Technical SEO Checklist: Fix Website Errors Now
Is your website struggling to rank, despite your best content efforts? The problem might not be your content itself, but rather the technical foundation it’s built upon. Technical SEO ensures search engines can crawl, index, and understand your site effectively. Neglecting these crucial elements can severely impact your visibility and organic traffic. Let’s dive into a comprehensive technical SEO checklist to uncover and resolve common website errors, ensuring your site is optimized for both search engines and users.
Crawlability and Indexing
First and foremost, search engines need to be able to access and understand your website. This starts with crawlability and indexing. If search engines can’t crawl your site, they can’t index it, and therefore, it won’t rank.
Robots.txt Optimization
The robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which parts of your site they should and shouldn’t access. A misconfigured robots.txt file can accidentally block critical pages, preventing them from being indexed.
- Check for Errors: Ensure your robots.txt file isn’t blocking important pages or directories like your homepage, product pages, or blog.
- Use the Correct Syntax: Make sure your directives (e.g.,
User-agent:,Disallow:) are correctly formatted. - Specify Your Sitemap: Include a link to your XML sitemap within the robots.txt file to help search engines find all your important pages.
XML Sitemap Submission
An XML sitemap is a roadmap of your website, listing all your important pages and their last modified dates. Submitting your sitemap to search engines helps them discover and index your content more efficiently.
- Create an XML Sitemap: Use a sitemap generator tool if you don’t already have one.
- Submit to Search Consoles: Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Keep it Updated: Automatically update your sitemap whenever you add or remove pages from your website.
Index Coverage Issues
Google Search Console provides valuable insights into which of your pages are indexed and whether there are any indexing errors. Pay close attention to the “Coverage” report.
- Identify Errors: Address any errors like “Submitted URL blocked by robots.txt,” “Submitted URL not found (404),” or “Crawled – currently not indexed.”
- Request Indexing: If a page isn’t indexed, use the “URL Inspection” tool in Search Console to request indexing.
- Address Soft 404s: Ensure pages aren’t mistakenly identified as “soft 404” errors (when a page appears to be empty but isn’t).
Website Speed and Performance
Website speed is a critical ranking factor and a major contributor to user experience. Slow-loading websites often have high bounce rates and lower conversion rates.
Page Speed Insights
Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool analyzes your website’s speed and provides actionable recommendations for improvement.
- Run a Test: Enter your website’s URL into PageSpeed Insights and analyze the results for both mobile and desktop.
- Optimize Images: Compress images to reduce file size without sacrificing quality. Use tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim.
- Enable Browser Caching: Leverage browser caching to store static resources (e.g., images, CSS files) on users’ devices.
- Minify CSS and JavaScript: Reduce the size of your CSS and JavaScript files by removing unnecessary characters and whitespace.
- Leverage a Content Delivery Network (CDN): Use a CDN to distribute your website’s content across multiple servers, reducing latency for users around the world.
Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that Google uses to measure user experience. These include:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures how long it takes for the largest content element on a page to become visible. Aim for LCP under 2.5 seconds.
- First Input Delay (FID): Measures the time it takes for a browser to respond to a user’s first interaction with a page. Aim for FID under 100 milliseconds.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures the amount of unexpected layout shifts that occur on a page. Aim for CLS under 0.1.
You can monitor your Core Web Vitals performance in Google Search Console under the “Experience” section.
Mobile-First Indexing
Google primarily uses the mobile version of your website for indexing and ranking. Therefore, it’s crucial to ensure your website is mobile-friendly.
- Responsive Design: Use a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes and devices.
- Mobile-Friendly Test: Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to check if your website is mobile-friendly.
- Ensure Content Parity: Make sure the mobile version of your website has the same content and functionality as the desktop version.
Website Security (HTTPS)
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is a secure version of HTTP that encrypts communication between your website and users’ browsers. It’s a crucial ranking signal and a sign of trust for users.
SSL Certificate Installation
You need an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate to enable HTTPS on your website.
- Obtain an SSL Certificate: Purchase an SSL certificate from a reputable provider or use a free option like Let’s Encrypt.
- Install the Certificate: Follow your hosting provider’s instructions to install the SSL certificate on your server.
- Redirect HTTP to HTTPS: Configure your server to automatically redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS.
Mixed Content Errors
Mixed content errors occur when a website is loaded over HTTPS, but some resources (e.g., images, CSS files, JavaScript files) are loaded over HTTP. This can compromise the security of your website.
- Identify Mixed Content: Use a tool like SSL Check to identify mixed content errors on your website.
- Update Resource URLs: Update the URLs of all resources to use HTTPS instead of HTTP.
Structured Data Markup
Structured data markup (also known as schema markup) is code you add to your website to provide search engines with more information about your content. This can help your website appear in rich snippets in search results, improving click-through rates.
Schema.org Vocabulary
Schema.org is a collaborative effort to create a standardized vocabulary for structured data markup.
