On-Page & Technical SEO
Services
The Technical SEO Process
We start by ensuring that the code is clean and effective across the whole site. This is a process known as ‘Technical SEO’. It helps search engines access and crawl the site’s pages efficiently, so they can understand the content and index it accurately. We aim to make your website fast, easy to use and a positive experience for both humans and search engines alike. We don’t want confusion through duplicate content or visitors sent to dead-ends or broken links.
These are our top 5 technical SEO tasks:
1. Website crawlability
Accidentally blocking search engines from crawling your site is a common fault and is something we see regularly when we run our Website Quality Audit.
Search engines use robots to crawl your website, following links to discover your pages. It stands to reason, therefore, that you must have a good internal linking structure with no dead links or irritating 404 error pages. You want the robots to find important content and ignore those pages they don’t need to index (e.g. your privacy policy page). You might even have areas on your site you need to block from search engines completely such as membership areas.
Having an XML sitemap is another way of making sure that search engine spiders and crawlers don’t miss important content, although not a substitute for good internal linking practice. An XML sitemap is a text file that sits on your website’s server, and it is used by search engines to tell them what pages they should index and how often those pages are being updated.
Armed with this information, search engines can get straight to the most important pages and will know how often they should come back and re-crawl those pages.
2. Structured data
Structured data refers to a specific way of marking up your web pages to provide search engines with additional context about the content on that page. We provide this information through a fixed format such as Schema, which allows search engines to understand the meaning and relationships between different pieces of information. This structured data markup can typically include a mixture of the following:
- Business Info: Details about your business, like its name, contact info, and logo.
- Local Business: Specifically for local shops and services, with address and hours.
- Product: Info about the stuff you sell, including prices and reviews.
- Articles: For news or blog posts, including titles, authors, and dates.
- Events: Details about upcoming happenings, like dates and locations.
- Reviews: Structured data for product or service reviews, with ratings.
- Recipes: Info for cooking and food recipes, with ingredients and cooking times.
- FAQs: Frequently asked questions and answers.
- Navigation: Helps with website navigation.
- Videos: Data about videos, like titles and descriptions.
There are several benefits to correctly implementing schema on your website, including:
- Enhanced Visibility: Schema helps your website appear more prominently in search results by leading to richer results like featured or rich snippets.
- Improved Click-Through Rates (CTR): It adds useful info like ratings and prices to your search listings, so users are more likely to click on your results.
- Better User Experience: It makes your site easier to navigate and find information on.
- Voice Search Optimisation: It helps voice assistants understand your site’s content.
- Local SEO Benefits: Great for local businesses, displaying hours and location.
- Competitive Advantage: Gives you an edge over websites that haven’t added schema.
- Futureproofing: As search evolves, schema remains valuable for SEO.
3. Site speed & performance
For a website to rank well, it must be mobile-friendly and be able to load quickly (ideally under 3 seconds). For every extra second it takes a page to load, you can lose around 50% of your mobile visitors who don’t want to hang around.
Google recognises that a fast-loading website promises a better user experience, consequently, page experience (specifically loading page speed itself) is an official Google ranking factor.
4. Canonicalisation
Duplicate content isn’t ideal but sometimes it’s unavoidable. This can be especially true for e-commerce sites where they may have a huge number of similar pages due to slight product variations.
For example, let’s say you have a page that sells a t-shirt that comes in 5 different colours. Depending on how that website has been built, you may find that the system generates a different page or URL for each of those 5 colours. As the content on these pages will be almost identical, we have to tell search engines which page to index. This is where Canonicalisation comes in.
Canonicalisation is the process of indicating to search engines which version of the page they should crawl and index. We don’t want them deciding this for us.
5. Security
Website security involves practices and technologies like encryption, firewalls, updates and authentication to protect a site from cyber threats. It’s crucial for SEO as it directly influences a website’s visibility and ranking on search engines, especially Google.
An important aspect of website security, that impacts SEO, is HTTPS implementation. Google’s promotion of HTTPS, as a ranking factor, boosts secure sites in their search engine results pages aligning with their commitment to user safety by encrypting data, reducing the risk of breaches and attacks.
Secure websites build user trust and encourage engagement, through the use of the padlock icon and “https://” in their URL. Conversely, inadequate security can trigger warnings and deter users, leading to higher bounce rates and reduced SEO performance. Robust website security protects data, improves search engine rankings, and enhances user experiences, driving more organic traffic and better SEO results.
On-Page SEO
Once all the technical aspects of a website’s performance are in place, we can optimise individual page content. This will help search engines understand the topic of each page and, therefore, the keywords for which those pages should rank. We pull together various elements so each page performs as it should and the whole site works towards your goals. At this stage, we’ll have done our homework, so we will know the following:
- What do you want your website to achieve as part of your business objectives?
- Who are we targeting and what do they need to know?
- Which keywords are important to your business?
- What action do we need to take on the website following the outcome of our Website Quality Audit?
Keyword-optimised & relevant content
Google is getting better and better at understanding what users are searching for and how to meet their needs. This means you must ensure your content is good enough so it’s worthy of a search result position. If it’s what the user is seeking, then it’s extremely important to search engines.
Content can be a video, an image, audio or text and the natural and relevant use of keywords is very important – incorporating primary and secondary terms into content and elements such as titles, meta descriptions, URLs, etc, is a clear signal to search engines of your joined-up thinking.
We help our clients create keyword-optimised web content that‘s relevant, original, accessible, well-presented and detailed enough for visitors and search engines alike to work out if it’s credible and worthy of their attention.
