Digital Marketing
- How to Add Google Analytics to WordPress
- How to Claim Your Business Profile on Google
- Technical SEO Explained Simply
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- What to Include When Contacting our Helpdesk
- Why doesn’t Google show my meta description or title?
WordPress
- Check Your PHP Version in WordPress
- Discourage search engines from indexing this site
- How do I add a new WordPress admin user? Or remove one?
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- What Is Xmlrpc.php in WordPress? Why disable it?
- What premium plugins/services do I get with your service?
- Where can I find images to use on my website?
- Why are there plugin updates in my WordPress Dashboard?
Technical SEO Explained Simply
Table of contents
You’ve likely heard terms like “technical SEO” tossed around by web designers or marketers, and it might sound intimidating. Technical SEO simply refers to optimizing the behind-the-scenes aspects of your website so that search engines (and users) can access and understand it easily. It’s like the foundation and wiring of a house – not always visible, but absolutely essential for everything else to work properly. Let’s break down the main components of technical SEO in plain language and why each one matters for your home service business’s website.
Why Technical SEO Matters
No matter how great your content is or how many keywords you use, if your website has technical problems, it can hold you back in search rankings. For example, imagine a beautifully written page about your roofing services, but it takes 10 seconds to load or isn’t viewable on mobile – many people will leave before they even read it. Google knows that users can get frustrated by slow or non-functional sites, so it tends to rank technically sound websites higher. In short, technical SEO is about ensuring your site runs smoothly so that nothing behind the scenes is preventing you from ranking well or delighting a potential customer online.
Key Elements of Technical SEO (Made Simple)
Here are the most important technical factors, explained without the geek speak:
- Site Speed: This is how fast your web pages load. A fast site is like a well-tuned engine – it gives users a smooth ride. If your site is slow, visitors might hit the “back” button, and search engines take note of that. Tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights can test your speed. For a home service site, speed is crucial because someone needing an urgent service won’t wait long for your page to load. Optimizing images, using proper hosting, and minimizing unnecessary scripts can all boost speed.
- Mobile-Friendliness: More than half of local searches are done on mobile devices. Google actually uses a “mobile-first” approach when indexing sites, meaning it looks at the mobile version of your site first. A mobile-friendly site automatically adapts to smaller screens, so users don’t have to pinch and zoom. If your site isn’t easy to use on a smartphone, both your users and Google will be unhappy. Make sure your text is readable on mobile, buttons are tap-friendly, and the overall design is responsive (most modern website themes handle this, but it’s worth checking).
- Crawlability & Indexing: Think of Google like a visitor with a very short attention span trying to navigate your site. If your website has clear pathways (links) to every page and no dead ends (broken links), Google can crawl (discover) all your content. This means having a logical menu, a sitemap (a file that lists all your pages), and not accidentally blocking search engines from pages (sometimes a setting in your site can do this). If Google can’t crawl a page, it’s as if that page doesn’t exist in search results.
- Secure Connection (HTTPS): When a site’s URL starts with https:// (instead of http://), it means it’s using a security certificate to encrypt data. This is important if you have any forms on your site (contact forms, etc.), because it protects the information being sent. But even if you don’t take info through your site, Google has made HTTPS a lightweight ranking factor. Plus, most browsers now show a “Not Secure” warning on non-HTTPS sites, which can scare off visitors. Getting an SSL certificate for your site ensures that padlock icon shows up and your site is trusted.
- Structured Data (Schema): This is a more advanced (and optional) aspect, but it’s worth mentioning. Structured data is code you can add to your site to give search engines extra clues about your content, like marking up your address, phone number, or customer reviews. It’s kind of like adding labels to your store products so Google knows exactly what they are. For example, there’s specific structured data for local businesses that can help your information display nicely in Google’s results (like showing star ratings or business hours directly in the snippet). While you might need a developer’s help to add these, know that they can give a slight advantage.
Keeping it Simple
You don’t need to become a tech expert to benefit from technical SEO. Often, it’s about following best practices when building and maintaining your website. Here are a few quick tips:
- Make sure your site is built on a modern platform (like a recent version of WordPress or another builder) which typically has many technical SEO basics covered out-of-the-box.
- Test your site on your own phone and a computer. See if anything is hard to use or slow – that firsthand experience can highlight issues.
- Use free checkup tools: Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and PageSpeed Insights are free tools that give you a report on issues. They might use technical terms, but focus on the suggestions that make sense (e.g. “image too large” means you should upload a smaller image for speed).
- If you have a web developer, ask them about these technical points. A one-time fix on something like enabling HTTPS or improving speed can have lasting benefits.
In essence, technical SEO is about ensuring the infrastructure of your site is solid. For a home services company, that means your online “house” is in good shape: it loads fast, welcomes mobile visitors, and is easy for Google to navigate. With those bases covered, all the other SEO work you do (content, keywords, listings, etc.) can shine, because nothing under the hood is dragging you down.
