1. What is technical SEO and why is it important for startups?
2. A step-by-step guide with tools and tips
3. Crawling, indexing, site speed, mobile-friendliness, and more
4. How to optimize your site structure, URL, navigation, sitemap, robotstxt, canonical tags, etc?
5. How to use schema markup, structured data, meta tags, headings, images, and links?
6. How to improve your site speed, security, and user experience?
7. How to use hreflang, geo-targeting, and language tags?
8. How to optimize your product pages, categories, filters, and checkout process?
9. How to monitor and measure your technical SEO results and keep your site updated?
Technical SEO is the process of optimizing a website for search engines and users. It involves ensuring that the website is fast, secure, easy to crawl, index, and understand, and follows the best practices and guidelines of search engines. Technical SEO is important for startups because it can help them gain more visibility, traffic, and conversions from organic search, which is one of the most cost-effective and sustainable sources of online marketing.
Some of the benefits of technical seo for startups are:
1. It improves the user experience. technical SEO can make a website more user-friendly by improving its speed, performance, security, navigation, and accessibility. A good user experience can increase the engagement, retention, and loyalty of the visitors, and reduce the bounce rate and exit rate. For example, a study by Google found that 53% of mobile users abandon a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load, and that a one-second delay in page load time can reduce conversions by 7%.
2. It enhances the crawlability and indexability of the website. Technical SEO can help search engines discover, crawl, and index the website more efficiently and accurately. This can increase the chances of ranking higher and appearing in relevant search results. For example, technical SEO can help resolve issues such as duplicate content, broken links, canonical tags, robots.txt, sitemaps, and structured data, which can affect how search engines understand and display the website.
3. It boosts the authority and trustworthiness of the website. Technical SEO can help establish the credibility and reputation of the website by following the standards and recommendations of search engines. This can improve the quality and relevance of the website, and signal to search engines and users that the website is trustworthy and reliable. For example, technical SEO can help implement HTTPS, which is a ranking factor and a security indicator for search engines and users.
4. It supports the content and keyword strategy of the website. Technical seo can help optimize the website for the target keywords and topics that the audience is searching for. It can also help create a clear and logical site structure and hierarchy, which can help organize and distribute the content and keywords across the website. This can improve the visibility and ranking of the website for the desired search queries and intents. For example, technical SEO can help optimize the title tags, meta descriptions, headings, URLs, and internal links of the website, which can influence how search engines and users perceive and interact with the website.
FasterCapital works with you on creating a successful tech startup and covers 50% of the costs needed per equity!
A technical SEO audit is a process of checking the technical aspects of your website's SEO, such as site speed, crawlability, indexability, mobile-friendliness, and more. A technical SEO audit can help you identify and fix any issues that might be affecting your site's performance, ranking, and user experience. In this section, we will show you how to perform a technical seo audit using some tools and tips that can make the process easier and more effective. We will also provide some insights from different point of views, such as developers, marketers, and users, on why technical SEO is important and how it can benefit your startup.
Here are the steps to perform a technical SEO audit:
1. Check your site's speed. Site speed is one of the most important factors for technical SEO, as it affects both user experience and ranking. A slow site can frustrate users, increase bounce rate, and reduce conversions. On the other hand, a fast site can improve user satisfaction, engagement, and retention. To check your site's speed, you can use tools such as google PageSpeed insights, GTmetrix, or WebPageTest. These tools will give you a score and some suggestions on how to improve your site's speed. For example, you can optimize your images, enable compression, minify your code, leverage browser caching, and use a content delivery network (CDN).
2. Check your site's crawlability. Crawlability refers to how easily search engines can access and crawl your site's pages and content. If your site is not crawlable, search engines will not be able to index your pages and rank them for relevant queries. To check your site's crawlability, you can use tools such as google Search console, Screaming Frog, or Sitebulb. These tools will help you identify and fix any crawl errors, such as broken links, redirect loops, server errors, or blocked resources. You can also use these tools to generate and submit a sitemap, which is a file that tells search engines about the structure and content of your site.