Reviews That
Speak For Themselves
Liz Stanford
I have felt very supported working with Mike and Improve Position over the past 5 years. My own tech knowledge is limited especially when it comes to websites but he has always been very patient, generous with his time and understanding!
Brendan Piater
Responsive, great at what they do and trustworthy; is how I would describe Improve Position. I’ve dealt with Michael several times over the years and have been very impressed by his knowledge and friendly demeanour.
Mark Riley
I thoroughly recommend Michael at improve position he has helped my site go from strength to strength and explained how I could do this in simple language. Amazing work ethic and supremely skilled at what he does. Great company!
Anthony Ryder
As an IT Business, we have utilised many SEO companies over the years which have been hit-and-miss with extortionate monthly costs. Improve Position has provided us with effective SEO at an affordable price since 2018. We find the service is personable, responsive and cost-effective.…
Refining URLs, metadata & image attributes
On-page SEO is all about making sure everything on the page works in harmony towards a single goal: that you’ve demonstrated, beyond doubt, the topic of each page as identified by the primary keyword. When we are optimising a client’s website, 3 main areas are demanding our attention:
- URL Structure: this is the unique address for each page of your website. When it comes to SEO, the page URL is very important as it identifies the topic and tells search engine crawlers which section of the site that page belongs.
- Metadata & Headings: every page of your site will have various tags within the code that provide search engines with additional information about that page. The most important tags include meta titles (the title that gets displayed in search results), meta descriptions (the description that gets displayed in search results) and the headings used by both search engines and users to understand the logical structure of the page.
- Image Attributes: image optimisation is one of the most overlooked aspects of on-page SEO, yet image-based searches are increasingly popular. Ensuring that your images are named appropriately and include descriptive alt tags will improve accessibility for the visually impaired and enable search engines to understand the context of the image.
Book Your 30-Minute Free SEO Consultation
This is a free 30-minute consultation to discuss your online business goals and determine if we are a good fit to work together towards achieving those goals.
Frequently
Asked
Questions
How does technical SEO work?
Technical SEO focuses on optimising the backend structure and foundation of your website to enhance its visibility and performance in search engine results.
This involves ensuring proper indexing by search engines using several techniques: sitemaps and robots.txt files, optimising site speed and mobile responsiveness for a seamless user experience, and implementing structured data to facilitate a better understanding of your content.
Additionally, technical SEO implementation addresses issues like broken links, duplicate content and XML sitemaps to improve site navigation and crawlability for search engine algorithms.
By fine-tuning these technical elements, you create a solid foundation that enables the likes of Google to crawl, index and rank your site more effectively, ultimately driving more targeted organic traffic and supporting your overall SEO and marketing strategy.
Why does my business need technical SEO?
Technical SEO is vital because it ensures that search engines can effectively crawl, index and interpret your website’s content, enhancing its overall visibility and performance in search results.
By optimising technical aspects such as site speed, mobile-friendliness and structured data, you create a seamless user experience that encourages longer visits and higher engagement.
Additionally, addressing technical issues proactively can prevent potential setbacks in search rankings, such as penalties or indexing issues. This safeguards your online visibility and reputation, ensuring consistent accessibility for both users and search engine crawlers.
In essence, technical excellence in SEO lays the foundation for successful organic search performance and growth, driving quality traffic and supporting your broader business objectives.
Is technical SEO part of off-page SEO?
No. Off-page SEO focuses on actions occurring outside of your website, such as link building and reviews. Effective technical SEO ensures that your website is easily interpreted by crawlers and provides a seamless experience for users.
Consistent off-page SEO can enhance your website’s credibility and trustworthiness while prioritising technical SEO strategies ensures optimal website performance and accessibility.
Can I do my own Technical SEO?
Although it is feasible to manage technical SEO independently, it demands extensive knowledge and expertise in multiple areas. Tasks such as content management system usage, crawl analysis, backlink management, metadata optimisation and URL structure all necessitate technical proficiency.
Furthermore, keeping abreast of search engine algorithm updates and industry trends is essential for successful technical SEO. Unless it’s something you do regularly, like we do, you might find it takes too much time and resources.
At Improve Position, we recognise the intricacies of technical SEO and provide our services to ease the load. Our specialised technical SEO team has the skills, technical mindset and business acumen to optimise your website effectively by correctly fixing these complex technical issues.
How soon can I expect results from technical SEO?
It’s difficult to determine the precise timeframe for observing results from a technical SEO investment. However, it’s important to note that the pace of results hinges on the prompt and thorough implementation of our recommendations.
Do you offer technical SEO services on a white-label basis?
If you are an SEO agency wanting to provide to provide reseller technical SEO services to your clients. Our high-quality, white-label, fully managed technical SEO audit service enables you to focus on your core offering, while we assist you in helping your customers achieve their SEO goals.
With our expert support and a dedicated account manager, you can take pride in delivering exceptional results to your clients without having to worry about the finer details of technical SEO. Our technical SEO marketing team is committed to ensuring that partnering with our technical SEO specialists will strengthen your business and enhance your client relationships.
Let our technical SEO agency handle the complexities of technical SEO so you can concentrate on what you do best – delivering high-quality services to your clients.
Are you interested in learning more about our technical SEO process? Schedule a consultation with our technical SEO experts to explore the full range of our white-label packages for SEO agencies.
Get in touch with our technical SEO consultants today to find out how we can tailor our solutions to meet your specific needs and objectives. Together, let’s create a winning formula for your agency’s online success together.