Google’s technical SEO audits are designed to help identify any technical issues that may be preventing a website from ranking. While the audits are comprehensive, they can be time-consuming and complex to fix. In this article, we’ll outline the most common technical SEO issues that Google looks for during an audit. In addition, tips on how to fix them. We’ll also provide a few resources that can help you further optimize your website for Google search.
What is Technical SEO?
Technical SEO is the practice of optimizing a website for Google search with the goal of improving the visibility of the site. In addition, earning higher web traffic levels. It is a complex and ever-evolving process that involves a number of different factors. For example, this includes code optimization, content, and repairing broken links. While technical SEO may seem like a daunting task, it is essential for any website that wants to rank well in Google search results. In fact, technical SEO is so important that even a small improvement can make a big difference in your website’s traffic levels. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that your website is properly optimized before launching it.
Another important aspect of technical SEO is optimizing your site for speed. This includes optimizing your images, minifying your CSS, JavaScript, and using a content delivery network. Also, setting up SSL certificates and using HTTPS is crucial. Finally, technical SEO also encompasses aspects such as schema markup and structured data. This terminology can be a lot to process. However, when done properly, you will see some great results in your search engine rankings.
The Most Common Technical SEO issues
There are a number of technical SEO issues that Google looks for during an audit, but the most common ones include:
1. Broken links
Links that lead to nowhere or to an error page can be frustrating for visitors and may cause them to leave your site. This can be a problem for website visitors because they will either end up on an error (404) page or be redirected to another page without knowing it. Another form of this is a faulty redirect which can an error in the code. This can also hurt your Google rankings because it signals to Google that your website is not well-maintained. Always be sure to check all of your links regularly and fix any that are broken.
2. Duplicate content.
If you have multiple pages on your website with the same content, it can be confusing for visitors. As a result, this may cause them to leave your site. In addition, Google may also penalize your website because it will only index one of the pages. Therefore, it is important to ensure that each page on your site has unique, well-written content.
3. Errors in titles and descriptions.
Titles and descriptions are used by Google to understand what your pages are about. And, to decide whether or not to include them in search results. If they are inaccurate or missing, this can be a problem for website visitors. They will not be able to find what they are looking for. Additionally, it will hurt your Google rankings because it will affect how relevant your pages appear to be for certain searches.
4. Slow loading times.
If your website takes too long to load, visitors may get impatient and leave before they see what you have. In addition, Google takes loading times into consideration when determining rankings. Therefore, it’s important to keep your site fast and responsive. You can do this by optimizing your code and using caching techniques which we will get into detail further down.
5. Poor mobile optimization.
With more people using mobile devices to access the internet, it’s essential that your website is optimized for mobile. If not, you risk losing potential customers. As a result, damaging your search engine rankings. Be sure to test your website on various mobile devices to ensure it looks and works well.
6. Security vulnerabilities.
If your website is vulnerable to attack, hackers could potentially damage or delete your content. Therefore, this would be a huge problem for both you and your visitors. In addition, Google penalizes websites that aren’t secure. Therefore, it’s important to make sure your website is as protected as possible. This can be done by Installing an SSL certificate and keeping all of your software up to date.
Fixing Your Technical SEO Issues
Repairing Your Broken Links and Faulty Redirects
If you find that there are broken links or faulty redirects on your website, there are a few steps you can take to fix them. Firstly, check the source of the problem. If the broken link is coming from an external website, reach out to the site owner and ask them to update the link. If the problem is with a redirect, make sure that the URL is entered correctly in your .htaccess file. In addition, you can try using a plugin like Redirection to manage your redirects if you’re using WordPress. In addition, a great tool called Screaming Frog can also identify any broken links on your site.
Once you’ve identified and fixed the source of the problem, there are several tools you can use to repair them. For example, tools like Screaming Frog or Google Search Console will help identify and fix any broken links on your site. To do this in Google Search Console, go to the “Crawl” section and click on “Crawl Errors.” From here, you’ll see a list of broken links and faulty redirects. For each error, you’ll see a “Linked From” section that shows you where it is located on your website. Once you’ve found and fixed all of the broken links on your site, be sure to submit your sitemap to Google. Therefore, they can re-crawl your site and update their index accordingly. This will also improve overall user activity.
Ensuring Unique Content
It’s important to make sure that your website doesn’t have any duplicate content. However, if you do, there are a few ways to fix it. Firstly, you must create a 301 redirect of the duplicate page to the original. This will alert search engines that the duplicate content has been moved. And, that they should index the original page instead. You can also use the rel=”canonical” tag on the duplicate pages. This will signal search engines that these pages are not the original source of the content. Finally, you can delete the duplicate pages from your website. However, before you do this, make sure to check your website’s analytics to see if these pages are receiving any traffic.
There are a few resources that can help you identify duplicate content. Google Search Console can help you find duplicates of your content that are indexed by Google. In addition, Copyscape is a tool that can help you find plagiarized content. And, if you are using WordPress, there is a plugin called Yoast SEO that can help you scan for duplicate content.
The Perfect Titles & Descriptions
While a website’s title and description play a small role in its overall SEO, they are still important elements that should be given attention. Having accurate titles and descriptions for your site will help potential customers understand what your site is about.
Title Tags
The title tags are one of the most important elements on your website. This is the brief text that appears in the title bar of a web browser. Their function is telling search engines what each page is about. The title should be no more than 60 characters, and should reflect the content of the page. For instance, a title tag for a website about roofing might include keywords such as “roofing tips,” “roofing materials,” or “how to build a roof.” The tag may look something like this: “10 Roofing Tips – Smith Roofing Company.” In this example, the title tag is short and to the point. And, it includes the name of the website so that users will know where they are.
