3 Tips to Troubleshoot Technical SEO Problems
Posted on January 11, 2024
Search Engine Optimization is the quintessential element for the growth and success of businesses in today’s digital world. However, acing SEO efforts is not a cakewalk for many. SEO experts input their expertise and experience to ensure their websites reap the benefits. Having said that, technical SEO issues keep on bothering marketers. Only those who can counter these issues can maintain and improve the website’s rankings.
Don’t worry! Google has provided three tips to help you navigate through the complex landscapes of technical SEO.
In this article, we are going to explain all of the three ways to troubleshoot technical SEO suggested by Google. But before we dig in deep, we need to identify the technical SEO problems marketers usually incur.
Technical SEO refers to updates to a website that you have control over and have a direct impact on the web page’s indexation, crawlibility, and thus search rankings. Some of the key elements of technical SEO are page titles, title tags, XML sitemaps, HTTP header responses, 301 redirects, and metadata.
Some of the common Technical SEO problems are:
Indexability Issues
A website’s ability to be indexed by a search engine is called indexability. Any page that is not indexed cannot be displayed on the search engine result pages. As a result, it cannot drive traffic. For any page to be indexed, it needs to be crawlable. Moreover, it must not be canonical and should not have a no index tag.
No HTTPS Security
Another common problem is an unsecured site. When you type the domain name in the search engine, it will display a gray background with a ‘not secure’ warning. This is not a good sign for websites as users will quickly navigate away.
No XML Sitemaps
XML sitemaps help search engine bots understand the site pages so they can effectively crawl the site. It means that it is the prerequisite for search engines to index. Avoiding updating sitemaps regularly can lead to broken pages.
Broken Pages
Pages with 4XX errors and 5XX errors would have broken pages. These pages would not bring any traffic, and if they have backlinks pointing to them, all will go to waste.
Meta Robots NOINDEX Set
An appropriately configured NOINDEX tag helps search bots know about less important pages. On the flip side, an incorrectly configured NOINDEX tag can damage search visibility by removing all pages creating a massive SEO issue.
Google’s 3 valuable tips to fix the issues include:
Tid Bit: To follow the mentioned tips, make sure you only use a reliable internet connection. A network like Cox offers excellent speeds with advanced security to keep your troubleshooting process smooth. You may dial numero de Cox en español to learn more about it (For Spanish Customers).
- Use Google Search Console
First of all, Google suggests you examine if the site is indexable or not. For that, you will need to use the Google search console URL inspection tool. This tool will tell you if a webpage is indexed or if it is indexable.
This is not it. If the site is not indexable, it will give you suggestions about why there is trouble indexing it. In short, it highlights errors, such as pages that couldn't be indexed or URLs blocked by robots.txt. Getting the information and valuable insights on the site's ability to index will help you identify the underlying problem.
Moreover, it offers final crawl data, allowing you to know how much curiosity Google has about the webpage. Some other incredible features that Google Search Console offers include:
Mobile Usability Report: You can get a comprehensive report on mobile usability issues on the website. Since Google prefers mobile-first indexing, it is important to ensure your web pages are optimized for mobile phones.
Core Web Vitals: Core Web Vitals are important ranking factors. This report identifies your site's loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.
- Conduct Site Audits
Conducting regular site audits is considered the best remedial solution to fix technical SEO problems by Google. It recommends you use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, and several other tools to conduct checkups. When it comes to audit, you have to analyze page speed, site structure, duplicate content, and XML sitemap.
- Check the Security
Website security is not only necessary for users but is important for the site’s SEO. You can ensure the security of the site by implementing an SSL certificate; it ensures the data transferred between the user's browser and server is encrypted. Moreover, it is important to keep the Customer Management System and plugins updated. Plus, it is incredibly important to scan the website regularly for malware and other security threats.
Concluding Remarks
Technical SEO is an important part of a successful online presence. By following Google’s suggested tips and recommendations, you can fix any problems to ensure your website is well-optimized for search engines.