How to Optimise Your Website for Better Search Rankings

Technical SEO

When it comes to improving your website’s search engine rankings, great content and backlinks are important, but without Technical SEO, your website might struggle to perform.

Technical SEO focuses on optimising your website’s infrastructure to help search engines crawl, index, and rank your site more effectively. It ensures your website is fast, secure, and mobile-friendly, all of which impact your visibility on Google.

In this guide, we’ll explore key Technical SEO elements and how they can help boost your rankings.

Website Speed & Performance

Google prioritises fast-loading websites in search rankings. If your site is slow, visitors will leave quickly, increasing your bounce rate and hurting your SEO.

How to Improve Website Speed:
✅ Optimise Images – Compress large images using tools like TinyPNG or WebP format.
✅ Enable Browser Caching – Store elements of your site on users’ browsers to load pages faster.
✅ Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) – Services like Cloudflare or BunnyCDN distribute your content globally for faster access.
✅ Minimise CSS, JavaScript, and HTML – Remove unnecessary code to speed up page load times.
✅ Choose Fast Web Hosting – A slow server means a slow website. Opt for high-performance hosting.

💡 Tip: Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to check your website’s speed and get improvement suggestions!

Mobile-Friendliness & Responsive Design

With over 60% of web traffic coming from mobile devices, Google ranks mobile-friendly websites higher. If your site isn’t optimised for mobile, you’re missing out on traffic and rankings.

How to Optimise for Mobile SEO:
✅ Use a responsive design – Your website should adjust seamlessly to different screen sizes.
✅ Avoid intrusive pop-ups – Google penalises sites with pop-ups that block important content on mobile.
✅ Test your mobile site with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test – Fix any issues flagged by the tool.

💡 Tip: A mobile-friendly website improves user experience and reduces bounce rates!

Website Security (SSL & HTTPS)

Website security is a Google ranking factor. If your website is not secure, visitors may see a warning that says “Not Secure,” causing them to leave.

How to Improve Security:
✅ Install an SSL Certificate – HTTPS encrypts data and protects user information.
✅ Use strong passwords and firewalls – Prevent security breaches.
✅ Keep your website software up to date – Outdated plugins can be a security risk.

💡 Tip: Check your website security using tools like Google Safe Browsing!

XML Sitemaps & Search Engine Crawling

Search engines use crawlers to scan your website and index your pages. If they can’t find or understand your content, it won’t rank.

How to Optimise Crawlability:
✅ Submit an XML Sitemap – Help search engines index your site by submitting a sitemap in Google Search Console.
✅ Optimise Robots.txt – This file tells search engines which pages to crawl and which to ignore.
✅ Fix Broken Links – Use Screaming Frog SEO Spider to find and fix broken links.

💡 Tip: Regularly check your Google Search Console for crawl errors and indexing issues!

Structured Data (Schema Markup)

Structured data (Schema Markup) helps Google understand your content better and increases your chances of getting rich snippets in search results.

How to Implement Schema Markup:
✅ Use JSON-LD schema to mark up articles, products, FAQs, and events.
✅ Test your markup using Google’s Rich Results Test.
✅ Use plugins like Rank Math SEO (if using WordPress) to easily add Schema.

💡 Tip: Structured data can improve click-through rates (CTR) by displaying extra information in search results!

URL Structure & Site Architecture

A clean URL structure helps both users and search engines navigate your site efficiently.

Best Practices for URL Optimisation:
✅ Use descriptive URLs – Example: yourwebsite.com/seo-tips instead of yourwebsite.com/page?id=123.
✅ Keep URLs short and relevant – Avoid unnecessary words.
✅ Use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) in URLs.
✅ Maintain a clear internal linking structure – Link important pages together for better crawlability.

💡 Tip: Keep URLs under 75 characters for better readability and SEO impact!

Fixing Duplicate Content Issues

Duplicate content can confuse search engines, leading to lower rankings.

How to Fix Duplicate Content:
✅ Use Canonical Tags (rel=”canonical”) to tell Google which version of a page is the primary one.
✅ Avoid publishing identical content across multiple URLs.
✅ Use 301 Redirects for duplicate pages that shouldn’t exist separately.

💡 Tip: Run your site through Siteliner or Copyscape to check for duplicate content issues!

Technical SEO Audits & Ongoing Maintenance

SEO is not a one-time task—it requires regular monitoring and updates.

How to Run an SEO Audit:
✅ Use tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to identify technical issues.
✅ Fix broken links, missing alt tags, and crawl errors.
✅ Monitor Core Web Vitals (Google’s speed and usability metrics).

💡 Tip: Schedule quarterly SEO audits to ensure your website stays optimised!

Technical SEO lays the foundation for long-term success in search rankings. By optimising site speed, mobile-friendliness, security, and structured data, you ensure that Google can crawl, understand, and rank your content effectively.