requests, and leveraging browser caching. Use tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights to identify and address speed issues.
• Mobile-Friendly Navigation: Simplify navigation menus and buttons for easy access on mobile screens. Consider implementing sticky headers or hamburger menus to save space and improve usability.
• Touch-Friendly Elements: Ensure that buttons, links, and interactive elements are large enough and spaced apart to accommodate touch gestures. Test your website on various mobile devices to ensure optimal touch responsiveness.
• Mobile SEO Best Practices: Implement mobile SEO best practices, such as using mobile-friendly URLs, optimizing meta descriptions and titles for mobile search, and avoiding interstitials that disrupt user experience on mobile devices.
• User Testing: Conduct user testing on different mobile devices and gather feedback to identify and address any usability issues specific to mobile users. Regularly monitor and optimize your website for an excellent mobile experience.

Poor Page Speed

Poor page speed refers to the amount of time it takes for a web page to load fully. Slow loading times can frustrate users, increase bounce rates, and negatively impact search engine rankings. Common causes of poor page speed include large image files, excessive use of scripts or plugins, and server-related issues.

The Fix

• Optimize Images: Compress and resize images to reduce file size without compromising quality. Use modern image formats like WebP for better compression.
• Minimize HTTP Requests: Combine and minify CSS and JavaScript files to reduce the number of HTTP requests needed to load a page.
• Browser Caching: Enable browser caching to store static resources locally on a user's device, reducing load times for returning visitors.
• Content Delivery Network (CDN): Use a CDN to distribute your website's content across multiple servers worldwide, delivering it to users from the nearest server for faster load times.
• Reduce Redirects: Minimize the use of redirects as each redirect adds to the page load time. Redirects should only be used when necessary for SEO or usability purposes.
• Server Optimization: Ensure your web hosting server is optimized for speed, with sufficient resources to handle traffic spikes and concurrent users.
• Lazy Loading: Implement lazy loading for images, videos, and other non-critical content to defer loading until it's needed, improving initial page load times.
• Use AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages): Implement AMP for mobile pages to create lightweight versions of your content that load almost instantly on mobile devices.
• Monitor Performance: Regularly monitor your website's performance using tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix. Identify and address performance bottlenecks to continually improve page speed.

Broken Links

Broken links, also known as dead links or 404 errors, are hyperlinks on a website that no longer point to a valid destination. This can occur due to changes in URL structure, deleted pages, or incorrect linking. Broken links can harm user experience, lead to high bounce rates, and negatively impact SEO by signaling poor website maintenance to search engines.

The Fix

• Regular Website Audits: Conduct regular website audits using tools like Google Search Console or third-party crawlers to identify broken links across your site.
• Update Internal Links: Update internal links to point to the correct URLs, especially after making changes to your website's structure or content. This also impacts your On Page SEO and its effects.
• 301 Redirects: Redirect broken links to relevant, functioning pages using 301 redirects to preserve link equity and provide a seamless user experience.
• Custom 404 Page: Create a custom 404 error page that guides users back to the main site navigation or offers helpful suggestions and a search bar to find relevant content.
• Monitor External Links: Monitor external links pointing to your site and reach out to webmasters to update any broken links pointing to outdated content.
• Use Link Checking Tools: Use link checking tools to automatically scan and identify broken links on your website, allowing you to fix them efficiently.
• Avoid Linking to Unreliable Sources: Verify the credibility of external websites before linking to them to minimize the risk of broken links due to external changes.
• Test Links Before Publishing: Always test links before publishing new content or making changes to ensure they are working correctly and point to the intended destination.

Missing HTTPS Security

Missing HTTPS security refers to websites that do not have a secure connection using Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). This means that data exchanged between the user's browser and the website is not encrypted, making it vulnerable to interception by malicious actors. Not having HTTPS can lead to security risks, compromised user data, and lower trust from visitors and search engines.

The Fix

• Obtain SSL Certificate: Acquire an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) to enable HTTPS encryption for your website.
• Implement HTTPS Redirect: Set up a server-side redirect to automatically redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS, ensuring that all pages are accessed securely.
• Update Internal Links: Update internal links within your website to use HTTPS URLs instead of HTTP, including images, scripts, and resources.
• Content Delivery Network (CDN) Integration: Ensure that your CDN supports HTTPS to deliver content securely to users across different locations.
• Mixed Content Check: Use tools like Google Chrome's Developer Console or online services to check for mixed content issues, where HTTPS pages include insecure HTTP resources.
• Update Robots.txt: Modify your robots.txt file to allow search engine crawlers to index HTTPS versions of your pages and update any disallowed HTTPS URLs.
• Update XML Sitemap: Update your XML sitemap to include HTTPS URLs and submit it to search engines to ensure proper indexing of secure pages.
• Monitor Security Headers: Implement security headers like Content Security Policy (CSP) and HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) to enhance website security and prevent security vulnerabilities.

