Alongside content and links, technical optimization is the cornerstone of modern SEO . Our technical SEO experts will customize your website to be Google-friendly and support proper indexing as part of the SEO strategy you're using or want us to tailor for you.
Website positioning is a complex, multifaceted topic. Increasing visibility in search results is complex, relatively slow, and… effective.
Thanks to SEO activities, the website's recognition increases, and therefore its organic traffic – for owners of e-commerce stores or service websites, this is an excellent way to acquire customers.
What is technical SEO?
To put it simply, SEO is based on two pillars – linking (off-page SEO) and all issues related to the website (on-page SEO).
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The latter term encompasses work on both the website's content and technical aspects, such as code optimization, proper link structure, loading speed, image compression, cross-device compatibility, and many other elements. Technical SEO is responsible for this latter set of activities.
Technical SEO and positioning
Without technical optimization, you're losing a significant portion of your website's SEO potential. Acquiring the most valuable links won't help much if your website doesn't support the SEO process with its structure and SEO-friendly approach.
On-page SEO and off-page SEO must work hand in hand to improve search rankings – otherwise, the SEO effects may be moderate at best, and in more competitive industries, difficult to notice.
A large part of technical SEO activities involves not only working strictly with the search engine algorithm and web crawlers, but also activities related to improving the user experience of the website itself.
Optimizing content or accelerating website loading time will be appreciated not only by Google but also by users, making them more willing to visit and use the website.
Elements of technical optimization – how to optimize a website?
The number of topics that must be addressed during technical SEO activities is extensive. Let's go through the list of activities that comprise technical website optimization.
Title tags
This tag, placed in the page's code, allows search engine crawlers to better understand the site's content. The meta title is an important factor in website positioning and is responsible for the title displayed in search results (SERPs) – so it should contain previously selected keywords.
Meta description
A description of a page's content, displayed in Google search results. While not a ranking factor in itself, it largely determines whether a user viewing the page in the SERPs will decide to click on it.
A well-chosen meta description (that is, one that matches the actual content of the page and encourages clicking) can significantly increase the CTR, letting the algorithm know that the page is valuable to users.
HTML headers
Headings serve a dual purpose in website content. From a user's perspective, they enhance the readability of content by separating blocks of text and indicating the content of each section.
For search engine bots, headings and their gradation (from H1 to H6) provide crucial information about the content's structure. It's worth including keywords in HTML headings and ensuring proper division of content fragments – this is a key step from a positioning and technical SEO perspective.
Meta robots
Meta robots is a tag responsible for issuing instructions to web crawlers. It can be used to tell bots whether a page should be indexed, whether the crawler should consider links on the page (the follow/nofollow attribute), whether search results should include snippets (fragments of text intended to answer the question posed in the entered phrase), and much more.
An example meta robots tag might look like this:
The instructions in the above meta robots tag tell bots to follow links (follow), but not index images (noimageindex).
Canonical links
Canonical links are primarily used when multiple pages share the same content. To indicate to search engines which of several similar pages is the "right" one, a canonical URL is set on all other pages. This ensures that only the original page appears in search results.
A canonical tag might look something like this:
Alt attributes
The alt attribute is an image description invisible to the user, which, in the context of SEO, is intended to indicate to a bot what the image contains. Alt is also used to allow visually impaired or blind users to hear a description of the file's content when interacting with the page. Every image on your website should have a properly set alt attribute to provide as much data as possible to Google crawlers.
Friendly URLs
The address sklep.domena.pl/okiennice sounds better than sklep.domena.pl/category/213772547374 – both to the user and the search engine crawler. It's shorter, easier to type, and immediately explains the content of the given subpage. It's also a good place to use desired keywords, which affects search engine ranking.
Internal linking
In addition to adding a sitemap in Google Search Console, internal linking is an additional way to show bots the structure of a page and the connections between individual subpages. This allows crawlers to freely navigate various elements of the site.
Additionally, placing internal links, for example on a company blog, encourages users to read other posts, which increases the time spent on the page and reduces the bounce rate.
Appropriate HTTP headers
HTTP headers are used for communication between the web browser and the website server. Setting appropriate redirects (e.g., 301 or 302) and error codes are crucial aspects of technical SEO.
- Code 200
- Redirects
- Error codes
hreflang
Hreflang is used for pages with multiple language versions. Correctly setting the hreflang attribute ensures that visitors see the page in the correct language, consistent with the query entered into the search engine.
SSL certificate
An SSL certificate ensures encrypted communication between the user and the website. In today's digital world, a security certificate is a necessity, and web browsers clearly warn users against accessing websites without an active SSL certificate.
By opting out of an encrypted connection, you're forgoing most of the traffic that would otherwise reach your website. Google also places significant emphasis on implementing the distinctive green padlock next to the website address.
Page speed
Most users will abandon a website if it takes too long to load – search engine algorithms know this, so page loading speed is a very important ranking factor.
It depends on many elements – including the hosting speed, the type of CMS (Content Management System) used, the amount and quality of code, and the size of images placed on the website.
The most important aspects from a technical SEO perspective are:
- page loading time from the server,
- size of resources on the page,
- JavaScript code execution time.
Adaptation to mobile devices
A vast majority of users use smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices to browse the internet. This includes not only reading information but also using online stores and making transactions, filling out contact forms on service websites, and signing up for newsletters.
For this reason, for a website to be considered fully functional, it must display correctly not only on large desktop and laptop screens, but also on smaller displays.
Moreover, Google has been using the “mobile first” doctrine for years, which means that adapting to mobile devices is more important in terms of website positioning than the full, desktop version of the website.
