Most beginners think SEO starts with keywords. It doesn’t. It starts with a website that search engines can actually crawl, understand, and index.
That’s why I put together these technical SEO tips. They come from the process I use on my own website, amalrajps.com, where I learned that technical SEO is about building a strong foundation first and improving it through regular testing.
A quick note on honesty: I’m not going to promise rankings or specific traffic numbers. These technical SEO tips depend on your site, your niche, and your competition. What these technical SEO tips can share is the order I’d work in and the technical SEO tips mistakes I’d avoid.
What Are Technical SEO Tips and How They are Important?
Technical SEO tips are crucial for any website. Technical SEO is anything that enables search engines to crawl and understand the content of your website. These technical SEO tips include such things as crawling, indexing, site architecture, page speed, and mobile usability. Following these technical SEO tips will improve your rankings.
If Google cannot index a page, then the page won’t rank. Applying these technical SEO tips ensures proper crawling. And, if the page does not load fast enough on a smartphone, these technical SEO tips will improve mobile speed and user retention.
Here are the steps that I follow in my order:
- Make sure search engines can crawl and index your pages.
- Fix structure and links.
- Improve speed and mobile experience.
- Monitor and repeat.
Technical SEO Best Practices for Crawling and Indexing
1. Analyze Indexation Issues in Search Console First
Make no changes until you find out the reason for the issue. In Search Console, go to the Pages report and determine which URLs are indexed and which aren’t.
Usually, newbies ignore this step and start making any changes right away. Analyze first, and then fix your issues.
2. Submit an XML Sitemap
A sitemap is a tool for telling search engines which pages are important. Submit the sitemap in Search Console and make sure that it only includes those pages that should be indexed.
3. Check Your Robots.txt
Just one line in robots.txt that’s set up incorrectly can make huge chunks of your website unavailable. Make sure you don’t have any errors by checking out yourdomain.com/robots.txt.
4. Improve Internal Linking and Website Structure
Pages need to be easy to find. An excellent way to think about it is that important pages are just a click away from the home page.
One of the most frequently mentioned factors in why pages are missed is weak internal linking. You should link to related posts using appropriate anchor text.
5. Remove Broken Links and Redirect Chains
Broken links are bad for crawling and annoying to your audience. Conduct an audit using tools such as Semrush Site Audit, remove 404 errors, and replace chains of redirects by one redirect link.
6. Implement Canonical Tags to Resolve Duplicate Pages
In case your page has several duplicates on different URLs, tell the search engine which one is the preferred page to use. This is done using the canonical tags. It works well with filtered pages, tracked parameters, and differences between the www and non-www version.
Increase Website Speed and Performance on Mobile Devices
This is where I would begin if you were only able to change one aspect this week. After all, most people visit your website using mobile devices.
7. Compress and Resize Your Images
For my own website, big pictures have been the greatest bottleneck, particularly on mobile devices. I resolved this issue by compressing, resizing my pictures, making use of optimized formats where necessary, and ensuring image quality and information wasn’t impacted.
Here’s a simple approach:
- Resize your images to their actual display dimensions.
- Compress your images prior to uploading.
- Use advanced image formats such as WebP if your site allows that.
- Implement lazy-loading of images which appear after scrolling.
8. Make Sure Your Site Works Well on Mobile
Open your site on a real phone. Can you read the text without zooming? Are buttons easy to tap? Does anything overlap?
Google primarily uses the mobile version of your content for indexing, so mobile usability isn’t optional.
9. Watch Your Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals measure real user experience. Google’s published “good” targets are:
| Metric | What It Measures | Good Score |
| LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) | Loading speed | 2.5 seconds or less |
| INP (Interaction to Next Paint) | Responsiveness | 200 milliseconds or less |
| CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) | Visual stability | 0.1 or less |
Check these in Search Console and Google PageSpeed Insights. For the full definitions, see Google’s Core Web Vitals guide on web.dev.
10. Remove Unnecessary Scripts and Page Elements
Every plugin, tracking script, and widget adds weight. Review what’s loading and remove anything you don’t need.
Don’t chase a perfect score, though. The goal is a faster, smoother site for real users, not a number on a report.
11. Use HTTPS
It is vital to use HTTPS not only to ensure security but also to build trust in your users. All pages on your website should be loaded over HTTPS and not HTTP.
On-Page SEO Technicalities and Consistency
12. Review Your Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, and Headings
Failure to include title tags, meta descriptions, and duplicate tags is a frequent mistake. All pages should have a unique title tag, a unique meta description, an H1 heading, and a correct hierarchy of headings under it.
13. Monitor Regularly and Fix the Highest-Impact Issues First
Technical SEO isn’t a one-time job. New pages, plugins, and updates can create new problems.
A simple routine works well:
- Crawl your site with a tool like Semrush Site Audit.
- Check Search Console for indexing and Core Web Vitals issues.
- Run key pages through PageSpeed Insights.
- Fix the biggest problems first, then recheck.
Technical SEO Checklist: Quick Wins vs Longer Fixes
| Fix | Effort | Typical Impact |
| Compress images | Low | High for speed |
| Fix broken links | Low | Medium |
| Improve internal linking | Low to medium | High for indexing |
| Submit XML sitemap | Low | Medium |
| Clean up scripts and plugins | Medium | Medium to high |
| Fix canonical issues | Medium | Medium |
Impact varies by site, so use your own data to decide where to start.
Common Technical SEO Mistakes to Avoid
- Ignoring page speed and mobile usability
- Leaving broken links unfixed
- Weak internal linking
- Missing or incorrect meta tags
- Duplicate or poorly structured pages
- Focusing only on keywords while ignoring crawlability and user experience
FAQ
Which are the top technical SEO recommendations for beginners?
The first things to consider are indexing, your sitemap, internal linking, and page speed. Make sure search engines are able to crawl and index your pages before getting to other aspects.
How do I increase my website speed?
Resize and compress images, eliminate unnecessary JavaScripts and CSS, use Google PageSpeed Insights to identify what can be improved.
How frequently should I perform technical SEO audit?
Use Google Search Console to monitor your website, run an SEO crawl after any significant changes. Quarterly is a good start for most websites.
Do I need paid tools for my technical SEO checklist?
You don’t. Google Search Console and Google PageSpeed Insights will provide you with everything you need as a beginner. Other crawler tools like Semrush make the process more convenient.
Conclusion
As a freelance digital marketer in Kochi, I’ve learned that technical SEO is not about making random changes just to improve an SEO score. It starts with understanding how a website actually performs, identifying technical problems, and fixing the issues that affect both search engines and real users.
From improving page speed and mobile performance to fixing broken links, strengthening internal linking, and monitoring indexing, each improvement contributes to a healthier website. My approach is simple: diagnose first, fix what matters most, and keep testing and improving.
Technical SEO is an ongoing process, not a one-time task. When combined with useful content, strong user experience, and consistent SEO work, it creates a solid foundation for better website performance and long-term search visibility.