3. Check your site's indexability. Indexability refers to how well search engines can understand and index your site's pages and content. If your site is not indexable, search engines will not be able to display your pages in the search results. To check your site's indexability, you can use tools such as Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, or Moz. These tools will help you monitor and optimize your site's index status, such as how many pages are indexed, how often they are updated, and how they rank for your target keywords. You can also use these tools to fix any index issues, such as duplicate content, canonical tags, meta tags, robots.txt, or noindex directives.
4. Check your site's mobile-friendliness. Mobile-friendliness refers to how well your site adapts and performs on different devices, especially mobile phones and tablets. Mobile-friendliness is crucial for technical SEO, as it affects both user experience and ranking. A mobile-friendly site can attract and retain more users, as well as rank higher in mobile search results. To check your site's mobile-friendliness, you can use tools such as google Mobile-Friendly test, Google Search Console, or MobileMoxie. These tools will help you evaluate and improve your site's mobile usability, such as responsive design, viewport, font size, tap targets, navigation, and content.
5. Check your site's security. Security refers to how well your site protects its data and users from malicious attacks, such as hacking, phishing, or malware. Security is essential for technical seo, as it affects both user trust and ranking. A secure site can enhance user confidence, loyalty, and conversions, as well as rank higher in search results. To check your site's security, you can use tools such as Google Safe Browsing, SSL Labs, or Sucuri. These tools will help you detect and resolve any security issues, such as malware, spam, or SSL certificates. You can also use these tools to implement HTTPS, which is a protocol that encrypts and authenticates your site's communication.
A step by step guide with tools and tips - Technical SEO: Technical SEO audit: A guide for startups
In the realm of technical seo, various challenges can arise that impact a website's performance and visibility in search engine results. These issues can hinder the crawling and indexing process, affect site speed, and impact mobile-friendliness. By addressing these concerns, startups can optimize their websites for better search engine rankings and user experience.
1. Crawling Issues:
Crawling refers to the process where search engine bots navigate through web pages to gather information. Common crawling issues include:
- Broken or inaccessible pages: Ensure that all pages are accessible and free from broken links to facilitate proper crawling.
- Duplicate content: Avoid having multiple versions of the same content, as it can confuse search engines and dilute the visibility of your website.
- XML sitemap: Create and submit an XML sitemap to search engines, providing a roadmap for efficient crawling.
2. Indexing Challenges:
Indexing involves search engines storing and organizing web pages in their databases. overcoming indexing issues can enhance your website's visibility. Consider the following:
- Meta tags: Optimize meta tags, including title tags and meta descriptions, to accurately represent your web pages and improve indexing.
- Robots.txt file: Use a robots.txt file to guide search engine bots on which pages to crawl and index.
- Canonical tags: Implement canonical tags to consolidate duplicate content and prevent indexing conflicts.
Site speed plays a crucial role in user experience and search engine rankings. improve site speed by:
- Image optimization: Compress and resize images without compromising quality to reduce page load times.
- Minify CSS and JavaScript: Remove unnecessary characters and spaces from code files to reduce file sizes and improve loading speed.
- Caching: Implement browser caching to store static resources locally, reducing server load and improving page load times.
4. Mobile-Friendliness:
With the increasing use of mobile devices, optimizing websites for mobile-friendliness is essential. Consider the following:
- Responsive design: Ensure your website adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes and resolutions.
- Mobile usability: Test and optimize your website's mobile usability, including touch elements, font sizes, and page layout.
- accelerated Mobile pages (AMP): Implement AMP to create lightweight versions of your web pages for faster mobile loading.
Remember, these are just a few examples of common technical SEO issues and their potential solutions. By addressing these challenges and continuously monitoring your website's performance, you can enhance your startup's online presence and improve user satisfaction.
Crawling, indexing, site speed, mobile friendliness, and more - Technical SEO: Technical SEO audit: A guide for startups
Technical SEO is the process of ensuring that your website is easy to crawl, index, and understand by search engines. It involves optimizing various aspects of your site's architecture, code, and content to make it more user-friendly and search engine-friendly. Technical seo best practices can help you improve your site's performance, usability, and ranking potential. In this section, we will cover some of the most important technical SEO factors that you should pay attention to when conducting a technical SEO audit for your startup. These include:
1. site structure: Your site structure is the way you organize your pages and content into categories, subcategories, and topics. A good site structure helps users and search engines find what they are looking for easily and quickly. It also helps you establish your site's relevance and authority for your target keywords and topics. Some of the best practices for optimizing your site structure are:
- Use a clear and logical hierarchy that reflects your site's purpose and goals.
