Top 16 Technical SEO Issues & How To Fix Them

Technical SEO is vital to the success of any website. If your website has technical SEO issues, it can hurt your visibility in search engine results pages, which can ultimately lead to fewer visitors and conversions. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some common technical SEO issues and how to fix them.

16 Common Technical SEO Issues

1. Website Page Speed:

Site speed is a technical issue that can affect your website in a number of ways. First and foremost, site speed is a major factor in how well your website ranks in search engine results pages. In fact, Google has stated that site speed is one of the factors that they use to determine rankings.

Additionally, slow site speeds can cause visitors to abandon your website before they even have a chance to see what you have to offer. A slow website will also lead to decreased conversions and sales. In short, if you’re looking to improve your website’s performance, you need to focus on improving your site’s speed.

There are a number of ways that you can improve your site’s speed. These include:

  • Optimize Images
  • Minify JavaScript and CSS Files
  • Minify HTML and CSS code
  • Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) 
  • Using a caching plugin

By following these tips, you can dramatically improve your website page speed.

2. URL Structure:

One of the most common technical SEO issues is a website’s URL structure. A poorly structured URL can have a negative effect on your website’s visibility and performance.

A good URL structure should be easy to understand and navigate. It should also be relevant to the content of the page. URLs that are too long or include irrelevant keywords can hurt your website’s ranking in search engine results pages.

The Anatomy of an URL

To improve your website’s URL structure, make sure to:

  • Use clear and concise URLs
  • Include keywords only if they are relevant to the content of the page
  • Avoid using excessive keywords or spammy techniques

With these, you can create a well-structured URL that will help improve your website’s visibility and performance.

3. Duplicate Content:

One of the most common technical SEO issues is duplicate content. This can happen for a number of reasons, such as if you have multiple pages with similar or identical content, or if your content is being pulled in from another source (e.g. an RSS feed).

Duplicate content can cause problems for search engines because they’re not sure which version of the content they should be indexing and ranking. This can lead to your content being buried on search engine results pages (SERPs), or even worse, de-indexed entirely.

To fix duplicate content issues, you need to:

  • Identify the pages with duplicate content
  • After identification, either delete them or add unique content to them so that they’re not identical to other pages on your site.
  • You can use a rel=”canonical” tag to tell search engines which page is the original version.
  • Alternatively you can also use 301 redirects to send traffic from the other versions to the main one

4. Redirects and Broken Links:

Redirects are HTTP responses that tell the browser to go to a different URL than the one that was requested. There are three types of redirects: 301, 302, and 307.

301 redirects are permanent redirects, which means that the browser will always use the new URL when the page is reloaded. 302 redirects are temporary redirects, which means that the browser will use the new URL for only the current session. 307 redirects are identical to 302 redirects, but they are more compatible with older browsers.

Another common technical SEO issue is broken links. These are links that point to pages that no longer exist, either because the page has been moved or deleted, or because the URL has been changed. 

So, to sum it up, a broken link is basically a link on your website that goes nowhere; when someone clicks on it, they get an error message instead of being taken to the correct page.

Broken links are problematic for two main reasons: firstly, they provide a poor user experience (UX) for people visiting your website, and secondly, they can prevent search engine crawlers from being able to properly index your website. This can hurt your chances of ranking well on SERPs.

To fix this issue, 

  • You need to identify any broken links on your site and then update or remove them. 
  • If you have moved a page, you should use a 301 redirect to send traffic from the old URL to the new one. 
  • If you have deleted a page, you should use a 410 redirect instead. 
  • If you have changed the URL of a page, you should update any links pointing to the old URL so that they point to the new one instead.

5. XML Sitemaps:

XML sitemaps are a way of informing search engines about the pages on your website that you want them to index. They are also a way of ensuring that your website’s content is fully indexed by the search engines.

XML sitemap examples

There are a number of technical SEO issues that can affect your XML sitemaps, including:

  • Duplicate content
  • Incorrectly formatted URLs
  • Broken links
  • 404 errors
  • Non-indexable pages

To fix these issues, you need to make sure that your XML sitemap is properly formatted and that it contains only valid URLs. You should also ensure that all of your links are working correctly, and fix any 404 errors. Finally, you should make sure that all of your pages are indexable by search engines.

XML sitemap generated from Yoast SEO

Do you need help in fixing technical seo issues ?

6. Robots Files:

Robots files are a way of telling search engine crawlers which pages on your website they should or should not index. There are two types of robots files: the robots.txt file and the meta robots tag.

The robots.txt file is a text file that tells crawlers which directories they should and should not crawl. The meta robots tag is an HTML tag that tells crawlers which pages they should and should not index.

One of the main issues with robots files is that they can cause duplicate content. This happens when crawlers index the same page twice, resulting in two different versions of the page being indexed. This can hurt your website’s ranking in search engine results pages.

To avoid this issue, you need to make sure that your robots files are properly formatted and that they contain only valid URLs. You should also ensure that all of your links are working correctly, and fix any 404 errors. Finally, you should make sure that all of your pages are indexable by the search engines.

7. Title Tags & Meta Descriptions:

Title tags and meta descriptions are two of the most important elements of SEO. They are the titles and descriptions that appear in the search engine results pages, and they are the first thing that people see when they search for your website.

However, if they are not correctly formatted or if they are too long or too short, they can have a negative effect on your website’s ranking in the search engine results pages.

