Technical SEO is something you just cannot ignore if you have started a website and want people to find it through Google or other search engines. It may sound complex, but do not worry, this guide breaks it all down for you into simple terms. Technical SEO makes your site easy for search engines to crawl, understand, and rank. Think of it as the foundation for your site’s visibility online.
Let us now analyze some of the most common technical SEO problems and methods for solving them while keeping in mind that you are not an expert.
Your Pages are Out of Reach of the Search Engines
An important SEO measure is to ensure that search engines will find and “read” your portfolio. The pages are not displayed in the search listings if they are hidden or blocked. This most often occurs when some settings or files instruct search engines not to index these particular pages.
How to Fix It:
- Check what is blocked: Your website could potentially disallow search engines from going to certain pages in the settings. Make sure that only the pages that do not matter or are private are being blocked.
- Use a sitemap: This is a very simple file listing all the important pages on your website and helps search engines locate everything with ease.
- Use tools such as Google Search Console: This will help you know which pages the search engine is picking up and which ones are not.
Your Website is Slowly Loading
If your website takes a lot of time to load, the visitor may just leave before it does. Slow loading also hinders search engines from crawling your pages, thus resulting in lower rankings.
- Shrink your graphics: Larger image files slow the process down. Use tools that can reduce the size of your images without sacrificing quality.
- Try not to overload your site with effects: Animations, large videos, etc., can slow the site.
- Choose a good web hosting: Sometimes, the hosting company defines your speed! Buy fast hosting!
Broken Links Are Killing Your Site
Broken links are those links that take the visitor to pages that no longer exist. These frustrate users and can tarnish the image of the site. And it wastes search engine resources in addition to harming the visibility of your site.
How to Fix It:
- Check links: Use software or just check on your own to find links that don’t work.
- Fix or remove broken links: Remove links to pages that no longer exist or point the link to a different page that works.
The Site You Made Is Not Mobile-Friendly
More than ever, users are accessing the internet through their mobile phones. The site should therefore work well on any screen size. In case it does not, the search engines might bring it down in rankings.
- Employ mobile-friendly design: Your site must automatically resize to fit using a phone or tablet.
- No tiny fonts or buttons allowed: Everything there must be big enough to read with a finger!
Duplicate Content Is Confusing to Search Engines
If you have multiple pages with identical or near-identical content, search engines may get confused about which one gets ranked. That can diminish your SEO efforts and adversely impact your site’s performance.
How to Fix It:
- Unique content: Each page needs to serve a distinct purpose and carry unique content.
- Consolidate similar pages: If two pages are very much alike, consider merging them together.
Your URLs Are Too Complex
They should be short, simple, and easy to understand. The random numbers or characters in the URL make it difficult for users to read; the search engines are no different.
How to Fix It:
- URLs should describe something briefly: Use simple words to describe what the page really is like “about-us” or “digital-services.”
- Use keywords that fit the content naturally: Include one or maybe two keywords describing your topic, but limit this to avoid keyword stuffing.
- Separate words with hyphens: This format is easy to read for both users and search engines.
Your Website Is Improperly Structured
A clear structure facilitates search engines to comprehend what each page is about. When content is all over the place with no clear layout to guide it, its rankings become affected.
How to Fix It:
- Use heading tags: Segment your content by clear titles and subtitles (just like here in this blog). It gives search engines and readers an understanding of your content.
- Add descriptions: Each page should have a title and description that explains what it is about-this is referred to as its meta title and meta description.
Your Website Is Not Secure
Security matters equally from a user perspective as well as a search engine standpoint. If your site is not secure, visitors might receive a warning through their browser, and search rankings might drop.
How to Fix It:
- Use HTTPS: This means a security certificate on your site. It should be pretty easy for any hosting provider to set up for you.
You Aren’t Using Structured Data
Structured data is additional information you can add to the code of your site so search engines can better understand what the pages contain. It is not a necessity but can enhance your presence for things like showing your reviews or FAQs right in the search results.
How to Fix It:
- Use basic tools or plugins: If you’re using a website builder, such as WordPress, there are user-friendly plugins that help add structured data without writing any code.
Final Thoughts
Technical SEO may sound like a tough nut to crack, especially at the start; however, once you know what to look for, the majority of issues are really easy to fix. It’s something like a check-up for your site: If it’s tidy and fast, it’s organized well enough for a search engine to understand it; by contrast, an untidy and slow site is like an unhappy visitor.
Take it one by one; no need to be a developer or an SEO guru for that! With some elbow grease and the right set of tools, your website will be fast, strong, and more visible in the search results.
