Get Better Google Ranking: 3 Technical SEO Must-Haves For Your Website

For business owners trying to advance their search ranking a SEO strategy might involve developing quality content and authoritative link building, but don't overlook the Technical SEO side of your strategy. 

Since these are the generally recognized attributes of an SEO strategy business managers and in-house marketing teams tend to put a great deal of focus on business blogging and inbound links. Two very time consuming tasks and although they are good SEO practices your efforts could be all but waisted if the technical SEO side of your strategy has been overlooked. 

“Technical SEO is the practices implemented on the website and server that are intended to maximize site usability, search engine crawling, and indexing.” (searchengineland.com Nov 2016)

Technical SEO will allow for your website to be understood and found by search engines. The basic structure of a website and website address too often are overlooked and the business owner has no idea why their efforts have been for nothing. 

For example, in order for search engines to see and understand the content of your website it needs to be crawled and indexed. Here are 3 Technical SEO must-haves when building your own website and SEO strategy...

1. Responsive Website:

Gone is the way of dial up & desktop computers. Mobile devices now rule the web which means your website from 10 years ago isn’t going to get you ranked on Google’s search results (no matter how much blogging you do for your business). 

As of 2015 Google decided a major factor in their search ranking is whether or not a website is Responsive, also known as Mobile Friendly (Google Mobilegeddon 2015). 

Responsive Web Design is an approach to website design which optimizes the user experience regardless of the device the website is viewed on. Responsive web design allows for a fluid element sizing so the pictures and text expand and contract to fit the screen size of the device being used. 

More About Responsive Websites with Dynamic Triggers which are Structured for SEO

    2. HTTPS:

Whenever I log into a banking website or use our credit card on an e-commerce site I glance up to the address bar and make sure I see the little green lock logo & and “S” in the “HTTPS” portion of the website address, just to make sure I didn’t miss-type or accidentally enter the wrong site. It’s not too common these days, but it used to be a much bigger issue. 

The reason it’s not a big issue now-a-days is because search engine results are heavily weighed on whether or not the website address includes HTTPS rather than the old standard HTTP.  The “S” in this case stands for Security. 

This means even if you are not an e-commerce site, you need to have an “S” in your website address. It’s a simple process to do, although it could cost you a bit extra. 

    3. Good Structure: 

Index: If you are using a website editor (like our sweet responsive website editor ; ) than you will have a setting to “index” a page or not. This needs to be turned on for all the pages you want people to be able to find on a search (which should be most of them). This is a simple setting which will make all the difference because if the search engine cannot index your page than they cannot see it.  

Next in the structure equation of technical SEO are the Headings, Content, Alt Text, Keywords and Supporting Keywords. These factors are all interrelated. You should use the same main phrases in the Page Tile, H1 Heading Filed, and “Keywords” under your settings tab. 

The text content, ALT Text, and H2, H3, and H4 headings should include supporting phrases which relate & further expand on your topic so the search engine knows what exactly your page is about. Don’t stuff as many phrases or “keywords” as possible, this will not help you in SEO. 

The heading of your website, page title, page description, content, headings, and alt text should include accurate descriptions and supportive descriptions. With voice search being used so much more it is now especially important to be as descriptive as possible. In this case think of your descriptions in terms of how people would be asking for your unique products or services. 

What sets you apart which people are looking for? People don’t want to just search for pizza, now they want to find the specific type of pizza they are craving. 

For SEO purposes your key phrases and supporting descriptive text should be incorporated in your business listings as well. Everywhere your business appears online should include specific descriptions of the products/services you provide and their unique characteristics. This structure and attention to detail are the first steps to a successful website designs and technical SEO strategy. 

Learn More About How To Build a Successful Business Listing Strategy Here

Responsive Website Design, HTTPS website address, and good structure are technical SEO factors which will weigh heavily on your ranking factor. If you don’t have the technical SEO side of your strategy dialed in than the rest of your hard earned efforts won’t make the difference for your search ranking.

Learn More About Website Features and SEO Strategy On The Main Goes Big Website Design & Digital Marketing Blog