If you’ve noticed a decline in your website’s performance or suspect that there might be lurking technical issues affecting it, it’s time for a thorough spring clean and to work your way through an SEO technical checklist.Â
Just like tidying up your living space, cleaning up your website can lead to a shiny, fresh online presence that users will love.Â
In this article, we’ll explore five key areas for a technical SEO spring clean, giving your website the TLC it deserves.
1. Crawlability
First up in the tech SEO checklist, let’s consider how effectively Google is crawling your website. To assess this, you can use tools like the Google Search Console API and Screaming Frog. These tools enable the URL inspection feature, which helps identify pages that aren’t being indexed. Pay attention to your crawl budget – if it’s misallocated, Google might be spending too much time on unimportant pages.
Ask yourself the following questions:
– Are there any URLs in the robots.txt file that shouldn’t be blocked?
– Do you have internal links that lead to redirects or 404 errors?
– Are there missing pages from the sitemap that should be included?
– Are your product filters managed effectively, using parameters?
– Is essential content served within an iframe?
Score your website’s crawlability out of 100 to gauge its health.
2. Indexability
Next, let’s delve into indexability as part of your spring clean. In the Google Search Console, examine the page indexing report. Are there numerous crawled URLs that haven’t been indexed? If so, investigate why. Look for duplicate content and correct usage of canonicals, especially for Shopify accounts. Then assess if feed pages or AMP pages are being indexed unnecessarily. This step can help manage your crawl budget effectively.
Common issues include multiple low-quality language pages that result from plugins. Ensure that your indexed pages are valuable and error-free.
3. Accessibility
Accessibility is all about the user experience on your website, particularly regarding site speed and mobile-friendliness. User experience could arguably be at the top of every tech SEO checklist, and key questions to ask include:
– Are your pages mobile-friendly?
– Do they load quickly?
– Do they pass core web vitals?
Use tools like the Page Speed API in Screaming Frog to get an overall performance view. Check if your server can handle your user load, and ensure your website uses HTTPS with an up-to-date SSL certificate.
4. Rankability
Rankability focuses on leveraging technical opportunities to enhance a page’s ranking potential. Consider elements like:
– Effective use of internal links
– Proper handling of key backlinks through canonicals or redirects
– Regular additions and updates to directory listings
– Ensuring sufficient product categories and subcategories on your site
By optimising these aspects, you can improve your website’s chances of ranking higher in search results.
Shake and stir with content marketing and Digital PR to really give things a kick.
5. Clickability
Finally in your SEO technical checklist, assess how well you’re using technical elements to increase clicks in search results.Pay attention to breadcrumbs, schema markup, and sitelinks. Breadcrumbs can improve navigation, while schema markup helps your site stand out in search results. Influencing sitelinks with internal links can prioritise important pages. Also, ensure your Google My Business (GMB) listing is well-optimised and performing well in the map-pack.
In conclusion, a technical SEO spring clean is essential for maintaining a healthy, high-performing website. By addressing crawlability, indexability, accessibility, rankability, and clickability, you’ll be on your way to a website that not only functions flawlessly but also attracts more users and conversions.
To go beyond a rudimentary spring clean, contact Dark Horse for a full scale SEO audit and a tech SEO checklist that excavates your entire website, helping you enhance your SEO performance and improve your overall online presence. Find out how we fine tuned the New Care Homes website and if you want to work with an agency that keeps themself accountable, contact Dark Horse.