- Use descriptive and keyword-rich URLs that match your page titles and headings.
- Use internal links to connect your pages and guide users and search engines through your site.
- Use breadcrumbs to show users where they are on your site and how to navigate back to the main sections.
- Use a navigation menu that is consistent, intuitive, and accessible on all devices and screen sizes.
- Avoid creating duplicate or thin content that adds no value to your site or users.
- Avoid creating too many levels of depth or too many pages that dilute your site's focus and authority.
- Example: A site structure for a startup that sells online courses on various topics could look something like this:
- Home
- About
- Courses
- Web Development
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
- ...- Data Science
- Python
- R
- SQL
- ...- Marketing
- SEO
- PPC
- Social Media
- ...- Blog
- Contact
2. URL: Your URL is the address of your page on the web. It is one of the first things that users and search engines see when they visit your site. A good URL should be descriptive, concise, and consistent with your page content and site structure. Some of the best practices for optimizing your URL are:
- Use hyphens (-) to separate words and make your URL readable and understandable.
- Use lowercase letters and avoid using uppercase letters, spaces, or special characters that could cause confusion or errors.
- Use keywords that match your page title and heading, but avoid keyword stuffing or using irrelevant or generic words that add no value or meaning to your URL.
- Use static URLs that remain the same and do not change based on user actions or parameters.
- Use canonical tags to tell search engines which version of your URL is the preferred one and avoid duplicate content issues.
- Example: A good URL for a page that teaches HTML basics on a web development course site could look something like this:
- https://example.com/courses/web-development/html-basics
3. Navigation: Your navigation is the way you allow users and search engines to move around your site and access your pages and content. A good navigation should be simple, clear, and consistent across your site. It should also match your site structure and user intent. Some of the best practices for optimizing your navigation are:
- Use a responsive design that adapts to different devices and screen sizes and ensures that your navigation is always visible and accessible.
- Use a header menu that includes your main sections and categories and allows users to access them with one click.
- Use a footer menu that includes your secondary pages and information such as your about page, contact page, privacy policy, terms and conditions, etc.
- Use a sidebar menu that includes your subcategories and topics and allows users to drill down into your content and explore your site in depth.
- Use a search box that allows users to find what they are looking for quickly and easily by typing in keywords or phrases.
- Use a sitemap that lists all your pages and content and helps search engines crawl and index your site more efficiently.
- Example: A navigation for a startup that sells online courses on various topics could include the following elements:
- Header menu: Home, About, Courses, Blog, Contact
- Footer menu: Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, FAQ, Sitemap
- Sidebar menu: Web Development, Data Science, Marketing, etc.
- Search box: Enter your query here
- Sitemap: A link to your XML sitemap file
4. Sitemap: Your sitemap is a file that tells search engines about the pages and content on your site and how they are organized and related. It helps search engines discover, crawl, and index your site more effectively and efficiently. A sitemap can be in XML or HTML format, but the most common and recommended one is XML. Some of the best practices for creating and maintaining your sitemap are:
- Include only the pages and content that are important and relevant to your site and users and exclude any pages that are duplicate, thin, or low-quality.
- Update your sitemap regularly and whenever you add, remove, or change any pages or content on your site.
- submit your sitemap to search engines such as Google and Bing using their webmaster tools or APIs and monitor its status and errors.
- Use a sitemap generator tool that can create and update your sitemap automatically and accurately based on your site structure and content.
- Example: A sitemap for a startup that sells online courses on various topics could look something like this in XML format:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ...-
5. Robots.txt: Your robots.txt is a file that tells search engines which pages and content on your site they can and cannot crawl and index. It helps you control how search engines access and interact with your site and prevent them from wasting your site's resources or exposing sensitive or irrelevant information. A robots.txt file is located at the root of your site and follows a specific syntax and format. Some of the best practices for creating and maintaining your robots.txt are:
- Use the allow and disallow directives to specify which pages and content you want to allow or block search engines from crawling and indexing.
