What Is Technical SEO?
Technical SEO refers to the process of optimizing a website for search engines to improve its crawling, indexing, and overall visibility in search engine results. Unlike content-based SEO, which focuses on creating valuable and relevant content for users, technical SEO deals with the behind-the-scenes elements that affect a website's search engine performance.
Why Is Technical SEO Important?
Technicsl SEO is as important as on page and off page seo because it is the basis on which all website search engine optimization (SEO) is carried out. This includes optimizing the core content of your website so that search engines can better access, evaluate and understand your content.
By focusing on technical seo, website owners can improve their website's visibility on search engines to rank higher in search results. Technical SEO also has a direct impact on user experience, as it includes factors such as a fast website, mobile-friendly design and information that increases the interest of more users and reduce the bounce rate.
Understanding Crawling:
Crawling process begins when a search engine bot starts from a list of web addresses (URLs) known as the "seed" URLs. These seed URLs can be any website, and from there, the bot follows hyperlinks on those pages to other pages, and so on, forming a vast network of interconnected web pages. As the bot follows these links, it discovers new URLs, and the process continues, expanding the search engine's index of web pages.
Create SEO-Friendly Site Architecture :
Site architecture, also called site structure, is how the pages relate to each other within your site.
An effective site structure organizes pages in a way that helps crawlers find your website content quickly and easily.
So when structuring your site, ensure all the pages are just a few clicks away from your homepage.
Look Like :
Submit Your Sitemap to Google:
Using a sitemap can help Google find your webpages.
A sitemap is typically an XML file containing a list of important pages on your site. It lets search engines know which pages you have and where to find them.
Which is especially important if your site contains a lot of pages. Or if they’re not well-linked together.
Here’s what EploreSeoTrick's sitemap looks like:
Your sitemap is usually located at one of these two URLs:
- yoursite.com/sitemap.xml
- yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml
Once you locate your sitemap, submit it to Google via GSC (Google Search Console).
To submit your sitemap to Google, go to GSC and click “Indexing” > “Sitemaps” from the sidebar.
Then, paste your sitemap URL in the blank and hit “Submit.”
After Google is done processing your sitemap, you should see a confirmation message like this:
Understanding Indexing :
Indexing, in the context of search engines, refers to the process of adding web pages and other online content to the search engine's database (index). When search engine crawlers visit a website, they analyze the content and store information about it in their index, which is a massive database of web page data.
The indexing process involves extracting relevant information from the web page, such as text, keywords, meta tags, images, and links, among other elements. This information is then organized and stored in a structured format to make it searchable and retrievable when users perform queries using the search engine.
Noindex Tag :
The "noindex" tag is a meta tag that can be added to a web page's HTML code to instruct search engines not to include that particular page in their index. When a page has the "noindex" tag, search engine crawlers will still visit the page, but they won't store or display it in their search results.
The "noindex" tag is useful in various situations, such as:
- Temporary Content: When you have temporary content on your website, like a landing page for a specific event or promotion, you might not want it to appear in search results after the event is over.
- Duplicate Content: To avoid duplicate content issues, you may use the "noindex" tag on pages that have substantially similar content to other pages on your site.
- Thank You Pages: Pages that users land on after completing a form or a purchase might not provide much value in search results, so you can use the "noindex" tag to prevent them from being indexed.
- Private or Internal Pages: Pages that are meant for internal use only and not intended for public consumption can be tagged with "noindex" to keep them out of search results.
- Legal or Policy Pages: Some legal disclaimers, privacy policies, or terms of service pages may not need to be indexed, especially if they are accessible from multiple pages on your site.
The "noindex" tag is implemented in the HTML of the page's head section, like this:
It's important to note that the "noindex" tag is just a suggestion to search engines, and some search engines might still index the page despite having the tag. For more robust control over indexation, you can use the "robots.txt" file to block search engine crawlers from accessing specific pages altogether.
Using the "noindex" tag should be done with caution, as improperly implementing it can lead to unintended consequences, such as blocking important pages from being indexed. Always verify your implementation and test to ensure that it is achieving the desired effect.
Canonicalization:
Canonicalization is a process in search engine optimization (SEO) that involves choosing the preferred or canonical version of a web page when multiple versions of the same content exist. When a search engine encounters different URLs with identical or substantially similar content, it may have difficulty determining which version to include in its index and which version to display in search results. This can lead to issues like duplicate content, which can negatively impact a website's search engine rankings.
Importance of Canonicalization :
Canonicalization is important to ensure that search engines understand the relationship between different URLs and treat them as a single, preferred version. By specifying the canonical version, website owners can consolidate the SEO value of those multiple versions into one primary version, preventing any dilution of ranking authority.
Common scenarios where canonicalization is necessary include:
WWW vs. non-WWW: Websites can be accessed with both "www" and "non-www" versions (e.g., example.com and www.example.com). Specifying the preferred version helps avoid content duplication.
HTTP vs. HTTPS: If a website is accessible through both HTTP and HTTPS protocols, canonicalization helps consolidate the two versions, preventing content duplication.
URL Parameters: Sometimes, websites use URL parameters (e.g., example.com/page?category=1 and example.com/page?category=2) to filter or sort content. Canonicalization helps choose the preferred version without parameters.
To implement canonicalization, you can add a canonical link element to the head section of the HTML code on the non-canonical versions. The canonical link element tells search engines which version is the preferred one. It looks like this:
