Technical SEO: The Complete Guide for Advanced Users (with Checklist)

If you’re moving a website, it’s important to marque definite that you’re doing everything you tin to optimize it for hunt engines. Technical SEO is 1 of the astir important aspects of this process, and it tin beryllium tricky to get right.

In this follow-up to our Learn SEO: The Complete Guide for Beginners, we volition locomotion you done everything you request to cognize astir method SEO. We’ll screen topics similar crawlability, indexing, and leafage velocity optimization. We’ll besides supply tips connected however to troubleshoot communal issues and hole them. 

What is method SEO?

Technical SEO is the process of optimizing your website for the method aspects that hunt engines usage to crawl and scale it, with the extremity end of expanding rankings.

This includes things similar your site’s structure, code, and leafage speed. By improving these method factors, you tin marque your tract much disposable and easier to find successful hunt results.

Why is method SEO important?

You tin person awesome content, but if your website has method errors, that awesome contented you worked hard connected volition beryllium hard to find. This is wherefore method SEO is important.

For one, it tin assistance amended your site’s visibility successful hunt results. If your tract is well-optimized, it volition beryllium easier for hunt engines to find and scale it. This tin pb to higher rankings and much postulation implicit time.

Additionally, method SEO tin assistance amended your site’s idiosyncratic experience. Faster loading times and an easy-to-use interface tin marque a large quality for your visitors.

Is method SEO difficult?

Technical SEO tin look daunting astatine first, but it’s really not that hard erstwhile you get the bent of it.

The astir important happening to retrieve is that technical SEO is each astir making your website arsenic casual to find and scale arsenic possible.

That means ensuring that your pages are well-structured and escaped of errors, and providing wide and concise metadata.

It besides means taking steps to amended your site’s velocity and performance.

While this whitethorn dependable similar a batch of work, the payoff is worthy it—technical SEO tin assistance you pull much integrated postulation and amended your hunt motor rankings.

Is it imaginable to fertile a website decently without method SEO?

In bid for a website to fertile connected the hunt engines, method SEO indispensable beryllium implemented.

This means that:

• The website indispensable beryllium designed successful specified a mode that it tin beryllium easy recovered and indexed by the hunt motor crawlers.
• The website indispensable besides person accelerated loading times and beryllium escaped of errors.
• The website’s operation and hierarchy should beryllium casual to understand.

So without optimizing the method factors successful your website, it won’t fertile successful the hunt engines.

Technical SEO vs on-page SEO

One communal misconception is that method SEO and on-page SEO are the aforesaid thing. But determination is simply a large quality betwixt the two.

On-page SEO refers to the optimization of idiosyncratic pages connected your website. This includes things similar rubric tags, meta descriptions, and keyword research.

Technical SEO, connected the different hand, refers to the method aspects of your tract that impact its crawlability and indexation. This includes things similar tract structure, code, and leafage speed.

So if you’re looking to amended your website’s visibility successful hunt results, beryllium definite to absorption connected some method and on-page SEO, and not conscionable 1 oregon the other.

Glossary of terms

Before we determination forward, present are immoderate presumption for speedy reference.

Crawling

Search engines observe caller and updated contented by sending hunt spiders, which crawl and store accusation from websites for indexing and retrieval.

Indexing

Search engines scale contented they find during crawling and store it. As soon arsenic a leafage is indexed, it is eligible to look erstwhile applicable to a user’s hunt query.

Retrieval

Search engines hunt their scale database for results applicable to the hunt query, past retrieve those results and fertile them according to what looks to beryllium the astir utile to the user.

XML sitemap

An XML sitemap is utilized to assistance hunt engines recognize the operation of a website. It’s fundamentally a representation that shows hunt engines what pages are connected a tract and however they’re related.

This tin beryllium particularly adjuvant if a website has a batch of contented oregon if it’s regularly updated.

Robots.txt

The robots.txt is simply a record utilized to power which files hunt motor spiders tin entree connected your website. The record is located successful the basal directory of your website.

Structured data

Structured information is simply a circumstantial format for organizing accusation connected a website. This format tin beryllium utilized by hunt engines to recognize the contents of a page, and supply much applicable results to users.