- Use the user-agent directive to specify which search engines or crawlers you want to apply your rules to. You can use * to apply to all or use specific names such as Googlebot, Bingbot, etc.
- Use the sitemap directive to tell search engines where to find your sitemap file and help them discover your site more easily.
- Use the crawl-delay directive to tell search engines how long to wait between each request and avoid overloading your server or bandwidth.
- Test your robots.txt file using the tools provided by search engines such as Google and Bing and check for any errors or warnings.
- Example: A robots.txt file for a startup that sells online courses on various topics could look something like this:
- User-agent: *
- Allow: /
- Disallow: /admin
- Disallow: /login
- Disallow: /cart
- Disallow: /checkout
- Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
- Crawl-delay: 10
6. canonical tags: Your canonical tags are HTML elements that tell search engines which version of a page or content is the original and preferred one and avoid duplicate content issues. Duplicate content can occur when you have multiple pages or content that have the same or very similar information, such as when you use different URL parameters, pagination, or variations. Some of the best practices for using canonical tags are:
- Use the rel="canonical" attribute to specify the canonical URL of a page or content and place it in the
section of your HTML code.- Use absolute URLs instead of relative URLs to avoid confusion or errors.
- Use self-referencing canonical tags to confirm the canonical URL of a page or content and prevent any accidental changes or overrides.
- Use cross-domain canonical tags to
How to optimize your site structure, URL, navigation, sitemap, robotstxt, canonical tags, etc - Technical SEO: Technical SEO audit: A guide for startups
Here's a comprehensive section on "Technical SEO for content: How to use schema markup, structured data, meta tags, headings, images, and links" as part of the blog "Technical SEO: technical SEO audit: A guide for startups."
In this section, we will delve into the various aspects of technical SEO that are crucial for optimizing your content. Technical SEO involves implementing strategies and techniques to improve the visibility and performance of your website in search engine results.
1. schema markup: Schema markup is a structured data vocabulary that helps search engines understand the content on your website better. By adding schema markup to your content, you can provide additional context and information to search engines, which can lead to enhanced search results. For example, using schema markup, you can specify the type of content, such as articles, reviews, events, or products, and provide specific details like ratings, prices, and dates.
2. structured data: Structured data refers to a standardized format for providing information about a page and its content. It helps search engines interpret and categorize your content more accurately. By implementing structured data, you can enable rich snippets, which are enhanced search results that display additional information, such as star ratings, reviews, and product details. This can make your content more visually appealing and increase click-through rates.
3. meta tags: Meta tags are HTML elements that provide information about a web page to search engines. They include meta titles, meta descriptions, and meta keywords. optimizing these meta tags can improve the visibility and click-through rates of your content in search results. Ensure that your meta titles are concise, descriptive, and include relevant keywords. Meta descriptions should provide a compelling summary of your content, enticing users to click through to your website.
4. Headings: Properly structured headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) help search engines understand the hierarchy and organization of your content. Use descriptive and keyword-rich headings to outline the main sections and subtopics of your content. This not only improves readability for users but also provides search engines with valuable information about the structure and relevance of your content.
5. Images: Optimizing images is essential for both user experience and SEO. Use descriptive file names and alt tags that accurately describe the content of the image. Compress images to reduce file size and improve page load speed. Additionally, consider using responsive images to ensure optimal display across different devices.
6. Links: internal and external links play a crucial role in SEO. Internal links help search engines navigate and understand the structure of your website, while also distributing authority and relevance across different pages. External links to authoritative and relevant websites can enhance the credibility and trustworthiness of your content. Ensure that your links are properly formatted, relevant, and add value to the user experience.
By implementing these technical SEO strategies, you can optimize your content for better visibility, user experience, and search engine rankings. Remember to regularly monitor and analyze your website's performance to identify areas for improvement and stay up-to-date with the latest seo best practices.
