Technical SEO:
🚀Title Tag:
- 👉Effect on SEO: Highly significant. The title tag is a crucial on-page SEO element. It appears in search engine results and browser tabs, influencing click-through rates.👉Best Practices: Keep it concise, relevant, and include the target keyword.
🚀Meta Description Tag:
- 👉Effect on SEO: Indirect impact. While it doesn't directly influence rankings, a compelling meta description can improve click-through rates.👉Best Practices: Write a concise, informative description that encourages users to click. Include relevant keywords.
🚀Meta Keywords Tag:
- 👉Effect on SEO: Minimal to none. Search engines no longer consider the meta keywords tag, as it was widely abused for keyword stuffing.👉Best Practices: Generally, it's not necessary to include meta keywords.
🚀Meta Robots Tag:
- 👉Effect on SEO: Significant. It controls how search engines index and crawl a page.👉Best Practices: Use directives like "index," "follow," "noindex," and "nofollow" to control search engine behavior.
🚀Canonical Tag:
- 👉Effect on SEO: Important. It helps prevent duplicate content issues and consolidates the SEO value of similar pages.👉Best Practices: Use the canonical tag to specify the preferred version of a page.
🚀Viewport Meta Tag:
- 👉Effect on SEO: Indirect. It's more about the user experience on mobile devices, but mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor.👉Best Practices: Ensure a responsive design and use the viewport meta tag to optimize the display on mobile devices.
🚀Open Graph Meta Tags:
- 👉Effect on SEO: Indirect. Open Graph tags are used for social media sharing, influencing how content appears when shared.👉Best Practices: Include Open Graph tags for key pages to control how they appear on social media platforms.
🚀Twitter Card Meta Tags:
- 👉Effect on SEO: Indirect. Similar to Open Graph tags, Twitter Card tags affect how content is displayed on Twitter.👉Best Practices: Use Twitter Card tags for enhanced visibility on Twitter.
🚀Alt Attribute (Not a Meta Tag, but important):
- 👉Effect on SEO: Significant for image SEO. Alt attributes provide text descriptions for images.👉Best Practices: Include descriptive and relevant alt text for images, incorporating keywords when appropriate.
4.SEO-focused site architecture optimization
1️⃣ Clear Hierarchy: Organize your content in a clear hierarchy. Priority pages should be easily accessible with minimal clicks. Use categories and subcategories logically to guide both users and search engines.
2️⃣ Keyword Mapping:Align your content with targeted keywords. Assign specific keywords to relevant pages for a focused SEO strategy.Ensure that your URL structure reflects your keyword hierarchy.
3️⃣ Mobile-Friendly Design:Optimize for mobile! Search engines prioritize mobile-friendly sites, and users expect a seamless experience on all devices.
4️⃣ Internal Linking: Create a network of internal links to guide users and distribute link equity throughout your site. Use descriptive anchor text for links to enhance context and SEO.
5️⃣ Page Speed Matters: Optimize images, use browser caching, and leverage CDNs to enhance page loading speed. Fast-loading pages improve user experience and positively impact SEO.
6️⃣ XML Sitemap: Submit a clean, updated XML sitemap to search engines. This helps them crawl and index your site efficiently. Regularly update your sitemap to reflect changes in your site structure.
7️⃣ Breadcrumb Navigation: Implement breadcrumb navigation for easy user navigation and improved search engine understanding of your site structure.
8️⃣ 404 Error Pages: Customize 404 error pages to keep users engaged and help search engines understand broken links.
- Technical SEO is crucial for several reasons: 👉Crawling and Indexing: Ensures search engines can easily navigate and understand your site. 👉Performance and Speed: Faster-loading pages enhance user experience and positively impact search rankings. 👉Mobile Optimization: Prioritizes mobile-friendly sites for improved rankings. 👉Site Architecture: Organizes content, URLs, and navigation for better search engine and user understanding. 👉Canonicalization: Addresses duplicate content issues to specify the preferred version of a page. 👉Schema Markup: Provides additional context for search engines, leading to rich snippets in search results. 👉XML Sitemaps: Helps search engines prioritize crawling and indexing of important pages. 👉Security (HTTPS): Contributes to trustworthiness, as secure sites are favored by search engines. 👉Structured Data: Enhances search results with additional information like ratings and reviews. 👉User Experience: Optimizes for Core Web Vitals, considering factors like page speed and interactivity for a better overall user experience.