Structured information besides makes the SERPs much informative by triggering cognition panels, featured snippets, and event snippets.

Technical SEO audit tools

Here is simply a database of the tools you tin usage for your audit.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

We covered Screaming Frog extensively successful our Learn SEO guide. Basically, it crawls your links and gives you an overview of what’s going connected successful your website: Your 404s, duplicates, missing metadata, and more.

Download: Learn SEO: The Complete Guide for Beginners

SE Ranking

A paid instrumentality I’ve recovered to beryllium utile arsenic good for auditing is SE Ranking. The champion portion for maine astir this instrumentality is that the study interface is so clean and intuitive. You tin cheque retired our review for SE Ranking’s website audit diagnostic here.

Semrush

Semrush has a tract audit functionality arsenic good which you tin usage to cheque orphan pages, halfway web vitals, and more.

Further reading: Semrush Core Web Vitals Report Review

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is an indispensable instrumentality for method SEO. This is wherever you cheque and verify URLs, taxable your sitemap, and more.

PageSpeed Insights

It’s important that you cognize however accelerated your website is and what’s causing it to dilatory down. PageSpeed Insights is the instrumentality you request for that.

No substance however bully your contented is, if radical conscionable permission your website due to the fact that of method issues similar slowness, your postulation and engagement volition stay low.

How to execute a method SEO audit (with checklist)

One of the astir important aspects of method SEO is auditing your website. This helps you place immoderate imaginable issues that could beryllium holding your tract backmost from ranking higher successful hunt results.

How often should I bash a method SEO audit?

There’s nary one-size-fits-all reply to this question. The frequence of your method SEO audits volition beryllium connected the size and complexity of your website, arsenic good arsenic however rapidly things alteration connected your site.

That being said, we urge doing adjacent conscionable a abbreviated method SEO audit erstwhile a month, and a much in-depth audit each quarter. This volition springiness you a accidental to place and hole immoderate method issues earlier they person a accidental to wounded your site’s performance.

Let’s begin.

Review your tract structure

Tools to use: Screaming Frog, Semrush

One of the astir important things you tin bash to amended your website’s SEO is to reappraisal its structure. This volition assistance you place immoderate imaginable issues that could beryllium hindering your site’s show successful hunt engines.

Website operation includes things similar your site’s hierarchy, URL structure, and interior linking.

For businesses with caller sites, readying your website’s operation is the archetypal and astir important happening to do.

You person to marque definite that some visitors and hunt engines tin easy navigate done your website.

A poorly designed tract operation tin marque things confusing for developers, leaving down orphan pages. And erstwhile this happens, you volition person to instrumentality the other clip and effort to look for these orphan pages and nexus to them.

To program your website structure, you tin make a elemental illustration oregon outline similar this illustration below:

Go arsenic elemental with your tract operation arsenic you can, truthful visitors and hunt engines tin easy navigate betwixt your web pages.

There are articles that reason that the astir important accusation connected a website should lone beryllium a mates of clicks heavy (see: the 3-click rule), portion the Nielsen Norman Group argued that it’s an arbitrary regularisation not backed by data.

But successful 2018, Google’s John Mueller discussed that it does matter—so a bully regularisation of thumb would beryllium to guarantee that the astir important accusation is accessible from the homepage.

Look for orphan pages

As mentioned earlier, you volition person to look for orphan pages arsenic portion of your audit.

Orphan pages are pages of a website that is not internally linked oregon has zero links from different pages of your website. This makes it hard for hunt motor bots to crawl and scale these pages.

Orphan pages whitethorn hap for antithetic reasons. It could beryllium aged blog posts, aged products that are not being sold anymore, aged services pages that are not being offered anymore.

While determination are immoderate pages that are purposely near retired specified arsenic investigating pages and tags pages, it is captious that you cheque if determination are orphan pages that are inactive applicable for the users.

Does it impact my SEO?

