Technical SEO Tactics: Your Guide to a Well-Optimised Website

If you want your website to rank well in search engine results, you need to pay attention to technical SEO. While creating high-quality content and building backlinks are important, technical SEO ensures that your website is easily accessible, user-friendly, and optimised for search engines. In this blog, we’ll explore key technical SEO tactics that can help improve your website’s performance and visibility.

Website Crawling and Indexing

Picture this: you’ve just published a fantastic new article or added an exciting new product to your online shop. But how do search engines like Google and Bing discover your new content and make it available to users? That’s where search engine crawling comes into play!

The Role of Search Engine Crawlers

In the vast world of the internet, search engines send out virtual “spiders” or “bots” to explore and navigate websites, discovering new and updated content along the way. These little digital explorers, known as crawlers, follow links from one page to another, collecting information about each webpage they visit.

 

Crawlers are constantly at work, revisiting websites periodically to check for updates, new pages, or changes in content. This means that as you add new material or make updates to your site, crawlers will eventually find it and update the search engine’s database accordingly. However, it’s important to note that crawling and indexing aren’t instantaneous processes – it may take some time for new or updated content to appear in search results.

 

As crawlers traverse the web, they index the content they find, helping search engines better understand what’s available online. That’s why ensuring that your website can be easily crawled and indexed is crucial for appearing in search results.

Creating and Submitting XML Sitemaps

If you’ve ever used a map to find your way around an unfamiliar place, you’ll understand how valuable they can be. In the world of search engines, XML sitemaps serve a similar purpose, acting as a roadmap to help crawlers navigate your website more efficiently. 

 

An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the URLs of your website, providing essential information for search engine crawlers. This information includes the last time a page was updated, its importance relative to other pages on the site, and how frequently it should be crawled. By submitting an XML sitemap, you make it easier for search engines to discover and index your website’s content, which can, in turn, improve your search rankings and visibility. Be sure to create an XML sitemap and submit it to search engines like Google and Bing using their respective webmaster tools.

Creating an XML Sitemap

Although it might seem intimidating to first-timers, creating an XML sitemap is relatively simple, and there are plenty of tools available to help you generate one. Many content management systems (CMS), like WordPress or Shopify, have built-in sitemap generators or plugins you can use. Alternatively, you can find standalone sitemap generators online that will create a sitemap for your website, which you can then download and upload to your site’s root directory.

 

Once you’ve created your XML sitemap, it’s time to submit it to search engines. While search engines can eventually discover your sitemap on their own, submitting it directly can speed up the process. To submit your sitemap to Google, you’ll need a Google Search Console account. After logging in, navigate to the “Sitemaps” section, enter your sitemap’s URL, and click “Submit”. For Bing, you’ll need a Bing Webmaster Tools account. Once logged in, click “Configure My Site” and then “Sitemaps”, where you can submit your sitemap’s URL.

 

Submitting your XML sitemap is a one-time process, but it’s essential to update your sitemap whenever you add new content or make significant changes to your site. Most CMS platforms automatically update your sitemap, but it’s always a good idea to double-check and ensure everything is up to date.

 

Using Robots.txt Files to Manage Crawling

Picture this: you’ve got a lovely home with several rooms, but there are a few areas you’d rather keep private when guests come to visit. In the digital realm, your website is like that home, and search engine crawlers are those guests. To help guide their visit, you can use a handy little file called robots.txt to manage crawling and ensure they only access the parts of your website you want them to see.

 

A robots.txt file is a simple text file that provides instructions for search engine crawlers, letting them know which pages or sections of your website they should crawl and which ones they should avoid. Think of it as a set of ground rules that help maintain your website’s privacy and prevent crawlers from accessing sensitive information or content that you don’t want indexed in search results.

 

Creating a robots.txt file isn’t too complicated. All you need is a plain text editor like Notepad, and you can start typing out the instructions for crawlers. The syntax is simple: begin with “User-agent” to specify the crawler you’re addressing (e.g., Googlebot), followed by “Disallow” or “Allow” to indicate the sections or pages you want to block or grant access to, respectively.

 

​​Once you’ve created your robots.txt file, you’ll need to upload it to your website’s root directory. This ensures that crawlers can easily locate and follow the instructions you’ve provided.

Site Speed and Performance

A fast-loading website is crucial for both SEO and user experience. Here are some practical tips to improve your site speed and performance:

Optimising Images and Media Files

Large images and media files can significantly slow down your website, as they require more bandwidth and take longer to load. To optimise your images and media files, consider the following tips:

Compress your images 

Large images and media files can slow down your site. Compress and optimise images using tools like ImageOptim or TinyPNG, and consider using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for faster delivery of media files.

Choose the right file format 

Use JPEG for photographs and PNG for graphics with limited colours. JPEG files are typically smaller and load quicker, while PNG files are ideal for images with transparency or sharp lines.

Implement lazy loading 

This technique only loads images when they become visible to the user, preventing unnecessary loading of off-screen images and improving page load times.

Minifying Code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)

Minifying your code involves removing unnecessary characters like white spaces, comments, and line breaks from your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. This reduces the file size and allows the browser to load and process the code more quickly. You can use online tools like Minify or UglifyJS to minify your code and boost your website’s performance.

Implementing Browser Caching

Browser caching is a technique that allows browsers to store static files, like images, stylesheets, and JavaScript files, locally on a user’s device. This means that when a user revisits your website, their browser doesn’t have to download these files again, resulting in faster page load times. To enable browser caching, you can add appropriate cache-control headers to your server configuration or use a caching plugin if your website runs on a content management system like WordPress.

Mobile Responsiveness

With more users browsing the web on mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly website is essential for SEO. Google has acknowledged this shift towards mobile usage by implementing mobile-first indexing, which means that it prioritises the mobile version of a website when evaluating its content and determining its rankings in search results. This change in indexing strategy highlights the need for businesses to not only have a mobile-friendly website but to also ensure that it offers a seamless and user-friendly experience.

Responsive Web design

Responsive web design ensures that your website adapts to various screen sizes and devices, providing an optimal user experience. Use CSS media queries and flexible layouts to create a responsive design.

Mobile Usability Testing

Test your website’s mobile usability using tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test or BrowserStack to identify and resolve any issues.

HTTPS and Website Security

HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) encrypts data between your website and users, providing a secure browsing experience. Google considers HTTPS as a ranking factor, making it essential for SEO.

Implementing SSL certificates

To enable HTTPS, you’ll need to obtain and install an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate. Many web hosts offer free SSL certificates through services like Let’s Encrypt.

Monitoring and addressing security issues

Regularly monitor your website for security issues and vulnerabilities, and address them promptly to protect your site and maintain your search rankings.

Looking For a Helping Hand?

By putting the tips from this blog into action, you’ll be on the right track to building a top-notch website that not only ranks high in search results but also keeps your visitors hooked. And while you can certainly give some of these technical SEO tasks a go yourself, sometimes it’s best to chat with the pros for a bit of guidance and know-how. That’s where our team at Budget SEO comes in!

 

We’re here to help you make sense of all the technical SEO nitty-gritty and ensure your website truly shines. So, don’t be shy – give us a shout, and let’s work together to boost your site’s performance and visibility.