- Identify Relevant Schema Types: Determine which schema types are relevant to your content (e.g., Article, Product, Recipe, Event).
- Implement Schema Markup: Add the appropriate schema markup to your website using JSON-LD format (recommended by Google).
- Test Your Markup: Use Google’s Rich Results Test tool to validate your schema markup.
Rich Snippets
Rich snippets are enhanced search results that display additional information, such as ratings, reviews, prices, and availability. Implementing structured data markup can help your website appear in rich snippets.
Duplicate Content Issues
Duplicate content can confuse search engines and dilute your website’s ranking potential. It’s important to identify and address duplicate content issues.
Canonical Tags
Canonical tags tell search engines which version of a page is the preferred version when multiple versions exist. This helps prevent duplicate content issues.
- Implement Canonical Tags: Add canonical tags to all your pages, specifying the preferred URL.
- Ensure Consistency: Make sure your canonical tags are consistent across your website.
301 Redirects
301 redirects permanently redirect one URL to another. Use 301 redirects to consolidate duplicate content and pass link equity to the preferred URL.
- Identify Duplicate Pages: Identify any duplicate pages on your website.
- Implement 301 Redirects: Redirect the duplicate pages to the preferred URL.
Broken Links and 404 Errors
Broken links and 404 errors can negatively impact user experience and search engine rankings. Regularly check your website for broken links and fix them promptly.
Internal and External Link Audits
Perform regular audits to identify broken internal and external links on your website.
- Use a Link Checker Tool: Use a tool like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to crawl your website and identify broken links.
- Fix Broken Links: Replace broken internal links with working links or redirect them to relevant pages.
- Update External Links: If you find broken external links, consider replacing them with links to other relevant resources.
Custom 404 Pages
Create a custom 404 page that provides helpful information to users who encounter a broken link. This can help reduce bounce rates and improve user experience.
- Design a User-Friendly 404 Page: Include a clear message explaining that the page wasn’t found.
- Provide Navigation Options: Include links to your homepage, search bar, and other important pages.
Mobile Friendliness
With the majority of internet users browsing on mobile devices, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is paramount. Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it primarily uses the mobile version of your website for indexing and ranking.
Responsive Design Implementation
Implement a responsive design that adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes and devices. This ensures a consistent and user-friendly experience for all visitors.
- Fluid Grids: Use fluid grids to ensure your website’s layout adjusts automatically to different screen sizes.
- Flexible Images: Use flexible images that scale proportionally to fit different screen sizes.
- Media Queries: Use media queries to apply different styles based on the screen size and device.
Touchscreen Optimization
Optimize your website for touchscreen devices by ensuring that buttons and links are large enough and spaced adequately to be easily tapped.
- Increase Button Size: Make buttons and links larger to make them easier to tap on touchscreen devices.
- Add Spacing: Add sufficient spacing between buttons and links to prevent accidental taps.
International SEO (if applicable)
If you’re targeting multiple countries or languages, you need to implement international SEO best practices.
Hreflang Tags
Hreflang tags tell search engines which language and country your content is targeted to. This helps ensure that users are directed to the correct version of your website based on their language and location.
- Implement Hreflang Tags: Add hreflang tags to all your pages, specifying the language and country code.
- Ensure Correct Syntax: Make sure your hreflang tags are correctly formatted.
- Use a Hreflang Tag Generator: Use a hreflang tag generator tool to help you create the correct tags.
Country-Specific Domains or Subdomains
Consider using country-specific domains (e.g., .de for Germany, .fr for France) or subdomains (e.g., de.example.com, fr.example.com) to target specific countries.
Regular Audits and Monitoring
Technical SEO is an ongoing process. Regularly audit your website and monitor its performance to identify and address any new issues that arise.
- Schedule Regular Audits: Schedule regular technical SEO audits (e.g., monthly or quarterly).
- Monitor Performance: Monitor your website’s performance in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Stay Up-to-Date: Stay up-to-date with the latest technical SEO best practices and algorithm updates.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: How often should I perform a technical SEO audit?
A: Ideally, you should conduct a full technical SEO audit at least quarterly. However, regularly monitor key metrics like crawl errors and page speed to catch urgent issues.
Q: What’s the difference between technical SEO and on-page SEO?
A: Technical SEO focuses on the website’s infrastructure and crawlability, while on-page SEO focuses on optimizing individual pages for specific keywords (e.g., title tags, meta descriptions, content).
Q: Is HTTPS a ranking factor?
A: Yes, HTTPS is a confirmed ranking signal. Google prioritizes secure websites.
Q: What’s the best way to optimize images for website speed?
A: Compress images using tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim, use appropriate file formats (WebP is ideal), and consider lazy loading.
By diligently addressing the items on this technical SEO checklist, you’ll not only improve your website’s search engine rankings but also enhance user experience, leading to increased traffic, engagement, and conversions. Don’t let technical errors hold your website back – take action now!