Technical SEO
Technical SEO — making sure Google can actually access and understand what you've built.
Technical SEO isn't glamorous and it isn't magic. It's making sure search engines can reach your pages, read them properly and understand what they're about — the plumbing behind everything else your website is trying to do.
The fundamentals, in plain English
No jargon, no arbitrary scores.
Crawlability
Whether search engines can move through your site and reach every page you want them to find.
Indexing
Whether the pages that get crawled actually make it into Google's index and become eligible to appear in results.
Robots directives
The instructions that tell search engines what to skip — useful when set deliberately, damaging when set by accident.
Sitemaps
A list of your pages handed to search engines directly, so nothing relies purely on being stumbled across.
Canonicals
A signal saying "this is the definitive version of this page" when near-duplicates exist.
Redirects
Sending an old URL to its new home properly, so links and rankings aren't simply lost.
Broken pages
Dead ends — for visitors and for crawlers — that quietly waste both their time.
Duplicate URLs
The same content reachable through more than one address, which splits its authority instead of concentrating it.
Structured data
Machine-readable markup that helps search engines understand what a page represents, not just what it says.
Mobile usability
Whether the site actually works — not just fits — on the device most people are using to view it.
Performance
How quickly and stably a page loads, which affects both visitors' patience and how it's assessed.
Internal linking
How pages connect to each other, guiding both visitors and crawlers to what matters most.
Migrations
Domain, platform or URL structure changes — a common source of quiet, lasting damage if done carelessly.
JavaScript rendering
Whether content built with JavaScript is actually visible to search engines, or only to a browser.
A necessary limit
Technical SEO does not replace useful content.
A technically flawless website with thin, generic content still won't rank for anything competitive. Technical work removes obstacles — it doesn't manufacture a reason for Google, or a visitor, to care about a page.
The two need to happen together: pages that are genuinely useful, built on foundations that let search engines actually find and read them properly.
For the content side of that pairing, see on-page SEO.
Timing
When technical SEO becomes especially important.
- You're migrating to a new domain, platform or URL structure.
- A redesign is planned and existing rankings need protecting through it.
- The site has grown large enough that structure and duplication become genuine risks.
- Traffic has dropped significantly and a technical cause is suspected.
- You're seeing duplicate content or indexing problems in Search Console.
- You're planning a structural change — merging sections, changing navigation, adding a subdomain.
Migrating or redesigning soon? See SEO for website migrations and SEO for website redesigns. Not sure where you currently stand? Start with our SEO audit.
Before you ask
Technical SEO questions, without the jargon.
See how this fits the wider picture on our SEO page.
Next step
Not sure what's technically holding you back?
Let's find out properly.
Send us your website. We'll check the technical foundations and tell you plainly what, if anything, is actually worth fixing.