The title tags and meta descriptions for your website should be formatted in a way that will make them stand out and be seen as relevant to the user’s search. They should also be formatted in a way that will make them readable and easy to understand.

title tag and meta description

Some tips for formatting your title tags and meta descriptions:

  • Keep them short and to the point. Not more than 160 characters
  • Make sure they are relevant to the user’s search
  • Use keywords where possible
  • Use a different keyword in each title tag and meta description
  • Use a call to action if possible

8. Heading Tags (H1, H2, etc.):

Headings tags are a way of indicating to Google which sections of your content are the most important. This helps Google to understand your content better and to rank it more accurately in the search engine results pages.

However, if the headings tags are not correctly formatted, they can have a negative effect on your website’s ranking in the search engine results pages.

To fix this issue, you need to make sure that your headings tags are properly formatted and that they contain the right keywords. You should also make sure that they are no longer than 150 characters each.

How to format your heading tags for the best SEO result?

There are a number of things that you can do to make sure that your heading tags are formatted correctly for the best SEO results. Some of them are:

  • Make sure that each of your heading’s tags is no longer than 150 characters. 
  • Make sure that the keywords that you want to target are included in your heading’s tags. 
  • Use H1, H2, and H3 tags to indicate the hierarchy of your content. 
  • Make sure that your headings tags are properly formatted and that they contain the right keywords.

9. Image Optimization:

Image optimization is important because it helps to improve the overall user experience of your website. It also helps to improve the ranking of your website in the search engine results pages.

However, if your images are not optimized correctly, they can have a negative effect on your website’s ranking in the search engine results pages. This is because unoptimized images can slow down your website and can cause it to load more slowly. This is something that search engines take into account when ranking websites.

To optimize your images for the best SEO results, you should:

  • Use a compressed file format, such as JPEG or PNG
  • Use a keyword in the file name and in the Alt Text
  • Make sure the file size is as small as possible

There are a number of different tools that you can use for image optimization. Some of the most popular tools are:

  • JPEG Optimizer
  • TinyPNG
  • Smush.it

Check out this video discussing how these small common errors hugely effects your website.

10. Anchor Text & Internal Links:

The anchor text is the text that is used to link to other pages on your website. The internal links are the links that connect different pages on your website together.

link on a page and link in code

Both of these elements are important because they help to improve the structure of your website. They also help to improve the flow of traffic through your website. This can have a positive effect on your website’s ranking in the search engine results pages.

Do you get more leads
from google searches?

11. Pagination Issues:

Pagination issues are problems that can occur when you are using pagination on your website. This is a feature that allows you to split your content into multiple pages so that users can easily navigate through it.

However, if the pagination is not set up correctly, it can have a negative effect on your website’s ranking in the search engine results pages. This is because the pagination can cause the user’s browser to slow down or to crash.

To fix this issue, you need to make sure that your pagination is set up correctly. You should also make sure that the user’s browser is able to handle the pagination properly.

12. JavaScript & Ajax Handling:

JavaScript is a programming language that is used to create interactive websites. Ajax is a technology that allows you to communicate with the server without reloading the page.

Both of these technologies are important for Technical SEO because they help to improve the user experience of your website. They also help to improve the ranking of your website in the search engine results pages.

To make sure that your website is using JavaScript and Ajax correctly, you need to make sure that your website is using the latest versions of these technologies. You should also test your website on different browsers and devices to make sure that it works properly.

13. Crawl Errors Monitoring:

Crawl errors are problems that can occur when a search engine is trying to crawl your website. This can cause the search engine to stop crawling your website, which can have a negative effect on your website’s ranking in the search engine results pages.

To fix this issue, you need to make sure that your website is error-free. You should also make sure that the search engine is able to crawl your website properly.

You can use a crawler tool to help you find and fix crawl errors on your website. This tool will crawl your website and will report any errors that it finds.

identify crawl error tools

There are a number of tools that you can use to identify crawl errors on your website. Some of these tools include:

  • Google Search Console
  • Bing Webmaster Tools
  • Screaming Frog SEO Spider

14. Canonicalization Issues:

Canonicalization is the process of identifying and resolving duplicate content on a website. This is important for Technical SEO because it helps to improve the ranking of your website in the search engine results pages.

To fix canonicalization issues, you need to make sure that your website is using the correct canonical tags. You should also make sure that your website is not using any duplicate content.

You can use a tool like Google Search Console to help you find and fix canonicalization issues on your website.

15. Hreflang Tag Implementation:

Hreflang tag implementation is the process of adding hreflang tags to your website. 

The hreflang tag is a code that you can use to indicate the language and country for your website. This code helps to ensure that the correct language and country versions of your website are displayed on the search engine results pages.

Hreflang tag implementation

To add hreflang tags to your website, you need to add a code snippet to your website’s header. You can find the hreflang tag code snippet on the hreflang tag website.

16. Mobile-Friendly Sites:

A mobile-friendly site is a website that is designed for mobile devices. Having a mobile-friendly site is important because it helps to improve the ranking of your website in the search engine results pages.

To make your website mobile friendly, you need to make sure that your website is using responsive design. You should also make sure that your website is using the latest versions of HTML and CSS.

You can use a tool like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check whether your website is mobile-friendly. You can also use this tool to find out how to make your website more mobile-friendly.

Conclusion:

Technical SEO is vital to the success of any website but it can be tricky to get right. In this blog post, we discussed some common technical SEO issues and how to fix them. If you’re having trouble with technical SEO on your own website, contact an experienced SEO agency like us to help you deal with these. Need help to optimize your website?  Click here to contact us or leave us a message below for a callback.