The Most Common Technical SEO Issues That Hurt Your Rankings
Websites have their own characteristics, idiosyncrasies, problems, and needs, and no two are alike. In this sense, they are a bit like humans.
For the same reason that you see a doctor if you have a health problem, go to a web developer or technical SEO expert if your website has technical SEO issues.
There are a few common issues that affect the ranking of websites that occur with many websites when they are large enough, old enough, or have enough visitors, and that need to be fixed for your business to succeed online.
In this blog post, we'll discuss 20 of the most common technical SEO issues and provide insight into how to find and fix them.
What is technical SEO?
Technical SEO refers to the subcategory of SEO that focuses on the structure and performance of the website from a technical point of view. This includes everything from the organization of the website to the code under the hood.
Making sure your site is technically sound, Google can properly crawl and index your pages, which will lead to better placement of your site and ultimately more visitors and customers.
Technical SEO is a notoriously complex and ever-changing topic, some common issues occur at some point with most websites.
The benefits of technical SEO are cumulative – many small optimizations add up to a big impact. While fixing a single issue may not have a noticeable impact, fixing many of these issues will significantly improve the overall value of your site. Conversely, it can cause your website to disappear in the SERPs among your competitors if too many errors go unnoticed or are not fixed.
Let's take a look at the top 20 technical SEO issues that can affect your website's placement.
Problem 1: Your website is not secured with HTTPS
One of the most common technical SEO issues is a website that is vulnerable to hackers, phishing attacks, and cybersecurity attacks. For your website to be considered secure, it must have HTTPS enabled. This is a security protocol that encrypts the information transmitted from your website to the user's browser.
Google gives secure websites a ranking boost. If a website does not have an SSL certificate, it is marked as "not secure" in the browser. Users take this as a sign that your site is neither secure nor trustworthy, resulting in a higher bounce rate and lower conversion rate.
You can tell whether a website is secure by the fact that the URL of your website starts with "HTTPS" and not with "HTTP". If your website is not yet secured with an SSL certificate, you should get one as soon as possible. You can purchase an SSL certificate from your web hosting company.
Problem 2: Your website is too slow
A slow website can be a major obstacle for your business. 47% of users expect a website to load in two seconds or less. If your website takes more than three seconds to load, you could lose customers and sales unnecessarily.
Page speed is also an important ranking factor for Google and other search engines. That said, if your website is slow, it could negatively impact your visibility in the SERPs.
There are several online tools that you can use to troubleshoot page speed issues, such as Google Page Speed Insights and Web Page test. Once you know the speed of your site, you can work on improving it, because Google Page Speed Insights gives you a list of actions you can take to improve speed. This includes large image files, unoptimized code, and too many plugins or scripts.
If you want to dig deeper into the matter, Chrome Dev Tools lets you explore the inner workings of your website to see what unused code or script files are slowing it down.
Problem 3: Your website is not displaying properly on smart devices
In recent years, the way people access the Internet has changed. More and more people are using their smartphones and tablets to surf the Internet. Over 60 percent of Google searches are now conducted via mobile devices. In response, Google is fully transitioning to mobile-first indexing in 2022.
This means that it is more important than ever to have a website that is displayed correctly for mobile phones. If your website isn't optimized for mobile devices, you could be missing out on a lot of visitors and revenue.
You can test the mobile friendliness of your website with the Google Mobile-Friendly Test. This tool analyzes your website and tells you if it is optimized for smaller screen sizes.
One of the best ways to make your website mobile-friendly is to use responsive design, where your web pages automatically adjust to the specific screen size.
You can also use Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) framework to create a mobile-friendly website. AMP is an open source project that allows you to create websites that are specifically designed for mobile devices.
Problem 4: You have too many 301 redirects that confuse the search engines – AND your customers
301 redirects are a useful way to keep your site's URL structure intact when you make changes to your site, such as when you change your site's domain name or when the content is updated.
However, as a website gets bigger and more content is added, 301 redirects tend to be stacked on top of each other, with URL A leading to URL B and then URL C, and so on. This is called a 301 forwarding chain.
These can be very harmful to your website's SEO if not controlled. Because every time a visitor lands on a page with a 301 redirect, they have to wait for the server to redirect them to the new page. This can significantly increase the loading time of your website.
Too many 301 redirects can also confuse search engines. When a search engine searches a site with many 301 redirects, it can get lost and not index all the pages of your site. This will exhaust the crawl budget that Google allocates to your site and may not index some of your pages.