How to use schema markup, structured data, meta tags, headings, images, and links - Technical SEO: Technical SEO audit: A guide for startups
One of the most important aspects of technical SEO is performance. Performance refers to how fast your site loads, how secure it is, and how well it provides a good user experience. Performance affects not only your site's ranking in search engines, but also your site's conversion rate, bounce rate, and user satisfaction. In this section, we will discuss how to improve your site speed, security, and user experience using various technical seo techniques and tools.
Here are some of the ways you can optimize your site performance:
1. Use a fast and reliable web hosting service. Your web hosting service is the foundation of your site performance. It determines how quickly your site can respond to requests, how much bandwidth and storage space you have, and how secure your site is from hackers and malware. You should choose a web hosting service that offers fast loading speed, high uptime, SSL certificates, and backup options. Some of the popular web hosting services for startups are Bluehost, SiteGround, HostGator, and DreamHost.
2. Minify and compress your site files. Your site files include HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and other media files. These files can take up a lot of space and slow down your site loading time. You can reduce the size of your site files by minifying and compressing them. Minifying means removing unnecessary spaces, comments, and code from your files. Compressing means reducing the number of bytes in your files using algorithms. You can use tools such as HTMLMinifier, CSSNano, UglifyJS, and Gzip to minify and compress your site files.
3. Use a content delivery network (CDN). A CDN is a network of servers that deliver your site content to users based on their geographic location. This reduces the distance and latency between your site and your users, and improves your site speed and user experience. A CDN also helps you handle high traffic and reduce the load on your web server. Some of the popular CDN services are Cloudflare, Amazon CloudFront, and Akamai.
4. optimize your images and videos. Images and videos are the most common types of media files on your site. They can also be the most heavy and slow-loading files on your site. You can optimize your images and videos by choosing the right format, size, quality, and compression level. You can also use tools such as Lazy Load, WebP, and Cloudinary to optimize your images and videos.
5. Enable caching and prefetching. Caching and prefetching are techniques that store your site files in the browser or the server, so that they can be loaded faster the next time they are requested. Caching means storing your site files in the browser cache, so that they don't have to be downloaded again. Prefetching means loading your site files in the background, before they are needed. You can enable caching and prefetching by using tools such as WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, and Preload.
How to improve your site speed, security, and user experience - Technical SEO: Technical SEO audit: A guide for startups
Technical seo is not only about optimizing your website for search engines, but also about making sure that your website can reach and serve your target audience across different regions and languages. If you have a website that offers content in multiple languages or targets different countries, you need to implement some technical seo strategies to ensure that your website is properly indexed and displayed by search engines. In this section, we will cover three main aspects of technical SEO for international and multilingual sites: how to use hreflang, geo-targeting, and language tags.
- Hreflang is an HTML attribute that tells search engines which language and region a specific page is intended for. It helps search engines to show the most relevant version of your page to users based on their language and location preferences. For example, if you have a page that has versions in English, Spanish, and French, you can use hreflang to indicate which version is for which language and region. You can use hreflang in different ways, such as in the `
` section of your HTML, in your HTTP headers, or in your XML sitemaps. Here is an example of how to use hreflang in the `` section of your HTML:```html
- Geo-targeting is a way of telling search engines which country or region your website or a specific page is targeting. It helps search engines to rank your website or page higher for users in that country or region. You can use geo-targeting in different ways, such as using a country-specific domain name (such as .co.uk or .ca), using a subdomain or a subdirectory for each country or region (such as en.example.com or example.com/uk), or using Google Search Console to set your preferred country or region for your website or page. Here is an example of how to use Google Search Console to set your preferred country or region for your website:
![Google Search Console screenshot](https://i.imgur.com/9w6Q4kX.
Here's a comprehensive section on optimizing product pages, categories, filters, and the checkout process for ecommerce sites within the context of a blog titled "Technical SEO: Technical seo audit: A guide for startups."
In this section, we will delve into the various aspects of technical SEO that can enhance the performance and visibility of ecommerce websites. By optimizing product pages, categories, filters, and the checkout process, you can improve user experience, increase organic traffic, and boost conversions.
