In the complex and dynamic field of technical SEO, professionals face constant challenges that can hinder a website’s visibility in search engines. Despite technological advances and sophisticated tools at their disposal, certain mistakes persist and harm the online performance of businesses and brands. This article unravels five common errors within technical SEO, integrating practical solutions, case studies, and the underlying theory that supports them, contributing to experts in the area being able to optimize their web positioning strategies.
Crawling and Indexation Errors
Improper Management of the robots.txt File
Inadequate use of the robots.txt file can exclude key pages from search bots or, conversely, allow indexing of worthless pages. To solve this, it is crucial to analyze and modify the file with technical precision detailing the directories and files to be indexed, and those to be excluded, using the “Disallow” and “Allow” directives, respectively.
Relevant Case Studies: Large online retailers have reported significant improvements in their visibility after an audit and correction of the robots.txt file, reflecting the importance of proper implementation.
Misuse of the Canonical Tag
A poorly implemented canonical tag can lead to relevant versions of a page being ignored or to the promotion of duplicate content. The documentation of this tag must be precise; the selected canonical URL should be the most representative version of a set of similar pages. Proper implementation requires an audit in which canonical pages are identified and properly established.
Future Projection: Artificial intelligence tools are being developed to assist in the automated selection of canonical URLs, speeding up the process and reducing human errors.
Content Issues
Duplicate Content
Duplicate content disperses page authority and confuses search engines. To address this issue, it is necessary to use the rel="canonical" attribute, apply 301 redirects to the preferred URL, or differentiate content sufficiently to minimize overlaps.
Practical Applications: News sites have optimized their ranking by eliminating duplicate content through redirects and reworking articles with similar information but unique approaches.
Website Performance
Suboptimal Loading Speed
A slow loading time decreases conversion and affects user experience. Increasing loading speed can be achieved by optimizing images, reducing server response time, using content delivery networks (CDN), and minimizing CSS and JavaScript.
Innovations: Lazy loading methodologies and Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are emerging as cutting-edge solutions to dramatically improve the speed and interactivity of websites.
Website Structure
Confusing Taxonomy and Hierarchy
A poorly planned website structure prevents users and search engines from finding relevant content. Applying a logical hierarchy, with clear categories and intuitive navigation, facilitates indexing and enhances user experience.
Examples of Implemented Solutions: Large e-commerce has restructured their site by applying a clear hierarchy of categories and subcategories, significantly increasing conversions and improving their position in search engine results.
Security and Privacy
Flawed Implementation of HTTPS
The HTTPS protocol is an essential security standard. A failed implementation can lead to security warnings for the user and undermine trust in the site. The transition from HTTP to HTTPS must be meticulous, ensuring the correct installation of certificates, URL redirection, and updating resources to be secure.
Trends in Security: The adoption of HTTP/3, with improvements in security and data transfer speed, is shaping up as an evolution to follow in the short term, enhancing the performance and reliability of secure connections.
The five technical SEO errors described here represent key challenges for professionals in the field. However, with a solid technical and theoretical approach, it is possible to identify and correct these faults, thereby improving the performance and visibility of a website. The constant evolution of SEO requires relentless vigilance and adaptation, where only the most robust strategies and meticulous implementation can result in sustained success in the competition to reach the top positions in search engines.
