Technical SEO is the optimization of servers and the website for the search engine crawling and indexing phase. It also improves the technical characteristics of your site that Google favors. Ensure a secure connection or fast loading time are some examples.
Below is a checklist of essential steps that will ensure your technical SEO is up-to-date. These guidelines will ensure the security and structure of your website so that it meets the expectations of search engine algorithms.
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Use SSL
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SSL is short for Secure Sockets Layer and is the backbone of internet security. It protects sensitive data as it travels across computer networks. It also provides security, data integrity, and privacy. One way it does this is by encrypting confidential information so that only the intended recipient can access the info. The data is rendered unreadable for every other computer on that network. SSL also provides authentication, making sure the system is confident that it is sending information to the right server. Finally, it provides trust. Websites using SSL have cues such as a green bar or a lock icon, increasing users’ faith in your website.
Google will favor your website thanks to this security feature and rank you higher than your competitors.
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Ensure your Website and Content are Mobile Friendly
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As Seattle SEO experts will tell you, Google favors mobile-friendly websites, ranking them higher on the search results page. Moreover, people are increasingly using mobile devices, and they will prefer sites that work well on smaller screens. Higher mobile traffic and responsiveness will result in your website ranking higher. Finally, you position yourself as an authority in your field, prompting people to link to your website, and the backlinks will result in your site ranking higher.
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Speed your Site Up
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According to Seattle SEO experts, speed has become an important ranking factor, and search engines prefer websites that load fast to those that don’t. Slow loading speed means search engines will crawl fewer pages on your site, given their allocated budget that influences indexation.
To speed up your website, start by enabling compression. You should reduce the size of your CSS, HTML, and JavaScript files that are larger than 150 bytes. As for images, compress them in programs like Photoshop where you can retain the quality. Next, optimize your code by removing unnecessary characters such as commas and space.
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Create an XML Sitemap
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Consider an XML sitemap as the blueprint for your website. It organizes all your web pages, making it easier for search engines to find them. This is an important ranking factor as search engines also rank pages and not just websites.
An XML sitemap has all relevant page information such as when a page was last modified, the priority it has, and how frequently it is updated. You should also ensure that it is error-free and verify it with search engines before you use it.
Conclusion
There are several factors and settings you need to consider when it comes to technical SEO. It also happens to be quite energy- and time-consuming, but it ensures you will rank higher than the competition. Though this is not the entire technical SEO checklist, it makes for a good starting point.