Technical SEO Checklist for Non-Techies

Technical SEO can seem daunting, especially if you don't have a technical background. However, it's a crucial aspect of ensuring your website ranks well in search engine results. This checklist breaks down essential technical SEO tasks into manageable steps, even for non-techies.

1. Website Crawlability and Indexing

What it is: Ensuring search engines can access and understand your website's content.

Check your robots.txt file: This file tells search engines which pages to crawl and which to ignore. Make sure it's not blocking important pages. You can usually find it at yourdomain.com/robots.txt.
Submit your sitemap to search engines: A sitemap is a file that lists all the important pages on your website. Submitting it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools helps search engines discover and index your content faster.
Use Google Search Console: This free tool provides valuable insights into how Google sees your website. It can help you identify crawl errors, indexing issues, and other technical problems.

2. Website Speed and Performance

Why it matters: Faster websites provide a better user experience and rank higher in search results.

Test your website speed: Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or WebPageTest to analyze your website's loading speed and identify areas for improvement.
Optimize images: Compress images to reduce their file size without sacrificing quality. Use appropriate image formats (JPEG for photos, PNG for graphics).
Enable browser caching: Caching allows browsers to store static resources (like images and CSS files) locally, so they don't have to be downloaded every time a user visits your website.
Minify CSS and JavaScript: Minifying removes unnecessary characters from your code, reducing file sizes and improving loading speed.
Consider a Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN distributes your website's content across multiple servers around the world, reducing latency and improving loading speed for users in different geographic locations.

3. Mobile-Friendliness

Why it's essential: Mobile devices account for a significant portion of web traffic. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in its search results.

Use a responsive design: Responsive design ensures your website adapts to different screen sizes and devices.
Test your website on mobile devices: Use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test to check if your website is mobile-friendly. This tool will identify any issues that need to be addressed.
Ensure touch elements are appropriately sized: Make sure buttons and links are large enough to be easily tapped on mobile devices.
Avoid using Flash: Flash is not supported on most mobile devices and can negatively impact user experience.

4. Structured Data Markup

What it is: Adding code to your website to provide search engines with more information about your content.

Implement schema markup: Schema markup helps search engines understand the context of your content, allowing them to display rich snippets in search results. Use schema.org to find the appropriate markup for your content type.
Test your schema markup: Use Google's Rich Results Test to ensure your schema markup is implemented correctly.

5. Website Security (HTTPS)

Why it's important: HTTPS encrypts the connection between your website and your users' browsers, protecting sensitive data. Google prioritizes HTTPS websites in its search results.

Obtain an SSL certificate: An SSL certificate is required to enable HTTPS on your website. You can obtain a free SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt or purchase one from a commercial provider.
Redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS: Ensure all traffic to your website is redirected to the HTTPS version.

6. Duplicate Content

Why avoid it: Duplicate content can confuse search engines and dilute your ranking potential.

Use canonical tags: Canonical tags tell search engines which version of a page is the preferred one when multiple versions exist.
Implement 301 redirects: Use 301 redirects to permanently redirect old URLs to new ones, consolidating link equity and preventing duplicate content issues.

7. URL Structure

Why it matters: Clear, concise URLs help search engines understand the topic of your pages.

Use descriptive keywords in your URLs: Include relevant keywords in your URLs to improve their readability and relevance.
Keep URLs short and simple: Avoid using long, complex URLs with unnecessary parameters.
Use hyphens to separate words: Use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (") to separate words in your URLs.

Conclusion

While technical SEO might seem overwhelming, breaking it down into these manageable steps makes it accessible for non-techies. By implementing this checklist, you can improve your website's crawlability, speed, mobile-friendliness, and security, ultimately leading to better search engine rankings and more organic traffic.