XML Sitemap and Robots.txt Issues

XML sitemap and robots.txt file issues can impact how search engines crawl and index your website. An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on your site, helping search engines understand its structure and prioritize content for indexing. A robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which pages or directories to crawl or avoid. Issues with these files, such as missing or incorrect entries, can lead to indexing problems and affect your site's visibility in search results.

The Fix

• XML Sitemap Validation: Validate your XML sitemap using tools like Google Search Console or XML Sitemap Validator to ensure it follows the correct format and includes all relevant URLs.
• Update Sitemap Regularly: Update your XML sitemap regularly to include new pages, remove outdated or duplicate content, and reflect changes in your website structure.
• Robots.txt Testing: Test your robots.txt file using tools like Google's robots.txt Tester or online validators to check for syntax errors and ensure it allows search engines to crawl important pages while blocking irrelevant or sensitive content.
• Disallow Low-Value Pages: Use the robots.txt file to disallow crawling of low-value pages, such as duplicate content, archives, or admin areas, to focus search engine attention on high-quality content.
• Include Sitemap in Robots.txt: Include a reference to your XML sitemap in the robots.txt file to guide search engine crawlers to the sitemap and improve indexing efficiency.
• Monitor Crawl Errors: Regularly monitor crawl errors and warnings in Google Search Console to identify any issues with sitemap or robots.txt directives, such as blocked URLs or indexing problems.
• Use Noindex for Private Pages: For pages that should not appear in search results, use the noindex meta tag or X-Robots-Tag in the HTTP header instead of relying solely on robots.txt directives.
• Optimize Sitemap Indexing: Split large XML sitemaps into smaller, more manageable files or use a sitemap index file to organize multiple sitemaps and improve indexing efficiency.

NOINDEX Tag Misconfigured

The NOINDEX tag is a meta tag used to instruct search engines not to index a specific page or content. However, misconfiguring the NOINDEX tag can lead to unintended consequences, such as important pages being excluded from search engine results or private pages being indexed publicly. This can impact your website's visibility, organic traffic, and overall SEO performance.

The Fix

• Review Meta Tags: Review the meta tags on your website to ensure that the NOINDEX tag is only applied to pages or content that should not appear in search engine results.
• Use NOINDEX Where Necessary: Apply the NOINDEX tag selectively to pages such as thank-you pages, login pages, private content, or duplicate content that you do not want indexed by search engines.
• Check CMS Settings: If you're using a content management system (CMS), check the settings or plugins related to SEO to verify that the NOINDEX tag is correctly implemented and applied to the appropriate pages.
• Validate Meta Tags: Use tools like Google's robots.txt Tester or third-party SEO auditing tools to validate meta tags and check for misconfigurations or errors in NOINDEX directives.
• Test in Google Search Console: Use Google Search Console's URL Inspection tool to test how Googlebot crawls and indexes specific pages, ensuring that pages with the NOINDEX tag are not mistakenly indexed.
• Regular Monitoring: Regularly monitor your website's indexed pages in Google Search Console to detect any unexpected changes in indexing status or pages appearing in search results that should be excluded.
• Correct Misconfigurations: If you identify misconfigurations or unintended indexing of pages with NOINDEX tags, correct the issues promptly by updating the meta tags or revising CMS settings to prevent further indexing problems.

Alt Tags Are Missing

Missing alt tags refer to the absence of alternative text descriptions for images on a website. Alt tags (or alt attributes) provide textual descriptions of images, which are important for accessibility and SEO purposes. Without alt tags, visually impaired users using screen readers may not understand the content of images, and search engines may struggle to index and rank image content accurately.

The Fix

• Add Alt Tags: Go through your website and add descriptive alt tags to all images, including product images, graphics, icons, and infographics. Alt tags should be concise and descriptive, conveying the purpose or content of the image.
• Keyword Relevance: Incorporate relevant keywords naturally into alt tags, but avoid keyword stuffing or using alt tags solely for SEO purposes. Focus on providing meaningful descriptions that enhance accessibility and user experience.
• Use Descriptive Language: Describe the image content accurately using descriptive language, especially for images that convey important information or are crucial for understanding the context of the page.
• Avoid Generic Text: Avoid using generic or repetitive alt text such as "image," "photo," or file names. Instead, provide specific details about the image's content, function, or context within the webpage.
• Validate Alt Tags: Use accessibility tools or browser extensions to validate alt tags and ensure they are correctly implemented across your website. Test screen reader compatibility to verify that alt tags provide meaningful descriptions for visually impaired users.
• Alt Text for Decorative Images: For decorative images that do not convey meaningful information, use empty alt tags () to indicate to screen readers that the image is purely decorative and can be skipped.
• Educate Content Creators: Educate content creators, designers, and developers about the importance of alt tags for accessibility and SEO, and encourage consistent use of descriptive alt text in all image assets.
• Regular Maintenance: Regularly review and update alt tags as needed, especially when adding new images or making changes to existing content, to ensure ongoing accessibility and SEO compliance.