The reply is some yes and no. The effect of orphan pages successful a website’s rankings depends connected however you look astatine it. If a leafage that is orphan was created to beryllium shown to users and has contented that is important to users, it hurts your SEO due to the fact that crawlers can’t spot this leafage frankincense it won’t look successful the hunt results. Users won’t beryllium capable to spot them either.

However, if a leafage that is orphan was created for different purposes not related to users specified arsenic investigating functionalities oregon investigating a caller website design, past you tin permission these pages arsenic it is.

How to find orphan pages utilizing Screaming Frog

To find orphan pages using Screaming Frog, you person to archetypal marque definite that your Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts are connected.

To bash that, nether Configuration, scroll down to API access and link Google Analytics and Google Search Console.

Once you got them connected, marque definite that nether the General tab of the API window, you prime Crawl New URLs Discovered successful Google Analytics.

After connecting your GA and GSC accounts, nether Configuration, spell to Spider, and cheque Crawl Linked XML Sitemaps. Then cheque the enactment Crawl These Sitemaps: and input the URL of your website’s sitemap.

After mounting everything up, you could present commencement crawling your website. Once it’s finished crawling, nether Crawl Analysis, click connected configure and cheque the container beside Sitemaps. It volition commencement analyzing the crawl log of your website and volition let you to spot the orphan pages.

After the analysis, successful the Overview nether Sitemaps, you tin present spot each orphan pages that were crawled by Screaming Frog.

How to find orphan pages utilizing Semrush

You could besides find orphan pages by mounting up Site Audit successful Semrush. If you don’t person a website acceptable up, make a caller task archetypal and fto Semrush crawl your website.

Once the acceptable up of the task is complete, spell to the Site Audit of your website past spell to Issues. Under the Notices tab, scroll down to cheque if orphan pages study is enabled.

If it hasn’t been enabled yet, link your Google Analytics relationship successful the Site Audit Settings. The process is akin to Screaming Frog. It volition punctual you to log successful with your Google Account, prime the Profile, Property, and View of your selected Website and click Save.

Once you implicit the setup, Semrush volition automatically cod information from Google Analytics. Unlike Screaming Frog, you don’t person to link Google Search Console to get orphan pages information successful Semrush.

After a fewer minutes, refresh your browser and cheque the Issues tab again. Click the driblet down paper Select an Issue and you volition find Orphaned Pages (Google Analytics) nether Notices.

Optimize oregon scrap?

Once you collected each orphan pages, it is present up to you what to bash with these. You could spot them wrong a Google Sheet.

• If a leafage is inactive relevant, statement them arsenic ‘optimize’ and find imaginable pages to nexus to this page.
• If a leafage was applicable but present irrelevant specified arsenic aged products oregon aged services, you could delete them and permission them arsenic 404. No request to redirect these arsenic they don’t transportation immoderate nexus worth astatine all.
• If a leafage is purposely near out, you could permission them arsenic it is.

Here’s a illustration template that you could use:

While orphan pages tin beryllium harmless to your website’s wide rankings and SEO value, it could beryllium a captious contented erstwhile important pages are near out. Include monitoring of orphan pages successful your regular website attraction audit. Make definite that your website has a steadfast tract operation and bully travel of nexus foodstuff by internally linking pages to each other.

Fix 404 pages

The 404 mistake is an HTTP presumption codification that is sent by a website server to the browser if it is incapable to find the webpage a idiosyncratic wants to access. It usually displays a connection “Page Not Found” to users.

To find them, unfastened your Screaming Frog and input your website URL, past commencement the crawl.

Then click Client Error (4xx) to spot the presumption codes.

You tin opt to compile these and nonstop them implicit to your team’s web developers. You tin besides redirect the URLs (301) you judge are inactive utile to the caller pages created to regenerate them.

Secure your website

Switch to HTTPS by utilizing a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). SSL encrypts the nexus betwixt a web server and a browser.

If you’re gathering a website from scratch, you tin adhd this to your acquisition for escaped depending connected the hosting you’re using.

If not, you tin inquire the web developers assigned to your website to acquisition the SSL and activate it. You tin besides spot however to bash it by yourself done this in-depth usher by HubSpot.

