Chapter 4.
What is Technical SEO?
Technical SEO involves enhancing a website's technical components to boost its visibility on search engines and improve the user experience. Unlike on-page SEO, which centers on content, and off-page SEO, which focuses on external factors, technical SEO addresses the backend elements that influence how easily search engines can crawl and index the site, as well as its overall performance in search rankings.
Here are some Important components of
technical SEO:
Website Speed:
Optimizing page loading speed by reducing server response time, compressing images, minimizing CSS and JavaScript files, leveraging browser caching, and utilizing Content Delivery Networks (CDNs).
Ensuring that the website is responsive and mobile-friendly, providing a seamless user experience across different devices and screen sizes. Mobile-friendliness is a crucial ranking factor, especially since Google's mobile-first indexing.
Ensuring that search engine crawlers can access and crawl all relevant pages on the website. This involves optimizing robots.txt files, fixing crawl errors, and using XML sitemaps to guide search engines to important pages.
Creating a logical site structure that makes it easy for users and search engines to navigate. Optimizing URL structure to be descriptive, user-friendly, and include relevant keywords.
Implementing canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of duplicate or similar content. This helps prevent duplicate content issues and consolidates link equity to the canonical URL.
Securing the website with SSL encryption and transitioning from HTTP to HTTPS. This not only protects user data but also improves trust and credibility, as HTTPS is a ranking factor.
Implementing structured data
markup (using Schema.org vocabulary) to provide search engines with additional
context about the content on the website. This can enhance rich snippets and
boost visibility in search results.
Optimizing site speed and performance to meet Core Web Vitals metrics, which include metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). These metrics measure loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, respectively.
Implementing hreflang tags to indicate language and regional variations of content for international targeting. Using country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) or subdirectories/subdomains for targeting specific countries or regions.
Regularly auditing and monitoring the website's technical health using tools like Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, and third-party SEO auditing tools. This helps identify and fix technical issues that may affect search engine visibility and user experience.
Google search console :
Google Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools) is a free web service provided by Google that allows website owners, webmasters, and SEO professionals to monitor and maintain the presence of their websites in Google's search results. It offers various tools and reports to help optimize website performance and visibility in Google Search.
Here are some important features and functions of Google Search Console:
Performance Report:
Provides data on how your website is performing in Google Search, including clicks, impressions, click-through rates (CTRs), and average position for specific search queries, pages, countries, and devices.
Index Coverage Report:
Shows information about the indexing status of your website's pages, including valid and indexed pages, errors, and warnings encountered by Google when crawling and indexing your site.
URL Inspection Tool:
Allows you to inspect and troubleshoot individual URLs on your website. You can see how Googlebot crawls and renders a specific URL, view indexing status, and identify any issues that may affect its visibility in search results.
Sitemap Submission:
Lets you submit XML sitemaps to Google, helping Googlebot discover and crawl your website's pages more efficiently. You can also check the status of submitted sitemaps and view any errors or warnings.
Mobile Usability Report:
Highlights mobile usability issues on your website, such as viewport configuration errors, font size issues, and clickable elements too close together. Ensuring mobile-friendly design is essential for SEO, especially since Google's mobile-first indexing.
Core Web Vitals Report:
Provides data on Core Web Vitals metrics, such as Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), which measure loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, respectively.
Security Issues Alerts:
Alerts you to any security issues detected on your website, such as malware or phishing content, which could harm visitors or lead to search penalties.
Manual Actions:
Notifies you if Google has applied a manual action to your website for violating its quality guidelines. It provides information about the issue and steps to resolve it.
Links Report:
Shows information about external and internal links pointing to your website. You can see which pages have the most links, which websites are linking to yours, and identify any toxic or low-quality backlinks.
Enhancement Reports:
Offers insights into structured data markup, AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), and other enhancements that can improve your website's appearance and performance in search results.
Google Search Console is an invaluable tool for website owners and SEO professionals to monitor, optimize, and troubleshoot their websites' performance in Google Search. By leveraging its features and insights, you can improve your website's visibility, user experience, and ultimately drive more organic traffic from search engines.
Preferred Domain:
The "Preferred Domain" setting in Google Search Console allows you to specify whether you prefer your website's URLs to appear with the "www" prefix (e.g., www.digiearning4u.blogspot.com) or without it (e.g., example.com). This setting helps Google understand your preferred domain version and consolidates indexing signals for your website.
Here's how to set the preferred domain in Google Search Console:
Access Google Search Console:
Log in to your Google Search Console account.
Select Property:
Choose the property (website) for which you want to set the preferred domain. If you have multiple properties, make sure to select the correct one from the property dropdown menu.
Navigate to Settings:
In the left-hand sidebar, click on "Settings" under the "Settings & Information" section.
