15 Common Technical SEO Issues and How to Fix Them
Technical SEO is the foundation of a well-optimised website. It ensures that search engines can effectively crawl, index, and rank your content, while also providing a seamless experience for users. However, various technical issues can arise, potentially harming your site’s performance in search rankings. In this blog, we’ll explore 15 common technical SEO issues and provide practical solutions to address each one.
1. Slow Website Speed
A slow-loading website can frustrate users, increase bounce rates, and negatively impact your search engine rankings. Factors contributing to slow speed include large image files, unoptimised code, excessive server requests, and lack of caching.
How to Fix:
- Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Pingdom to identify speed issues.
- Compress images using tools like TinyPNG or plugins like
ShortPixel. - Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files to reduce file sizes.
- Enable browser caching and implement a Content Delivery Network (CDN) such as Cloudflare.
2. Broken Links
Broken links, or 404 errors, disrupt the user experience and waste search engine crawl budget, reducing the visibility of other pages on your site.
How to Fix:
- Regularly audit your site using tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs.
- Fix or redirect broken internal links to relevant pages.
- Replace or remove broken external links, or use a 301 redirect if the original content has moved.
3. Duplicate Content
Duplicate content confuses search engines, leading to competition between identical pages for rankings. Common causes include poor URL structures, duplicate metadata, and HTTP/HTTPS conflicts.
How to Fix:
- Use 301 redirects to consolidate duplicate pages into a single authoritative page.
- Implement canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of a page.
- Ensure that each page has unique metadata and content.
4. Non-Responsive Mobile Design
With Google’s mobile-first indexing, a site that isn’t optimised for mobile devices can lose rankings. Poor mobile usability also leads to higher bounce rates.
How to Fix:
- Ensure your site is responsive, adapting seamlessly to various screen sizes and devices.
- Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to identify and fix mobile usability issues.
- Optimise images and font sizes for better performance on mobile devices.
- Test your website’s usability on different devices and browsers to ensure consistency.
5. Incorrect Robots.txt Configuration
If your robots.txt file is improperly configured, it might block important pages from being crawled or indexed by search engines.
How to Fix:
- Review your
robots.txtfile to ensure it doesn’t block critical pages. - Use “Disallow” directives only for pages that you don’t want to be indexed, such as admin pages or duplicate content pages.
- Test your robots.txt file using tools like Technical SEO’s Robots.txt Validator and Testing Tool.
6. Orphan Pages
Orphan pages are pages that have no internal links pointing to them, making them difficult for search engines to discover and index.
How to Fix:
- Identify orphan pages using SEO tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush.
- Add internal links from relevant content to these orphan pages.
- Ensure that every page contributes to the overall site structure and hierarchy.
7. Thin Content
Thin content refers to pages with little or no valuable information, which can harm your SEO efforts and provide a poor user experience.
How to Fix:
- Conduct a content audit to identify pages with thin content.
- Enhance these pages by adding comprehensive, relevant information.
- Focus on creating unique, high-quality content that provides value to your audience.
8. Missing or Misconfigured Canonical Tags
Canonical tags help search engines understand which version of a page is the primary one, preventing duplicate content issues.
How to Fix:
- Add canonical tags to specify the preferred version of each page.
- Ensure that canonical tags point to the correct and complete URL.
- Regularly audit your site to ensure canonical tags are correctly implemented.
9. Missing Structured Data
Structured data helps search engines understand your content better and can increase the chances of earning rich results in search.
How to Fix:
- Add schema markup relevant to your content type, such as
Article,Product, orFAQ. - Use Google’s Rich Results Test to validate your structured data.
- Monitor and fix any structured data errors in Google Search Console.
10. Excessive Redirect Chains
Redirect chains occur when one URL redirects to another, and then to another, causing delays in page loading and wasting crawl budget.
How to Fix:
- Audit your redirects using tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb.
- Consolidate redirect chains by pointing the original URL directly to the final destination.
- Avoid unnecessary redirects to improve both user experience and crawl efficiency.
11. Incorrect HTTP Status Codes
Using incorrect HTTP status codes can confuse search engines and users. For example, using a 302 (temporary redirect) instead of a 301 (permanent redirect) can negatively impact SEO.
How to Fix:
- Use 301 redirects for permanent changes to ensure search engines transfer ranking signals.
- Replace any incorrect status codes with appropriate ones based on the intended purpose.
- Test your URLs using tools like HTTP Status Checker to ensure the correct status codes are being used.
12. Unoptimised XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap that includes duplicate, thin, or irrelevant pages can confuse search engines and reduce crawl efficiency.
How to Fix:
- Ensure your sitemap includes only essential, high-quality pages that you want search engines to index.
- Exclude pages with duplicate content, thin content, or that are irrelevant.
- Regularly update your sitemap whenever new pages are added or removed.
- Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console to help Google discover your pages.
13. Missing HTTPS
Websites without HTTPS are flagged as “Not Secure” by browsers, which can deter visitors and harm your search rankings.
How to Fix:
- Install an SSL certificate on your server to enable HTTPS.
- Redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS using 301 redirects.
- Update internal links and canonical tags to use HTTPS URLs.
- Ensure that all external resources (like images and scripts) are also loaded over HTTPS to avoid mixed content issues.
14. Poor Internal Linking
A weak internal linking strategy can lead to inefficient crawling and poor user navigation, affecting both SEO and user experience.
How to Fix:
- Use internal links to connect related content, helping both users and search engines navigate your site.
- Ensure that important pages have more internal links pointing to them to signal their significance.
- Use descriptive anchor text for internal links to provide context about the linked page.
- Avoid excessive linking on a single page to maintain clarity and effectiveness.
15. Overuse of Noindex Tags
Excessive use of “noindex” tags can prevent valuable pages from appearing in search results, reducing your site’s visibility.
How to Fix:
- Audit your site to identify pages with “noindex” tags using tools like Screaming Frog.
- Remove “noindex” tags from pages you want to rank in search results.
- Use “noindex” sparingly for pages that truly don’t need to appear in search, such as thank-you pages, admin panels, or duplicate content pages.
- Ensure that removing “noindex” tags does not expose sensitive or irrelevant content to search engines.
Final Thoughts
Addressing these 15 common technical SEO issues can significantly enhance your website’s performance and visibility in search engines. Regular technical audits, combined with proactive fixes, will ensure that your site remains optimised and competitive in search rankings. Prioritise these tasks to build a strong foundation for long-term SEO success.
For more insights and tips on SEO and digital marketing, feel free to contact us or explore our other blog posts.
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