Generate and taxable an XML sitemap

Tools to use: Google Search Console

You tin cheque if your website has a sitemap by entering successful the hunt bar: www.[website]/sitemap.xml.

If your website doesn’t person 1 yet, you tin usage a plugin specified arsenic the Google Sitemap Generator Plugin by Arne Brachhold. You tin besides usage https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ to make your sitemap.

After you make your sitemap, you request to taxable it. To bash that, you request to unfastened Google Search Console, past click Sitemaps. You tin past adhd your sitemap URL and submit.

Further reading: Ultimate Sitemap SEO Guide

Check your robots.txt

To verify your website’s robots.txt, you tin benignant successful the hunt bar: www.[website]/robots.txt.

If you don’t person 1 yet, unfastened your Notepad and copy-paste the following:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php

Sitemap: https://www.[website]/sitemap.xml

This is the default directive recovered successful a basal robots.txt file.

You tin adhd different rules based connected your needs.

Once you’re done, prevention it arsenic a .txt record and upload it to the basal directory of your website. You tin inquire the web developers to bash truthful oregon you tin interaction your web hosting work supplier to assistance you out.

Further reading: The Complete Guide to Robots.txt and Noindex Meta Tag

Check your robots meta tags

Tools to use: Screaming Frog

Robots meta tags pieces of codification utilized to instruct hunt engines what to follow, what not to follow, what to index, and what not to index. It is recovered successful the <head> conception of your webpage.

They usually look similar this:

<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>

You tin opt to property CTRL+U connected an idiosyncratic leafage to presumption the leafage root and cheque for the meta tag, oregon you tin usage Screaming Frog to cheque the directives successful your website.

For example, /category/marketing/ has a directive of noindex, follow. Let’s look astatine it done the leafage source:

There you go.

Further reading: What Meta Robots Tag Are For

Optimize URL slugs

Next, optimize your URL slugs.

When you make a slug, marque definite that it contains your keyword, and that it’s arsenic abbreviated yet descriptive arsenic possible.

So alternatively of utilizing /seo-in-the-philippines/ arsenic our slug, we conscionable usage /seo-philippines/.

It’s overmuch easier to recognize and remember. It’s besides a bully web accessibility practice.

If the webpage already exists, you tin inactive alteration the URL—but marque definite to redirect the aged URL to the caller one. In our case, we usage the 301 Redirects plugin, truthful our redirect settings look similar this:

Provide wide and concise metadata

Meta tags are snippets of accusation that picture a leafage content—they look successful the root code, not connected the page. Meta tags are fundamentally small contented descriptors that assistance archer hunt engines what a web leafage is about.

According to WordStream, “The “meta” stands for “metadata,” which is the benignant of information these tags provide—data astir the information connected your page.”

To optimize your meta tags, you tin opt to alteration your rubric tags and meta descriptions—and of course, see your keyword.

A regularisation of thumb for rubric tags is to support them betwixt 50-60 characters.

For meta descriptions, support them nether 155 characters.

When you person a compelling and informative rubric tag and description, the likelihood that users volition click connected your leafage volition increase.

And erstwhile Google notices you’re getting much clicks done your page, it volition tag you arsenic a applicable site, frankincense making you fertile higher.

Further reading: INFOGRAPH: 5 Steps to Create the Perfect Meta Description

Optimize tract velocity and performance

Tools to use: PageSpeed Insights (you tin besides take Google Lighthouse (Chrome Extension) oregon Test My Site)

Another important facet of method SEO is leafage velocity optimization. Site velocity is simply a ranking origin for some desktop and mobile searches, truthful it’s important to marque definite your pages load quickly.

Do instrumentality enactment that immoderate websites usage tract velocity and leafage velocity interchangeably.

However, immoderate websites accidental that tract velocity is antithetic from leafage speed.

Nevertheless, it’s important that the contented connected your webpage loads faster. This is to forestall your tract visitors from leaving your website and going to your competitors.

Optimizing images

If you usage a ample representation size, it volition greatly impact your tract speed. In this case, you request to trim your representation size.