Choose Preferred Domain:
Under the "Preferred domain" section, you'll see two options:
"Don't set a preferred domain"
"Display URLs as www.digiearning4u.blogspot.com" (or "digiearning4u.blogspot.com")
Select Preferred Option:
Choose the option that represents your preferred domain format. If you want your URLs to display with the "www" prefix, select "Display URLs as www.digiearning4u.blogspot.com". If you prefer URLs without the "www" prefix, select "Display URLs as example.com".
Save Changes:
Once you've selected your preferred domain option, click on the "Save" button to apply the changes.
After setting your preferred domain in Google Search Console, Google will attempt to index your website's URLs using the specified format. It's important to ensure consistency across your website, including internal links, canonical tags, and XML sitemaps, to avoid confusion and improve indexing efficiency.
Additionally, it's a good practice to set up proper redirects (301 redirects) from the non-preferred version to the preferred version of your domain to consolidate authority and avoid duplicate content issues. For example, if you prefer the "www" version, ensure that visitors accessing the non-www version are automatically redirected to the www version, or vice versa.
Crawling and Indexing:
Crawling and indexing are two fundamental processes in search engine operations that enable search engines to discover, analyze, and store web pages for retrieval in search results. Here's an overview of each process:
Crawling:
Crawling is the process by which search engine bots, often referred to as crawlers or spiders, systematically browse the web to discover and retrieve web pages.
Search engine crawlers start by visiting a set of known web pages, typically through a process called seeding. From there, they follow hyperlinks on those pages to discover new pages and continue crawling.
During the crawling process, crawlers analyze the content of each web page they encounter, including text, images, links, and metadata.
Crawlers prioritize pages based on factors such as relevance, freshness, and authority. They may revisit pages periodically to check for updates or changes.
Indexing:
Indexing is the process of storing and organizing the information gathered by crawlers in a searchable database known as an index.
Once a crawler retrieves a web page, it parses and analyzes the content to understand its topic, structure, and relevance to specific keywords or topics.
The information extracted from the web page is then added to the search engine's index, where it is associated with relevant keywords and other metadata.
Search engines use sophisticated algorithms to determine how to index and rank web pages based on factors like content quality, relevance, authority, and user experience.
The index is continuously updated as crawlers discover new pages, revisit existing ones, and process changes to web content.
Overall, crawling and indexing are essential processes that enable search engines to build comprehensive databases of web content and provide relevant and timely search results to users. By understanding how these processes work, website owners and SEO professionals can optimize their websites to improve visibility, indexing, and ranking in search engine results pages.
Robots.txt:
The robots.txt file is a
simple text file located in a website's root directory. It tells web crawlers
which pages or files they can or cannot crawl and index. This standard helps
websites communicate with search engine crawlers and other web robots. Here's
how a robots.txt file typically functions and how you can use it:
Location and Format:
The robots.txt file should be located at the root level of your website, accessible via the URL:
It is a simple text file that follows a specific format: it consists of lines containing directives (commands) and values, with one directive per line.
Directives:
This directive specifies the user-agent (web crawler) to which the following directives apply. For example, you can specify "*" to apply the directives to all user-agents, or specify specific user-agents such as Googlebot, Bingbot, or others.
Disallow:
This directive specifies the URLs or directories that are disallowed for crawling. You can specify specific paths or directories that you do not want search engine crawlers to access. For example, Disallow: /private/ would disallow crawling of all URLs under the "/private/" directory.
Allow:
This directive specifies exceptions to the disallow rule. It can be used to allow access to specific URLs or directories that are otherwise disallowed by the Disallow directive.
Sitemap: This directive specifies the location of the XML sitemap(s) for the website. It informs search engine crawlers about the location of the sitemap file(s) containing URLs that you want to be indexed.
Example Robots.txt File:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /admin/ Allow: /public/
Sitemap: http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml
Testing and Verification:
After creating or updating the robots.txt file, it's important to test it using tools like Google Search Console's Robots.txt Tester to ensure that it's functioning as intended.
You can also manually check the robots.txt file by accessing it through a web browser to see if it's accessible and correctly formatted.
Best Practices:
Ensure that sensitive or private information is not inadvertently exposed in the robots.txt file.
Keep the file as concise and specific as possible to avoid confusion.
Regularly monitor and update the robots.txt file as needed, especially when making changes to the website's structure or content.
Overall, the robots.txt file is a valuable tool for controlling how search engine crawlers access and index your website's content. By properly configuring this file, you can ensure that your website's resources are used efficiently and that sensitive information remains protected.
URL Optimization:
URL optimization, also known as URL structuring or URL formatting, involves creating well-structured, descriptive, and SEO-friendly URLs for web pages. Optimized URLs not only improve user experience but also help search engines understand the content and context of the page, potentially leading to higher rankings in search results. Here are some key principles and best practices for URL optimization:
Keep it Descriptive and Relevant:
Use descriptive keywords in the URL that accurately reflect the content of the page.
