Great content will only be of use if your site has been designed to accommodate the more technical side of SEO. Some of the most devastating SEO problems can be traced back to technical errors, since web crawlers are written around and based upon highly technical principles. These can often be overlooked by people who attempt SEO without full knowledge of the ground which onsite SEO – content, keywords etc. – is based upon.

Crawl – Index – Rank

Technical SEO refers to the elements of a page which are invisible unless you were to look at its source code. These include site speed, redirects and any flash elements you may have included in your site. To keep your site clean, you will need to perform regular checks on things like URLs, code and tracking responses, and visualising the path that web crawlers will take through your site will help you to get the process of technical SEO implementation right.

• Crawl: The process whereby a search engine will ‘read’ all of the information on your website.
• Index: A search engine, once it has ‘crawled’ your site, will then collect and store data about your website in order for users to be able to search for your site or any information contained within it.
• Rank: Your site rank depends on various factors, such as relevance, trustworthiness, value etc. All of the information collected from your site, as well as additional information from associated sources (such as inbound links) will be assessed by the search engine before it assigns a rank to your page.

Implementing Technical SEO

Technical SEO is all about how visible your site is. If you have great content, information or products, you will want users to be able to easily find your site using a search engine. Implementing SEO can be tricky, which is why many webhosts and businesses prefer to employ a team of skilled technical SEO analysts and engineers to assess their site’s needs before determining the best strategy for implementation. Checking for broken links, improving the speed of your site and destroying duplicate content can be fairly easy, but for a more in-depth technical SEO audit it’s always advisable to consult a professional.