How Can Technical SEO Be Made Better?
- This can be divided into four main areas:
👉Site Content: Making sure all major search engines can crawl and index the content, especially by using structured data to facilitate quick access to content elements and log file analysis to understand access trends.
👉Structure: Establishing a URL structure and site hierarchy that make it easy for visitors and search engines to access the most pertinent material. Additionally, this ought to make the site's internal link equity flow more easily achieved.
👉Conversion: Locating and fixing any obstacles that keep users from using the website.
👉Performance: The transformation of technical SEO into a performance-related specialty has been a significant advancement.
How crawling works ?
Crawling is how search engines explore the internet. Think of
it like a spider moving through a web. Search engine bots, called
crawlers, start from a set of web pages and follow links from one page to
another. They download information like text, HTML code, and metadata from each
page. This data is then stored in a massive database called an index.
Crawlers follow rules outlined in a site's robots.txt file to
be efficient and not overload servers. This process ensures that search engines
have a comprehensive and up-to-date catalog of web content. When you search
online, the search engine uses this index to provide you with relevant results.
What is Robots.txt file ?
A robots.txt file is like a map for
search engines. It shows them which paths they can follow (crawl) on a website
and which ones they should avoid. It helps manage how fast search engines visit
different parts of the site.
What is Crawl rate ?
Crawl rate" refers to how
quickly search engines, like Google, scan through your website to gather
information about its content. It's like the speed at which a robot moves
around a house to explore and learn about each room.
What is Access Restrictions ?
Access restrictions" are like locks on doors online. They're rules that control who can enter specific parts of a website or see certain information.👉Some kind of login system
How to see crawl activity
To check how search engines are visiting your website, follow these simple steps:
👉Google Search Console:
- Log in to your Google Search Console.
- Pick your website.
- Look for the "Coverage" or "Crawl" section to see if there are any issues when Google visits your pages.
👉Bing Webmaster Tools:
- Sign in to Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Choose your website.
- Check for "Crawl Information" to see how Bing's search engine is interacting with your site.
👉Use SEO Tools:
- Try tools like Moz, SEMrush, or Ahrefs.
- Enter your website and explore features related to checking how search engines crawl your site.
👉Server Logs:
- Access your server logs or ask your hosting provider.
- Look through the logs to see which pages are being visited and if there are any problems for search engines.
By doing this regularly, you can make sure search engines
understand and index your website properly. It helps you find and fix any
issues that might affect how your site shows up in search results.
Crawl adjustments
Every website will have a unique crawl budget, which is determined by a combination of the frequency of Google's crawl requests and the amount of crawling your site permits. those that are more popular and frequently updated will be crawled more frequently than those that don't appear to be well-linked or popular.
Crawlers will usually slow down or even cease their crawling until conditions improve if they notice indications of stress while they are browsing your website.
Pages are rendered and sent to the index once they have been crawled. The master collection of pages that can be returned in response to a search query is called the index. Now, let's discuss the index.What is Robots Directives ?
In technical SEO, robots directives refer to instructions given to search engine robots (also known as crawlers or spiders) about how to interact with a website's content. These directives are implemented through a website's robots.txt file or meta tags in HTML. They guide search engine bots on which pages to crawl or not crawl, which content to index or ignore, and how frequently to revisit the site for updates. Properly managing robots directives is crucial for optimizing a website's visibility and performance in search engine results.
What is Canonicalization ?
- Canonicalization in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to the process of standardizing or consolidating multiple URLs that point to the same or very similar content on a website. The goal is to choose a preferred version of a URL to represent the content and signal to search engines which version should be indexed and displayed in search results.
-
There are several reasons why canonicalization is important:
Duplicate Content: When multiple URLs lead to identical or nearly identical content, it can be considered duplicate content by search engines. This can lead to issues such as diluted page authority and potential ranking problems.
Link Consolidation: If there are multiple versions of the same content with different URLs, incoming links may be spread across these variations. Canonicalization helps consolidate the link equity onto a single, preferred URL.