Schema.org Structured Data
A vast majority of users use smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices to browse the internet. This includes not only reading information but also using online stores and making transactions, filling out contact forms on service websites, and signing up for newsletters.
Using Schema.org markup, an SEO specialist can mark up different types of data on a website, which affects how the page appears in search results.
Structured data is responsible for the so-called rich snippets, or extended fragments in SERPs – these are additional information enriching the title and description (meta description) of a subpage.
For news portals, this may be a carousel panel with the latest news from the site, for specialized blogs a section with frequently asked questions on related issues, and for brands, for example, a panel with a logo and basic data, such as the date of establishment.
In the case of products on e-commerce platforms, this can be the number of items in stock or the customer rating of a given product, and when set correctly, they can be displayed in Google search results next to the meta description of the subpage.
The implementation of structured data significantly improves the appearance of a website in search results, and can therefore increase organic traffic.
The most important schema tags include the following:
- LocalBusiness
- Aggregate Rating
- Product
sitemap.xml
A sitemap is an .xml file that shows search engine crawlers all URLs relevant to technical SEO. A sitemap is crucial when using Google Search Console – these instructions help the search engine better understand the page's structure.
Robots.txt
This is a text file that instructs web crawlers which URLs to pay attention to. This file allows you to disable things like image indexing, which in some cases will prevent the server from being overloaded by excessive Google crawler activity.
CMS systems and technical optimization
While the guidelines for technical SEO activities are common to most websites, their scope is always determined individually. This is because different CMS systems on which a website is based require different solutions.
Some are designed to be SEO-friendly right out of the box and work well with web crawlers natively, others require special plugins, and positioning still others requires designing your own methods to increase your website's visibility in search results.
- WordPress,
- Joomla,
- Wix,
- proprietary CMS.
E-commerce and technical optimization
For online stores, organic traffic from search engines is typically the foundation of their business. Therefore, e-commerce website owners place significant emphasis on SEO and related activities.
Many popular CMS systems used in e-shops (WooCommerce or Shoper) are well-suited to optimization activities – otherwise, our specialists are able to create dedicated solutions.
- Shopper,
- WooCommerce (WordPress),
- RedCart,
- PrestaShop
- IaI Shop,
- original e-commerce.
Tools for technical analysis of the website
The work of an SEO specialist dealing with technical website optimization is based on many advanced tools supporting data analysis.
SEO requires regular monitoring of both the website and competing sites. It also involves responding to market trends in the client's industry, which are reflected in user behavior, as well as algorithm changes introduced by Google.
Fortunately, SEO experts have strong digital allies in addition to their knowledge and experience. Below are a few (of many!) tools our SEO specialists use during technical SEO work.
Screaming Frog
Screaming Frog is an advanced tool that allows you to collect and filter SEO-related data. It's especially effective for analyzing large, complex websites with numerous subpages and URLs.
Google Insights PageSpeed
With GPI, SEO specialists can see not only general information about page speed but also detailed data on a site's compliance with Google's technical guidelines, known as Core Web Vitals. Largest Contentful Paint, First Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shift are important ranking factors.
Google's Mobile Optimization Test
A tool that allows you to check whether a website is mobile-friendly. It also provides information about resource loading and JavaScript console messages.
Google Rich Results Test
The official Google test for using Schema.org structured data – you can use it to see how the Google robot interprets Schema markup used on a page.
Google Search Console
A powerful SEO dashboard where a specialist checks key information regarding page indexing and keywords. A sitemap can also be added there to help search engine spiders better understand the page's structure.
Technical SEO FAQs
Technical SEO is the absolute foundation of SEO. It encompasses all on-site optimization activities, which don't involve the content itself, but rather the website's underlying technology. The goal is to make it easier for search engine robots (such as Googlebot) to efficiently scan, understand, and correctly index the website.
Without a solid technical foundation, even the best and most expensive campaigns based on great copy and strong links will be ineffective. If Google's algorithms encounter errors that make your site unreadable or deem it unsafe, they simply won't display it high in search results.
Canonical tags are special tags in a page's code that point search engines to the main, original version of a given URL. They are essential primarily for online stores to prevent cannibalization and duplicate content (e.g., when the same product is available under multiple links due to sorting or filters).
A comprehensive SEO audit should be conducted, utilizing both free tools provided by Google (primarily Google Search Console, which provides real-time reporting of indexing errors) and advanced crawler programs (e.g., Screaming Frog) that simulate the behavior of search engine robots.
No. Although the most work is required during the implementation or redesign phase of a website, it is an ongoing process. As the website expands, new products are added, CMS systems (e.g., WordPress) are updated, and Google algorithms change, new technical errors and "dead links" (404 errors) can appear regularly, which must be monitored and fixed on an ongoing basis.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- Technical SEO is the optimization of a website's structure and code, which ensures its correct indexing and higher visibility in search results.
- Technical website optimization is an essential foundation for SEO, allowing you to fully utilize the potential of links and improving user experience.
- Technical SEO optimization covers a wide range of activities – from configuring metadata (title, description, robots) and content structure (H1-H6 headings, canonical links), to ensuring performance, SSL security and full responsiveness of the website, which together improves its indexation and attractiveness in search results.
- The effectiveness of technical SEO depends on the specifics of the chosen CMS, as each platform – from WordPress to proprietary solutions – offers a different level of native optimization support and requires an individual approach or dedicated plugins.
- Technical optimization of e-commerce platforms such as WooCommerce or Shoper is a key element of building organic traffic, requiring adaptation of the strategy to the specifics of a specific sales system.
- SEO specialists use advanced tools such as Screaming Frog, Google Search Console, and PageSpeed Insights to precisely monitor a website's technical parameters and quickly respond to changes in search engine algorithms.
