Technical SEO Checklist: Make sure your website is optimized for search engines

In the world of search engine optimization (SEO), technical SEO is the backbone of a well-optimized website. It is not only important for search engine rankings, but also for offering a smooth user experience. That's why we've written a technical SEO checklist to help you review and improve your website:

1. Website Speed:
Website loading speed is a critical factor for both SEO and user experience and search engine rankings. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTMetrix to analyze your website's speed. These tools give you concrete tips on what you can improve to increase the loading speed to your website. Work on reducing server response time, optimizing images, and minimizing code to improve load times. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to analyze and improve your site's speed.

2. Mobile Optimization:
‍In an era where mobile traffic dominates, mobile optimization is extremely important. Make sure your website design is responsive and adapts well to different screen sizes and devices. Google's Mobile-Friendly Test can provide insights into how well your website performs on mobile devices.

3. SSL Security:
A secure website is ranked higher by Google. Make sure you have an SSL certificate installed and that your website is accessible via HTTPS.

‍4th. Structured Data/Schema Markup:
Implement structured data to help search engines understand your content better and improve your chances of getting rich snippets.
Read our guide on structured data here.

5. XML sitemap and Robots.txt:
An XML sitemap lists all the pages on your website and helps search engines find and index your content.
The robots.txt file controls the access of search engines to certain parts of your website. Both of these files should be properly configured and updated.

6. Etiquetas de Canonical:
Canonical tags are used to point out which version of a page should be considered the original and prevent duplicate content issues.
It helps search engines understand which version of the page to index and rank.

7. 404 Pages and Redirects:
Manage 404 errors by creating a user-friendly 404 page that helps visitors find what they are looking for. You can see your website's 404 error in Google Search Console.
Also, make sure you have proper 301 redirects in place to direct traffic to the correct pages if the content has moved.

8. Meta Tags and Meta Descriptions:
Each page should have unique meta tags and meta descriptions that include relevant keywords. This helps improve click-through-rate (CTR) in search results and provides search engines with clear information about the content of the page. ‍

9. Image Optimization:
Compress images to reduce file size as well as define the dimensions of the images to increase the loading speed of the website.
In addition, you should write alternative text (alt text) for the images, which is essential for the visually impaired to understand the content of the image.

10. Server Performance and Hosting:
A reliable hosting provider and a well-optimized server are the foundation of a fast and stable website. Monitor server performance regularly.
Consider using Content Delivery Networks (CDN) to distribute content efficiently to your users.

If you check off this list, your website is well on its way to improving its SEO.
The technical basis is extremely important, and the next step will be to target the right keywords. Read more about it here.