What Is Technical SEO and Why It Matters
Technical SEO ensures Google can find, load, and correctly understand your website. You could have the best content on the internet, but if Google can't index it, it doesn't exist. For a broader introduction, start with my SEO guide for business owners.
Crawlability, Can Google Crawl Your Site?
Robots.txt
Check that you're not blocking important pages, CSS/JS files, and that you have a sitemap reference.
XML Sitemap
Keep a sitemap current with important canonical URLs intended for search, without redirects or errors. Submit it to Search Console to aid discovery; a sitemap is not mandatory for indexing.
Crawl Budget
Crawling capacity and demand vary; this is not a fixed daily allowance. Investigate crawl budget for large or rapidly changing sites, or when evidence shows a discovery problem.
Indexation, Is Your Content in Google?
Common Problems
- Noindex tags where they shouldn't be
- Canonical pointing elsewhere incorrectly
- Duplicate content, www vs. non-www, HTTP vs. HTTPS
- Thin content, pages that add nothing substantial for the visitor (there is no fixed word count)
Check indexation in the Page indexing report in Search Console. The site:yourdomain.com operator in Google gives only a rough estimate.
Canonical URLs
Preferred indexable URLs may use self-referencing canonicals; duplicates point to the preferred version. Google recommends absolute URLs. Canonical is a signal, not a binding instruction.
Site Structure
URLs
Short, readable, with keywords. Consistent trailing slash usage.
Headings (H1-H6)
One H1 per page with the main keyword. Proper hierarchy: H1 → H2 → H3.
Internal Linking
Make important pages easy to reach through clear navigation and internal links. Three clicks is not a Google rule. Use breadcrumbs where they clarify hierarchy and descriptive link text.
Speed, Core Web Vitals
Speed matters enough to deserve its own walkthrough, for the step-by-step version, see how to speed up your website.
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
✅ Under 2.5 seconds. Fix: optimize images (WebP), preload fonts, server-side rendering.
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)
✅ Under 200 ms. Fix: minimize JavaScript, defer non-critical scripts.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
✅ Under 0.1. Fix: set width/height on images and videos, preload fonts.
HTTPS and security
Use a valid TLS certificate and check dependent resources for mixed content. Configure HSTS only after confirming HTTPS works for the intended hosts. These checks do not replace a security audit.
Structured Data (Schema.org)
Most important types: Organization, BreadcrumbList, FAQPage (Google no longer shows FAQ rich results, but the markup still describes the page), Product (for e-shops), LocalBusiness. Validate with Rich Results Test.
Mobile Version
Google primarily uses mobile content for indexing. Preserve substantive content and functionality on mobile. Aim for 44 × 44 CSS px touch targets for comfort; WCAG 2.2 AA specifies 24 × 24 with exceptions, while 44 × 44 is the enhanced AAA criterion. Avoid document overflow; a wide data table may have its own accessible scroll.
Multilingual Sites
Use hreflang attributes, separate URLs per language, correct canonical per language version, all versions in sitemap.
Quick Checklist
- robots.txt doesn't block important pages
- XML sitemap exists and is current
- No unwanted noindex tags
- Consistent canonicals for preferred and duplicate URLs
- Readable URLs with keywords
- One H1 per page with proper hierarchy
- LCP under 2.5s, INP under 200ms, CLS under 0.1
- HTTPS on all pages
- Organization and BreadcrumbList schema
Not sure how your website stacks up? I offer an SEO audit that checks all of this and recommends specific fixes. See how an audit works in practice in What an SEO Audit Reveals. For local businesses, I also recommend local SEO optimization.
Core Web Vitals thresholds are assessed at the 75th percentile, separately for mobile and desktop. A sitemap aids discovery; it is neither mandatory nor a guarantee of indexing. CLS considers unexpected shifts during the visit, not only initial loading.
Google: canonical · WCAG target size · Web Vitals · Google: Search documentation updates