The Importance of Technical SEO for Website Success
Technical search engine optimization (SEO) plays a crucial role in determining a website’s success in search engine rankings. While it is easy to get caught up in the latest trends and advanced tactics, it is essential to prioritize getting the basics right first. In a recent episode of Google’s “Search Off The Record” podcast, Martin Splitt, Gary Illyes, and John Mueller of Google’s Search Relations team emphasized the significance of addressing basic technical SEO issues before focusing on less critical optimizations.
Foundation Before Innovation: The Basics of Technical SEO
Technical SEO involves optimizing a website’s architecture and infrastructure to improve crawling and indexing by search engines. Unlike content creation or promotion, technical SEO focuses solely on the behind-the-scenes elements of a site. Many websites still struggle with fundamental technical SEO issues like site crawlability, indexing, and page rendering. These foundational factors directly impact a site’s performance in search results and must be addressed to ensure optimal visibility.
According to Gary Illyes, big site owners or SEOs often overlook critical basic things related to technical SEO. He highlights the importance of technical aspects by stating, “If Googlebot cannot reach your site, or rendering fails miserably, or there are no tokens (words) on the site or a page, then there’s not that much that Google can do for you.” In other words, without addressing technical SEO, a website risks rendering failures or inaccessibility, severely impacting its search engine rankings and overall performance.
Troubleshooting Technical Issues: Start with the Homepage
When it comes to troubleshooting technical SEO issues, Martin Splitt suggests starting with a website’s homepage. Search engines consider the homepage as the most vital page of a site, making it crucial to ensure that it is optimized for crawlability and indexing. By addressing technical issues on the homepage, webmasters can lay a solid foundation for the rest of the site.
One common issue that affects crawlability is poor website architecture. A well-structured website with clear navigation not only helps search engines understand the content but also improves the user experience. Additionally, it is important to ensure that the website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly. Mobile optimization is particularly crucial, given the increasing number of users accessing the internet through mobile devices.
Rethinking Traffic Metrics: Quality Over Quantity
While traffic metrics are often considered a primary measure of a website’s success, the Google Search Relations team emphasizes the need to rethink this approach. Simply focusing on high traffic numbers does not necessarily indicate high-quality pages. John Mueller highlights the importance of considering user experience and satisfaction when evaluating a page’s usefulness and quality.
Mueller warns against solely relying on analytics without taking into account the value provided to users. He shares an example of a site ranking well for generic keywords but failing to offer meaningful content. When traffic from these low-quality keywords declines, the overall statistics may appear concerning, but the loss is ultimately irrelevant. Instead, Mueller suggests looking at metrics beyond traffic, such as user engagement and satisfaction, to gain a more accurate understanding of a page’s performance.
Evaluating Content Quality: Creating High-Quality Content
Creating high-quality content is essential for providing value to users and improving search engine rankings. It is not enough to simply churn out a high volume of content; the content must serve a purpose and meet the needs of the intended audience. Gary Illyes proposes that creating high-quality content might be simpler than most people think.
The key is to focus on creating content that helps people achieve their goals when they visit a page. This could involve providing comprehensive answers to common questions, solving problems, or sharing engaging and entertaining stories. Illyes suggests that quality content is about writing something that genuinely helps users achieve what they need to accomplish on the page.
The Bigger Picture: Looking Beyond Traffic Numbers
To truly understand a website’s performance, it is essential to consider the bigger picture and look beyond mere traffic numbers. While traffic is an important metric, it should not be the sole focus of evaluation. John Mueller advises webmasters to analyze relevant queries and track lower-level pages to gain insights into a site’s true performance.
Mueller reminds us that not all traffic is valuable. Some traffic may be irrelevant or lead to low-quality interactions. By focusing on relevant queries and tracking the performance of individual pages, webmasters can gain a deeper understanding of how users interact with their site and make informed decisions to improve its overall quality.
Improving SEO Performance: Focus on the Basics
The discussion between Google’s Search Relations team highlights two crucial takeaways for improving SEO performance. First, it is essential to master the basics of technical SEO before diving into advanced tactics. Addressing fundamental technical issues such as crawlability, indexing, and rendering is crucial for search engine visibility. Second, the quality of content and user engagement are more important than sheer traffic numbers for evaluating a site’s success.
Focusing on providing high-quality content that caters to the needs of users and ensuring a positive user experience will have a more significant impact on search engine rankings and overall website performance. By prioritizing technical SEO and creating valuable content, webmasters can significantly improve their site’s visibility and achieve long-term success in the ever-evolving world of search engine optimization.
Conclusion
Technical SEO forms the foundation of a successful website. Addressing basic technical issues related to crawlability, indexing, and page rendering is essential before delving into advanced tactics. While traffic metrics are important, they should not be the sole focus of evaluation. Instead, webmasters should consider user engagement, satisfaction, and the overall quality of the content. By prioritizing technical SEO and creating high-quality content, websites can improve their search engine rankings and provide value to their audience. Remember, the key to SEO success lies in getting the basics right and continuously striving for excellence.