Technology is the basis of everything in Digital Marketing! And when we talk about SEO, we can’t ignore Technical SEO: the set of practices and optimizations carried out on the structural elements of a website.
Why is it so important? Simple: imagine having an incredible cast and stage, but no one knowing that your play is on stage.
Technical SEO is the behind-the-scenes artist who improves the visibility of your pages in search engines like Google.
And it’s not just a question of appearing, but of standing out!
After all, the structure of the website, its speed and even the security offered — all of this plays a crucial role in indexing and ranking in search results.
So by optimizing every act of this digital spectacle, you not only attract, but also keep curious visitors on your site.
Come with me, and I’ll show you how Technical SEO can be the special effect you need to take your website to stardom and significantly increase your results!
Technical SEO and User Experience
“How can I improve my website’s SEO?” is a question that many entrepreneurs and marketing professionals ask Google and other search engines. And the answer given by experts is usually unanimous: focus on improving the User Experience!
A positive experience is what algorithms value and, precisely for this reason, it is what keeps your website at the top.
After all, knowing that search engines are also responsible for the results they show, it is clear that they will want to show those that generate a more fluid and engaging navigation . Do you agree with me?
In other words: more attractive and easy-to-understand websites that offer a good User Experience tend to be rewarded with better positions in the results, while those that fail to meet these criteria may be penalized.
Now, what are these aspects? We will talk about all of them below!
The Pillars of Technical SEO
Here at Enjoy Minder, the pillars of Technical SEO are an indispensable part of the strategies we apply to our website and those of our clients — like an artist who is invisible to those watching from the audience, but essential to ensuring that everything works correctly.
And it is through this careful work that we achieve eye-catching results — like doubling the traffic to the Accord Iluminação blog in just 3 months!
Another success story that shows the impact of technical optimizations is that of GenioDesk, which had the business’s main keywords taken to the 1st position on Google in 6 months.
Below, I will show you in detail what the pillars are for developing the best SEO techniques and achieving results as good as these!
Site architecture
A website designed to have a logical and easy-to-navigate structure helps visitors and search engines understand the content of each page efficiently.
So your pages should have a simplified layout, with clear and descriptive URLs — ideally without special characters, capital letters or long terms. For example:
enjoyminder.com/post/google-ads-performance-max-everything-you-need-to-know/
A URL structure that reflects the hierarchy of your site also makes it easier to understand your pages and how they connect to each other.
Therefore, have intuitive menus, as well as organizing content into categories and subcategories.
Loading speed
If a page takes too long to load, users will give up waiting, leave your site, and move on to the next search result.
As a bonus, search engines can penalize the ranking of your pages and you will also lose sales opportunities.
Ideally, your pages should load in a matter of seconds — only 26% of users tolerate loading times longer than 5 seconds. Think about that!
Responsive design
If more than 90 million Brazilians use their smartphones to access the Internet, having a website that adapts well to mobile devices should also be one of your priorities!
In fact, you will still hear the term “mobile friendly” a lot. And what does it mean? That the website automatically adjusts its layout for smaller screens, maintaining good navigability.
Traceability and indexing
Make sure Google and other search engines can crawl your pages — otherwise, they may not appear in search results!
And you don’t want to miss out on countless opportunities to attract organic traffic and sales opportunities because of nonsense, right?
I’ve already discussed these terms here, but just to make sure we’re on the same page:
- Crawlability: refers to the ability of “search robots” to properly explore all the pages on your website, following all the links to discover and understand the content of your pages. If any of them are “hidden” or inaccessible, they will not be indexed;
- Indexing: This is the process by which robots analyze and store your pages in the search engine index. Think of indexing as a library catalog — if your site isn’t in that catalog, no one will be able to find it!
To ensure that all of your pages are crawled and indexed correctly, there are a few important practices you can follow!
One of them is the use of a sitemap.xml file. This file acts as a map of your website, showing search engines its structure and all the pages that should be indexed.
Think of the sitemap.xml as a list of instructions for Google, telling it exactly where to look!
Another practice is structured data. It helps search engines better understand the content of your pages.
For example, if you have an e-commerce business, you can use structured data to tell Google about the products you sell, their reviews, and prices.
Not only does this improve indexing, but it can also result in rich snippets — those more attractive and informative search results!
Make sure everything works perfectly so no valuable content is left behind!
Security (SSL)
In 2022 alone, Brazil suffered more than 100 billion attempted cyberattacks. And around 286,000 people had their data exposed in the first quarter of that year alone.
It’s no wonder that Google prefers secure websites. An SSL certificate (indicated by “https://” in the URL) helps protect user data and serves as a positive signal for ranking your website.
This and other security measures must be a priority to ensure transparency, confidentiality and protection of users’ data and privacy!
Proper redirects
When encountering errors, such as the famous “404 (Page not found)”, Google may think that your site is out of date or poorly managed.
Hence the importance of ensuring that redirects work correctly, as they serve to “warn” Google if a page has been moved or deleted.
This way, the search engine updates its own records and your website remains well ranked!
Essential Tools for Technical SEO Auditing
When it comes to optimizing your website’s Technical SEO, having the right tools can make all the difference! They help you monitor your website’s overall performance and identify issues and opportunities for improvement.
I will share the main tools we use at Enjoy Minder to carry out the SEO audit:
- Google Search Console (free);
- Google PageSpeed Insights (free);
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider;
- Semrush;
- Ahrefs.
And if you need professional help with your Technical SEO, count on Enjoy minder! Here, we have an experienced team to optimize your website, solving problems and implementing improvements.
Common Mistakes in Technical SEO
In the search for a greater digital presence, it is common to come across challenges related to Technical SEO, which can delay the success of your actions.
That’s why I’ve gathered together the main mistakes that companies make, so that you can avoid them and keep your website in line with SEO best practices:
Duplicate content
Did you know that Google can penalize your website because of duplicate content?
Well, when the same content appears in more than one URL, the search engine gets confused about which version should be shown in the search results, and this can negatively affect your ranking.
To avoid problems with duplicate content, one of the best practices is to use canonical URLs, which indicate which page you consider to be the main one.
Also, avoid duplicating content internally! If you need to share the same content on more than one page, always try to rewrite it in different words.
Keep in mind that Google and other search engines value original, unique content that has value for readers!
Crawling and indexing issues
If a page is not being crawled by “robots”, there is no way it will appear in search results. So avoid problems such as:
- Unhandled 404 errors (keep broken links on the site that lead to pages not found);
- Misconfigured robots.txt file (inadvertently blocking important pages for search engines);
- Outdated or missing sitemap (not providing search engines with an up-to-date map of your site’s pages).
The best way to identify these crawling and indexing issues is through Google Search Console!
Too many redirects
Too many redirects are just as annoying as taking too many unnecessary detours to get to a final destination. This can confuse visitors and even search engines, and can affect loading speed.
Try to make as few redirects as possible, and whenever you do need to make them, make sure they are very direct.
Still have questions about Technical SEO?
We’ve reached the end of our chat about Technical SEO, and I hope I’ve managed to simplify things a little for you!
With structural optimizations, you guarantee the security and better performance of your website or blog, consequently increasing its visibility in search engines.
This practice is valuable for ranking your pages, without a doubt, but it has everything to do with a positive User Experience. Taking care of this fundamental aspect should be a priority in your SEO strategies, and you can get it right with our help!
Enjoy Minder is ready to offer you professional guidance and ensure that your website reaches its maximum potential. Talk to our consultants!
