On-page SEO and off-page SEO are the two main types of search engine optimization. On-page SEO refers to content and page optimization, whereas off-page SEO focuses on the relationships between websites. But, there is another type of SEO that you may not be as familiar with: technical SEO.
Technical SEO refers to all SEO activities outside of content optimization. The goal is to follow Google’s best practices and improve crawling so that websites can rank higher in the search engines. With all of the changes and algorithm updates taking place, technical SEO is always in flux. Though it can be difficult to keep up with, you don’t want to fall behind.
To ensure that your website is ranking where you want it to be, here are 10 technical SEO issues to be aware of.
1. Title Tag Issues
Title tags help users and search engines understand what your content is about. However, title tag issues (duplicate tags, missing tags, tags that are too long or too short) can have a negative effect on SEO.
2. No Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are an important part of optimization. They summarize what your page is about and encourage users to click. Without this snippet of information, users may choose to click on a different website.
3. Slow Speed
If your website isn’t loading quickly, it’s probably losing traffic and not ranking well as a result. Some of the best ways to improve the speed of your site are by enabling compression, optimizing images and utilizing browser caching.
4. Broken Internal Links
Some broken links are expected, but too many can cause trouble. If a user keeps running into 404 error codes, they’ll bounce off your site and drive traffic down. Not to mention, these experiences can leave a poor first impression.
5. Broken External Links
Ideally, you want all external links to work, otherwise you could miss an opportunity for a new customer. If you’re concerned that you have a lot of broken links pointing toward your site, conduct a backlink audit. (I know, they’re tedious. But the reward is worth the effort.)
6. Duplicate Content
Duplicate content is common, but you don’t want to make a habit of it. If you have too many pages on your site with similar content, the search engines will have a hard time figuring out which pages to rank.
7. Missing Alt Tags
The search engines can’t “see” your images. If you don’t add an alt tag, they won’t know how to categorize them. In the alt tag field, include keywords that you want to rank for.
8. Not Using HTTPS
Have you made the switch to HTTPS? If not, now is the time. Google has warned webmasters that non-HTTPS sites would be marked as “not secure” if they asked for credit card information or passwords.
9. Broken Images
Typically, broken images occur when a site or domain change is made. Broken images have a similar effect as broken links, making a site look unprofessional and untrustworthy. Fortunately, there is software available to find these images and fix them.
10. Too Many Links
Links are good but not in excess. If you have a page with too many links, the content may appear spammy and low in quality. While there are no hard rules about how many links should be added per page, use good judgement. All links should be relevant and helpful to the reader.
Are you concerned that your website could have some of these technical SEO issues going on? Don’t let your rankings suffer! Call Magna Technology and let us get to the bottom of broken links, broken images, missing alt tags and more.
