Were you aware that if Google can’t crawl or index your website, you can’t rank?

That is where the importance of technical SEO comes in.

Irrespective of the size or nature of the business, technical SEO is crucial for business success. Just like off-page or non-technical on-page SEO, technical SEO begins the moment you start designing your website.

But what is technical SEO exactly, and how is it important for small businesses?

Let’s dive in.

What is Technical SEO?

Technical SEO refers to the subcategory of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), one of the most important elements of digital marketing. It involves optimizing the entire website infrastructure such that it can be easily crawled and indexed by search engines. It manages the technical components of your website — such as the sitemaps, page speed, URL structure, schema, site navigation, and more.

A technically optimized website is vital for businesses – big or small, to attract organic traffic from search engines. The website design and content are of no use if users fail to access or navigate your website.

7 Effective Ways Technical SEO is a Boon for Small Business Websites

1. Boost Search Engine Rankings

It’s no longer hidden, the online market has become hyper-competitive. The small businesses are hit hard by it as it hinders them to stand out from the crowd.

Small businesses that focus and invest in technical SEO can increase site rankings across search engines and eventually outshine competitors.

• Usually following the technical SEO procedure is a key part of improving your website’s search engine visibility.
• Google and other search engines prioritize websites that go the extra mile to provide a seamless user experience.
• Technical SEO ensures that your business website is easy to navigate. It means it’s more likely to get indexed and rank higher on search engines.

2. Enhanced Website Traffic

One big challenge for small businesses is how they can increase their website traffic.

It is vital for SMBs that are usually reluctant to invest in advanced technologies (cost being the main concern of course) that they need to leverage technical SEO strategy.

As soon as the SEO strategy is implemented:

• the website ranks higher in search engine results pages.
• It further increases the possibility of generating more organic traffic, which results in increased leads and sales conversion to any small business.

3. Improved Indexing and Crawling

A known fact: Web crawlers are responsible for navigating and indexing websites.

In case the website is not technically optimized and has issues, it will hinder during crawling and all efforts will go in vain as your users could miss out on valuable content.

But, technical SEO helps optimize a website for search engines.

• It involves creating a website that is well-structured with friendly URLs and sitemaps.
• The procedure also includes proper internal linking, which helps search engine bots crawl and index a website more efficiently.
• Further, it increases the likelihood of identifying and ranking all accurate content.

4. Accelerate User Experience

Small businesses that deploy technical SEO to their marketing witness significant improvement in their website’s user experience.

When visitors have a great experience they are more likely to return to the website and take positive steps such as:

• Make the final purchase decision
• Contact the business
• Follow the call-to-action buttons you have implemented on your website

The satisfied users also advocate their positive experiences with their friends and relatives which leads to growth in traffic and revenue.

5. Decreased Bounce Rates

Bounce rate is a key website metric that refers to the percentage of visitors who leave your website shortly after visiting.

When the bounce rate is high, it is an indication to the search engines that the website content is not relevant and you are not able to deliver a delightful user experience.

Technical SEO can help you address some of the most common causes of high bounce rates. Some of them are as follows:

• Slow page loading times
• Poor mobile responsiveness
• Complicated navigation
• Lack of Call to Action
• Irrelevant content

6. Slow Page Loading Speed

Slow page loading speed is a big hindrance in the user experience.

It plays a key role in website performance. When visitors land on web pages that take a long time to load, it frustrates them and they abandon the site. It results in increased bounce rates and decreased engagement rates.

Today when users expect instant access to information, slow page loading can lead to a negative perception of the brand’s credibility. It can also impact search engine rankings as search engines prioritize user experience, and websites with sluggish loading times may be penalized in search results.

Deploying a technical SEO strategy addresses slow page loading speed, thus improving user satisfaction, enhancing search engine performance, and maximizing overall website success.

7. Increased Security

Small businesses need to ensure the security of their website for both users and search engines.

If a website is not secure or has an HTTP tag, it indicates that it is not safe and secure. It can impact user trust and search rankings parallelely.

Implementing a technical SEO strategy removes the HTTPS tag. It encrypts data between the browser and the server. It guarantees data safety and also sends a good signal to search engines that directly affect your search rankings positively.

Key Characteristics of a Technically SEO-Optimized Site

Agreed! It is crucial to have a well-designed website, but if it is not technically SEO-optimized, it is difficult for your website to rank. A well-technically optimized website grabs the attention of search engines like Google.

Let us find out what the technically search-engine-optimized website looks like:

• The websites optimized for technical SEO are crawlable and indexable. They are the two most critical factors that affect your website’s SEO and ranking.
• Technically SEO-optimized websites are fast – it means they load in seconds after visitors land on the website.
• Websites have visual content like images and videos that are technically SEO optimized.
• Technical SEO websites handle internal page URL errors effectively. 
• The websites optimized for Technical SEO use page redirection rules correctly. 
• The technical SEO-optimized website is free from duplicate content issues.

External pages can be part of technical SEO after the evaluation of external links

Important Technical SEO Tools & KPIs

Measurement is an important part when you implement a strategy. Businesses deploying technical SEO strategies need to know about the vital metrics and KPIs that give a 360-degree picture of their website performance. 

Let us discuss the major tools and metrics for measuring technical SEO performance.

1. SSL Certificate: An SSL certificate covers all the crucial information for verifying the website owner and encrypting web traffic. Having this certificate represents the credibility and trustworthiness of a website.

2. GTMetrix: GTMetrix is a handy tool that provides a speed analysis of your website and helps to optimize the loading speed of a website. 

3. Google Analytics: The free helps website owners analyze organic search performance across various metrics.

4. Number of Website Users & Sessions: It refers to the total number of times an individual customer has visited the website.

5. Average Session Duration: The session duration metric indicates the average amount of time a client/potential customer spends on the website in one session.

6. Bounce Rate: The bounce rate refers to the number of users who visit a single page on the website. The lower the bounce rate, the higher the website performance.

7. Organic vs. Paid Sessions: Organic session data can help businesses to determine the effectiveness of their SEO strategies. While paid sessions provide an overview of the effectiveness of the ad campaigns and other marketing measures.

8. Top Landing Pages: The KPI allows businesses to identify which page receives the highest traffic. It can help small businesses to deliver an enhanced customer experience.

The Bottom Line

Undoubtedly, technical SEO is fundamental to the online success of your business. If you are still behind, it’s high time now! Get the hang of it and it can help you get great results.

Irrespective of the industry, a technical SEO strategy will optimize your business website so efficiently that you can witness expected site performance. But, as said – Rome was not built in a day. It won’t happen that instant – within a period you will notice progress and a sales boost. 

You will also need to hire expert services from a reputed digital marketing agency. Nucleo Analytics is one of the agencies that will provide you with a complete package of expertise and tackle all your hiccups. They guarantee you to see a hike in your ranking and a spike in organic traffic on your website!
Contact nucleoanalytics.com for more information or connect with us at +91- 959-209-7054