Technical SEO is the unsung hero of your website’s success, laying the foundation for search engines to crawl, index, and rank your content effectively. However, even small mistakes in technical SEO can have a big impact on your rankings and traffic. With the ever-changing SEO landscape, avoiding these errors is more important than ever.
In this article, we’ll explore 10 common technical SEO mistakes to avoid in 2024, providing actionable tips to keep your site optimized and search engine-friendly. Let’s dive in!
1. Ignoring Mobile-Friendliness
The importance: Mobile-first indexing is now the default for Google, meaning it evaluates your website based on its mobile version. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile users, you’re likely losing traffic and rankings.
The mistake: Failing to ensure a seamless mobile experience, such as having non-responsive design or small, hard-to-click buttons.
Why it happens: Often, businesses focus on how their website looks on desktops, ignoring the mobile experience.
How to fix it:
- Implement a responsive design that adjusts automatically to different screen sizes.
- Use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to identify and resolve issues.
- Ensure fast loading speeds, readable fonts, and easy-to-tap buttons.
Remember: A poor mobile experience can lead to higher bounce rates, which signals to Google that your site isn’t user-friendly.
2. Neglecting Page Load Speed
The importance: Page speed is a direct ranking factor. In 2024, user expectations for fast-loading websites are higher than ever, and a delay of even a second can significantly increase your bounce rate.
The mistake: Overloading your site with heavy images, unnecessary scripts, and unoptimized plugins.
Why it happens: Many site owners focus on aesthetics rather than performance.
How to fix it:
- Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to analyze and improve load times.
- Optimize images by compressing them with tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim.
- Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML to reduce code size.
- Enable browser caching to speed up repeat visits.
- Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to serve content from servers closer to users.
Pro Tip: Aim for a load time under three seconds to keep users engaged and improve rankings.
3. Poor Website Architecture
The importance: A well-structured website makes it easy for users to navigate and search engines to crawl and index your pages.
The mistake: Having a chaotic structure where important pages are buried too deep, or your site lacks clear categories and subcategories.
Why it happens: Rapidly adding content without considering its placement within the overall structure.
How to fix it:
- Plan a clear, logical hierarchy (e.g., Home > Category > Subcategory > Page).
- Limit the depth of important pages, ensuring they are no more than three clicks away from the homepage.
- Create an XML sitemap and submit it to Google Search Console to help search engines index your site efficiently.
- Use breadcrumb navigation to enhance user experience and improve internal linking.
4. Overlooking Broken Links
The importance: Broken links (404 errors) harm user experience and signal to search engines that your site isn’t well-maintained.
The mistake: Allowing broken internal or external links to accumulate without fixing them.
Why it happens: Websites grow over time, and outdated pages or removed content often leave links pointing to nowhere.
How to fix it:
- Regularly audit your site using tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to identify broken links.
- Replace or remove broken links, or redirect them to relevant pages using 301 redirects.
- Use a custom 404 page to guide users back to useful areas of your site.
Pro Tip: Focus on fixing broken internal links first, as they directly impact user navigation and crawlability.
5. Ignoring Core Web Vitals
The importance: Google’s Core Web Vitals focus on three key metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). These metrics directly impact user experience and rankings.
The mistake: Neglecting Core Web Vitals scores, leading to poor performance in loading, interactivity, and visual stability.
Why it happens: Many site owners are unaware of these metrics or don’t prioritize them.
How to fix it:
- Monitor Core Web Vitals in Google Search Console.
- Improve LCP by optimizing images and server response times.
- Reduce FID by minimizing JavaScript execution and ensuring fast server response.
- Eliminate CLS issues by specifying image dimensions and avoiding late-loading elements that shift the layout.
6. Duplicate Content Issues
The importance: Duplicate content confuses search engines, which may not know which version to rank, diluting your SEO efforts.
The mistake: Creating similar or identical content across multiple pages, either intentionally or accidentally.
Why it happens: Poor CMS setups, printer-friendly pages, or simply copying content from other sites.
How to fix it:
- Use canonical tags (rel=”canonical”) to tell search engines the preferred version of a page.
- Consolidate duplicate pages with 301 redirects.
- Regularly audit your site for duplicate content using tools like Copyscape or Siteliner.
7. Not Utilizing Schema Markup
The importance: Schema markup helps search engines better understand your content and makes your site eligible for rich results, like FAQs, reviews, and product snippets.
The mistake: Missing out on the opportunities that structured data provides.
Why it happens: Lack of awareness or perceived complexity of implementing schema.
How to fix it:
- Use Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to generate schema for your site.
- Add schema for commonly used types like articles, products, reviews, FAQs, and local businesses.
- Validate your markup using Google’s Rich Results Test.
Pro Tip: Rich results often lead to higher click-through rates, boosting your organic traffic.
8. Not Upgrading to HTTPS
The importance: Security is a critical factor for users and search engines. Google gives a ranking boost to sites using HTTPS, while browsers warn users against HTTP sites.
The mistake: Continuing to run an unsecured HTTP site, which can harm your credibility and rankings.
Why it happens: Site owners may overlook this, assuming their audience doesn’t prioritize security.
How to fix it:
- Obtain an SSL certificate (many hosting providers offer free options like Let’s Encrypt).
- Redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS using 301 redirects.
- Update your sitemap and internal links to reflect the HTTPS URLs.
9. Overlooking Crawl Errors
The importance: Crawl errors prevent search engines from accessing and indexing your content, reducing your chances of ranking.
The mistake: Failing to monitor crawl error reports and address issues like 404 errors, blocked resources, or server errors.
Why it happens: Site owners often don’t check their crawl stats regularly.
How to fix it:
- Use Google Search Console’s Crawl Stats Report to identify errors.
- Fix 404 errors with redirects or by restoring the missing content.
- Ensure your robots.txt file is not inadvertently blocking important pages.
Pro Tip:
Monitor your crawl budget and avoid duplicate or low—quality pages to ensure your most valuable pages are indexed.
10. Leaving Content Stagnant
The importance: Google rewards fresh and updated content, especially in niches where information changes frequently (e.g., technology, health, finance).
The mistake: Allowing older posts to become outdated, reducing their relevance and ranking potential.
Why it happens: Site owners focus on creating new content but neglect older posts.
How to fix it:
- Audit your content regularly and update statistics, links, and examples.
- Add new sections, visuals, or insights to evergreen posts.
- Promote refreshed content via social media and newsletters.
Pro Tip:
Updating content can often lead to quick ranking boosts without creating something from scratch.
Bonus Mistakes to Avoid
While the top 10 mistakes cover the most critical areas, here are a few additional pitfalls to steer clear of:
- Keyword Cannibalization: Ensure multiple pages aren’t competing for the same keyword. Conduct a content audit to identify and consolidate similar pages.
- Poor Internal Linking: Use internal links to guide users and search engines to your most valuable pages.
- Not Monitoring Analytics: Regularly check Google Analytics and Search Console to identify issues and opportunities.
- Ignoring International SEO: For global websites, ensure correct implementation of hreflang tags to target the right audience.
Conclusion
Technical SEO is an ongoing process that requires attention to detail and regular audits. By avoiding these 10 common mistakes—and addressing the bonus tips—you’ll improve your website’s performance, user experience, and search engine rankings.
Keeping up with trends such as Core Web Vitals, schema markup, and mobile-first indexing is crucial as we transition into 2024. The key is consistency: monitor your site, update your content, and adapt to changes in
search engine algorithms.
Implement these strategies, and watch your rankings soar! Happy optimizing!