Technical SEO refers to the process of optimizing your website for the crawling and indexing phase, ensuring that search engines such applying Google can crawl and index your site without any issues. It is the groundwork that makes it possible for your site to rank on search engine result pages. It covers a vast area, from Sitemap, Robot.txt, SSL certificates, to Metadata, Javascript indexing, website speed, and mobile optimization.
Sitemaps, for instance, are important because they give search engines a plan of your website’s content and how it’s organized. According to Google Search Central, it’s a way to tell Google about pages on your site they might not otherwise discover. For large sites, a sitemap helps search engines discover pages that are new or updated faster than they might naturally.
Another crucial aspect is Robots.txt. As explained by Moz, a reputable SEO company, Robots.txt is a text file created by webmasters that instructs web robots how to crawl and index pages on their website. It provides a kind of roadmap for search engines, guiding them to which sections they should or shouldn’t visit.
SSL Certificates are also of great importance in technical SEO. They provide secure, encrypted communications between a website and an internet browser, which Google has been using as a ranking signal since 2014. According to a post on Google’s Security Blog, switching to HTTPS will contribute to users’ safety and privacy by preventing intruders from tampering with communications between websites and users’ browsers.
Another pivotal aspect of technical SEO is mobile optimization. Since Google implemented the Mobile-First Indexing, optimizing websites for mobile users has become a priority for any business. This move by Google reflects the fact that more and more people are using mobile devices to search online. A report from Statista revealed, as of the first quarter of 2021, mobile devices (excluding tablets) generated 54.8 percent of global website traffic.
Website speed is also very important. Slow-loading sites can be penalized by Google and result in a lower ranking. Google’s PageSpeed Insights is a great tool for assessing the speed of your website and gives you advice on how to improve it.
In conclusion, technical SEO is the practice of ensuring that a website meets the technical requirements of modern search engines with the goal of improved organic rankings. It is the foundation of any sustainable SEO strategy.
Sources:
- Google Search Central (2021)
- Moz (2021)
- Google’s Security Blog (2014)
- Statista (2021)
- PageSpeed Insights (2021)