Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an integral aspect of almost every digital marketing strategy. Just as much as we want to learn about the current techniques, SEO is still the backbone of digital marketing and will remain so in the near future. 

There is a huge misconception about SEO that it is all about keywords and content. Although these two elements are extremely crucial for a strong and organic SEO strategy, you also need to pay attention to technical search engine optimization, which helps you improve your overall search rankings. 

Before we dive into the top technical SEO secrets of 2020, let us first understand what technical SEO is and why it is essential?

What is Technical SEO?

The term “technical SEO” refers to enhancing or upgrading the technical features of a website to improve search rankings.

The key components of technical optimization include making the website faster, understandable, and easier to crawl for search engines.

In a nutshell, technical search engine optimization is a part of on-page SEO that lays emphasis on optimizing your website for the indexing or crawling phase. It is entirely different from off-page SEO, which mostly focuses on website promotion through other channels.

Why is Technical SEO Important?

The reason why you should focus on the technical side of SEO optimization is that it makes certain search engines have quick and easy access to find, interpret, index, and crawl your web pages without any hassle. You can consider it as giving Google the key to locating your website instantly and conveniently, at the same time enabling it to understand what your website is all about.

Now let us learn the best technical SEO secrets of 2020.

#1 Make Sure to Focus on Hreflang

Hreflang is something that you should pay special attention to, particularly when your website is offering content in various languages. This is a unique set of code on your website that tells search engines like Google that you have multiple versions of the same page in different languages, targeting different geographical regions. This helps search engines to present the correct version of your website to the user.

Hreflang is extremely crucial for your website because it not only protects you from being penalized for duplicate content but also helps search engines to figure out which website user should visit which page based on their language or geographical location. This can be a beneficial strategic technical SEO technique to incorporate for sites that have many international visitors.

#2 Do Not Forget SEO Title Tags

Meta title tags are bolded text across the top of your search engine listing. These are basically HTML elements that define the title of a web page and determine how search engines read your title. It also tells everyone what your page is all about. When a user opens a web page, the same meta title wordings are displayed across the browser tab.

While certain title tags are automatically generated on your website, it is necessary to add custom tags to every page on your site.

Ideally, creating separate pages on your website for the different needs of a visitor is a great idea.

It quickly helps them identify the web page’s content and is also an excellent factor in determining why people would search for you on a search engine.

If you are unsure how to phrase your title tags and what keywords to use, consider looking for your competitor on Google. This will give you an idea about what exactly they are ranking for and help you use something similar to boost your search rankings.

#3 Pay Close Attention to Structured Data

When optimizing your website, it is also vital to pay close attention to structured data. It is somewhat technical data that helps search engines understand your business, content, and website better and know how your content would benefit users. 

One of the best ways to implement structured data is through a specific markup. This technical option enables you to add contextual information to products, articles, videos, recipes, etc. Besides, it also gives businesses with e-commerce set up the opportunity to display product reviews or star ratings. Incorporating these elements in website coding displays as a rich snippet or a card in the search engine ranking. 

Also, keep in mind that if you are using AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for your website, do not forget to add structured markup to your page’s mobile and web versions. This is a part that is often overlooked and can broadly impact your search rankings.

#4 Ensure that Your Site is Secure

Security measures are constantly taken by Google and other search engines to protect the privacy of their users. A few years back, Google declared that it would use HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) as its prominent ranking factor. HTTPS is an extension of HTTP, which is used to increase and improve data transfer security. 

Ever since Google’s announcement, several websites have acquired SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates in an attempt to boost their website’s SEO. Even though secure websites have become more standardized today, not every site is HTTPS encrypted. Therefore, switching over to a safer platform will help you build more trust with search engines and users, further leading to better website rankings. 

You might have noticed that before entering an HTTP site on Google, users are warned that the site is not secure. This might make users hesitant and discourage them from using the site. Hence, having an SSL-certificate for your  website will make people feel more secure, attract more traffic, and show Google that your website can be trusted.

Various studies have found a connection between higher search rankings and HTTPS. In some cases, Google might even use HTTPS as a tie-breaker. So when all the other variables are considered equal by Google, the SSL certificate can be the only factor that boosts your ranking to the top. This may result in increased website traffic and visibility.

Closing Words

Using professional and best technical SEO practices will help you build a strong foundation for your website and improve your website ranking. Moreover, it will not just make your on-page SEO perform better, but will also help your website boldly face frequent algorithm changes made by Google. 

If you are still not sure how to incorporate any of these technical SEO components into your website – in that case, you should seek help from a Digital marketing consultant to achieve the best SEO results.

Want to know more about SEO? We have ultimate SEO checklist for your business in a free book. Get your copy today!