#UKHUG 2016: Common Technical SEO Issues - LexisClick and bandv

Common Technical SEO Issues and

What To Do About Them

Your presenters:

Ross BreckenridgeClient Services Director at bandv

Ross has 8 years’ experience working in digital marketing and is inbound marketing and sales

certified.

bandv were established in 1983, and are an inbound and creative agency based in

Southampton, specialising in the technology, healthcare, and construction sectors.

Stephen BavisterDirector of Strategy at LexisClick

Since building his first web pages for British Steel in 1996, Stephen has spent 20 years helping businesses

realise the potential of digital marketing.

Stephen founded LexisClick in 2008 to help expert businesses across sectors achieve their growth targets by increasing their inbound enquiries and sales through

digital channels.

Technical SEO Issues: A Bit Like…

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…trying to eatchocolate with the wrapper on

SEO Issue 1: Duplicate Content

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•  URLs with and without trailing slash / Fix: Canonical tag (To select a master page URL)•  www and non-www domains render all pages

Fix: Select your master domain and redirect variants•  Duplicated meta titles and meta descriptions

Fix: Google Search Console and Screaming Frog•  Product variants with different URLs

Fix: Canonical tag

Duplicate Content Common Issues

SEO Issue 2: Page Speed

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•  Google PageSpeed Insights•  W3C Total Cache for Wordpress•  Hubspot COS for Hubspot users•  GTMetrix•  Improving the user experience

Pro Tips For Page Speed

SEO Issue 3: Keyword Cannibalisation

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•  Create content hubs •  Focus blog posts on individual long tail phrases•  Focus single pages on short tail high volume key

phrases•  Run regular content audits (merge, delete & improve)

Avoiding Keyword Cannibalisation

SEO Issue 4: Links - Low Quality / Too Few

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•  Clear out links from old-school SEO activities•  Run a link audit regularly•  Concentrate on earning quality links•  Actively build and earn links•  Google search console provides link data•  Paid tools include: Moz, Majestic and Link

Research Tools

Avoiding Link Quality Issues

SEO Issue 5: Poor Heading Structure

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•  H1 Tags containing key phrases on all pages•  Only one H1 tag on any page•  Logical heading structure: H2, H3, etc.•  Chrome Developer Tools plugin

Heading and HTML Structure

SEO Issue 6: Content To HTML Ratio

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•  Avoid thin content – typically 300+ words of relevant text on a page

•  Provide references in well researched content•  Focus on relevance as well as word count•  Image based sites – aim to include text overlays

easily read by Google Bot•  Light pages – aim to avoid heavy use of html code

Content To HTML Ratio

SEO Issue 7: Incorrect Redirects

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•  Run a full site audit using Screaming Frog•  Identify multiple redirects and non-301 redirects•  Test the redirects and fix issues•  Consider redirects when deleting products and

pages

Incorrect Redirects

SEO Issue 8: Poor Meta Optimisation

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•  Google Search Console – HTML Suggestions•  Run a full site audit using Screaming Frog•  Fix short and long HTML titles•  Include target keyword / keyphrase in title•  Fix missing, short or duplicate meta descriptions•  Include keyword / keyphrase in meta description•  Remove keywords tag if using•  Use meta description to focus on CTR

Meta Optimisation Tips

SEO Issue 9: Not Mobile Friendly

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•  Get it fixed!•  Score in Google PageSpeed Insights > Mobile >

User experience•  Aim for a minimum score of 80+•  Be aware of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

Pro Tips: Mobile Friendliness

SEO Issue 10: Crawl Issues & Broken Links

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•  Crawl site with Xenu or Screaming Frog: identify and fix broken links

•  Google Search Console – crawl issues – check and fix issues monthly

•  Wordpress: install broken links plugin, check and fix as soon as notified

Pro Tips: Crawl Issues & Broken Links

Need some more?

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•  Get AMPed up with AMP pages

•  100/100 in Google Page Speed Score

•  Run your site on https

•  Get reviews and include Schema on your site

•  Use Schema micro data mark-up where relevant

•  Sort out your search snippets

•  Make the most of Universal Results (images and video)

•  Optimise images for keyword search and user experience

Pro Tips: Crawl Issues & Broken Links

Any questions? Come and see us

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