Top 12 Technical SEO Issues & How To Fix Them

SEO is a complex and ever-changing field, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to master. By keeping an eye out for common technical SEO issues and taking steps to fix them, you can ensure that your website is optimized for search engines and ready to rank high in SERPs.

A technical SEO audit is an important part of any complete SEO strategy. It is a process of assessing the technical health of a website with the goal of identifying areas where the site needs improvement in order to rank better in search engines.

The audit will examine various aspects of the site’s architecture, including site structure, URL structure, redirects, sitemaps, and other technical elements. Some of the most common issues that are identified during technical SEO audits include poor website architecture/code structure, thin or duplicate content, broken links, missing or incorrect use of robots.txt, bad redirects, and many more. Here are the 12 most common technical SEO issues:

1. Not Having a Mobile-Friendly Site

In today’s world, it’s absolutely essential to have a mobile-friendly website. More and more people are using their phones and tablets to browse the internet, and if your site isn’t designed for mobile devices, you’re going to lose out on a lot of traffic. Google has even stated that they now use mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor, so if your site isn’t optimized for smaller screens, you could be at a disadvantage in the SERPs.

To fix this issue, you’ll need to create a responsive design that automatically adjusts to fit any screen size. If you’re not sure how to do this, you can hire a web designer or use a responsive theme.

2. Poor Site Speed and Performance

Another important ranking factor is site speed, which refers to how quickly your website loads. If your site takes too long to load, users will get frustrated and leave, and search engines will penalize you with lower rankings.

There are a few different ways to improve your site’s speed, such as optimizing images, using a caching plugin, and minifying code. You can also use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to get specific recommendations on how to speed up your site.

3. Lack of HTTPS encryption

HTTPS encryption is essential for any website that collects sensitive information from users, such as credit card numbers or personal data. Not only is it a best practice for security, but Google also uses HTTPS as a ranking signal.

If your website doesn’t have an SSL certificate, you can purchase one from a trusted Certificate Authority. Once you have your certificate, you’ll need to install it on your web server and make sure that all of your pages are being served over HTTPS.

4. Not Optimizing Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Title tags and meta descriptions are two of the most important on-page SEO elements, yet many people neglect to optimize them properly. Your title tag should be unique and descriptive, and your meta description should give users a clear idea of what your page is about.

Both of these elements should include your target keyword, but you should also make sure that they’re readable and user-friendly. Stuffing them full of keywords will not only turn off users, but it will also get you penalized by Google.

5. Not Utilizing Header Tags Properly

Header tags are used to structure the content on your pages, and they range from H1 (the largest) to H6 (the smallest). Your H1 tag should be reserved for your page’s title, and the rest of your header tags should be used to break up your content into sections.

Not only do header tags make your content easier to read, but they also give search engines an idea of its hierarchy and structure. Be sure to use them judiciously, though, as too many header tags can make your content look spammy.

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6. Not Optimizing Images

Images are an important part of any website so you should always optimize your images before uploading them to your site.

There are a few different ways to optimize images, such as reducing their file size, using descriptive filenames, and adding alt text. Images can be a major contributor to slow loading times. To avoid the issue of slow image loading time, you should always make sure your images are compressed before uploading them to the site.

You can use an image optimization plugin like WP Smush to automatically compress all of the images on your site. You can also use a CDN to serve your images from multiple locations around the world, which can help improve loading times for users in far-flung areas.

7. Site Isn’t Indexed Correctly

If your site isn’t indexed correctly, then it’s not going to show up in the SERPs at all. This is a common issue that can be caused by a number of different factors, such as duplicate content, robot.txt blocking, or a lack of sitemaps.

Flash and iFrames are two technologies that were once popular but are now outdated and no longer supported by most browsers. They’re also not indexable by search engines.

To fix this issue, you’ll need to make sure that your site is crawlable and that there are no duplicate pages being indexed. If you’re still using Flash or iFrames on your website, you need to remove them as soon as possible. You can also submit your sitemap to Google through Search Console to ensure that all of your pages are being indexed properly.

8. Not Using Schema Markup

Schema markup is a code that you can add to your website to help search engines understand your content better. It’s especially useful for businesses, as it can help your listings stand out in the SERPs with rich snippets.

Adding schema markup to your site is relatively simple, but you’ll need to know some basic code. If you’re not comfortable coding, you can also use a plugin like All in One Schema.org Rich Snippets to automatically add schema markup to your pages.

9. Failing to Configure Canonical URLs

Canonical URLs are used to tell search engines which version of a page to index. For example, if you have the same content published on both your main website and your blog, you would want to use canonical URLs to tell search engines which one is the original.

If you don’t configure canonical URLs properly, you could end up with duplicate content issues. Not only will this hurt your SEO, but it could also get you penalized by Google.

10. Broken Links

Broken links are links that lead to pages that no longer exist. Not only are they frustrating for users, but they can also hurt your SEO. Search engines view broken links as a sign of a stale or outdated website, and this can hurt your ranking.

If you’ve recently changed your website’s URL structure, then it’s important to set up redirects from your old URLs to your new ones. This will help ensure that users can still find your content, and it will also prevent Google from penalizing you for having duplicate content.

To find broken links on your website, you can use a tool like Screaming Frog. Once you’ve found them, you can either delete the broken links or redirect them to another page. To set up a redirect, you’ll need to edit your site’s .htaccess file. If you’re not comfortable doing this, then you can also install a plugin like Redirection to handle the process for you.

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11. Duplicate Content Issues

Duplicate content is a common issue that can hurt your SEO. It can occur when the same content is published on multiple pages of your website or on other websites altogether.

To avoid duplicate content issues, be sure to publish unique content on each page of your website. If you must republish content from other sources, be sure to add your own spin to it or use canonical URLs.

12. No XML Sitemaps

An XML sitemap is a file that contains a list of all the pages on your website. It’s used to help search engines crawl and index your content, and it can be particularly helpful if you have a large or complex website.

If you don’t have an XML sitemap, Google and other search engines may have a harder time finding all of your content. You can generate a sitemap using a tool like XML-Sitemaps.com, and then submit it to Google via Search Console.

These are just some of the most common technical SEO issues that you might encounter. By fixing these issues, you can improve your SEO and help your website rank higher in search results.

Why is it so important to address technical SEO concerns?

These are just some of the most common technical SEO issues that can hurt your website’s performance. Tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console can help you identify technical SEO issues on your site. You can also use a tool like Screaming Frog to crawl your site and find any issues such as broken links, missing meta, duplicate content, etc.

Technical SEO issues can hurt your website in a number of ways. They can prevent search engines from indexing your content, make it difficult for users to find your site, and even get you penalized by Google.

Fixing technical SEO issues is essential if you want your website to perform well in search engine rankings. By taking the time to identify and fix any technical SEO issues on your site, you can improve your ranking, and get more traffic, and conversions.

Do you have any questions about technical SEO? We are happy to help you. Just give us a call or leave us a message below to request a callback.

Veronica Lim

Veronica is the co-founder of digital marketing agency CEO Solutions and has over 20 years of experience launching successful products for leading Fortune 100 MNCs such as Intel, Motorola Solutions, Honeywell and Philips Lighting. She believes SEO is the most sustainable and cost-effective strategy for many Singapore businesses to attract qualified and ready-to-buy customers, bringing them the revenue they need to make their businesses even more successful.

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