Crawler Efficiency: Search engine crawlers may spend unnecessary time crawling and indexing multiple versions of the same content. Canonicalization helps streamline the crawling process, making it more efficient.
The preferred URL is often specified using a tag called the "canonical tag" within the HTML of the webpage. The canonical tag looks like this:
In this example, "https://www.example.com/preferred-url" is the preferred version of the content, and search engines are instructed to treat it as the canonical URL. It's important to note that canonicalization is not a directive to remove the non-canonical URLs from search engine indexes. Instead, it helps search engines understand the preferred version and consolidate ranking signals. Proper implementation of canonicalization can be crucial for managing duplicate content issues and maintaining a healthy SEO strategy.
A canonical tag, or rel=canonical tag, is an HTML element used in web development and search engine optimization (SEO) to indicate the preferred or canonical version of a web page when there are multiple versions of similar content. This tag helps address the issue of duplicate content, ensuring that search engines understand which version of a page should be considered the primary or authoritative one.
What does a canonical tag look like?
<link>
is the HTML tag.rel="canonical"
specifies the relationship between the current page and the canonical version.
href="https://www.example.com/canonical-page"
indicates the URL of the preferred or canonical version of the page.
Why are canonical tags important for SEO?
Canonical tags are important for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) because they help search engines understand the preferred version of a web page when there are multiple URLs that point to similar or identical content. The primary purpose of canonical tags is to address issues related to duplicate content, which can negatively impact a website's search engine rankings. Here are a few reasons why canonical tags are important:
Duplicate Content Avoidance: Search engines aim to provide diverse and relevant results to users. When they encounter duplicate content across different URLs, they may struggle to determine which version to prioritize in search results. Canonical tags help in specifying the preferred or original version of the content, consolidating the ranking signals for that particular URL.
Consolidating Page Authority: If the same content is accessible through multiple URLs, the incoming links and page authority may be dispersed across these variations. By implementing canonical tags, you can consolidate the page authority to the preferred URL, enhancing its chances of ranking higher in search results.
Improved User Experience: Canonical tags contribute to a better user experience by reducing the chances of users encountering duplicate content in search results. This helps users find the most relevant and accurate information, leading to increased trust in the website.
Crawl Budget Optimization: Search engines allocate a certain crawl budget to each website, determining how frequently their bots will crawl and index content. Duplicate content can consume this crawl budget inefficiently. Canonical tags help in optimizing the crawl budget by guiding search engines to the preferred URL, ensuring that resources are focused on the most important content.
Avoiding Penalties: Search engines may penalize websites for having substantial amounts of duplicate content, considering it as an attempt to manipulate search rankings. Canonical tags demonstrate a proactive approach to addressing duplicate content issues, reducing the risk of penalties.
In summary, canonical tags are crucial for SEO as they help search engines understand the relationship between different versions of content and direct them to the preferred URL. This improves the overall performance of a website in search results, leading to better visibility and user experience.
The fundamentals of using canonical tags
Canonicals are simple to use. In a moment, we'll talk about four alternative approaches to accomplish that. However, there are five golden rules that you should always keep in mind, regardless of the approach you choose.Using absolute URLs is Rule #1.
According to John Mueller at Google, using relative paths with the rel=“canonical” link element is not recommended.
Rule #2: Make all URLs lowercase
You should first make sure to force lowercase URLs because Google can regard uppercase and lowercase URLs as two distinct URLs.
URLs on your server, and for your canonical tags, utilize lowercase URLs.
Rule #3: Ensure that the domain version is proper (HTTPS vs. HTTP).
Make sure you don't declare any non-SSL (i.e., HTTP) URLs in your canonical tags if you converted to SSL. Theoretically, doing so can cause misunderstandings and unforeseen outcomes. Make sure you use the following version of your URL if you're on a secure domain:
Use self-referential canonical tags (rule #4).
According to John Mueller at Google, self-referential canonical tags are advised but not required.
You can also use a self-referential canonical, which really helps us understand which page you want indexed.or what the URL ought to be upon indexing.
Sometimes several versions of the URL can bring up the same page, even if you only have one. As an illustration, consider parameters at the end, such as uppercase, lowercase, www, and non-www. A rel canonical tag may sort of tidy up all of these stuff.