Improper Redirects in Web Pages

Improper redirects refer to the incorrect or inefficient redirection of web pages, leading to user experience issues and SEO complications. Common examples include redirect chains (multiple redirects in sequence), redirect loops (a series of redirects that continuously lead back to the original page), and improper redirect types (e.g., using temporary redirects when permanent redirects are appropriate). These issues can confuse users, slow down page loading times, and impact search engine crawling and indexing.

The Fix

• Audit Redirects: Conduct a thorough audit of all redirects on your website using tools like Screaming Frog or Google Search Console to identify improper redirects, redirect chains, or loops.
• Use Correct Redirect Types: Use the appropriate redirect type based on the situation:
  • Use 301 redirects (permanent redirects) for pages that have permanently moved to a new URL.
  • Use 302 redirects (temporary redirects) sparingly for temporary content changes or maintenance.
  • Avoid using meta refresh or JavaScript redirects, as they may not be recognized or followed by search engines.
• Fix Redirect Chains: Simplify redirect chains by updating redirects to point directly to the final destination URL, reducing the number of hops and improving page load times.
• Resolve Redirect Loops: Identify and eliminate redirect loops by reconfiguring redirects to avoid circular redirection paths.
• Update Internal Links: Update internal links within your website to point directly to the correct URLs instead of relying on redirects whenever possible.
• Monitor Crawl Errors: Regularly monitor crawl errors in Google Search Console to detect and address any issues related to improper redirects, such as redirected pages returning 404 errors or soft 404s.
• Test Redirects: Test all redirects to ensure they function correctly and lead users to the intended destination without unnecessary delays or errors.
• Educate Team Members: Educate content creators, developers, and website administrators about best practices for redirects to prevent future issues and maintain a seamless user experience.

Unoptimized Website Structure and URLs

Unoptimized website structure and URLs refer to a lack of organization, hierarchy, and clarity in how web pages are structured and accessed. This can include lengthy, complex URLs with irrelevant parameters, inconsistent naming conventions for pages and directories, and a disorganized navigation structure. An unoptimized structure can confuse users, hinder search engine crawlers, and diminish overall website usability and SEO performance.

The Fix

• URL Structure Optimization: Simplify and optimize URL structures by:
  • Using descriptive, keyword-rich URLs that reflect the content of the page.
  • Avoiding excessive parameters, session IDs, and irrelevant strings in URLs.
  • Using hyphens (-) to separate words in URLs for readability and SEO.
• Create Logical Site Architecture: Develop a logical site architecture with clear navigation paths, organized categories, and a hierarchical structure that reflects the content hierarchy.
• Implement Bread Crumbs: Use breadcrumb navigation to show users and search engines the hierarchical path to the current page, improving navigation and user experience.
• Optimize Internal Linking: Use strategic internal linking to connect related pages, guide users through the site, and distribute link equity effectively.
• Use Canonical Tags: Implement canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of duplicate or similar content, consolidating link signals and avoiding duplicate content issues.
• Update Sitemap: Maintain an updated XML sitemap that reflects the current site structure and includes all relevant URLs for search engines to crawl and index.
• Mobile-Friendly Navigation: Ensure that your website's navigation is mobile-friendly, with easy-to-use menus, buttons, and links for mobile users.
• User-Friendly URLs: Create user-friendly URLs that are easy to read, understand, and remember, enhancing user experience and SEO.
• Regular Audit and Optimization: Conduct regular audits of your website's structure, URLs, and navigation to identify areas for improvement and optimization, and make necessary adjustments to enhance usability and SEO performance.

No Internal Links

No internal links refer to a lack of links within a website's content that point to other pages or resources within the same domain. Internal links play a crucial role in website navigation, user engagement, and SEO by helping users discover related content, establishing content hierarchy, and distributing link equity throughout the site. Without internal links, users may have difficulty navigating the site, and search engines may struggle to understand the site's structure and relevance of pages.

