What is Technical SEO?
There are two different kinds of search engine optimization (SEO): on-page SEO, which focuses on optimizing both content and pages, and off-page SEO, which concentrates on building relationships between different websites. When combined, these two things bring the SEO universe very close to being finished. But hold on a second, there’s something else to consider: The next topic that everyone will be talking about is technical SEO.
What does technical SEO stand for?
In that case, what exactly does “technical SEO” refer to? Does it in some way combine the factors that are on the page with the factors that are off the page? To some extent, yes, but to some extent, not really…
Technical SEO elements
1. Website speed
Even industry giants like Amazon found that a one percent drop in sales occurred for every one hundred milliseconds that it took a page to load. Page load speed, or the amount of time it takes for a page to completely display all of its content, is one of the top ten SEO ranking factors, according to statements made by Brian Dean earlier in this year. He described it in his ground-breaking case study, which consisted of analyzing more than one million search results from Google.
We have already written and distributed an article on the topic of page load speed, in which we discussed the significance of this factor in relation to the performance of your website. In a nutshell, having a website that loads faster is almost invariably preferable.
The term “technical SEO” refers to all of the activities associated with SEO, with the exception of “content optimization” and “link building.” In layman’s terms, it refers to meeting the requirements set forth by search engines in an effort to enhance crawling. In order to keep up with the ever-evolving standards set by search engines, which are getting more and more sophisticated on a daily basis, these requirements are continually evolving and becoming more difficult. Therefore, we can say that technical SEO is always being improved upon and developed further.
Technical SEO needs to be optimized in order to make the necessary foundation that provides your content and links with the best possible marketing environment. This allows you to shine without any obstructions in the search engine results.
2. Mobile friendliness
The second component of technical SEO is known as mobile friendliness, and its significance cannot be overstated in comparison to that of website speed.
The “Mobilegeddon” algorithm update was rolled out by Google in April of 2015, and it has since been given that name by a number of industry professionals. The event known as Mobilegeddon, which is a play on the word Armageddon, had a significant impact on how Google places websites in the results of search queries. It put an end to the era of desktop computing and heralded the beginning of the age of mobile search.
From that day forward, having a mobile-friendly website has been an essential component in determining how a website will be displayed in mobile search, particularly for local results.
If you are unsure as to whether or not your website is optimized for mobile use, you should immediately put it to the test by using the mobile-friendly test tool that Google provides and then determine the extent of the necessary optimizations.
3. The site’s architectural layout
Developing a knowledgeable website architecture that is not only search engine friendly but also beneficial to SEO is the next extremely essential component of technical SEO. It includes a file called robot.txt, as well as a sitemap, a URL structure that is both clear and consistent, and secure browsing. To put it another way, replace HTTP with HTTPS in the URL, use breadcrumbs, and many other things.
4. Structured data markup
Structured data, also known as rich snippets, is another aspect of technical SEO that needs to be discussed.
Rich snippets will bring it to the next level and help search engines a tonne! Google can obviously determine the type of your resource by looking at its content and on-page optimization, but adding rich snippets will take it to the next level!
What exactly are rich snippets, though? When you type in a specific query, the search results will often include rich snippets for you to peruse. Ask your search engine, “How to make a ricotta cheesecake?” or simply type “ricotta cheesecake” into the search bar to see what comes up.
After that, you will be presented with the search results alongside the aesthetically pleasing rich snippets. Rich snippets give you access to a variety of information, such as the number of reviews and the star rating of a product. The amount of time needed to prepare this cheesecake as well as the total number of calories it contains are both listed, as can be seen on the screen below.
The entirety of the information is marked up with structured data.
And here’s the best part: rich snippets can be added to your website by you as well! Users of WordPress get to take advantage of the most straightforward approach. All that is required of them is to incorporate the schema.org plugin into their CMS and turn it on. It won’t require any preparation before being put to use.
What are the steps involved in adding structured data to schema.org? The only thing that Schema.org will ask of you is to provide an accurate description, which will speed up the categorization process for Google.
If you are not using WordPress, you can use Google markup helper to get step-by-step instructions for adding rich snippets to your resource by filling in any tags that are absent.
It’s pretty straightforward: when you notice a gap in the data in the right margin, just highlight the relevant section of the content and explain what it is. After that, all you have to do is click the red button labelled “create HTML,” and then copy and paste the HTML into the code for your page.
The next thing you need to do is run your code through Google’s structured data testing tool to ensure that it is correct. It is recommended that you do this regardless of whether you generate rich snippets using Google or schema.org.
5. Duplicate Content
Technical search engine optimization also addresses website errors and offers advice on how to circumvent them. The presence of duplicate content on your website is a serious technical SEO issue that has the potential to cause you a great deal of trouble. Be conscious of that fact!
In order to provide you with more context, I would like to bring your attention to the very first update made to the Panda algorithm in the year 2011. The problems with low-quality content and duplicate content were the focus of the initial Panda update. Google is constantly monitoring the quality of the resources available on the internet and will not hesitate to punish websites that appear to be spammy.
Maintain vigilance with regard to any concerns regarding duplicate content. Utilizing Google Search Console to conduct a check on your website can help you identify any issues that may exist. Then, would you please go back into the Google Search Console dashboard? Look under “Appearance” and then “HTML improvements” to see if there are any problems that need to be fixed.
Remove any instances of duplicate content that are discovered. You can achieve this goal by completely removing any duplicate content; alternatively, you can rephrase the existing text. It will take more time to complete this, but it is better to put in the effort now so that you do not lose any of the content.
One additional suggestion is to include the canonical URL on any pages that contain duplicated content.
This issue is now completely taken care of as a result of the canonical link which explains to search engines where the published content originated from.
Conclusion
Technical SEO is a topic that will never be exhausted. It covers a wide variety of topics relating to the components that are required for optimizing a website in accordance with the standards that search engines impose. We won’t be able to cover every aspect of the subject today, but we do hope that this high-level summary of the most important concerns will be sufficient for the time being.
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