Here at White Label IQ, we pride ourselves on being astute technical SEO warriors. Masters of the meta tags, kings of the keywords, queens of the conversions, etc. etc. etc. But that doesn’t mean everyone with a website is equipped to do the same. Essentially, when you’ve got the will, we’ve got the way.
That’s why we have that IQ in our title. We’ve set out to help businesses when they don’t have the in-house know-how. BUT ENOUGH ABOUT US! Here are a few tips to help you improve your technical SEO.
But First! What is Technical SEO?
Technical SEO is the nuts and bolts of a functioning website. It’s everything behind the scenes designed to streamline everything from crawlability to images and site speed. Ultimately, all pieces that determine your site’s search ranking.
Now, that may sound like a bunch of mumbo jumbo, but all said and done, technical SEO ensures that customers can find-and successfully use-your website. All in all, pretty important.
Now for what to do…
1. Write for Robots, but Really for Humans, on Behalf of Robots
To get the conversions you want, you need to write copy for humans. After all, they’re the ones that matter when it comes to shares, subscribes, and the almighty transaction. Now, if a bot makes a purchase, there’s a good chance that check is going to bounce. Start with:
- Does your meta align with the on-page content?
- As much as you can, match the URL to the Page Title (in the meta) and the first Headline on your page. This will help search engines gauge the page’s purpose.
- Are your headlines utilizing targeted keywords?
- Not only does using a keyword in your headlines assuage the Google gods, it tells your reader exactly what they can expect from your content.
- Are there links to other sources? Other internal pages? Backlinks?
- Earning quality backlinks is a sure-fire way to elevate your search rank. These links (found on other sites leading to yours) tell search engines that you’re trusted by other groups. It’s like a job reference. It just means more, ya know?
- Adding links to other pages and sources (they must be relevant!) will increase engagement on your site and limit the bounce rate as users have more than one avenue to answer their initial question.
- Is the page structure easy to follow?
- Your menu is crucial. It should be easy to find, responsive, clear, and just comprehensive enough without becoming a burden to sift through. But, that’s obviously much easier said than done. So, what to do? Just start from the highest level and work down from there. Keep the high conversion pages visible while letting others fall into a footer, if necessary.
- Top of the funnel pages are typically comprised of the Homepage, Contact page, About page, and Products/Services Overview page. Everything else can usually be tucked nicely below those in a drop-down menu.
- Do you have convincing calls to action? Aka, CTAs?
- Ah, the coup de grace! Your copywriters will want to get too clever (hey, we can’t help it), your client will want it plain as day (hey, they can’t help it!), and you’ll want to find the perfect balance between the two. Just make sure the reason for clicking is crystal clear and that you’ve established a great reason for encouraging the user to do so.
Try hover effects to catch the eye. A subtle pulse can do wonders and being concise will help users better navigate their options.
Why Am I Writing For Search Engines Again?
- “Technical SEO is a great way to ensure the technical aspects of SEO are found by programs designed to look for website technical SEO.”
- “Technical SEO is important to keep in mind when building a website and includes things like site speed, clearly defined elements, and other pieces we’ll discuss below.”
In sentence one, there’s no doubt Google crawlers will know you want the page to be about technical SEO. But it doesn’t actually say anything, so users will bounce pretty fast.
In sentence two, you’ve hit the keyword, mentioned the benefit, and already told the user how you’ll help them, which means they’re more likely to stick around. Google likes this.
2. Okay, but Definitely Build It for Robots
From the URL structure to the H1 tags, image descriptions, and breadcrumbs typically found in an eCommerce site, you need search engines to crawl your domain and find what they need without issue. Not only will this help with your ranking, laying the proper groundwork will establish a backend you can better manage and update when needed.
Here’s what the robots want (aside from love, freewill, and access to infinite power):
- As search engines send out their crawlers (robots) to inspect your website, they’re looking to check off a few things:
- Meta information is populated
- That meta info matches other fields including, headlines, CTAs, body copy
- That links don’t result in a 404 error
- Keywords are used, where, how often, and why (context!)
- That the HTML is up to snuff
- Tags are being used correctly
- Angle brackets < and >, used in pairs
- Indentation consistency
- CSS and JavaScript are where they’re supposed to be
- Logic is consistent
- Divs, naming, etc.
- Tags are being used correctly
- Once done, the bots report back to HQ and index your site. This will rank your site against others utilizing the same type of information
- Depending on your site score, you enter the search rankings
3. Time to Get Formal
Forms! Your clients love ‘em, you’ve built way too many of them, and site visitors may or may not even care about them! But conversions are the bread and butter of ROI, so an easy to use form is necessary, if not critical, to success. Not only is a quality site built on relevant information, it’s also about lead generation, list building, user habits, and oh yeah, sales.
Required fields are great for lead generation. At the very least, you’ll probably know the user’s first name, an email they use, and maybe a phone number and/or comment if you’re lucky. By making at least the email, name, and comment fields mandatory, you can start building a list of potential and/or current customers to re-engage.
In the days of countless lawsuits, make sure all your forms are compliant. For instance:
- Purpose Disclaimer
- This small-font copy should quickly describe what the form’s purpose is. I.e., “Click here to opt into our totally unique, VIP-only newsletter! We’ll send you a personalized email every month that offers deals and need-to-know skillz!”
- Double Opt-in
- Recent changes in spam law (the mail kind, not the canned kind) have forced many businesses to rethink their email outreach. What the law basically says is that your users can’t just click yes to sign up for communication. They need to double confirm (aka opt-in) that they agree to you knocking on their digital door.
- So, after they’ve submitted the form information, you’ll need to send a follow-up email that asks them to make sure they’ve agreed.
- Recent changes in spam law (the mail kind, not the canned kind) have forced many businesses to rethink their email outreach. What the law basically says is that your users can’t just click yes to sign up for communication. They need to double confirm (aka opt-in) that they agree to you knocking on their digital door.
4. Remember Loading Screens? Yeah…
Lengthy loading times WILL make or break a website. Actually, just break. When there are thousands of other sites within click’s reach, the last thing you want is users to see a spinning wheel when they need info in a hurry. Seriously, how are they going to cheat at local bar trivia night without a quick resource? We know you cheated, Keith. This is us calling you out.
As you can see, page speed weeds out a lot of casual customers. And unless your brand is backed solely by loyal advocates, you probably can’t afford to let this be the case. But say your site does have a 3+ second loading speed, what then?
Well, a few things right off the bat:
- Limit the number of redirects
- Optimize and reduce the size of images
- Condense the amount of copy on pages
- Use asynchronous loading instead of synchronously loading
- Invest in a fast DNS
- Also, invest in a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Okay Great. Now What?
Now you buckle in and get the work done. Or, you could use cough cough White Label IQ cough cough to tackle your technical SEO.