1. Product Pages Optimization:
When optimizing product pages, it's crucial to focus on relevant keywords, unique and descriptive product titles, and compelling meta descriptions. Additionally, optimizing product images with alt tags, implementing structured data markup, and ensuring fast page load times are essential for better search engine visibility.
Example: Let's say you have an ecommerce site selling shoes. Optimizing a product page for a specific shoe model would involve incorporating relevant keywords like "running shoes," "comfortable footwear," and "athletic sneakers" in the title, meta description, and throughout the page content.
2. Categories Optimization:
optimizing category pages involves organizing products into logical and user-friendly categories, optimizing category URLs, and providing clear navigation. It's important to include relevant keywords in category titles and meta descriptions to improve search engine rankings.
Example: If your ecommerce site offers clothing, optimizing the category page for "women's dresses" would involve using keywords like "summer dresses," "evening gowns," and "casual wear" in the category title and meta description.
3. Filters Optimization:
Filters play a crucial role in helping users find specific products on ecommerce sites. Optimizing filters involves ensuring that filter URLs are search engine friendly, implementing rel=canonical tags to avoid duplicate content issues, and optimizing filter options for relevant keywords.
Example: If your ecommerce site allows users to filter shoes by size, optimizing the filter would involve using keywords like "size 8 shoes," "size 9 sneakers," and "wide-fit footwear" in the filter options.
4. checkout Process optimization:
A smooth and user-friendly checkout process is vital for reducing cart abandonment rates. optimizing the checkout process involves minimizing the number of steps, providing clear instructions, optimizing form fields, and offering multiple payment options.
Example: streamlining the checkout process by eliminating unnecessary steps, providing progress indicators, and offering secure payment options like credit cards, PayPal, and digital wallets can significantly improve the user experience and increase conversions.
By implementing these optimization techniques, ecommerce sites can enhance their technical SEO, improve user experience, and drive more organic traffic and conversions. Remember, best practices and can vary depending on the specific requirements of your ecommerce website.
How to optimize your product pages, categories, filters, and checkout process - Technical SEO: Technical SEO audit: A guide for startups
When it comes to technical SEO, monitoring and measuring your results is crucial for maintaining a well-optimized website. By regularly assessing the performance of your site and implementing necessary updates, you can ensure that your website remains search engine-friendly and user-friendly.
1. Analyzing Website Metrics: Start by monitoring key website metrics such as organic traffic, bounce rate, average session duration, and conversion rates. These metrics provide insights into the overall performance of your website and help you identify areas that need improvement.
2. Conducting Regular Audits: Perform regular technical SEO audits to identify any issues or errors that may be affecting your website's performance. This includes checking for broken links, duplicate content, slow page load times, and mobile-friendliness. Addressing these issues promptly can improve your site's visibility and user experience.
3. Tracking Keyword Rankings: Keep track of your keyword rankings to assess the effectiveness of your SEO efforts. Monitor how your target keywords are performing in search engine results pages (SERPs) and make adjustments to your optimization strategies accordingly.
4. Monitoring Backlinks: Backlinks play a crucial role in seo. Monitor the quality and quantity of your backlinks to ensure they are from reputable sources and relevant to your website's content. Regularly check for any toxic or spammy backlinks and disavow them if necessary.
5. Utilizing Webmaster Tools: Take advantage of webmaster tools such as Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. These tools provide valuable insights into your website's performance, including indexing status, crawl errors, and search queries. Use this information to optimize your site further.
6. Implementing Structured Data: Incorporate structured data markup on your website to enhance search engine visibility and improve the display of your content in SERPs. Structured data helps search engines understand the context and relevance of your content, leading to better rankings.
7. Keeping Up with Algorithm Updates: Stay informed about the latest algorithm updates from search engines like Google. Algorithm changes can significantly impact your website's visibility and rankings. Adjust your SEO strategies accordingly to align with the latest best practices.
Remember, monitoring and measuring your technical SEO results is an ongoing process. Regularly assess your website's performance, make necessary updates, and stay up-to-date with industry trends to maintain a competitive edge in the search engine rankings.
How to monitor and measure your technical SEO results and keep your site updated - Technical SEO: Technical SEO audit: A guide for startups
Read Other Blogs