SEO web crawlers like Screaming Frog and similar tools can check for 301 redirect chains – where they come from and where they lead. You can clean them up by using a redirect mapping tool to determine which redirects are unnecessary and can be safely removed by pointing them directly to the end destination URL. You can also remove the pages with the status 301 redirect from your sitemap.
Problem 5: Your website is not indexed correctly
If your site isn't indexed correctly, it won't appear in search results, so people won't be able to find your site in the first place. There are several ways to check if your site is indexed correctly. The first option is to use Google Search Console. This tool allows you to track the visibility and indexing of your website in the search engines.
Another way to check if your site is indexed correctly is to do a manual search on Google. Perform a site query by typing "site:yourdomain.com". Google will then show you all the pages of your site that are being indexed.
The best way to make your site indexable is to submit a sitemap to Google. A sitemap is a file that contains a list of all the pages on your site. You can submit your sitemap to Google through Google Search Console.
Another way to solve this SEO problem is to add structured data to your website. Structured data is a code that helps search engines understand the content of your website – for what and what it is. You can add structured data to your website using a plugin or by manually adding it to your website's code.
Problem 6: Your robots.txt file is missing or corrupted
The robots.txt file is a text file that tells search engines which pages of your website to index and which to ignore. This file is located in the root directory of your Website.
If your robots.txt file is missing or broken, it can cause search engines to index all the pages of your site, even the ones you don't want to index. This can also lead to a website being overloaded with requests and even being able to exclude important pages from indexing.
Problem 7: Your website has duplicate content - multiple versions of the same page
Duplicate content on your website is an absolute SEO nightmare and is very difficult to recover. Duplicate content causes search engines to penalize your site because it contains multiple versions of the same page. This can lead to a deterioration in your website's placement in the search engines and a loss of visitors.
One way to search for duplicate content is to do a manual search on Google. Type "site:yourwebsite.com" and Google will show you all the pages of your site that are being indexed. If you see multiple versions of the same page, it means you have duplicate content on your site. Copy some of your content and paste it into quotation marks in Google Search. This will display all the web pages that use your text, including yours.
The best way to avoid duplicate content is to consolidate your web pages using the rel=canonical tag. This means that you need to tell the search engines which version of the page to index. You can do this by inserting a "rel=canonical" tag in the header of your page. You can also choose to redirect the duplicate content to the original content.
Problem 8: Your backlinks come from spammy or unsafe websites
Getting backlinks is always the goal of any SEO campaign. However, not all backlinks are created equal. Backlinks from spammy or unsafe websites can affect your site's placement in the search engines.
The best way to check the quality of your backlinks is to use a backlink SEO checker. It helps you track the visibility of your website in the search engines and indexing. It will also show you all the websites that link to your website.
If you see spam or suspicious-looking websites, it's best to disavow them. This means that you need to tell Google that you don't want these backlinks to be taken into account when evaluating your site. To do this, you can use the Google disavow tool.
Problem 9: Using soft 404 errors on your website
A soft 404 error occurs when a page returns the error message "404 not found" but the content of the page still exists. This means that the search engines index the page, but when someone clicks on the link, they get a 404 error message instead of the content they are looking for.
The best way to check for 404 soft errors is to use Google Search Console. This tool allows you to track the visibility and indexing of your website in the search engines. It also shows you all the pages on your site that return a 404 error message.
If you find the soft 404 errors, the best solution is to redirect them to a working page only on our website. This ensures that your visitors receive useful content instead of a 404 error message.
Problem 10: Your title tags are truncated in the SERPS
Your title tags are one of the first things a user sees when they come across you on Google. They appear on the search results pages (SERPS) and help determine your site's click-through rate (CTR).
However, if your title tags are too long, they will be truncated in the SERPS instead of displaying the full title. This results in a poor user experience and can affect the click-through rate of your website.
The best way to fix this is to shorten your title tags. You can do this by putting the most important information such as your primary keyword at the beginning of your title tag. You should also use less than 60 characters to make them appear in full.
Problem 11: Your meta descriptions are missing or pre-populated
Meta descriptions are another important element of your website. These are the short text snippets that appear under the title tag in the SERPS.
Missing your meta descriptions can lead to a drop in your site's click-through rate and a loss of visitors. If they're pre-populated with the content provided by Google, it can look unprofessional.