Self-referencing URLs are automatically included by the majority of contemporary, well-known CMSs; nevertheless, if you're using
If rel=canonical is declared more than once, Google is probably going to ignore all of the indications.
How to implement canonicals For SEO ?
Common canonicalization should avoid
👉Mistake #1: Using robots.txt to block the canonicalized URL : When you block a URL in robots.txt, Google won't crawl it, so it can't see any canonical tags on that page. This stops Google from transferring any "link equity" from the non-canonical page to the canonical one. Essentially, by blocking in robots.txt, you're preventing Google from understanding and passing on the SEO value from the non-canonical page to the canonical one.
👉Mistake #2: Specifying the canonicalized URL to ‘noindex’ : It's not a good idea to mix "noindex" and "rel=canonical" tags because they give conflicting instructions. Even though Google might prioritize the canonical tag, it's still not recommended. If you need to both noindex and canonicalize a URL, it's better to use a 301 redirect. Otherwise, stick to using the rel=canonical tag.
👉Mistake #3: Using a 4XX HTTP status code for the canonicalized
URL :
👉Mistake #4: Canonicalizing every paginated pages to the root page :
👉Mistake #5: Using canonical tags without hreflang :
👉Mistake #6: Using several rel=canonical tags :
👉Mistake #7:Use Rel=canonical in the <body> :
Finding and resolving canonicalization problems on your website
This warning appears when one or more pages are linked as canonical to a URL that returns a 4XX error.
The problem is that search engines ignore web pages that return 4XX errors because they're broken. When a page has a 4XX error and you've set a canonical tag pointing to it, search engines will overlook it. Instead, they might index a different version of the page, which can be incorrect.
Examine the impacted pages and add links to operational
(200) pages that you wish to have indexed in place of the dead (4XX) canonical
links. make easier
This warning appears when one or more pages are linked as canonical to a URL that returns a 5XX error.
The problem with 5XX HTTP status codes is that they indicate
server problems, making the canonical page inaccessible. Since Google tends to
ignore inaccessible pages, it may also disregard the canonical tag pointing to
it.
If you find any wrong URLs listed
as canonical, simply replace them with the correct ones. If the correct URLs
still seem inaccessible, check if there are any server problems. Sometimes, if
your website was undergoing maintenance or if the server was overloaded during
the crawl, it might be a temporary issue.
This warning pops up when one or more pages are linked as canonical to a URL that redirects to another page.
When using canonical tags, always make sure they point to the
most authoritative version of a page. Redirecting URLs don't always match this
requirement. This can confuse search engines, causing them to misunderstand or
overlook the canonical tag.
Replace the canonical links with
direct links to the most authoritative version of the page. This means using
links that return a 200 HTTP status code and don't redirect.
When no canonical link is specified, Google tries to pick the
best version of the page for search results. But it might not choose the one
you want indexed.
Review all the groups of duplicate pages. Choose one version
that you want to appear in search results. Make this version the canonical one
for all duplicates. Then, add a self-referencing canonical tag to the chosen
canonical version.
Always ensure that the links used in hreflang tags point to
the canonical pages. Linking to a non-canonical version from hreflang
annotations can confuse search engines and lead to misunderstanding.
Replace the links in the hreflang annotations of affected
pages with their canonical versions.
If canonical URLs don't have
internal links, visitors can't access them on the website. This means there
might be a link directing visitors to a non-canonical version of the page
instead.
Replace any internal links that point to canonicalized pages
with direct links to the canonical version.
Google advises against including non-canonical URLs in your
sitemap. This is because Google views pages listed in sitemaps as suggested
canonical versions. Only include pages you want indexed in your sitemap.
Take out any non-canonical URLs from your sitemap
.When there are canonical chains, it can confuse search
engines. This might make them misunderstand or ignore the specified canonical
URLs.
Replace non-canonical links in the canonical
tags of affected pages with direct links to the canonical. For example, if page
A is canonicalized to page B, which is then canonicalized to page C, replace
then canonical link on page A with a link to page C.
If the Open Graph URL doesn't match the
canonical URL, a non-canonical version of the page might be shared on social
networks.
