In the world of digital marketing, just writing good content is not enough to rank a website in search engines like Google. Technical SEO is equally important for this. In this blog, we will learn in detail what technical SEO is, what it includes and how it is optimized.
What is Technical SEO in Digital Marketing?
Technical SEO is a part of digital marketing in which the technical structure of the website is improved in such a way that the engine can easily crawl, search and rank it. In this, attention is paid to technical technologies like website speed, mobile friendliness, SSL site, site friend, and chroma markup.
You can learn more about how SEO works in our beginner’s guide, which explains the fundamentals.
What comes under technical SEO?
Now let’s talk about the major things that are included in technical SEO:
1. Website Speed Optimization
Website speed is a big factor in search engine ranking. A slow website frustrates users and increases bounce rate.
How to improve:
- Image compression
- Enabling caching
- Lightweight and clean code
2. Mobile-friendly website
Most of the traffic today comes from mobile. Therefore, Google also gives priority to mobile-friendly websites.
How to test:
Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool.
3. HTTPS and SSL certificate
Search engines give priority to secure websites (https://). If your website is still on HTTP, enable SSL immediately.
4. XML Sitemap
This is an XML file that contains all the important URLs of the website. Submitting it to Google Search Console allows Google to understand your site better.
5. Robots.txt file
This file tells the search engine which pages to crawl and which not to.
6. Canonical Tags
This tag is used when your site has similar or duplicate content. It tells the search engine which version to rank.
7. Structured Data (Schema Markup)
Schema markup is HTML code that helps the search engine understand what your content is about. Rich Snippets are also created from this.
8. 404 Error and Redirects
If a page is not found, a 404 error occurs, which is harmful for SEO. In such a situation, the user is sent to the correct page using 301 Redirect.
Check out our What is Advanced SEO? blog.
Why is Technical SEO important?
1. Better user experience:
A fast and secure website keeps users on the site for a longer time.
2. Better understanding of search engines:
Google understands your website better with Robots.txt, Sitemap and Structured Data.
3. Improved ranking:
A technically strong website ranks faster.
4. Benefits mobile traffic:
Mobile friendly websites are attractive to mobile users.
If you’re new to the concept, you can also check out our blog on What is Off Page SEO & Backlinks | All Techniques for a deeper understanding.
Difference between What is Technical SEO and On-Page SEO
1. Purpose:
The purpose of Technical SEO is to improve the technical structure of the website, such as site speed, crawling, indexing, etc.
On-Page SEO focuses on optimizing the content and keywords of the website, so that it is suitable for both users and search engines.
2. Tools used:
Technical SEO uses: Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, GTmetrix, etc.
Tools for On-Page SEO are: Yoast SEO, RankMath, SurferSEO, etc.
3. Key Elements:
Technical SEO includes: website speed, mobile friendliness, HTTPS, schema markup, sitemap, robots.txt, etc.
On-page SEO includes: title tags, meta descriptions, keyword optimization, headings, internal linking, etc.
If you’re new to SEO, we recommend checking out our On-page and Off-page SEO: what’s the difference? blog to get a better understanding of the distinctions.
Impact of Technical SEO on SEO Performance
Technical SEO is a crucial aspect that impacts your website’s overall SEO performance. While on-page SEO focuses on optimizing content and off-page SEO on building backlinks, technical SEO ensures that your website is well-structured, accessible, and fast—providing a strong foundation for your SEO efforts. Let’s explore how technical SEO can impact your site’s SEO performance.
1. Better crawling and indexing
Search engines like Google use crawlers to visit and index websites. If your website is not optimized for crawling, search engines may miss important pages, which can negatively impact your rankings. Technical SEO ensures that your site is easily crawled, allowing search engines to index your pages correctly. A well-structured XML sitemap and a properly configured robots.txt file help search engines find and index your website easily.
2. Faster page load times
Site speed is an important part of technical SEO. Google considers page load times as a ranking factor. Slow-loading websites often face higher bounce rates, which negatively impacts user experience and search engine rankings. By optimizing site speed—such as using image compression, minifying code, and browser caching—you can enhance site performance and rankings.
3. Being mobile-friendly
With Google’s mobile-first indexing, your website should be optimized for mobile devices. Mobile-friendly websites rank better in search results. Technical SEO ensures that your site is responsive, which directly impacts its performance on mobile search results.
Conclusion:
If you want to rank your website higher in Google, just writing content will not work. It is equally important to understand technical SEO and implement it correctly.
So now that you understand what is technical SEO in digital marketing, and what does technical SEO include, implement it on your website today and see the improvement in ranking. Be sure to also explore our other blogs like What is SEO, How to Rank Google My Business, and How to Generate Leads for Your Business for more comprehensive guides.
You can learn more about local SEO in our blog Benefits of Google My Business: Why Your Business Needs It.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Handy Guide For You!
Technical SEO is the process of optimizing the backend and structure of a website so that search engines can easily crawl and index the website. It includes factors like site speed, mobile-friendliness, HTTPS security, structured data, canonical URLs. All these elements are part of Google's ranking algorithm, so it is important to optimize them.
Google considers speed as a ranking factor. If the website is slow, the bounce rate increases and the user experience is poor. Improvements can be made by testing the speed with PageSpeed Insights or Core Web Vitals. Fast loading sites perform better in ranking.
Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means it looks at the mobile version first when deciding ranking. If the site is not mobile-friendly, its ranking can drop. Responsive design, readable fonts, and touch-friendly navigation are a must.
If search engine bots are unable to crawl a page (due to broken links, 404 errors, disallowed pages etc.), then that page will not be indexed. This means that it will not show up in Google search results. Fixing crawlability is a must for SEO.
Robots.txt: It tells search engines which pages to crawl and which not to.
XML Sitemap: It is a list of important URLs of the website which helps search engines to crawl the site efficiently.
Both help in improving indexing and visibility.
Duplicate content confuses Google about which version to rank. This leads to content cannibalization and ranking drops. Canonical tags, 301 redirects and proper internal linking can solve this problem.
Structured data helps Google understand the context of content such as reviews, FAQs, recipes, etc. Structured data gives rich results (stars, FAQs) which improve CTR - indirectly ranking becomes better.
