A Guide to Technical SEO for business owners

Meet Sarah. Sarah is the proud owner of a small bakery in town. She bakes the most delicious cakes and pastries, and her customers just can’t get enough of them. However, Sarah recently noticed a drop in online orders, and she can’t figure out why. She has been doing everything she can think of to promote her business online, but nothing seems to be working.

That’s when Sarah heard about technical Search Engine Optimization (SEO). She has heard the term before from her web developer, but she never really understood what it meant or how it can help her business. She’s not alone. As a small business owner, technical SEO can seem like a confusing and overwhelming concept. But the truth is, understanding it is crucial for the success of any online business.

In this guide to technical SEO, we’ll break down the basics in plain English, so that even non-technical business owners like Sarah can understand it. We’ll cover everything from what it is, to its importance for small businesses, to key elements of technical SEO and best practices for optimizing your website. Whether you’re a small business owner like Sarah or someone looking to improve their online presence, this guide is for you.

Technical SEO refers to the process of optimizing the technical aspects of your website to help it appear higher in search engine results. It’s like ensuring that your store’s physical location is easy for customers to find and access when you have a store.

There are three main types of SEO: technical SEO, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO. On-page SEO involves optimizing the words and images on your website to make it more attractive to search engines, while off-page SEO involves getting other websites to link to your website to increase its popularity.

Technical SEO is different from on-page and off-page SEO because it focuses on the technical aspects of your website that impact its ability to appear in search results. This includes elements like site structure, page speed, mobile responsiveness, security, and schema markup.

As a small business owner, your website is your most valuable marketing tool. It’s essential that your website is optimized for search engines to attract more organic traffic, leads, and sales. Technical SEO is the foundation of your website’s search engine optimization and without it, your website won’t be able to rank in search engines.

By optimizing your website, you’re ensuring that search engines can crawl and index your site efficiently. This improves your website’s chances of ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), which can lead to increased visibility, traffic, and revenue for your business.

In the next section of this guide to technical SEO, we’ll dive deeper into the key elements that you need to focus on to optimize your website for search engines.

Key Elements of Technical SEO

A. Site Structure and Organization

The structure and organization of your website play a big role in technical SEO. Search engines like Google prefer websites that are well-organized and easy to navigate. To optimize your website’s structure, you should ensure that your website has a clear hierarchy and that your pages are categorized properly. This will help search engines understand the content on your website and index it more efficiently.

B. Page Speed and Loading Times

Page speed and loading times are important factors in technical SEO. The faster your website loads, the better it will perform in search engine rankings. To optimize your website’s loading speed, you should consider factors like image optimization, reducing file sizes, and minimizing the use of plugins and scripts that can slow down your website.

C. Mobile Responsiveness and Accessibility

With more and more people accessing the internet on their mobile devices, it’s important that your website is mobile-friendly. A mobile-friendly website is one that can be easily viewed and navigated on a mobile device, without the need for zooming or scrolling. In addition, your website should be accessible to people with disabilities, which includes providing text alternatives for images and videos and ensuring that your website can be navigated with a keyboard.

D. Security and HTTPS

Ensuring that your website is secure is essential for technical SEO. Search engines like Google prefer websites that are secure and use HTTPS encryption. HTTPS encryption helps to protect your website’s data from hackers and ensures that your website is safe for users to visit.

E. Schema Markup and Structured Data

Schema markup is a type of code that helps search engines understand the content on your website. It provides additional information about your website’s content, which can improve your website’s search engine rankings. Structured data, on the other hand, is a standardized format for providing information about your website’s content. By implementing schema markup and structured data, you can make it easier for search engines to crawl and index your website.