Using HTTPS is good for your
website's ranking. Therefore, it's a good idea to specify secure (HTTPS)
versions of pages as canonical whenever you can.
If you can, make the HTTP page redirect to the
HTTPS version. If that's not possible, add a rel="canonical" link
from the HTTP version to the HTTPS one.
Using HTTPS is better than HTTP. If you have
both versions of a page, it doesn't make sense to specify the HTTPS version as
canonical because it's already preferred.
Implement a 301 redirect from HTTP to HTTPS.
You should also replace any internal links to the HTTP version of the page with
links directly to the HTTPS version.
👉Organic traffic is easily received by the non-canonical page:This warning occurs when non-canonical pages appear in search results and receive organic search traffic, which shouldn't happen.
Either
your canonical tags are wrong, or Google has decided not to pay attention to
them.
First, make sure the rel=canonical tags are set up correctly on all reported pages. If they are correct and there's still a problem, use the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console. Check whether Google considers the specified canonical URL as canonical. If there's a mismatch, investigate why this might be happening.
Classification Of Google Index Report
A different page with the correct canonical tag
An alternate page with a proper canonical tag is essentially
a duplicate page of another content page on a website. However, to prevent
issues with search engines regarding duplicate content, a canonical tag is
added to the alternate page's HTML code. This tag tells search engines that
although the content is similar or identical, the preferred (canonical) version
is the original page.
In simple terms, it's like saying, "Hey search engines,
this page might look the same as another, but go check out the original one
instead."
This helps to ensure that the original page gets the credit
for its content in search engine rankings, avoiding any penalties for duplicate
content while still allowing users to access the alternate version if needed.
A
duplicated page without a user-selected canonical
Sure! When you have duplicate content on your website,
meaning you have the same or very similar pages appearing in different places,
it can confuse search engines and affect your site's ranking. To address this,
you can add a canonical tag to one of the duplicate pages. This tag tells search
engines which page is the "preferred" or original version. So even
though you have duplicates, search engines know which one to prioritize. It's
like giving directions to search engines, saying, "Hey, this is the main
version, focus on this one!" This helps prevent issues with search engine
penalties for duplicate content and keeps your website's ranking healthy.
Duplicate
content where Google selects a different canonical
Okay, so imagine you have two pages on your website that are
pretty similar. You add a tag to tell Google which one is the main version, the
one you want it to focus on. But sometimes Google might pick a different page
as the main one, ignoring your tag. It's like if you labeled one book as the
main edition, but the library decides another one is more important. This can
mess up your search engine rankings because Google might not rank your
preferred page as high.
Duplicate
content where the submitted URL
Imagine you have two pages on your website that are almost
the same. You tell Google which one you want to be the main page by using a
special tag. But sometimes, even though you've told Google which one you
prefer, it decides to pick the other one as the main page anyway. It's like
telling someone which cake you like best, but they choose a different one for
you. This can affect how your website shows up in search results because Google
might not prioritize the page you want it to.
What is meant by duplicate content?
Duplicate content refers to content that appears in more than
one location on the internet, either within a single website or across
different websites.
For SEO, why is duplicate content bad?
👉Unfavorable or user-unfriendly URLs displayed in search results: If your webpage has multiple URLs, like domain.com/page/ and domain.com/category/page/, but Google shows a less friendly URL in search results, it could reduce your organic traffic because people might not want to click on it.
👉Decreased effectiveness of backlinks: When the same content is found on different URLs, each URL might get backlinks, which splits the "link equity" between them. For example, on buffer.com, there are two pages, one at "/library" and the other at "/resources", both with similar content. Even though they're almost the same, they have different numbers of websites linking to them—106 for one and 144 for the other.
👉Reduced crawl budget utilization: When Google discovers new content on your site, it does so by following links from existing pages to new ones. It also periodically revisits known pages to check for updates. However, if you have duplicate content, it adds unnecessary work for Google. This can slow down the process of indexing new pages and reindexing updated ones, causing delays.
👉Being outranked by scraped or syndicated content: Sometimes, you might allow another website to publish your content, which is called syndication. Other times, websites might copy your content without permission and republish it. This creates duplicate content across different sites, which usually isn't a problem. However, if the copied content starts ranking higher than the original on your site, that's when problems occur. This doesn't happen often, but it can happen.
