10 Worst Technical SEO Issues In 2021 and How to fix them?
Technical SEO issues are prevalent, and if you don’t check your site frequently, you might not be even aware you have them. Even if you’re already aware of some issues with your website, keeping it healthy in the ever-changing world of SEO can be difficult. You must grasp technical SEO if you are serious about optimizing your website for search.
For developers, keeping up with constant upgrades and avoiding technical site troubles is a daily battle. Before SEO begins to pay dividends, it takes a significant amount of time and effort.
What is Technical SEO?
Technical SEO is simply the act of ensuring that search engines can find, parse, and understand the material on your website. The better at technical SEO you become, the more likely you are to achieve a high ranking. Page titles, title tags, HTTP header replies, XML sitemaps, 301 redirects, and metadata are all part of technical SEO.
Three Primary factors dependent on Technical SEO are the following:-
- USABILITY
- RELEVANCE
- AUTHORITY
While SEO certainly aids in the improvement of your ranking, bear in mind that when a webpage contains poor SEO or errors, it will harm your ranking and credibility.
Many of the most common Technical SEO issues are also relatively simple to resolve, so there’s no excuse to leave them on your site. One thing we know about SEO is that it evolves with time. Google consistently keeps us on our toes, and there’s no reason to think 2021 will be any different. The elements that are used to rank things change all the time, as does the order in which they are offered.
This article will teach you all you need to know about technical issues, including how they might affect your page ranking, how to avoid them, and how to fix them.
Let’s delve deeper into the subject and discover the top 10 technical SEO issues to avoid keeping your position from deteriorating in 2021.
10 Most Common Technical SEO Issues to take into consideration in 2021
1. Problems With Titles And Descriptions
Remember to optimize your title tag and descriptions as well.
If you’re not familiar with the title tag, it does exactly what it says on the tin. The title of the web page is the tag’s content. The description can be found in the code and appears solely in the SERP.
Here are a few examples of technical SEO that you might encounter with title tags and descriptions:
- Tags that are duplicated
- Tags or descriptions that are missing
- Content that is so extensive that it will not appear in search results
From a technological standpoint, these issues are frequently caused by a website misconfiguration or a lack of information on a static page. There could be a collection of categories, tags, or pagination with no title tag rules attached to them. You’ll need to block the URLs, reroute them, or dynamically optimize them in this scenario. This is the first technical SEO issue that gets noticed very easily.
How to fix this technical SEO issue?
- Compress the title tags on your current web pages because 70-71 characters appear to be the perfect balance regarding new device display space (for title tags) – up from 50-60 characters previously.
- Whereas in uncertainty, adopt the following specifications: Primary Keyword – Secondary Keyword | Name of Brand
- Give each page a distinct title tag; for example, you can easily construct title tags for an e-store following this methodology: [Item Name] – [Item Category] | [Brand]
- Include the keyword at the start of the title tag
2. Duplicate Content
Another major technical SEO issue is Duplicity. You wouldn’t place two nearly identical pages on your website on purpose, so duplication of the content may not be anything you need to be concerned about.
However, this happens to a lot of people, and it might happen without you even realizing it. Search engines can be irritated by duplicate pages.
Search engines won’t know which one to prioritize and show in search results if two pages with similar content have distinct URLs. Fragmentation can happen without you even realizing it. You may construct two separate pages without realizing that they are pursuing the same keyword.
This means that instead of having one high-performing page, you’ll have two or more that are ineffective due to equity sharing.
There are a variety of reasons why your website’s content is duplicated. A few of them are:
- Items from an eCommerce site’s store can be found on many versions of the same URL.
- The material on printer-only web pages is the same as on the main page.
- On a global website, the same content is available in several languages.
These technical SEO errors, however, can be corrected.
How to Fix this technical SEO issue?
Each of these three problems can be solved using the following methods:
- The rel=canonical attribute should be used correctly.
- The configuration that is correct,
- The use of hreflang tags should be done correctly.
Other suggestions on Google’s support page include employing 301 redirects and top-level domains to help reduce duplicate material and, therefore, eliminate this Technical SEO issue.
3. Absence of HTTPS Security
Search engines strive to provide the best possible search results to their users.
While this usually means displaying the most relevant and useful search results, search engines also aim to prioritize secure websites that place high importance on user security. Users don’t want to be on a website that puts them in danger; thus, search engines understand this.
While surfing the internet these days, we come across a plethora of potential dangers. The majority of individuals are unwilling to take any chances. Many people today consider revealing personal information on a non-secure website to be a danger.
