Overview
Technical SEO ensures search engines can discover, crawl, and index your content effectively. This guide covers the fundamentals: crawlability, indexability, sitemaps, canonicals, noindex rules, and how search engines process content over time.What Is Technical SEO?
Technical SEO refers to the technical aspects of your website that affect how search engines crawl, index, and rank your content. Unlike on-page SEO (which focuses on content), technical SEO focuses on the underlying infrastructure.Crawlability
Crawlability determines whether search engines can access and read your content.What Is Crawling?
Crawling is the process by which search engines discover and read web pages. Search engine bots (like Googlebot) visit your site, follow links, and read your content.Ensuring Crawlability
Make sure search engines can crawl your site:- Robots.txt: Properly configure robots.txt to allow crawling
- Server accessibility: Ensure your server is accessible and responsive
- No blocking: Avoid blocking search engines with server-level restrictions
- Valid links: Use valid, accessible links throughout your site
Common Crawlability Issues
- Blocked by robots.txt: Incorrectly configured robots.txt blocks search engines
- Server errors: 500 errors prevent crawling
- Slow loading: Extremely slow pages may not be fully crawled
- JavaScript-heavy content: Content loaded via JavaScript may not be crawled properly
Indexability
Indexability determines whether search engines add your content to their search index.What Is Indexing?
Indexing is the process of storing your content in a search engine’s database. Only indexed content can appear in search results.Ensuring Indexability
Make sure search engines can index your content:- No noindex tags: Avoid noindex meta tags unless you want to exclude content
- Proper HTML structure: Use valid HTML that search engines can parse
- Accessible content: Ensure content is accessible without requiring login
- Unique content: Provide unique, valuable content that’s worth indexing
Common Indexability Issues
- Noindex tags: Accidental noindex tags prevent indexing
- Duplicate content: Duplicate content may not be indexed
- Thin content: Very short or low-quality content may not be indexed
- Canonical issues: Incorrect canonical tags may prevent proper indexing
Sitemaps
Sitemaps help search engines discover and understand your site structure.What Are Sitemaps?
Sitemaps are XML files that list all the pages on your site, helping search engines discover and crawl your content more efficiently.Sitemap Benefits
- Faster discovery: Help search engines discover new content quickly
- Better crawling: Guide search engines to important pages
- Metadata: Provide metadata about pages (last modified, priority, etc.)
- Large sites: Especially helpful for large sites with many pages
Creating Sitemaps
Most CMS platforms (like Webflow and Shopify) automatically generate sitemaps. You can also:- Use a sitemap generator: Use tools to generate sitemaps
- Submit to search engines: Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console
- Keep updated: Ensure your sitemap is kept up to date
- Validate: Validate your sitemap to ensure it’s correct
Sitemap Best Practices
- Include all important pages: List all pages you want indexed
- Keep updated: Update your sitemap when you add or remove pages
- Submit to search engines: Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools
- Use sitemap index: For large sites, use a sitemap index to organize multiple sitemaps
Canonical Tags
Canonical tags tell search engines which version of a page is the preferred version.What Are Canonicals?
Canonical tags are HTML elements that specify the preferred URL for duplicate or similar content. They help prevent duplicate content issues.When to Use Canonicals
Use canonicals when:- Duplicate content: Multiple URLs show the same content
- URL parameters: Different URL parameters show the same content
- HTTP/HTTPS: Both HTTP and HTTPS versions exist
- www/non-www: Both www and non-www versions exist
Canonical Tag Syntax
Canonical Best Practices
- Self-referencing: Each page should have a canonical tag pointing to itself (unless it’s a duplicate)
- Absolute URLs: Use absolute URLs (with https://) in canonical tags
- One per page: Include only one canonical tag per page
- Consistent: Ensure canonical tags are consistent across your site
Noindex Rules
Noindex tags tell search engines not to index a page.What Is Noindex?
Noindex is a meta tag that tells search engines not to include a page in their search index. The page can still be crawled but won’t appear in search results.When to Use Noindex
Use noindex for:- Private content: Content that shouldn’t appear in search results
- Duplicate content: Duplicate pages you don’t want indexed
- Test pages: Pages used for testing
- Admin pages: Administrative or internal pages
Noindex Tag Syntax
Noindex Best Practices
- Use sparingly: Only use noindex when necessary
- Combine with nofollow: Use nofollow along with noindex if you don’t want links followed
- Monitor impact: Monitor how noindex affects your site’s visibility
- Remove when needed: Remove noindex tags when content should be indexed
How Search Engines Treat Content Over Time
Search engines continuously evaluate and re-evaluate your content.Initial Crawling and Indexing
When content is first published:- Discovery: Search engines discover the content (via sitemaps, links, etc.)
- Crawling: Search engines crawl the content
- Indexing: Content is added to the search index
- Ranking: Content begins to rank (initially low, then adjusts based on performance)
Ongoing Evaluation
Search engines continuously evaluate content:- Freshness: Search engines prefer fresh, updated content
- Relevance: Relevance is re-evaluated as search queries evolve
- Quality: Quality signals are continuously assessed
- Performance: Performance metrics (click-through rate, bounce rate) influence rankings
Content Updates
When you update content:- Re-crawling: Search engines re-crawl updated pages
- Re-indexing: Updated content is re-indexed
- Ranking adjustments: Rankings may adjust based on updates
- Historical signals: Historical performance signals are considered
Best Practices for Long-Term SEO
- Keep content fresh: Regularly update content to keep it current
- Monitor performance: Track how content performs over time
- Update as needed: Update content when information becomes outdated
- Maintain quality: Ensure content quality remains high over time
Common Technical SEO Issues
Crawl Errors
Problem: Search engines can’t crawl your site. Solution:- Check robots.txt configuration
- Verify server accessibility
- Fix server errors
- Ensure links are valid and accessible
Indexing Issues
Problem: Content isn’t being indexed. Solution:- Remove noindex tags if not needed
- Check for duplicate content issues
- Ensure content is unique and valuable
- Verify canonical tags are correct
Sitemap Problems
Problem: Sitemap isn’t working correctly. Solution:- Validate your sitemap
- Ensure all important pages are included
- Keep sitemap updated
- Submit sitemap to search engines
Best Practices
- Monitor crawlability: Regularly check that search engines can crawl your site
- Ensure indexability: Verify that important content is being indexed
- Maintain sitemaps: Keep sitemaps updated and submitted to search engines
- Use canonicals properly: Implement canonicals to avoid duplicate content issues
- Monitor performance: Track how technical SEO changes affect your rankings
- Stay updated: Keep up with technical SEO best practices and updates
Next Steps
- Learn about on-page SEO to optimize your content
- Explore schema markup for rich results
- Review publishing articles to ensure proper technical setup