The occupation with reducing your representation size though is that it besides reduces its quality. The bully quality is that determination are plugins oregon scripts that fto you alteration the size of your record without reducing its quality.

To trim your representation size without compromising its quality, simply take the close operation of your record format and compression benignant you volition use. Ideally, your image’s record format should beryllium successful PNG and astatine a mean compression rate.

You tin usage the pursuing tools erstwhile optimizing images for your webpage:

• Adobe Photoshop
• Gimp
• FileOptimizer
• ImageResizer.com

ImageResizer.com dashboard

Enabling browser caching

The conception of browser caching is straightforward: it takes immoderate files you specify arsenic files that don’t alteration often (such arsenic your institution logo and website menu) and downloads them erstwhile to the visitor’s browser.

This way, they don’t person to beryllium redownloaded each azygous clip they sojourn your website, making your webpages load overmuch faster.

There are 3 ways to spell astir this:

Ask your web hosting provider

You tin interaction your web hosting supplier and person them edit your site’s .htaccess file. That way, you don’t person to interaction thing successful your website.

Edit the .htaccess record yourself

The header says it all. I wouldn’t urge this unless you person cognition connected however to troubleshoot successful lawsuit you marque a mistake. If you’re utilizing Yoast, here’s their guide.

Use a plugin

There are assorted plugins you tin take from that you’ll conscionable download and activate. Quick and casual arsenic pie. Just cheque with your web developers to corroborate if they won’t beryllium causing immoderate issues with different plugins.

Enable Gzip Compression

When a browser loads your website, it requires downloading each the applicable files stored connected your server. If your files similar HTML, PHP, CSS, and Javascript are excessively ample to load, chances are it volition impact your tract velocity arsenic well.

This is wherever Gzip comes into play. What it does is that it compresses oregon reduces the size of your record by up to 30% oregon little than its archetypal size truthful your webpage loads faster.

You tin usage the Gzip Compression Test tool to cheque if Gzip is enabled connected your website, oregon if you simply privation to cheque your website’s Gzip compression rate.

A connection of caution. When you usage Gzip, you’re lone meant to compress files, not images—or you’ll extremity up with low-quality, pixelated images connected your webpage.

There are galore different aspects you request to cheque erstwhile it comes to optimizing your tract speed. I’ve lone included 3 successful this post. For our in-depth usher to site-speed optimization, cheque out:

Further reading: Ultimate Guide to Site-Speed Optimization

Also, support successful caput that consistency is cardinal erstwhile it comes to tract velocity optimization. An optimized tract velocity requires adding scripts oregon plugins connected occasion, truthful it’s champion to ever bash a tract audit each period to support tract downtime from happening.

Fix contented issues

If you’re having occupation with method SEO, determination are a fewer communal issues that could beryllium to blame.

One of the astir communal is duplicate content. This tin hap if you person aggregate pages with akin oregon identical content.

To hole this, you’ll request to either use a 301 redirect oregon adhd rel=”canonical” tags to your pages.

Another communal contented is thin content. This happens erstwhile a leafage has precise small utile content.

Different websites person their ain opinions connected however agelong contented should be—Yoast recommends >300 words for regular posts oregon pages, portion HubSpot claims that your contented magnitude shouldn’t spell little than 2,100 words.

Which 1 should you follow? I would reason that it’s not precisely a substance of connection count, but of contented quality.

• Does your blog station spell in-depth and reply what your people assemblage needs to cognize astir the topic?
• Does it lucifer hunt intent?

I suggest focusing connected those alternatively of connection vomiting irrelevant contented conscionable to “fix” bladed content.

Further reading: How TO NOT Screw up Your Canonical Tags and Search Intent SEO for Beginners

Implement structured data

According to Yoast,

“Where Schema is the connection successful which you contiguous your content, structured information is the existent information you provide. It describes the contented connected your leafage and what actions tract visitors tin execute with this content. This is the input you springiness hunt engines to get a amended knowing of your pages.”

Simply put, it helps marque your leafage much understandable for hunt engines and users.

To instrumentality structured data, determination are a fig of things you tin do, but I would suggest utilizing a plugin similar Yoast oregon WPSSO Core.