To Avoid we using the generic or cryptic URLs that provide in which the little information about the page's content.
Make sure the URL gives users a clear idea of what they can expect to find on the page.
Short and Simple:
Keep URLs concise and easy to read, ideally under 100 characters.
Remove unnecessary words, numbers, or special characters that do not add value to the URL.
When we use hyphens (-) to separate words instead of underscores (_) or spaces.
Use Keywords:
The Incorporative the relevant keywords into the URL, preferably towards the beginning.
Keywords in the URL can help improve search engine visibility and indicate the topic of the page.
Avoid Dynamic Parameters:
Minimize the use of dynamic parameters and session IDs in URLs, as they can create duplicate content issues and make URLs less user-friendly.
Instead, use static URLs whenever possible, which are easier to understand and remember.
Canonicalization:
Choose a preferred URL format (with or without www, HTTP or HTTPS) and use 301 redirects or canonical tags to consolidate duplicate versions of the URL.
Ensure consistency across internal and external links to prevent confusion and maximize SEO value.
Include a Top-Level Keyword:
Whenever relevant, include a top-level keyword in the URL that represents the main topic or category of the page.
This helps users and search engines understand the context of the page and its relationship to other content on the website.
Readable and Human-Friendly:
Write URLs that are easy for humans to read and understand, avoiding technical jargon or abbreviations.
A well-structured URL can improve click-through rates and user engagement.
Static Over Dynamic:
Prefer static URLs over dynamic URLs whenever possible. Static URLs are more search engine-friendly and easier to index.
Dynamic URLs with parameters can be rewritten using URL rewriting techniques to create cleaner, more user-friendly URLs.
Avoid Stop Words:
Consider removing stop words (e.g., "and", "or", "but") from URLs, as they add unnecessary length and complexity without adding significant value.
Test and Monitor:
Regularly review and analyze the performance of your URLs in search results.
Monitor changes in rankings, click-through rates, and user behavior to identify areas for improvement and optimization.
By following these URL optimization best practices, you can create user-friendly, descriptive, and SEO-friendly URLs that enhance the overall user experience and improve your website's visibility and rankings in search engine results pages.
XML Sitemap Optimization:
XML sitemap optimization involves creating and maintaining an XML sitemap file that accurately represents the structure and content of your website to help search engines crawl and index your pages more efficiently. Here are some key tips for optimizing XML sitemaps:
Include All Important Pages:
Ensure that your XML sitemap includes all important pages on your website, including main content pages, product pages, category pages, blog posts, and other relevant pages. This helps ensure that search engines discover and index all relevant content on your site.
Organize URLs by Priority:
Prioritize important pages by placing them higher in the XML sitemap or using priority tags (priority attribute in XML sitemap). This helps search engines understand the relative importance of different pages on your site.
Specify Last Modification Date:
Include the last modification date (lastmod attribute) for each URL in your XML sitemap. This helps search engines understand when each page was last updated, which can influence crawl frequency and freshness in search results.
Set Priority and Change Frequency:
Use priority and change frequency tags (priority and change freq attributes) to indicate the importance and update frequency of each URL. While Google largely ignores these tags, other search engines may use them as hints for crawling and indexing.
Keep Sitemap Size Manageable:
Keep your XML sitemap file size manageable by limiting the number of URLs per sitemap file. If you have a large website, you may need to create multiple XML sitemap files and use a sitemap index file to list them all.
Include Images and Videos:
If your website contains images or videos, consider including them in your XML sitemap using image and video sitemap extensions. This helps search engines discover and index multimedia content on your site.
Validate Sitemap:
Before submitting your XML sitemap to search engines, validate it using online XML sitemap validators or tools provided by search engine webmaster tools. This helps ensure that your sitemap is correctly formatted and free of errors.
Regularly Update Sitemap:
Keep your XML sitemap up-to-date by regularly updating it whenever you add, remove, or update content on your website. This helps ensure that search engines have access to the latest version of your site's content.
Submit to Search Engines:
Once you have created and optimized your XML sitemap, submit it to major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo through their respective webmaster tools or search console platforms. This helps expedite the indexing process and ensures that search engines are aware of all the pages on your site.
Monitor and Analyze:
Monitor the performance of your XML sitemap in search engine webmaster tools and analyze crawl errors, indexing status, and other relevant metrics. This helps identify any issues with your sitemap and address them promptly to ensure optimal crawling and indexing of your website.
By following these XML sitemap optimization tips, you can help search engines crawl and index your website more efficiently, leading to better visibility and rankings in search engine results pages.
