The Foundation Your Rankings Are Built On
Technical SEO is the behind-the-scenes work that ensures search engines can crawl, index, and rank your website effectively. Think of it as the foundation of a house — you don’t see it, but without it, nothing else stands. Even the best content won’t rank if technical issues prevent Google from accessing and understanding your site.
Core Technical SEO Elements
Crawlability
Search engines use bots to crawl your website and discover content. If pages are blocked by robots.txt, have broken links, or exist in orphan states (no internal links pointing to them), Google can’t find and index them. Ensure every important page is accessible through internal links and your XML sitemap.
Indexability
Being crawlable doesn’t guarantee being indexed. Pages can be excluded from Google’s index due to noindex tags, canonical tags pointing elsewhere, duplicate content issues, or thin content. Use Google Search Console’s Coverage report to identify indexing issues.
Site Speed
Page speed is a confirmed ranking factor. Core Web Vitals — Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) — measure real user experience. Optimize images, minimize JavaScript, enable caching, and use a CDN.
Mobile-Friendliness
Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning the mobile version of your site is what gets evaluated for rankings. Your site must be fully responsive, with readable text, tappable buttons, and no horizontal scrolling on mobile devices.
HTTPS Security
SSL certificates (HTTPS) are a ranking signal and a trust requirement. Every website should use HTTPS, especially those collecting any user data.
Technical SEO Audit Checklist
- XML sitemap submitted to Google Search Console
- Robots.txt file properly configured
- No broken internal or external links
- Clean URL structure (short, descriptive, keyword-inclusive)
- Proper use of canonical tags
- Structured data (schema markup) implemented
- Core Web Vitals passing
- Mobile usability issues resolved
- HTTPS across all pages
- No duplicate content issues
When to Worry About Technical SEO
If your content is strong but rankings aren’t improving, technical issues are likely the culprit. Common red flags include pages not appearing in Google despite being published, sudden ranking drops, slow loading times reported by users, and high bounce rates on mobile.
Get a Technical SEO Audit
Brandastic conducts comprehensive technical SEO audits that identify and fix the issues holding your rankings back. Get a free SEO audit.