It gives you the enactment to prime entity types and automatically applies the schema for you alternatively of you having to manually take a template and inputting data.

Further reading: How to Create Structured Data Markup for Rich Snippets

Prioritize mobile-friendliness

Source: BroadbandSearch

The mobile friendliness of a website tin beryllium measured by however good it is designed and optimized for mobile devices specified arsenic smartphones and tablets.

Just looking astatine the graph above, we tin confidently accidental it’s integral to optimize for mobile.

Install an AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) plugin to your website

Instead of having to manually enactment connected optimizing your tract for mobile, we urge installing the AMP for WordPress plugin.

This is what we usage present successful SEO Hacker, and it’s made our occupation a batch easier erstwhile it comes to optimizing for mobile.

• Install the AMP WordPress plugin.
• Activate the plugin—what it volition bash is append /amp connected each your pages but it won’t redirect visitors to them.
• Edit your .htaccess file—you could usage an FTP programme to bash this. I personally usage Filezilla.
• (Optional) Just successful lawsuit you privation to cheque if your AMP pages are moving crossed the board—in your .htaccess file, paste this code:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/amp$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (android|blackberry|googlebot\-mobile|iemobile|iphone|ipod|\#opera\ mobile|palmos|webos) [NC]
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9-]+)([\/]*)$ https://website.com/$1/amp [L,R=302]

Note that you person to alteration website.com to your site’s domain name. I explicitly made the redirect into a 302 due to the fact that we don’t privation each the nexus equity to beryllium passed connected to your /amp pages since it’s simply an accelerated mobile leafage version.

• Edit the CSS to marque your Accelerated Mobile Pages look and consciousness much similar your site. You tin edit the CSS utilizing FTP by going to your wp-content > plugins > AMP > template.php
• Use rel=”canonical” tags to your archetypal pages. Just to beryllium definite to support thing Panda-related disconnected your back.

That’s it!

You could spot that SEO Hacker’s mobile version still look and consciousness similar our desktop leafage design—without each the fluff.

How tin I marque AMP enactment for my non-WordPress site?

You volition person to spell to the AMP Project’s site and larn however to integrate it via hard-code, hands-on.

If you privation to cognize much astir AMP, Moz’s Whiteboard Friday does a swell occupation connected explaining it further:

Verifying your AMP pages connected Google Search Console

Once you’ve acceptable up AMP connected your website, Google volition commencement crawling and indexing them. In a fewer days, you should present spot that determination is an AMP conception nether Enhancements successful your Google Search Console.

Google Search Console volition notify you if determination are immoderate errors successful your AMP pages. Just similar immoderate different sum errors, it is divided into 3; Errors, Valid with Warnings, and Valid. When you archetypal use AMP connected your website, determination is simply a precocious accidental that astir of your pages volition autumn nether Valid with Warnings.

Don’t worry, your AMP pages volition inactive beryllium disposable to users. It’s conscionable that determination are missing information that could further heighten your AMP pages specified arsenic structured information oregon representation sizes.

Structured Data connected AMP pages

Aside from loading speeds and idiosyncratic acquisition connected mobile, adding structured information connected your AMP pages besides makes them eligible for Rich Results.

If you’re utilizing WordPress, there are plugins that alteration structured data connected AMP pages. Google highly recommends having structured information connected some the archetypal leafage and the AMP version.

Further reading: The SEO Hacker Mobile Optimization Checklist

How bash I cognize if my method SEO is working?

There are a fig of metrics you tin measurement to gauge the effectiveness of your method SEO.

Organic traffic

This measures the fig of visitors coming to your tract from hunt engines. If you’re seeing an summation successful integrated traffic, it’s apt that your method SEO is working.

Click-through complaint (CTR) from SERPs

This measures the percent of radical who click connected your listing erstwhile it appears successful hunt results. A precocious CTR indicates that your listing is applicable and appealing to users, and that your method SEO is working.

You tin besides cheque if you’re showing up connected the Knowledge Panels and different snippets.

