Technical SEO is one part of a website’s overall SEO strategy and is often the first step in optimizing your site before diving into On Site SEO (content and keywords) or Off Site SEO (link building and authority). It lays the foundation for your website's success by ensuring that search engines can easily access, understand, and rank your pages.
Without addressing technical SEO, any efforts on on-site or off-site SEO may not yield optimal results. A technically sound website ensures:
- Better Crawlability and Indexing: Search engines can find and rank your pages.
- Faster Page Load Speeds: A key ranking factor and vital for user satisfaction.
- Secure and Mobile-Friendly Experience: Builds trust and enhances visibility.
By focusing on technical SEO first, you ensure that your website is primed for further optimisation efforts.
Why You Should Optimise If You Understand Code
If you have some knowledge of coding—like Liquid (Shopify), B@SE (Maropost/Neto), or PHP for WordPress—you’re already equipped to handle many technical SEO tasks. With your skills, you can make critical adjustments to your site’s backend, enhancing its structure, speed, and functionality to align with best practices.
For example:
- Shopify (Liquid Code): Customise your theme to improve page speed and add schema markup for better search visibility.
- Neto/Maropost (B@SE Code): Optimise your site’s mobile responsiveness or fix crawlability issues directly in the code.
- WordPress (PHP): Go beyond plugins to clean unnecessary scripts, improve performance, and organize your site's hierarchy.
Leveraging these skills ensures your site is technically optimized, which sets the stage for stronger on-site and off-site SEO efforts.
Key Technical SEO Elements to Focus On
1. Website Speed Optimisation
A fast website keeps users engaged and ranks higher on search engines.
- Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify bottlenecks.
- Minify Images, CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files.
- Implement a CDN (Content Delivery Network) for faster global load times.
2. Mobile Optimisation
Mobile-first indexing means your site’s mobile experience is critical.
- Ensure your site is fully responsive and adjusts to all devices.
- Use viewport meta tags to improve mobile usability.
- Test your site with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool.
3. HTTPS and Security
Secure websites are prioritised by search engines and trusted by users.
- Install an SSL certificate for HTTPS.
- Keep your site’s software updated to prevent vulnerabilities.
4. Structured Data (Schema Markup)
Structured data helps search engines understand your content better and display rich snippets.
- Use schema markup for FAQs, products, and reviews.
- Tools like Schema Markup Generator can simplify implementation.
5. Crawlability and Indexing
Ensure search engines can access and index your website effectively.
- Create and submit an XML sitemap to guide search engines.
- Fix broken links and 404 errors.
- Optimise your robots.txt file to avoid blocking important pages.
6. Clean and Organised Code
Well-structured code enhances loading speed and improves search engine crawlability.
- Remove unused CSS or JavaScript files.
- Follow semantic HTML practices.
- Use proper heading structures (<h1>, <h2>, <h3>) for logical organisation (part of the on-site SEO strategy, but good to do it either way as you are already working in the code)
Technical SEO as the Foundation of Optimisation
Technical SEO is more than just backend tweaks—it’s the foundation of your SEO strategy. Once your technical SEO is in place, you can move on to:
- On Site SEO: Optimising your content, titles, keywords, and internal links to rank for specific search queries.
- Off Site SEO: Building authority through backlinks, social signals, and brand mentions.
Skipping technical SEO risks undermining your entire optimisation strategy.
Need Help with Technical SEO?
Even with coding knowledge, Technical SEO can get complex. Whether your site is on Shopify, Neto, or Woocommerce, we can help you:
- Optimise website speed by cleaning unnecessary code and improving load times.
- Fix crawlability issues with sitemaps, robots.txt files, and proper indexing.
- Implement structured data to enhance search visibility.
By addressing technical SEO first, you’ll ensure your website is primed for on-site and off-site optimization, creating a seamless path to better rankings and increased traffic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Technical SEO involves optimizing a website's backend to improve crawling, indexing, and ranking by search engines.
It ensures your website’s infrastructure is ready for further on-site and off-site optimization, improving crawlability and rankings.
Coding skills allow you to directly optimize site speed, schema markup, and mobile responsiveness without relying solely on plugins.
Tools like Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, and Screaming Frog help identify and fix technical SEO issues.
We specialize in optimizing Shopify, Neto, and WordPress websites for technical SEO.