HTTPS site security is more crucial than ever, and hence, Technical SEO issues in this effect to a significant extent
When you type your domain name into Google Chrome, it will display a grey backdrop — or, even worse, a red background with a “not secure” warning — if your site is not safe. This may force users to leave your site and return to the search engine results page.
How to fix this Technical SEO issue?
- You’ll need an SSL certificate from a Certificate Authority to switch your site to HTTPS.
- Your site will be secure once you purchase and install your certificate.
4. Web Load Time Seems To be too Slow
Users nowadays want the information they want to be in front of them immediately away. You may believe that the content on your website is worth waiting a few seconds for, but your users are unlikely to agree.
If your website takes more than a few seconds to load, users will most likely abandon it before even getting a feel of what’s on offer, and this is one of the worst technical SEO issues. There’s no reason why your users should have to wait for your website to load correctly these days, but many still do. There are a variety of difficulties that might cause your site to load slowly, each with its own set of solutions, so you must spend some time figuring out what’s causing it to slow down.
You should familiarise yourself with Google’s new rules for core web vitals if you haven’t previously. It’ll be a ranking component soon.
How to Test:
Apply Google PageSpeed Insights to identify particular site speed issues. (Make sure to test both desktop and mobile performance.)
How to fix this technical SEO issue:
- Site speed concerns can be solved in a variety of ways, ranging from simple to sophisticated. Image optimization/compression, browser caching, server response time enhancement, and JavaScript minification are all common site speed solutions.
- Consult your web developer to find the best solution for your site’s specific page performance concerns.
5. Absence of XML Sitemaps.
Search engines must crawl and index your pages for them to appear in search results.
XML sitemaps assist Google’s search bots to learn more about your site’s pages so they can crawl it more effectively and intelligently.
You would think that search engines nowadays know exactly how to do this, but you must provide them with some more knowledge so that they can do it efficiently.
The more quickly and effectively your website can be crawled and indexed, the greater your chances of ranking high will be.
How to Verify:
Add “/sitemap.xml” to the end of your domain name in Google.
How to fix this Technical SEO issue:
- If your website doesn’t have a sitemap (and you’re getting 404 errors), you can make one yourself or pay a web developer to build it for you. Using an XML sitemap generator tool is the simplest choice. If you have a WordPress site, the Yoast SEO plugin can create XML sitemaps for you automatically.
- Create an XML sitemap to help search engines comprehend your website and how to crawl its pages.
- You can inform search engines what your most important pages are by generating a sitemap, which will make them easier to find and crawl.
- It’s also a good idea to keep any 301/302 redirects, broken websites, or server failures out of your XML sitemap(s).
6. Too Many Broken Links
Incorporating links into your website’s content is an excellent SEO strategy that everyone should pursue. Of course, everything has to be carefully organized.
This makes it simple for readers to navigate to other key pages on your website or similar information on other websites, and it can help your site rank higher. The site will be crawled by Google in the same way that it would be crawled by a human.
However, if you don’t keep track of which pages you link to, you can be doing more harm than good to your SEO. Broken links degrade the user experience and reflect poor content quality, resulting in technical SEO issues, both of which can harm page ranking.
Users will be sent to an error page rather than the important information you link to if the pages you link to become inaccessible at some point.
This gives users a bad experience and makes it difficult for search engines to index your site.
How to Fix this Technical SEO issue:
While internal links should be double-checked whenever a page is added, altered, or redirected, the value of external links must be monitored frequently. Regular site audits are the most effective and scalable technique to address broken links.
7. Insufficient Structured Data
Structured data is a straightforward method of assisting Google search crawlers in comprehending the information and data on a website. An ingredient list, for example, would be a perfect type of content to include in a structured data format if your page contains a recipe. Insufficiently structured data or unstructured data results in a technical SEO issue, majorly impacting the webpage.
Another type of data that is ideal for a structured data format is address information, such as this example from Google:
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Organization",
"url": "http://www.example.com",
"name": "Unlimited Ball Bearings Corp.",
"contactPoint": {
"@type": "ContactPoint",
"telephone": "+1-401-555-1212",
"contactType": "Customer service"
}
</script>These structured data can subsequently be displayed in the form of a rich snippet on the SERPs, giving your SERP listing a visual appeal.
How to fix this technical SEO issue:
Identify chances to integrate structured data in new material as you roll it out and coordinate the process between content authors and your SEO team. Better usage of structured data may aid enhance CTR and, in turn, SERP ranking position. After you’ve implemented structured data, check your GSC (Google Search Console) report frequently basis to make sure Google isn’t reporting any problems.