Loading times

If you’ve optimized for leafage velocity correctly, you volition announcement that your tract is simply a batch faster and smoother than before.

Troubleshooting communal method SEO issues

I asked immoderate folks implicit astatine Reddit what they wanted to cognize astir method SEO, and immoderate of them gave maine questions that I wanted to see here.

How to hole unused CSS/Javascripts successful WordPress

Unused codification tin marque your website load slower, but thankfully determination is simply a mode to at least trim this issue.

Use WP Rocket

WP Rocket is simply a plugin you tin usage to region unused CSS and hold JavaScript execution.

You tin cheque retired and travel this truly bully tutorial from WPBeginner.

How to hole XML sitemap errors

An XML sitemap is simply a record that lists each the important pages of your website. They guarantee that Google is capable to crawl and scale your web pages.

XML sitemaps besides assistance hunt engines recognize your tract structure.

Essentially, a bully XML sitemap instrumentality volition greatly payment your website. However, if it’s not done correctly, you mightiness summation your hazard of not getting recognized by Google.

Here are immoderate pitfalls that you request to debar with XML sitemap:

Submitted URL has crawl issues

This is 1 of the astir communal XML sitemap issues you volition travel crossed successful Google Search Console.

This means that your sitemap has listed a leafage with a known crawl error, but Google volition not archer you precisely what benignant of mistake it was.

You volition request to reanalyze your sitemap for immoderate mistake that is undetected. The astir communal crawl contented errors are:

• Robots.txt blocking crawlers
• Error pages different than 404, specified arsenic “403” forbidden and 401
• Javascript oregon CSS blocked by hunt engines

You tin code these crawl issues with the 11 steps I outlined earlier.

Then spell to Google Search Console and resubmit your sitemap.

Sitemap size error

As we discussed successful this station earlier, size matters successful SEO. Your sitemap size indispensable NOT:

• Be longer than 50MB
• Contain nary much than 1,000 images per URL
• Contain nary much than 50,000 URLs

If you person a elemental site, your sitemap’s size shouldn’t beryllium an issue.

However, if you person (for example) an eCommerce website that’s increasing fast, it’s champion that you make abstracted sitemaps for each 10,000 URLs you have.

Fewer URLs mean less crawl issues for you.

I suggest that you instrumentality a look astatine Common XML sitemap errors by Yoast and Polishing a sitemap: fixing errors, weeding retired trash pages, and uncovering hidden gems by SE Ranking for a much in-depth attraction of this issue.

How to grip aggregate connected websites

The Redditor who asked this question works arsenic a bundle developer who enactment their apps nether antithetic <appname.>app websites.

It’s mostly not recommended to person aggregate domains oregon websites for the pursuing reasons:

• They can vie for the aforesaid keywords.
• They tin beryllium expensive.
• It tin instrumentality a portion for you to fertile the websites due to the fact that you’ll beryllium doing a afloat SEO strategy for each of them.

I urge to fig retired archetypal what the intent is of your website. For example, is it to showcase your enactment arsenic a bundle developer?

In that case, you tin enactment your apps nether 1 domain, past make subdirectories successful your website for the assorted apps you privation to feature.

This works particularly if your apps are connected to 1 another, oregon they mostly autumn nether a circumstantial taxable (e.g., productivity tools}.

For example, nether HubSpot you person assorted bundle you tin cheque out—and they’re each nether HubSpot.com

If they are completely different and you privation to marketplace them arsenic specified (and you person the clip and vigor to SEO each of them), past you tin spell up and enactment them successful antithetic websites.

Key takeaway

Technical SEO is 1 of the astir important aspects of ranking your website properly. It covers each the behind-the-scenes elements that are indispensable for Google and different hunt engines to recognize your tract correctly.

Without due method SEO, it’s hard to fertile astatine all, fto unsocial execute precocious SERP positions. That’s wherefore we created this guide—to assistance you audit and troubleshoot immoderate issues connected your ain website and amended your rankings with these 11 steps.

If you privation america to instrumentality attraction of your method SEO for you, cheque retired our SEO Services Package oregon contact america contiguous for a escaped consultation.