The Fix

• Create Relevant Anchor Text: Use descriptive and relevant anchor text for internal links that accurately describe the linked page's content or topic.
• Strategic Link Placement: Place internal links contextually within your content where they naturally fit and provide additional value to users.
• Link to Key Pages: Ensure that important pages, such as your homepage, cornerstone content, and key landing pages, have internal links from relevant pages to improve visibility and accessibility.
• Use Site-wide Navigation: Implement consistent site-wide navigation menus and footer links that provide easy access to important sections and categories of your website.
• Utilize Related Posts/Articles: Include sections for related posts or articles at the end of your content to encourage users to explore more of the same content on similar topics.
• Create Hub Pages: Create hub pages or topic clusters that act as central hubs for related content, interlinking them with relevant internal links for a cohesive content structure.
• Update Older Content: Periodically review and update older content to add new internal links to relevant newer content, improving link distribution and content relevance.
• Monitor Broken Links: Regularly check for and fix broken internal links using tools like Google Search Console or website crawlers to ensure a smooth user experience and proper link flow.
• Optimize Anchor Text Diversity: Use a diverse range of anchor text variations for internal links, including branded, keyword-rich, and natural language phrases, to avoid over-optimization and provide value to users and search engines.
• Educate Content Creators: Educate content creators, writers, and editors about the importance of internal linking and best practices for creating effective internal link structures within content.

Lack of Relevant Schema Markup

The lack of relevant schema markup refers to not using structured data markup on a website to provide additional context and information to search engines. Schema markup helps search engines understand the content of web pages better, enhancing the visibility and presentation of search results through rich snippets, knowledge graphs, and other enhanced features. Without relevant schema markup, websites may miss opportunities to stand out in search results and provide valuable information to users.

The Fix

• Identify Relevant Schema Types: Identify the appropriate schema types that align with the content and purpose of your web pages, such as articles, products, reviews, events, organizations, etc.
• Implement Schema Markup: Add structured data markup using Schema.org vocabulary to HTML elements on your website, including JSON-LD, microdata, or RDFa formats, depending on your technical capabilities and preferences.
• Include Key Information: Include key information such as product details, ratings and reviews, event dates and locations, business contact information, FAQ sections, and more using relevant schema properties.
• Use Google's Structured Data Markup Helper: Use Google's Structured Data Markup Helper tool to generate and validate schema markup for different content types and easily add it to your website's code.
• Validate Markup with Testing Tools: Validate your schema markup using Google's Structured Data Testing Tool or other schema validators to ensure correct implementation and identify any errors or warnings.
• Update Rich Snippets: Monitor how rich snippets appear in search results for your pages and make adjustments to your schema markup as needed to improve visibility and presentation.
• Optimize Local Business Markup: If applicable, optimize local business schema markup with location details, opening hours, reviews, and other relevant information to enhance local SEO and visibility in local search results.
• Utilize Sitelinks Search Box Markup: If your website has a search functionality, implement Sitelinks Search Box schema markup to enable a search box directly in search results, improving user experience and navigation.
• Stay Updated with Schema Changes: Stay informed about updates and changes to Schema.org vocabulary and Google's guidelines for structured data to ensure ongoing compliance and optimization of schema markup on your website.

By addressing these technical SEO issues and implementing the suggested fixes, you can enhance user experience, improve search engine visibility, and acquire a much needed organic site boost for realtors, making for an overall quality website performance.

In Summary

Optimizing technical aspects such as website structure, URLs, internal linking, schema markup, and addressing common issues like improper redirects or missing alt tags is essential for achieving optimal user experience and improving search engine rankings.

By following best practices, monitoring performance, and staying updated with SEO trends, businesses can ensure their websites are not only user-friendly but also well-positioned to attract and retain organic traffic, ultimately leading to greater online success.

FAQ

Can You Find Technical SEO Issues on Google Search Console?

Yes, Google Search Console can help identify technical SEO issues by providing insights into indexing status, crawl errors, mobile usability issues, structured data markup validation, and more. It's a valuable tool for monitoring website health, addressing issues that affect search engine visibility, and optimizing overall SEO performance.

Does Search Engines Rank Based on Technical SEO Issues?

Search engines consider technical SEO issues as part of their ranking algorithm. Factors like page speed, mobile-friendliness, structured data, and crawlability impact how search engines assess and rank websites. Addressing technical SEO issues can improve your website's visibility, user experience, and ultimately, its ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).

What Are Some Common Technical SEO Issues You Might Encounter?

Common technical SEO issues include slow page speed, improper redirects, duplicate content, missing meta descriptions, broken links, and unoptimized URLs. Other issues may include poor mobile optimization, lack of structured data markup, thin content, and issues with website indexing. Addressing these issues is crucial for improving search engine visibility and user experience.