This tool provides a multifaceted look at how a page works without any JavaScript enabled, which can be extremely useful for diagnosing technical SEO issues related to JavaScript. With WWJD, you can gain valuable insights into how search engines are crawling and indexing your website’s content, as well as identify potential issues with rendering or accessibility.
Indexing is a process of adding pages to Google’s index – a database that Google uses to generate the search results. It is crucial to technical SEO, yet it is also one of the most commonly neglected areas because there is a lack of tools and knowledge to address it.
Adding even a single alt tag for each image can make a big difference, so make sure to include them whenever possible. Descriptive, keyword-rich alt tags are even better.
Improving Core Web Vitals – Google’s favorite metrics – also will not hurt, as they are recognized official ranking factors.
Not focusing on mobile-friendliness
While Google often ignores canonicals, it is still better to have them in place.
And if there are duplicate content issues with pagination, such as identical meta titles and descriptions on each page or incorrect use of canonical tags, their first pages may rank lower, or not at all.
Publishing many orphan pages
During the audit process, we will analyze your website’s structure, content, and performance to identify any technical SEO issues that may be hindering its success. And… we will take it from there.
One of the most common problems with pagination is actually… not using it.
Pagination refers to the practice of dividing content into multiple pages, such as blog posts or product listings. While pagination can improve user experience by making content easier to navigate, it can also create issues for search engines if not properly configured.
And, if the sitemap is outdated or for example, contains broken links, it can negatively impact the crawlability of a site and lead to reduced rankings in search results.
Ignoring page experience signals
Issues here arise when headings are used improperly, such as using multiple H1 tags or failing to use any headings at all. This can result in confusion for search engines trying to determine the main topic of a page and affect its ranking as a result.
When multiple pages on a website contain identical or very similar content, it can be difficult for search engines to determine which page should be ranked for relevant queries.
If a website has multiple language versions of its content but does not reflect that in the hreflang tags, search engines may struggle to determine which version of the page should be displayed for different users.
In turn, this can reduce the visibility of the affected pages and lower their positions in a particular search engine.
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How to fix technical SEO issues?
If a new page or section is added to a website but not included in the sitemap, it may go unnoticed by search engines, ultimately resulting in lower visibility and traffic.
Let us assume that you have numerous pages on your website that contain broken internal links due to incorrect configuration or missing content.
There are a lot of possible culprits that can be responsible for this. Today, we will bring some of them a bit closer, so you can treat it as a checklist to make sure that all the commonly encountered technical SEO issues are taken care of.
Why is fixing technical SEO issues so important?
Alt tags help search engines understand the content of images on a website. They are used to describe the image in text format for users who may not be able to see the image, such as those using screen readers or with slow internet connection. Or bots – like Googlebot.
Then, if there are issues with the robots.txt file, such as incorrect syntax or unintentional blocking directives, it can cause significant problems for your website’s crawling, and as a result indexing and visibility.
Unoptimized HTTP status codes
For instance, if there are multiple pages on your website returning 404 error codes due to broken links or missing content, search engines will view this as poor-quality content and may not rank your website as highly (or at all) in search results.
Redirect chains and loops
Page experience signals have become a critical technical SEO issue in recent years.
From there, steps can be taken such as consolidating duplicate pages or using canonical tags to indicate which version of the content should be indexed by search engines.
Not using the right set of headings
But if you are having trouble finding technical SEO issues on your own, it is worth looking for advice from experts who specialize in this area. A good technical audit will help you pinpoint specific changes that need to be made and provide guidance for how to make them.
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There is a bias in SEO to primarily look at your rankings and traffic data. And it makes sense, because that is where the business is.
When URLs are too long, contain irrelevant information or are not optimized for keywords, ranking for them might pose a challenge.
Internal links are used to connect pages within a website, providing users with easy navigation and helping search engines understand the site’s structure and content.
Technical SEO issues can also make it harder for search engines to crawl and index your website correctly, which can have an even more negative impact on your search engine visibility.
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If your website is slow to load, it may negatively impact your search engine rankings and ultimately result in lower traffic and conversions.
More importantly, such dates or IDs are usually created with URL parameters, which generate page duplicates and may negatively affect your crawl budget.
If your website is not mobile-friendly, it may be difficult for users to navigate and view content on smaller screens, leading to high bounce rates and low engagement metrics. Since Google’s algorithm now favors mobile-friendly sites in search results, you need to keep an eye on optimization issues that may arise when your website is viewed on a mobile device.
Hreflang tags help search engines understand which version of a page to display based on the user’s language and geographic location, which is critical for international businesses. However, the more language versions a page has, the more complex this task can be.
If images are missing alt tags, or are not descriptive enough, this makes it difficult for search engines to understand the content of the image and its relevance to surrounding text. This can lead to fewer visibility opportunities for the page in question.
To at least partially avoid it, use descriptive keywords in URLs and keep them short and simple whenever possible. No parameters, unless they are actually needed (for example, in the case of pagination). Also, using hyphens instead of underscores or spaces can help improve readability for both users and search engines, so you might want to introduce that as well – this is a practice recommended by Google.
Implementing wrong hreflangs
There are many different ranking factors, but all of them can be matched with one of the following categories:
- links,
- content,
- or technical SEO.
Unsure where to start, or quite the opposite – you know exactly what to do but still feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work?
However, if there are problems with indexing, such as pages being blocked by the robots meta tag, then search engines simply will not be able to index those pages. This is a wasted business opportunity.
Mistakes in configuring robots.txt
If you own JavaScript-based websites, you need to double-check if the content is properly rendered and visible for Google. Using techniques like lazy loading or infinite scrolling can be an issue here as they might prevent Google from accessing your content on the page.
For Google, indexing is the last step of a long process which results in Google having access to a fresh database of web pages to serve. Unfortunately, this process does not always go according to plan — things can go wrong, both because of Google’s shortcomings and the mistakes of website owners and administrators.
If you are interested in SEO and have a bit of time, you can work on that yourself, following resources published online. Google’s official documentation is actually our go-to source – so you can try that as well.
Or go straight for technical SEO services (and have a partner in crime)
Without proper implementation of canonical tags, search engines may view duplicate content as spammy or low-quality, potentially causing your well-vetted rankings to drop.
For example, a website has pages in both English and French but does not include hreflang tags to indicate which version should be displayed in different countries or regions – this can easily cause the wrong version of the page to appear in search results.
You cannot start fixing things unless you know where the issues are. Performing a thorough technical SEO audit will be a critical first step.
Google’s mobile-first indexing approach means that it prioritizes pages that work properly on all types of devices – but especially on mobile. And with the majority of internet users now accessing websites on mobile devices, ensuring that your site is optimized for mobile has become more important than ever.
Tech SEO issues are something that can bring even the best website down.
With broken internal links, though, you can create confusion for both users and search engines.
No matter what errors or issues you are facing with your website, Onely can provide you with the solutions you need to get it running smoothly and attract organic traffic to your site again.
Do not let SEO issues remain unresolved