The best way to fix this is to make sure your meta descriptions are unique and relevant to your site's content. They should also be less than 160 characters long for them to appear fully in the SERPS. Also, don't forget to include your primary and secondary keywords in your meta descriptions.
Problem 12: Your website has an incorrect Rel=Canonical tag
If you have duplicate content on your site, you can use the rel=canonical tag to tell search engines which version of the page to index. However, if this tag is not correct, it can exacerbate the problem of duplicate content.
The best way to fix this is to make sure that the rel=canonical tag is implemented correctly on all your pages. To do this, you can use a tool to canonize SEO tools. It helps you track the visibility and indexing of your website in the search engines and determine which pages have the canonical tag.
Problem 13: Your pages have broken links
Broken links are links that lead to pages that no longer exist. They can be caused by a change in your site's URL structure, deleting pages, or moving pages to a new location.
If you have broken links on your website, it can lead to a deterioration in your website's placement in the search engines. It can also cause your website visitors to leave your website.
The best way to fix this is to use an SEO checker for broken links like Google Analytics. This allows you to track the visibility and indexing of your website in the search engines. It will also show you any broken links on your website.
Once you have identified the broken links, you can either delete them, redirect them to the correct page, or convert them to a valid page.
Problem 14: Your website doesn't use structured data
Structured data is a code that helps search engines understand the content of your website. They can be used to label things like items, events, products, and people.
If your website does not use structured data, it can lead to a deterioration in your website's placement in the search engines.
The best way to fix this is to add structured data to your website. You can do this by using the Structured Data Markup Helper of an SEO tool. This allows you to mark the content of your website with the right schema type.
Once you've added the structured data, Google will be able to understand it and index it correctly.
Issue 15: International versions of your site redirect users to pages in the wrong language
If someone from another country tries to visit your website, they may be redirected to an incorrect version of your website.
When this happens, it can lead to a deterioration in your site's placement in the search engines. It can also lead to a general deterioration in the user experience and increase the bounce rate.
To determine this problem, you need to check all the pages to make sure they are optimized for the correct language.
Then you can use an hreflang tag to show Google which language versions of your site are equivalent. You can also set up redirects so that someone who visits the wrong version of your website is automatically redirected to the correct version. Or you can set up language switching so that visitors can choose the language they want.
In this way, you can improve the placement of your website in the search engines and the user experience.
Problem 16: There is no alt text in your images
The alt text is the text that appears when an image cannot be displayed. It helps the search engines to understand what the image is. It also helps people with visual impairments understand what an image is.
A website without alt text can lead to a slight but nonetheless unpleasant drop in ranking, and it can also make it difficult for people with disabilities to use your site.
To check if you have this problem, use a screen reader and select an image. The alt text should be read aloud. If this is not the case, you must add the alt text to this image. You can also examine the image using the inspection tool, where you can see the alt text in the source code.
Once you've found the images, add alt text to them through your CMS's image settings.
Problem 17: Your backlinks are lost or broken
Broken or lost backlinks are bad for your website. They can lead to a deterioration in your website's search engine ranking.
You can use a backlink analysis tool such as Ahrefs' Broken Backlinks Report to identify any lost or broken backlinks that lead to your website, as well as their domain rating and referral traffic.
Once you have identified the lost or broken links, you can either delete them, redirect them to the correct page, or change them to a valid page.
Problem 18: Your website does not have an XML sitemap
An XML sitemap is a file that contains all the pages of your website. It helps search engines understand the structure of your website, where everything is located and what it does.
If your site doesn't have an XML sitemap, it will be difficult for Google to find your pages and crawl them effectively.
To create an XML sitemap, you can use an SEO tool like Google Search Console or Screaming Frog. This allows you to create your XML sitemap and submit it to the search engines. You can also hire a Web developer to create and submit your Sitemap for you.
Once you've created the XML sitemap, the search engines can find and crawl it, which will improve your site's placement in the search engines.
Problem 19: Google can't play your JavaScript content
Web pages built with JavaScript frameworks require additional computing power to be rendered and indexed by Google. This can cause your crawl budget to run out before all your pages can be indexed, resulting in them not showing up in the SERPs at all.
You can solve this problem with a tool like Prerender, which not only ensures that your JavaScript website is rendered in static HTML that can be read by search engines.
Fix your website's technical SEO issues
The process of understanding how to fix technical SEO issues like this is long, difficult, and complicated. However, if you nip these issues in the bud and then perform routine website maintenance, you can get a handle on these issues before they get out of control.
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