Digital marketing has become one of the most important elements of business and staying relevant in the digital age. We hear the term SEO all the time, but what does it mean to employ search engine optimization and be successful? You know the basics of targeting keywords, optimizing content, and building up your backlinks, but how much do you know about technical SEO?
In this guide, we will explore ways to enhance your digital performance through the use of Technical SEO. Learn about the behind-the-scenes details that build your digital presence so you can rank your website more effectively.
Understanding technical SEO
You already know what SEO is and how important your website is to boosting your success. Technical search engine optimization takes a look beyond just the basics to review the technical aspects of your website, ensure visibility, and understand what the search engine and crawlers are looking for on a technical level.
There are several parts of technical SEO that are important, such as these:
- Improve crawlability to search engine indexing and algorithm
- Enhance the speed of your site with CSS, JavaScript function, image compression, and server response time
- Mobile-friendly prioritization to ensure your website can be used on a mobile device
- Reduce or eliminate technical errors, such as 404 errors
- Implement data with structure to help search engines understand content for visibility and click-through rates
Key tips to improve technical SEO
There are several things you need to focus on for technical SEO. The truth is that these technical aspects are just as important as your ordinary practices like keywords and quality content. This is what the website crawlers will see when they are looking at details.
If you find this to be overwhelming, you can use a professional company with training and expertise in these areas. Contact a local SEO company in Chicago that can provide the services you need and help you work through these details and more. If you want to try to work through it on your own or hire in-house, you can use these tips to help with your process.
1. Optimize website structure and navigation
Think of yourself as an outsider who knows nothing about your company. What would you be looking for if you were a new prospect that clicked on the site?
Set up your page in such a way that it’s clear and simple to navigate and it helps users uncover what they are looking for. Create a structure that is both informative and user-friendly for the average person looking at the website.
2. Improve page speed
The loading speed of your onsite pages is very important. There are tools that you can use to measure the speed of your website. If the loading time is slow or lagging, you will quickly lose people from the website.
They are going to go somewhere else to uncover what they need. Test the page and look for trouble areas, such as overly high-resolution images or JavaScript that is slowing things down.
3. Mobile optimization
We cannot stress enough how important this is. People will not use your site if it is not optimized for mobile devices. Nearly 60% of the population uses their mobile devices on a global level. This is very important.
Plus, most search engines have established guidelines for their algorithms that look for this detail. They will prioritize search engine ranking for websites that are optimized for mobile use.
4. Implement HTTPS
HTTPS is an enhancement that will improve search engine rankings and enhance the trust of your users. HTTPS stands for hypertext transfer protocol secure. While this doesn’t mean much to most people, the designation provides security between a browser and a website so that everyone accessing your website can do so securely.
5. Perform technical SEO audits
Once you implement technical SEO advantages, you are going to want to maintain them and adjust them as needed. The best way to do this is with routine technical audits. These audits will look for any technical issues and then help to eradicate those issues. The goal is that the audit will uncover things like broken links, duplicated content, or even crawl errors that might negatively impact your search engine rankings.