Common technical SEO issues and how to solve them

Though the basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) such as the most effective ways to create links to drive search engine rankings have evolved in recent years (and content marketing has grown in importance), what many people consider to be more "traditional SEO" is still extremely useful in attracting traffic from search engines.

Technical SEO for bigger, more complex sites is a separate specialty, although there are some basic errors and problems that most sites face that even small to medium-sized companies would profit from knowing about:

Header Response

The use of header response codes is a critical technological SEO problem. If you are not particularly technical, this can be a complicated issue, so you want to ensure that operating pages return the correct code to search engines (200) and that pages that are not found return a code to indicate that they are no longer present (a 404).

Incorrectly entered codes will signal to Google and other search engines that a "Page Not Found" page is a working page, making it seem thin or duplicated, or worse, you can indicate to Google that all of the site's material is 404s. You should use a domain header checker to see what status codes the pages are receiving.

Solutions:

·    To upgrade your site to HTTPS, you'll need an SSL certificate from a Certificate Authority.

·    Your site will be safe until you have purchased and installed your license.

Slow Page Speed

Users can leave if the site does not launch easily (typically in 3 seconds or less). Site speed is essential for the user interface — and Google.

How to Test:

Use Google PageSpeed Insights to identify particular site speed issues. (Make sure to test both desktop and mobile performance.)

If you don't want to spot search, search your site with seoClarity's Page Speed tool.

Solutions:

·    Image optimization/compression, browser caching enhancement, server response time improvement, and JavaScript minification are all popular site speed solutions.

·    Speak with the web developer to guarantee the best possible outcome.

Multiple Versions of the Homepage

In the eyes of search engines, the website has at least two distinct copies. Failure to use the correct one will result in dramatically lower SEO and visibility scores.

Solutions:

·    First, determine if multiple iterations of the URL effectively flow to a single standard URL. This includes HTTPS and HTTP formats, as well as versions such as "www.yourwebsite.com/home.html." Examine any possible mixture. Another method is to use "site:yoursitename.com" to see the pages are indexed and whether they have different URL copies.

·    If you find different indexed models, you'll need to set up 301 redirects yourself or make your developer do it for you. In Google Search Console, you can also specify your canonical domain.

Duplicate Content

With more and more brands using dynamically generated websites, content management systems, and practicing global SEO, the phenomenon of duplicate content plagues many websites.

The issue with duplicate content is that it can "confuse" search engine crawlers and prevent the right content from being delivered to your target audience. Unlike content problems such as too little or "thin" content, which occurs when there is insufficient content on a website (at least 300 words), duplicate content may occur for a variety of reasons:

·    Items from an e-commerce site's store show on different copies of the same URL.

·    Printer-only websites duplicate text from the home website.

·    On a global website, the same material is available in different languages.

Solutions:

Any of these three problems can be addressed by:

·    Proper rel=canonical

·    Proper configuration

·    Correct use of Hreflang tags.

Other suggestions for minimizing repeated information on Google's support page include using 301 redirects, top-level domains, and restricting boilerplate content.