8. NOINDEX Set of META Robots
The robots.txt file is critical for SEO. This is the file that tells Google not to crawl particular parts of your site. It’s useful for avoiding duplicate content concerns and limiting access to pages or portions that you don’t want to be indexed.
When the NOINDEX tag is properly applied, it indicates to search spiders that particular pages are of lesser relevance. NOINDEX, on the other hand, if implemented wrong, then technical SEO issues can severely harm your search visibility by eliminating all pages with a particular configuration from Google’s index. This is a serious search engine optimization problem.
While it’s customary to NOINDEX a significant number of pages while a website is being built, it’s critical to remove the NOINDEX tag once the website is online.
How to Test:
• Right-click on one of your site’s main pages and choose “View Page Source.” Search for lines in the source code that say “NOINDEX” or “NOFOLLOW” using the “Find” command (Ctrl + F), such as:
meta name=”robots” content=”NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW”>
How to fix this technical SEO issue:
- Check with your web developer if you detect any “NOINDEX” or “NOFOLLOW” in your source code; they may have included it for a specific reason.
- If you don’t know why your developer has modified it to meta name=”robots” content=”INDEX, FOLLOW”> or delete the tag entirely.
9. Invalid Rel=Canonical
For all sites with duplicate or very identical content, rel=canonical is highly critical (especially e-commerce sites). Google search algorithms may mistake dynamically rendered pages (such as a category page of blog posts or merchandise) for duplicate content. Similar to URL canonicalization. The rel=canonical tag tells search engines which “original” page is of vital importance (hence: canonical).
How to fix this technical SEO issue:
- You’ll also need to spot-check your source code for this one. Fixes differ based on the format of your content and the platform you’re using.
10. Absence of Alternative tags
Broken images and missing alt tags are a lost chance for SEO. The alt tag property tells a bot what the image is about, which helps search engines index a page. It’s a simple method to improve your page’s SEO value by adding picture content that enhances the user experience.
How to fix this technical SEO issue:
Most SEO site audits will reveal damaged images and missing alt tags. It’s easier to manage and stay current with image alt tags across your website if you conduct regular site audits to monitor your image content as part of your SEO standard operating procedures.
CONCLUSION
Technical SEO issues abound, and this is only a partial list of the most typical ones to watch out for. Make sure to conduct your website crawls monthly and work on updating the site to stay on top of any issues. Don’t let easily fixed technical SEO issues prevent you from achieving the ranks you’ve worked so hard for.
Many of the most common technical SEO issues arise as a result of you doing nothing to cause them or simply failing to notice them. Make sure technological concerns aren’t harming your SEO efforts. Check your site frequently to discover issues early. From a technical standpoint, you never want to fall behind in SEO.
Related Frequently asked questions(FAQs)
How do I know if I have Technical SEO issues?
Auditing an Existing Website for SEO Issues:-
1. Usability. Although this isn’t really an SEO issue, it’s a fantastic place to start.
2. Accessibility.
3. Check the health of your search engine
4. Checks for Keyword health
5. Checks for duplicate material
6. Check the URL
7. Review of the title tag
8. Review of the content
How do I fix my Technical SEO issue?
Follow these tips to increase your search engine optimization (SEO) and see your website climb the search engine rankings to the top.
1. Publish content that is relevant to your audience.
2. Regularly update your content.
3. Metadata.
4. Have a site that is worthy of being linked to.
5. Make use of alternative tags.
How do I fix my WordPress Title technical SEO issue?
Insist on a rewrite.
-Go to your WordPress website and log in. You’ll be in your ‘Dashboard’ once you’ve logged in.
-Select ‘SEO’ from the drop-down menu. A menu can be seen on the left-hand side.
-Select ‘Search Appearance’ from the drop-down menu.
-Select the ‘General’ tab from the drop-down menu.
-Toggle the ‘Force rewrite titles’ option to the ‘Enabled’ position….
-Select ‘Save changes’ from the drop-down menu.
How can I improve my SEO score?
A few ways that help in improving the SEO score are:-
1. Increase the speed with which your page loads For several reasons, the speed with which your page loads is critical.
2. Produce content that is of excellent quality
3. Improve the quality of your photographs
4. Header tags are a great way to break up your material.
5. Begin blogging
6. Make use of outbound links.
7. There’s more to it than just text
8. Check to see if your website is readable.