Common causes of duplicate content
Faceted/filtered navigation
Faceted
navigation is like using filters when you shop online. It helps you narrow down
your search by letting you choose options like size, color, brand, and price.
This makes it easier to find exactly what you're looking for among lots of
choices.
Tracking parameters
Tracking parameters are bits of
information added to a URL that help track how users interact with a website or
campaign. They're like tags that tell analytics tools where a visitor came
from, what they clicked on, and how they behave on the site. It's useful for
businesses to understand what's working and what's not in their online
strategies.
HTTPS vs. HTTP, and non-www
vs. www
· https://www.example.com (HTTPS, www)
·
https://example.com (HTTPS, non-www)
·
http://www.example.com (HTTP, www)
·
http://example.com (HTTP, non-www)
HTTP is like sending a postcard through the
mail — the message isn't private. HTTPS is like sending a letter in a sealed
envelope — it's secure. Adding "www" before a domain name is like
saying "World Wide Web," but it's optional nowadays.
Case-sensitive URLs
·
example.com/page
·
example.com/PAGE
·
example.com/pAgE
Case-sensitive URLs mean that the
capitalization of letters matters when typing a web address. For example,
"example.com/page" and "Example.com/page" could lead to
different pages. It's like the difference between a capital and lowercase
letter in a password.
Trailing slashes vs.
non-trailing-slashes
·
example.com/page/
·
example.com/page
Trailing slashes at the end of a URL are like a
punctuation mark. Some websites use them, some don't. They both work, but they
might lead to different pages sometimes. It's a bit like whether you use a
period at the end of a sentence or not.
Print-friendly URLs
·
example.com/page
·
example.com/print/page
Print-friendly URLs are web addresses that are
easy to read and understand, almost like sentences. They often use real words
instead of random characters or numbers. It's like having a clear address for a
house instead of just GPS coordinates.
Mobile-friendly URLs
·
example.com/page
·
m.example.com/page
Mobile-friendly URLs are web addresses designed
to work well on smartphones and tablets. They're shorter and simpler, making
them easier to click on and type with small touchscreens. It's like having a
smaller, more convenient map for a smaller device.
AMP URLs
·
example.com/page
·
example.com/amp/page
·
AMP URLs are web addresses that load super fast
on mobile devices because they're stripped down to the essentials. They're like
the express lane for websites, ensuring speedy access to content on phones and
tablets.
Tag and category pages
Tag and category pages are like shelves in a library. Tags
are like sticky notes on books, grouping similar topics together, while
categories are like sections, organizing books by broader topics. They help
users find related content quickly and easily.
https://www.caltonnutrition.com/tag/whey/
https://www.caltonnutrition.com/tag/protein-powder/
Attachment image URLs
Attachment image URLs are web addresses that lead directly to
images uploaded to a website, often used for displaying pictures in articles or
posts. They're like links to photos in a digital photo album, allowing easy
access to specific images
Paginated comments
·
example.com/post/
·
example.com/post/comment-page-2
·
example.com/post/comment-page-3
·
Paginated comments are like breaking a long
conversation into smaller chunks. Instead of scrolling endlessly through
comments on a webpage, they're divided into pages, making it easier to navigate
and find specific discussions. It's like flipping through pages in a book
instead of reading one long paragraph.
Localization
Localization is like customizing a message to fit different
places and people. It's about adapting content, like language or cultural
references, to make it more relevant and understandable to specific audiences
in different regions.
Staging environment
A staging environment for SEO refers to a duplicate or mirrored version of a website that is used for testing changes, updates, or new features before they are implemented on the live or production website. In the context of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), a staging environment allows SEO professionals to experiment with changes to the website, such as content updates, structural modifications, or URL changes, without impacting the live site's search visibility or user experience. This ensures that any potential negative effects on SEO can be identified and addressed before the changes are rolled out to the live site.
Identify Duplicate Content
If another page is receiving more traffic than yours, it could be problematic. Here are three things
- · Ask them to take down the content.
- · Ask them to include a link back to your original content.
- · Use Google's DMCA takedown request to remove the content
0 Comments