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2023 | Buch

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Tech SEO Guide

A Reference Guide for Developers and Marketers Involved in Technical SEO

verfasst von: Matthew Edgar

Verlag: Apress

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

Tech SEO Guide provides a reference for everyone who works on the technical side of SEO. SEO has always had a technical component but over the last several years, the technical challenges are increasing as websites deliver richer and more engaging experiences. Those experiences can make it harder for Google to crawl a website and rank a website in search results. Given how important organic search rankings can be for a website’s traffic, it is more important than ever to make sure the technical fundamentals are in place to support a website’s SEO performance.

SEO professionals includes marketers, developers, programmers, UX professionals, designers, and business executives because technical SEO impacts and overlaps with so many different areas of a business. Because the book addresses a wider audience, it provides technical details but also includes higher-level discussions about how search engines and robots work too.

There are many different aspects of technical SEO and it is difficult to keep track of every detail, especially for people who only work on technical SEO matters on an occasional basis. Because of that, this guide book can be read all at once for those wanting to study technical SEO in detail or it can be read a paragraph at a time, allowing people to refer back to quickly jog their memory or review a complex topic. Each chapter walks through a different area of technical SEO, addressing specific scenarios and questions about that particular area. After discussing each section, the chapter will conclude with a summary of the important items to measure and monitor related to that section.

What You Will Learn

What factors to keep in mind as you begin a redesign of the website
How to evaluate technical factors to see if a technical configuration is causing traffic to drop
How to perform regular audits of a website to identify problems or areas of opportunity

Who This Book is For
Marketers, developers, programmers, UX professionals, designers, and business executives

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Crawling and Indexing

Abstract

This chapter covers crawling and indexing. This is where SEO begins. Search engine robots need to crawl a website's pages to find all the information contained on those pages. Once crawled, robots then process and store the information from the website in the search engine's index. If robots are unable to crawl or index a website's pages, the website may not rank in search results. Achieving optimal SEO performance requires understanding how search engine robots work and ensuring that robots are able to crawl and index a website effectively.

Matthew Edgar

Chapter 2. URL and Domain Structure

Abstract

This chapter covers proper URL structures and the way URL structures can affect SEO. Search engines use a page's URL as a unique identifier for each page. That means every signal a search engine finds about a page is attached to that distinct URL. However, there are many possible URL variations, especially where parameters are concerned, and those different variations can lead search engines to identify one page under multiple URLs. This creates problems that disrupt SEO performance. A key step in improving a website's SEO performance is making sure that URLs are properly structured so that search engines can crawl, index, and rank each page correctly.

Matthew Edgar

Chapter 3. Content Structure

Abstract

This chapter discusses the technical aspects of managing and maintaining a website's content. Content must be properly structured for robots to understand the information contained within that content. This requires using proper HTML, JavaScript, and CSS code to display and render the content—including images and videos—in a way that robots can crawl it. If there are any issues with the website's code that disrupt how content, images, or videos are rendered, that can prevent pages from ranking in search results. Even simple mistakes within HTML can disrupt how robots process a page. In addition to improper code, there are other content-related issues, like duplication or thin content, that can also hold back rankings and SEO performance.

Matthew Edgar

Chapter 4. Schema and Structured Data Markup

Abstract

This chapter covers schema markup, which is optional code that can be added to a page to better explain the purpose of the content on that page to search engine robots. As well, schema markup can help enhance rankings, leading to higher click-through rates from search results. However, schema markup needs to be added correctly and accurately reflect the content presented on the page to help—if schema markup is used incorrectly, it can be ignored or, worse, can lead to errors or manual actions.

Matthew Edgar

Chapter 5. Sitemaps

Abstract

This chapter reviews XML and HTML sitemaps. Sitemaps provide a list of URLs, and that list can help search engine robots discover new content on a website. Along with listing HTML pages, XML sitemaps can also list other files, like images or videos. However, it is important that XML sitemaps are carefully maintained and only list the pages on the website that robots should rank in search results.

Matthew Edgar

Chapter 6. Page Experience: Core Web Vitals and More

Abstract

This chapter discusses Google's page experience factors and how those factors affect rankings. This includes speed and Core Web Vitals, as well as mobile usability and interstitials. Along with helping a website rank better in search results, faster speeds and better mobile websites also improve how robots crawl the website. These gains make optimizing speed and mobile usability an important part of improving a website's SEO performance.

Matthew Edgar

Chapter 7. Not-Found Errors

Abstract

This chapter reviews not-found errors, also called 404 errors. These errors can often hurt a website's SEO performance if not properly addressed, as well as hurting conversion rates on the website. While many not-found errors do hurt performance, other errors can help performance. This is because not-found errors can be used as a means of signaling to search engines that problematic pages have been removed. Because of the complexity involved with not-found errors, and the potential impacts on performance, it is important to regularly find and address any not-found errors present on the website.

Matthew Edgar

Chapter 8. Redirects

Abstract

This chapter covers redirects. Redirects can be used to support changes to URLs and are a means of fixing not-found errors. However, if not properly maintained, redirects can create problems for a website. To achieve optimal SEO performance, it is important to understand the different types of redirects that can be used, as well as understand how to properly configure and maintain all of the redirects on the website.

Matthew Edgar

Chapter 9. Conclusion: Tech SEO Audit

Abstract

One of the most common ways of engaging with technical SEO is through an audit. An audit of the technical factors discussed in this book can, if done correctly, offer valuable insight into the various problems and opportunities present on a website. However, many audits end up being ineffective because the audit's focus is too formulaic—the audit becomes more about completing a checklist or reviewing key metrics instead of providing valuable insight.

Matthew Edgar

Backmatter

Titel: Tech SEO Guide
verfasst von: Matthew Edgar
Verlag: Apress
Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4842-9054-5
Print ISBN: 978-1-4842-9053-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-9054-5