Meta-Description
The meta description is a brief description of the page’s content. It appears underneath the title in search engine results. This should be around 150-160 characters, and give a brief summary of what the page is about. Including a meta-description is a good way to help improve your click-through rates (CTRs) from the search engine result pages.
A meta-description should be concise and give a clear indication of what the page is about. It should avoid keyword stuffing and filler content. In addition, it should instead focus on being informative and useful. Here is an example of a meta-description for a website about roofing:
“Learn about roofing tips that will improve the lifespan of your roof. This guide covers trimming trees, removing rain gutter debris, and scheduling a roof inspection.”
Speeding Up The Site
Caching
If you’re looking to optimize your website’s speed, one of the best things you can do is to apply caching techniques. Caching can help to reduce the amount of time it takes for your website to load. This is done by storing frequently accessed data in a temporary cache. This means that your website can load the cached data instead of having to fetch it from scratch each time a visitor comes to your site.
There are a few ways that you can implement caching on your website. One popular method is to use a content delivery network (CDN). A CDN stores copies of your website’s static files (such as images, CSS files, and JavaScript files) on servers around the world. When a visitor comes to your site, the CDN will serve them the cached version of your site’s files from the server that’s closest to their location. This can help to improve your website’s speed, as the visitor’s browser won’t have to fetch files from your server that may be located far away.
Another way to cache data is using browser caching. This involves setting an expiration date for certain types of files served from your server. For example, you could set an expiration date of one week for all images on your site. This would tell the visitor’s browser to only download those images from your server weekly. After that initial download, the browser would then cache those images locally on the visitor’s computer. Therefore, it wouldn’t have to fetch them again until the expiration date passed. This will reduce the amount of data that needs to be downloaded each time a visitor comes to your site. As a result, speeding up your website.
Optimizing Your Code
You can also optimize your code to help improve your website’s speed. Code optimization involves making sure that your code is well-organized and efficient. This can help to reduce the amount of time it takes for your pages to load. In addition, it will improve overall performance. There are a number of different ways to optimize code, but some common methods include minification and concatenation. Minification involves removing unnecessary characters from your code, such as whitespace and comments. This can make your code more difficult to read. However, it can also help reduce its size, which can lead to faster page loading times. Concatenation refers to combining multiple files into one. This can help lower page loading times by reducing the number of HTTP requests that need to be made. Both minification and concatenation can be performed using JavaScript tools like Gulp or Grunt.
By taking advantage of caching techniques and optimizing your code, you can help improve the speed of your website significantly. These methods can help reduce page loading times and improve overall performance. As a result, creating a better user experience for visitors to your site.
Mobile Optimization
Mobile optimization is important for any website that wants to remain relevant and accessible in today’s mobile-first world. There are a numerous ways to optimize a website for mobile devices. However, one of the most effective is to use responsive design. This approach ensures that your website will automatically adjust to the screen size of the device it is being viewed on. Therefore, providing an optimal experience for the user. Another option is to create a separate mobile version of a website, which can be accessed through a mobile browser.
There are a number of free resources that can be used to create a responsive website, including Bootstrap. In addition, many content management systems (CMS) offer mobile-friendly templates that can be easily customized to suit your needs. Whichever approach you take, it is essential to ensure that all of the website’s content is accessible on a mobile device. Google and other search engines uses mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor. Therefore, if your website is not optimized for mobile it will seriously hurt your SEO. So if you want to stay competitive and get the most out of your website, you need to make sure it’s optimized for mobile devices.
Securing Your Website
In today’s age, consumers are more aware of the importance of online security. When they see that a website is secure, it creates a sense of trust and confidence. However, if a website is not secure, they will likely take their business elsewhere. One of the most important factors to securing your website is adding an SSL certificate. SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, is a protocol that provides security for communication between a web server and a browser. This is important because it helps to protect sensitive information from being intercepted by third parties and hackers. For example, credit card numbers and passwords.
In addition to making your website more secure, an SSL certificate can also have a positive impact on your SEO. This is because Google now uses this as a ranking signal. There are many different places where you can purchase an SSL certificate. For example, GoDaddy, GlobalSign, and DigiCert. Regardless of which provider you choose, make sure that you select a reputable company with a strong track record.
Schema Markup & Structured Data
Schema markup and structured data are ways of formatting information on a website so that search engines can easily read and understand it. This is important because it helps the search engine algorithms match a user’s query with relevant results. In addition, it can be used to give information about a website’s content. For example, the products or services offered, the location of the business, contact information, reviews, and more. Ensuring that your schema markup and structured data are formatted correctly is critical for technical SEO.
The Schema
Schema markup is a code that you add to your site. There are many different schema.org vocabularies that can be used for schema markup. Therefore, it’s important to choose the right one for your website. Once you have selected the appropriate vocabulary, you need to use the correct syntax to format your markup. If you are not comfortable coding, there are many generators that can help you create schema markup without having to write any code.
The Structured Data
Structured data can be added to a website using various formats, such as JSON-LD, RDFa, and microdata. JSON-LD is popular because it’s easy to implement and does not require any changes to the website’s code. However, all three formats are supported by major search engines. Therefore, you can choose whichever format you prefer.
When adding structured data to a website, it’s important to make sure that all of the information is accurate and up-to-date. Incorrect or outdated information can hurt a website’s ranking in SERPs. In addition, you should avoid stuffing your structured data with too much information.
In Conclusion
Fixing your website’s technical SEO issues is important for two reasons. First, it will help you rank higher in Google search results. This means more people will see your website and be able to learn about your business. Second, it will improve the overall user experience of your website. People are likely to stay on a website that loads quickly and looks good on all devices.
